Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
A Rose In The Wind: A Saga of the Halmae -- Updated June 19, 2014
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="ellinor" data-source="post: 4955976" data-attributes="member: 14561"><p><strong>6x02</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="color: Sienna">This room is disgusting,</span> Acorn thought, loudly. </p><p></p><p>Twiggy agreed. <em>This whole place is disgusting.</em> It felt like days had passed since the group had descended into the derro warren. In reality, it had probably been less than an hour. But so much had happened. The fire, the smoke, the children, the webs…and now the Dwarven man—Corani’s husband—the one person in the world who might be able to tell them where the Spring was—was dead. So much death…<em><strong>no.</strong> For once in your life,</em> she told herself, <em>don’t think.</em> It hurt to think. And as much as she didn’t want to admit it, it didn’t hurt to <strong>do</strong>. Twiggy shoved her thoughts into the back of her mind, raised her goggles, and tried to wipe her glasses clean on the arm of her ash-stained dress. </p><p></p><p>“Chalk up one for the good guys,” said Kormick. “Although it would have been nice to have your flaming ball of death back there.”</p><p></p><p>Kormick’s gallows humor made Twiggy feel herself again. “And what did you say you did during <em>your</em> years at the Sorcerers Academy?”</p><p></p><p>It has been a long day for all of us,” Mena cut in, “but it is far from over. We must keep moving.” She surveyed the two exits available to them: the dark stairway descending in front of them and the long crevice in the wall to their side.</p><p></p><p>“We know what the stairway holds,” said Kormick. “Undoubtedly, further chambers of carnage and ill-kept death. What we need to know is what’s down that crevice. Arden, why don’t you—”</p><p></p><p>He paused and turned to Twiggy. “Young lady, perhaps you could send your mouse, as you did earlier?”</p><p></p><p><span style="color: sienna">I heard that,</span> thought Acorn, <span style="color: sienna">and I don’t understand why Arden can’t do it. He was about to ask her to. I know it. She’s a slave. That’s what slaves do. Things that people like us shouldn’t have to—</span> </p><p></p><p><em>Come on, now, Acorn,</em> Twiggy thought in response, <em>you know how I feel about that. But this is no time to talk about the ethics of slave ownership. Arden has been injured many times today, and clearly she has a problem with small spaces. You can do this. You can be brave. I know you can.</em></p><p></p><p>Acorn paused for a long time. <span style="color: sienna">You promise you’ll be here when I get back?</span></p><p></p><p><em>I Promise. 100%</em></p><p></p><p>Acorn was gone for a long time. A very long time.</p><p></p><p>Eventually, though, he returned, with a report. The crevice led for a very long way down a gentle slope. The ground was uneven. At the end, there seemed to be another room, with derro voices in it. <span style="color: sienna">They didn’t hear me, though, I’m positive,</span> Acorn thought. <span style="color: sienna">I was <strong>very</strong> quiet.</span></p><p></p><p>Just then, they heard a faint noise. Not from the crevice, though—from down the stairs. A voice, maybe, or something breaking. Then quiet.</p><p></p><p>They snuck down, Arden and Tavi in the lead, Kormick just behind them. The others followed.</p><p></p><p>The dwarves and Rose hung back in the stairway, within earshot. Gulst, the three-year-old, clung to his mother’s leg. Rose patted his head reassuringly, but her face told a story of sorrow and consternation.</p><p></p><p>The stairway opened up into a large room—a workspace of sorts. Tables lined the walls, strewn with candles, feathers, herbs, and other arcane accoutrements.</p><p></p><p><em>If I didn’t know any better,</em> Twiggy thought, [/i]I’d say someone had set up a telep---[/i] She turned around. On the wall behind her was a large circle, ringed in what appeared to be heavily corrupted Dwarven lettering. <em>Oh.