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Cydra: the Early Years
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<blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 3915909" data-attributes="member: 1210"><p>Granted that it's been over a year and a half since the last update... but hey, here's one now! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>As always, this SH will continue irregularly as time, other (more current) story hours and the availability of my old notes permit.</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p></p><p>On the coast of Valonia, Dexter and company were in ill-spirits. With their amazing vessel, with its <em>sea helm</em>, in the grasp of Rajah’s enemies, there was no obvious way to make it to far-off, legendary Strogass quickly. They were not quite marooned on Valonia, but certainly, they might as well have been; any kind of hope for speed had been lost. They could spend weeks fighting carnivorous apes and glider-apes and make no progress towards their real goals.</p><p></p><p>They spent some time in a small coastal elven community, during which time Dexter found a sympathetic and lovely elven maiden named Elmarie all too willing to soothe his cares and caress away his worries. He laid with her but a single night, but the consequences of that night would echo through the centuries.</p><p></p><p>But as the party was nearly ready to give in to despair, Drelvin noticed something out to sea a little ways. “Look, a blow hole!” he cried. “It must be a whale. Maybe it can help us.”</p><p></p><p>Certainly, consulting a whale seemed to be as good an idea as anything else that the party had. They made their way out to sea using one of the small boats remaining to them, since the loss of their ship. Drelvin, Dexter, Rulsha (one of their surviving crewmen/bodyguards and Lochenvare’s girlfriend before his murder at the hands of Therena) and Rajah rowed out to meet the whale. </p><p></p><p>It kept its distance from them at first, wary of their intentions; but when they shouted a plea for help to it, it came closer and parlayed with them. Like most good creatures, the whale followed the faith of Galador, and when Dexter explained the nature of his quest- to prevent the destruction of certain ancient Galadorian sacred texts by agents of Bleak from Strogass- the whale (whose name was Wouhleeriachx) whistled and agreed to help them. “I wooooon’t goooo soooo far to the eeeeast,” the whale said in its odd cadence, “buuuut I have a frieeeeeeeeeeeend whooo might.”</p><p></p><p>“Really?” exclaimed Dexter. “That would be fantastic!”</p><p></p><p>“Cliiiiiimb in my mouth,” the whale offered, and it opened its huge, baleen-filled mouth.</p><p></p><p>“Uh,” Drelvin responded. </p><p></p><p>“I doooo not eeeeeat meeeeeat,” Wouhleeriachx assured them. </p><p></p><p>The party climbed in to the whale’s mouth.</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>Wouhleeriachx proved good to her word. She ferried them to her friend, a grey whale named Urmastirwol, who was also very sympathetic to the party’s mission. From one whale’s mouth to another, then, and our heroes were on their way- albeit by a very strange mode of transportation. Still, Urmastirwol was a tireless swimmer, awake or asleep, and friendly enough (and, interestingly, able to talk through his blow hole even while holding the party safe and dry in his mouth). </p><p></p><p>By the time they reached Strogass, our heroes were sick of the smell of whale, but they were nonetheless grateful for the trip, and they made sure to tell Urmastirwol as much. It was only as the whale spit them out in water as shallow as he dared swim that our heroes realized that they had no way to travel all those thousands of miles home. </p><p></p><p><em>Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,</em> Dexter promised himself. <em>If we survive our attack on this “Hill of Skulls” at all.</em></p><p></p><p>While Dexter was gloomy, Rajah was a little happier. <em>At least I am out of Elcruche’s reach,</em> he thought. <em>I hope. I cannot imagine them coming this far for me...!</em> He could not help but feel the slightest twinge of unease despite the distance separating him from his tyrannical uncle and his men.</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>Strogass was not very friendly. The land was rough, cracked, ragged and harsh. The plants were wiry, thorny, sickly and foul-smelling. The animals were dark, ill-tempered and aggressive. The air itself seemed tainted with a faint dirtiness, just enough to make it a little greyer than the air around Dorhaus or Forinthia or anywhere else our heroes have been. </p><p></p><p>Rulsha shook her head. “It’s a shame you can’t see this, Dex,” she said. “It’s a hell of a place- no pun intended.”</p><p></p><p>“I don’t really have to see it,” Dexter answered her. “I can <em>feel</em> it.”</p><p></p><p>They were only on Strogass for a short time when they faced their first enemies there.</p><p></p><p>Naked men with the heads of goats, entering battle in a state of obvious sexual arousal, the billymen were demons in service to Bleak. The party’s first clash with them began with only a pair of them- but they summoned more, who summoned more themselves. Quickly they multiplied in number, until our heroes were fighting for their lives against the horde of billymen. Only the most concerted efforts allowed them to throw back the assault and win victory. Then, when they sought a crack in the landscape to rest in, they were attacked by horrible centipede-like worms as big around as a dwarf and as long as a medium cottage. The worms’ mandibles proved to be fiendishly sharp, almost removing limbs in a single snip.