</em></p><p></p><p>Just then, something appeared in the middle of the room. Twiggy couldn’t quite tell what it was. A derro, perhaps, wearing sorcerer’s robes? WHOOSH. Twiggy felt her mind become cloudy, and saw Mena fall to one knee, clutching her head.</p><p></p><p>As Twiggy struggled to shake herself to her senses, she saw Savina rush in to heal Mena. Arden tumbled into the fray, stabbing the derro sorcerer with her shortsword. And Ordren—the dwarf who had been so badly injured—ran past her and charged the thing, scratching and BITING it on the leg. In her mental fog, the whole scene seemed . . . not quite real. </p><p></p><p><em>(DM’S NOTE: That’d be Ordren’s Daily Power—a re-skinned version of the Ranger’s </em>Hunter’s Bear Trap<em> wherein he flings himself at someone, wraps himself around their leg, and proceeds to bite at their kneecaps.)</em></p><p></p><p>Out of the corner of Twiggy’s eye, something moved. Was it Tavi? Kormick? A derro? All three? In her fog, she couldn’t be sure. Then a THUNK. AUGGH! A derro voice cried out in anguish.</p><p></p><p>###</p><p></p><p>While the women contended with the sorcerer, Tavi joined Kormick in confronting a derro who'd rushed in from another door. Or, rather, Tavi stood back and watched Kormick pound the derro with his warhammers. Knees. Gut. With every blow, the derro let out a gurgle of pain. Kormick’s movements seemed almost meditative. <em>I’ve been training in combat precision for my entire life,</em> Tavi thought, <em>but what this guy does . . . it’s really quite beautiful.</em></p><p></p><p>But Tavi didn’t have much time to admire Kormick’s skill. A second opponent ran into the room, his jaw determined, his hands flaming with sorcerous fire. He bobbed and weaved like a boxer, and took a swing at Tavi. It connected, and burned. The fight was on.</p><p></p><p>###</p><p></p><p>Twiggy looked up at the teleport circle on the wall as the fog cleared from her mind. There was a wavering on the surface, almost as if she was looking into water. It wasn’t her imagination. <em>We have to do something about that,</em> she thought. <em>Or we’re leaving the door open for our death.</em></p><p></p><p>Twiggy had done quite a bit of research on teleport circles, before setting out on this journey. But those circles were different. They were organized, ordered, with the elegance of magic learned at the Academy. Not the crude chaos of the derro. And anyway, back in Pol Henna, Tavi had done most of the work of setting up the circle.</p><p></p><p><em>Not most of the work,</em> Twiggy told herself, <em>just some of it. And I had to correct something. And since then, I’ve controlled my power in a way I never thought possible.</em> She thought back to the flaming sphere in the entry way. <em>I can do this.</em> </p><p></p><p>Twiggy looked around. The other women were stalking the sorcerer, who flitted in and out of sight—invisibility spells, she thought. The men were engaged with two particularly vicious derro in the corner. <em>Don't think about those things,</em> Twiggy told herself. [/i]One problem at a time.[/i]</p><p></p><p>"Mena! Savina, Arden!" she called, and pointed to the teleport circle on the wall. "We have to shut this thing down. Now!" </p><p></p><p>"Tell us how," said Mena. </p><p></p><p><em>Right.</em> Twiggy tuned out the clanging and yelling of the men’s fighting, and <em>concentrated.</em> She thought about which parts of a teleport circle were the parts that made it <em>work</em>. This circle looked different from the ones she knew, but some things were similar . . . “Mena!” she yelled, pointing at one of the runes. “THERE!” Mena swung her flail at the rune. The stone chipped. The surface of the circle wavered, but stayed watery. </p><p></p><p>“Arden! Savina! The feathers!” Savina and Arden rushed to the wall, tearing feathers apart in an eerie reversal of their roles at the teleport center in Pol Henna. Twiggy joined them, extinguishing candles and pulling at stones.</p><p></p><p>The surface of the wall began to move and ripple, as if something were pushing it out. “Mena! Again!” Mena swung, and chipped another rune.</p><p></p><p>A long, sinewy tendril pushed through the surface. It was massive, extending, waving, pushing forward . . .It was a nightmare, like nothing Twiggy had ever even dreamed of before . . .</p><p></p><p>Twiggy lunged forward and swung her robe at a small cluster of candles just out of reach. They wobbled, flickered, and fell, extinguished. </p><p></p><p>FOOSH. </p><p></p><p>And suddenly, Twiggy was staring at a blank wall. She stood, shaking, staring.</p><p></p><p>###</p><p></p><p>Tavi rolled against the wall, beating out the flames from his tunic. He had done a lot of damage to the derro—blood was oozing from the creature’s arms and head where Tavi’s blade had smashed it against the wall—but Tavi had taken his share of hurt, and the derro just wasn’t going down.</p><p></p><p>Kormick was burned, too, and was none too happy about it. “Why! Won’t! You! Die!” he yelled, shoving his foot against the derro’s chest and pounding it with his warhammers. It slumped, finally, unconscious. </p><p></p><p>As Tavi sheathed his sword, he wondered: <em>Why haven’t the others been helping us?</em></p><p></p><p>He turned to see them all staring at the center of the room. There was nothing there. They were staring into empty space.</p><p></p><p>“The sorcerer,” Twiggy explained. “He’s gone invisible.”</p><p></p><p>They felt around for what seemed an eternity, stabbing at air, casting at nothing. </p><p></p><p>Then suddenly the sorcerer appeared for an instant, cast a spell, and ran toward a hallway that extended out from the corner of the room. Twiggy staggered, grabbing her head.</p><p></p><p>“Running only makes us angry, you know,” Mena called after him. Her armor whispered behind her. <em>…Angry, angry, angry.</em></p><p></p><p>There was a shuffling sound near the doorway.</p><p></p><p>“Or as we say in Dar Und,” Kormick announced, “it only means you’ll die tired.” He fired his crossbow. SHUNK. The sorcerer appeared, slumped against the doorway, unconscious.</p><p></p><p>###</p><p></p><p>“Arden, see what’s down there,” Kormick said, pointing down the hallway.</p><p></p><p><em>I don't understand why the mouse can't do it</em>, Arden thought, walking to the door. <em>Oh well. It's amazing what can start to seem comfortingly familiar, especially now that I've finally recovered a little –</em></p><p></p><p>She peeked around the corner.</p><p></p><p>BAM! A piece of crockery hit her on the head.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ellinor, post: 4955976, member: 14561"] [b]6x02[/b] [COLOR="Sienna"]This room is disgusting,[/COLOR] Acorn thought, loudly. Twiggy agreed. [i]This whole place is disgusting.[/i] It felt like days had passed since the group had descended into the derro warren. In reality, it had probably been less than an hour. But so much had happened. The fire, the smoke, the children, the webs…and now the Dwarven man—Corani’s husband—the one person in the world who might be able to tell them where the Spring was—was dead. So much death…[i][b]no.[/b] For once in your life,[/i] she told herself, [i]don’t think.[/i] It hurt to think. And as much as she didn’t want to admit it, it didn’t hurt to [b]do[/b]. Twiggy shoved her thoughts into the back of her mind, raised her goggles, and tried to wipe her glasses clean on the arm of her ash-stained dress. “Chalk up one for the good guys,” said Kormick. “Although it would have been nice to have your flaming ball of death back there.” Kormick’s gallows humor made Twiggy feel herself again. “And what did you say you did during [i]your[/i] years at the Sorcerers Academy?” It has been a long day for all of us,” Mena cut in, “but it is far from over. We must keep moving.” She surveyed the two exits available to them: the dark stairway descending in front of them and the long crevice in the wall to their side. “We know what the stairway holds,” said Kormick. “Undoubtedly, further chambers of carnage and ill-kept death. What we need to know is what’s down that crevice. Arden, why