</p><p></p><p>But our heroes managed to win through against them. Blade and spell and psionic power came together, smashing the tunnel worms to death. And then, in their lair, they found a most interesting flail, bearing the sigil of Galador, on an old dwarven corpse.</p><p></p><p>“Here?” exclaimed Rulsha doubtfully. “On Strogass?”</p><p></p><p>“Well, if you think about it, it’s more likely that we’d find it in a monster’s lair than anywhere else on Strogass,” Rajah pointed out. “And there have to be Galadorians working against Bleak here, just as there are Bleak-worshipers even on Forinthia.”</p><p></p><p>“True,” she agreed. </p><p></p><p>“It has runes down the side,” Drelvin said, running his fingers down it. “A name. <em>Brainmasher.</em>”</p><p></p><p>“I guess as long as it’s the brains of followers of Bleak,” Dexter said, but he sounded a little unsure of himself. “But it’s best to be sure.” He cast <em>speak with dead</em> on the dwarven skeleton, and ascertained that the flail was indeed a Galadorian relic; that the dead dwarf had been named Kellius in life; and that he had been on a quest to overthrow the Hill of Skulls himself. Some more searching, including digging up some of the dirt in the tunnel worms’ lair, turned up a map! Eagerly thrusting it at Drelvin, Dexter asked the others to examine it. Drelvin brushed as much dirt from it as he could without damaging the fragile parchment- then grinned.</p><p></p><p>“It’s on here! Now we know where to go! And it isn’t even very far away!”</p><p></p><p>They took the flail, and Dex was given possession of it. He had no intention of using it at the moment, but nobody else was more likely to do so than he was, and once they <em>identified</em> it, they could choose the best permanent recipient. But as nobody especially used the flail, and he was the only priest of Galador present... well, he was the logical choice.</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>The party continued their journey into the hills of Strogass. Behind them was a huge precipice; it looked- well, it looked like it could be miles high. Rajah shivered, staring at that. <em>I always land on my feet,</em> he thought, <em>but from a fall that high... it wouldn’t matter!</em> Soon the precipice and the buzzing fens at the base of it were left behind as the party entered a range of rolling dirty hills, with many areas of heavy scree and scattered boulders. </p><p></p><p>They moved carefully, trying to avoid patrols and dodge any monstrous encounters that they could. But as they approved the valley within which- assuming the map from Kellius was accurate- a group composed mostly of dwarves stepped out from a hidden crevice of their own. </p><p></p><p>Our heroes drew weapons and immediately dropped into fighting stances, but one of the newcomers cried out, “Peace!” He spoke Forinthian, but with a strange accent. “I know you! You are Dexter Nadly,” he continued, pointing at Dexter, “and we have been waiting for you.”</p><p></p><p>“Who are you?” demanded Dexter.</p><p></p><p>“I am Therighast, prophet and follower of the Light,” the man replied solemnly, “and we are here to help you overthrow the blasphemy that is the Hill of Skulls.”</p><p></p><p><em><strong>Next Time:</strong></em> Into the Hill of Skulls!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="the Jester, post: 3915909, member: 1210"] Granted that it's been over a year and a half since the last update... but hey, here's one now! :) As always, this SH will continue irregularly as time, other (more current) story hours and the availability of my old notes permit. *** On the coast of Valonia, Dexter and company were in ill-spirits. With their amazing vessel, with its [i]sea helm[/i], in the grasp of Rajah’s enemies, there was no obvious way to make it to far-off, legendary Strogass quickly. They were not quite marooned on Valonia, but certainly, they might as well have been; any kind of hope for speed had been lost. They could spend weeks fighting carnivorous apes and glider-apes and make no progress towards their real goals. They spent some time in a small coastal elven community, during which time Dexter found a sympathetic and lovely elven maiden named Elmarie all too willing to soothe his cares and caress away his worries. He laid with her but a single night, but the consequences of that night would echo through the centuries. But as the party was nearly ready to give in to despair, Drelvin noticed something out to sea a little ways. “Look, a blow hole!” he cried. “It must be a whale. Maybe it can help us.” Certainly, consulting a whale seemed to be as good an idea as anything else that the party had. They made their way out to sea using one of the small boats remaining to them, since the loss of their ship. Drelvin, Dexter, Rulsha (one of their surviving crewmen/bodyguards and Lochenvare’s girlfriend before his murder at the hands of Therena) and Rajah rowed out to meet the whale. It kept its distance from them at first, wary of their intentions; but when they shouted a plea for help to it, it came closer and parlayed with them. Like most good creatures, the whale followed the faith of Galador, and when Dexter explained the nature of his quest- to prevent the destruction of certain ancient Galadorian sacred texts by agents of Bleak from Strogass- the whale (whose name was Wouhleeriachx) whistled and agreed to help them. “I wooooon’t goooo soooo far to the eeeeast,” the whale said in its odd cadence, “buuuut I have a frieeeeeeeeeeeend whooo might.” “Really?” exclaimed Dexter. “That would be fantastic!” “Cliiiiiimb in my mouth,” the whale offered, and it opened its huge, baleen-filled mouth. “Uh,” Drelvin responded. “I doooo not eeeeeat meeeeeat,” Wouhleeriachx assured them. The party climbed in to the