don’t you—” He paused and turned to Twiggy. “Young lady, perhaps you could send your mouse, as you did earlier?” [COLOR="sienna"]I heard that,[/COLOR] thought Acorn, [COLOR="sienna"]and I don’t understand why Arden can’t do it. He was about to ask her to. I know it. She’s a slave. That’s what slaves do. Things that people like us shouldn’t have to—[/COLOR] [i]Come on, now, Acorn,[/i] Twiggy thought in response, [i]you know how I feel about that. But this is no time to talk about the ethics of slave ownership. Arden has been injured many times today, and clearly she has a problem with small spaces. You can do this. You can be brave. I know you can.[/i] Acorn paused for a long time. [COLOR="sienna"]You promise you’ll be here when I get back?[/COLOR] [i]I Promise. 100%[/i] Acorn was gone for a long time. A very long time. Eventually, though, he returned, with a report. The crevice led for a very long way down a gentle slope. The ground was uneven. At the end, there seemed to be another room, with derro voices in it. [COLOR="sienna"]They didn’t hear me, though, I’m positive,[/COLOR] Acorn thought. [COLOR="sienna"]I was [b]very[/b] quiet.[/COLOR] Just then, they heard a faint noise. Not from the crevice, though—from down the stairs. A voice, maybe, or something breaking. Then quiet. They snuck down, Arden and Tavi in the lead, Kormick just behind them. The others followed. The dwarves and Rose hung back in the stairway, within earshot. Gulst, the three-year-old, clung to his mother’s leg. Rose patted his head reassuringly, but her face told a story of sorrow and consternation. The stairway opened up into a large room—a workspace of sorts. Tables lined the walls, strewn with candles, feathers, herbs, and other arcane accoutrements. [i]If I didn’t know any better,[/i] Twiggy thought, [/i]I’d say someone had set up a telep---[/i] She turned around. On the wall behind her was a large circle, ringed in what appeared to be heavily corrupted Dwarven lettering. [i]Oh.[/i] Just then, something appeared in the middle of the room. Twiggy couldn’t quite tell what it was. A derro, perhaps, wearing sorcerer’s robes? WHOOSH. Twiggy felt her mind become cloudy, and saw Mena fall to one knee, clutching her head. As Twiggy struggled to shake herself to her senses, she saw Savina rush in to heal Mena. Arden tumbled into the fray, stabbing the derro sorcerer with her shortsword. And Ordren—the dwarf who had been so badly injured—ran past her and charged the thing, scratching and BITING it on the leg. In her mental fog, the whole scene seemed . . . not quite real. [i](DM’S NOTE: That’d be Ordren’s Daily Power—a re-skinned version of the Ranger’s [/i]Hunter’s Bear Trap[i] wherein he flings himself at someone, wraps himself around their leg, and proceeds to bite at their kneecaps.)[/i] Out of the corner of Twiggy’s eye, something moved. Was it Tavi? Kormick? A derro? All three? In her fog, she couldn’t be sure. Then a THUNK. AUGGH! A derro voice cried out in anguish. ### While the women contended with the sorcerer, Tavi joined Kormick in confronting a derro who'd rushed in from another door. Or, rather, Tavi stood back and watched Kormick pound the derro with his warhammers. Knees. Gut. With every blow, the derro let out a gurgle of pain. Kormick’s movements seemed almost meditative. [i]I’ve been training in combat precision for my entire life,[/i] Tavi thought, [i]but what this guy does . . . it’s really quite beautiful.[/i] But Tavi didn’t have much time to admire Kormick’s skill. A second opponent ran into the room, his jaw determined, his hands flaming with sorcerous fire. He bobbed and weaved like a boxer, and took a swing at Tavi. It connected, and burned. The fight was on. ### Twiggy looked up at the teleport circle on the wall as the fog cleared from her mind. There was a wavering on the surface, almost as if she was looking into water. It wasn’t her imagination. [i]We have to do something about that,[/i] she thought. [i]Or we’re leaving the door open for our death.[/i] Twiggy had done quite a bit of research on teleport circles, before setting out on this journey. But those circles were different. They were organized, ordered, with the elegance of magic learned at the Academy. Not the crude chaos of the derro. And anyway, back in Pol Henna, Tavi had done most of the work of setting up the circle. [i]Not most of the work,[/i] Twiggy told herself, [i]just some of it. And I had to correct something. And since then, I’ve controlled my power in a way I never thought possible.[/i] She thought back to the flaming sphere in the entry way. [i]I can do this.[/i] Twiggy looked around. The other women were stalking the sorcerer, who flitted in and out of sight—invisibility spells, she thought. The men were engaged with two particularly vicious derro in the corner. [i]Don't think about those things,[/i] Twiggy told herself. [/i]One problem at a time.[/i] "Mena! Savina, Arden!" she called, and pointed to the teleport circle on the wall. "We have to shut this thing down. Now!" "Tell us how," said Mena. [i]Right.[/i] Twiggy tuned out the clanging and yelling of the men’s fighting, and [i]concentrated.[/i] She thought about which parts of a teleport circle were the parts that made it [i]work[/i]. This circle looked different from the ones she knew, but some things were similar . . . “Mena!” she yelled, pointing at one of the runes. “THERE!” Mena swung her flail at the rune. The stone chipped. The surface of the circle wavered, but stayed watery. “Arden! Savina! The feathers!” Savina and Arden rushed to the wall, tearing feathers apart in an eerie reversal of their roles at the teleport center in Pol Henna. Twiggy joined them, extinguishing candles and pulling at stones. The surface of the wall began to move and ripple, as if something were pushing it out. “Mena! Again!” Mena swung, and chipped another rune. A long, sinewy tendril pushed through the surface. It was massive, extending, waving, pushing forward . . .It was a nightmare, like nothing Twiggy had ever even dreamed of before . . . Twiggy lunged forward and swung her robe at a small cluster of candles just out of reach. They wobbled, flickered, and fell, extinguished. FOOSH. And suddenly, Twiggy was staring at a blank wall. She stood, shaking, staring. ### Tavi rolled against the wall, beating out the flames from his tunic. He had done a lot of damage to the derro—blood was oozing from the creature’s arms and head where Tavi’s blade had smashed it against the wall—but Tavi had taken his share of hurt, and the derro just wasn’t going down. Kormick was burned, too, and was none too happy about it. “Why! Won’t! You! Die!” he yelled, shoving his foot against the derro’s chest and pounding it with his warhammers. It slumped, finally, unconscious. As Tavi sheathed his sword, he wondered: [i]Why haven’t the others been helping us?[/i] He turned to see them all staring at the center of the room. There was nothing there. They were staring into empty space. “The sorcerer,” Twiggy explained. “He’s gone invisible.” They felt around for what seemed an eternity, stabbing at air, casting at nothing. Then suddenly the sorcerer appeared for an instant, cast a spell, and ran toward a hallway that extended out from the corner of the room. Twiggy staggered, grabbing her head. “Running only makes us angry, you know,” Mena called after him. Her armor whispered behind her. [i]…Angry, angry, angry.[/i] There was a shuffling sound near the doorway. “Or as we say in Dar Und,” Kormick announced, “it only means you’ll die tired.” He fired his crossbow. SHUNK. The sorcerer appeared, slumped against the doorway, unconscious. ### “Arden, see what’s down there,” Kormick said, pointing down the hallway. [i]I don't understand why the mouse can't do it[/i], Arden thought, walking to the door. [i]Oh well. It's amazing what can start to seem comfortingly familiar, especially now that I've finally recovered a little –[/i] She peeked around the corner. BAM! A piece of crockery hit her on the head. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
A Rose In The Wind: A Saga of the Halmae -- Updated June 19, 2014
Top