whale’s mouth. *** Wouhleeriachx proved good to her word. She ferried them to her friend, a grey whale named Urmastirwol, who was also very sympathetic to the party’s mission. From one whale’s mouth to another, then, and our heroes were on their way- albeit by a very strange mode of transportation. Still, Urmastirwol was a tireless swimmer, awake or asleep, and friendly enough (and, interestingly, able to talk through his blow hole even while holding the party safe and dry in his mouth). By the time they reached Strogass, our heroes were sick of the smell of whale, but they were nonetheless grateful for the trip, and they made sure to tell Urmastirwol as much. It was only as the whale spit them out in water as shallow as he dared swim that our heroes realized that they had no way to travel all those thousands of miles home. [i]Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,[/i] Dexter promised himself. [i]If we survive our attack on this “Hill of Skulls” at all.[/i] While Dexter was gloomy, Rajah was a little happier. [i]At least I am out of Elcruche’s reach,[/i] he thought. [i]I hope. I cannot imagine them coming this far for me...![/i] He could not help but feel the slightest twinge of unease despite the distance separating him from his tyrannical uncle and his men. *** Strogass was not very friendly. The land was rough, cracked, ragged and harsh. The plants were wiry, thorny, sickly and foul-smelling. The animals were dark, ill-tempered and aggressive. The air itself seemed tainted with a faint dirtiness, just enough to make it a little greyer than the air around Dorhaus or Forinthia or anywhere else our heroes have been. Rulsha shook her head. “It’s a shame you can’t see this, Dex,” she said. “It’s a hell of a place- no pun intended.” “I don’t really have to see it,” Dexter answered her. “I can [i]feel[/i] it.” They were only on Strogass for a short time when they faced their first enemies there. Naked men with the heads of goats, entering battle in a state of obvious sexual arousal, the billymen were demons in service to Bleak. The party’s first clash with them began with only a pair of them- but they summoned more, who summoned more themselves. Quickly they multiplied in number, until our heroes were fighting for their lives against the horde of billymen. Only the most concerted efforts allowed them to throw back the assault and win victory. Then, when they sought a crack in the landscape to rest in, they were attacked by horrible centipede-like worms as big around as a dwarf and as long as a medium cottage. The worms’ mandibles proved to be fiendishly sharp, almost removing limbs in a single snip. But our heroes managed to win through against them. Blade and spell and psionic power came together, smashing the tunnel worms to death. And then, in their lair, they found a most interesting flail, bearing the sigil of Galador, on an old dwarven corpse. “Here?” exclaimed Rulsha doubtfully. “On Strogass?” “Well, if you think about it, it’s more likely that we’d find it in a monster’s lair than anywhere else on Strogass,” Rajah pointed out. “And there have to be Galadorians working against Bleak here, just as there are Bleak-worshipers even on Forinthia.” “True,” she agreed. “It has runes down the side,” Drelvin said, running his fingers down it. “A name. [i]Brainmasher.[/i]” “I guess as long as it’s the brains of followers of Bleak,” Dexter said, but he sounded a little unsure of himself. “But it’s best to be sure.” He cast [i]speak with dead[/i] on the dwarven skeleton, and ascertained that the flail was indeed a Galadorian relic; that the dead dwarf had been named Kellius in life; and that he had been on a quest to overthrow the Hill of Skulls himself. Some more searching, including digging up some of the dirt in the tunnel worms’ lair, turned up a map! Eagerly thrusting it at Drelvin, Dexter asked the others to examine it. Drelvin brushed as much dirt from it as he could without damaging the fragile parchment- then grinned. “It’s on here! Now we know where to go! And it isn’t even very far away!” They took the flail, and Dex was given possession of it. He had no intention of using it at the moment, but nobody else was more likely to do so than he was, and once they [i]identified[/i] it, they could choose the best permanent recipient. But as nobody especially used the flail, and he was the only priest of Galador present... well, he was the logical choice. *** The party continued their journey into the hills of Strogass. Behind them was a huge precipice; it looked- well, it looked like it could be miles high. Rajah shivered, staring at that. [i]I always land on my feet,[/i] he thought, [i]but from a fall that high... it wouldn’t matter![/i] Soon the precipice and the buzzing fens at the base of it were left behind as the party entered a range of rolling dirty hills, with many areas of heavy scree and scattered boulders. They moved carefully, trying to avoid patrols and dodge any monstrous encounters that they could. But as they approved the valley within which- assuming the map from Kellius was accurate- a group composed mostly of dwarves stepped out from a hidden crevice of their own. Our heroes drew weapons and immediately dropped into fighting stances, but one of the newcomers cried out, “Peace!” He spoke Forinthian, but with a strange accent. “I know you! You are Dexter Nadly,” he continued, pointing at Dexter, “and we have been waiting for you.” “Who are you?” demanded Dexter. “I am Therighast, prophet and follower of the Light,” the man replied solemnly, “and we are here to help you overthrow the blasphemy that is the Hill of Skulls.” [i][b]Next Time:[/b][/i][b][/b] Into the Hill of Skulls! [/QUOTE]
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