In Hextor's Name (Completed 22 Oct 2004)

[Zaruthustran]

I thus led the way down through this door and into the chambers below. This proved to be a jail complex, consisting of a torture chamber, jailer's room, and five cells. Only one of the cells had any sign of a former occupant: a human skeleton lay sprawled within, clutching a gilt medallion. An undead apparition formed around this skeleton as we entered, but it could not stand against the Will of Hextor. I froze it in fear by invoking his name, allowing Dargrim and Ulfgar to readily destroy it,

Upon examination, the medallion proved to be a worthless bauble, possibly placed as the bait in the apparition's trap. If so, the trap misfired.

Why is it that I suspect that the "bauble" was a keepsake charm from that poor skeleton's sweetheart, and the "undead apparition" was a harmless ghost who pleaded that it be taken to join the resting place of his beloved?

-z

 

[Capellan]

Kull's 14th Report - Part 2

Fortunately, the mass of brutish ogres already engaged in the battle kept the other giant from easily reaching the fray. A classic proof that it is not enough merely to have the troops: one must also know how to use them.

Two blows of my flail crushed the knees of my current foe, and a third snuffed out his life. With a roar, the second giant pushed aside the ogres before him, striking at me with his axe. Again, there was an answer to the roar, and a third giant emerged from the darkness.

Shouting for Ulfgar and Dargrim to put an end to the ogres and their spellcasting ally, I faced the two giants alone. Time after time, the heavy steel of my armour turned aside blows that would have crushed my bones. Time after time, my enemies' lack of protection meant they suffered the fate I had avoided. But the bones of a giant are thick and strong, and it was long before the first of them fell.

If anything, the fight now became more desperate. The last giant struck at me with ever greater ferocity, and the buckled, cracked plates of my armour could no longer protect me as well as they had. Had I been alone, I cannot claim with certainty that I would have triumphed.

But the Church and Our Lord Hextor have provided me with a great ally in Dargrim Ironshield, and he came to my side when the battle was poised on a knife-edge. We struck down the final giant, even as Ulfgar put an end to the last of the ogres.

With the battle won, I was able to examine the cave. In addition to the lizardfolk prisoner, the ogres had been in possession of six leathery eggs, each about three feet across, and a brass-bound book engraved with the words "Cult of the Black Flame". This work identified the eggs as those of a black dragon, due to hatch within days. No doubt this dragon was the same I intend to find and face.

I destroyed the eggs, for dragons of this species are scions of chaos and anarchy, then turned my attention to questioning the prisoner. I had in mind that he might be one of the missing members of the tribe near Saltmarsh, but this proved not the case. The creature was uncooperative, refusing to answer questions regarding its purpose and origin, so I stove in its skull and forced the answers from its corpse.

It seems that the alarm of the Saltmarsh lizardfolk was justified: there is a tribe of renegades to the west of the Beacon, with a force of many hundreds of warriors. Such a threat to the security of the area cannot be countenanced, and it is my intention to put an end to it, as soon as my investigation of the Beacon itself is complete.

I say 'as soon as', for this task is not yet done. The purpose of the magic circle is still unknown, and I intend to learn it, even if I must drag Gnorric forcibly from his home in Torlynn, to do so. Once this is done, I will take any steps needed to render the Beacon safe, before turning my attention to the lizardfolk renegades. This confrontation will need to be properly planned. Given the size of the tribe, Saltmarsh does not have the troops to face them in open battle.

Once the lizardfolk are dispensed with, the threat of the dragon must be my principal concern. It has already tried once to cast this land under the waves, and it is likely that only by slaying it can I reverse the destruction it has already wrought. When I succeed, these lands will become far more prosperous, and - I trust - a worthy example of what Our Lord's teachings have to offer.

Saltmarsh will be strong. Hextor's might and glory will be celebrated. His Church will have the power and respect it is due. I have made this my task, and I will not fail.


In Hextor's Name,

Kull Redfist

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I will continue to enjoy this story hour!

 

[Dungannon]

The creature was uncooperative, refusing to answer questions regarding its purpose and origin, so I stove in its skull and forced the answers from its corpse.

Always looking for the most practical solution, he is.

 

[Lela]

Always looking for the most practical solution, he is.

There may not be a better description of Kull than that.

 

[Capellan]

The Rogue's Gallery was just updated with new stats for Kull and Dargrim.

 

[Thomas Hobbes]

Cyberstreet link! Bad! Bad!

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=37697 is what you want.

 

[daenku]

No. Cyberstreet URL good. It bypasses the big brother network monitor at work & allows me to get to the enworld, bar the front page. Something about not having the word 'forum' in the URL I believe.

 

[Capellan]

Kull's 15th Report - Part 1

Saltmarsh
Third Moon

To: Bishop-General Kartrak Visehart


Report from Kull Redfist


Sir,

With the mystery of the Beacon's magic circle still unresolved, I travelled in person to Torlynn, to ensure that Gnorric this time came as he had been instructed.

I need not have bothered: despite his many claims of arcane knowledge, the wizard could offer no more information about the meaning of the runes, or the purpose of the circle. With no more knowledge than before, I thus decided to activate the device.

Gnorric, despite his protestations, was made to join us on the dais, and I placed the key in the slot. Immediately, an arrow of light appeared, pointing to one of the runes on the outer edge of the circle. Seeing this, and reasoning that the runes might thus have some purpose other than as arcane sigils, I invoked Our Lord Hextor's aid, that he might show me their meaning.

At first, the words displayed seemed to be some kind of foreign tongue; but then I recognised that they were nothing more than childish anagrams, and swiftly deciphered them to read "Mountain", "Shrine", "Swamp", "Island" and "Dungeon".

Moving the arrow to point at "Mountain" seemed to have no effect, but when it was moved to "Shrine", there was a flare of light, and we were instantly transported to a small stone chamber, with a similar dais set into the floor.

Removing the key from thus new circle, I looked around the room, gesturing for the others to remain still. There were four doors leading from the room; each set into the middle of one wall. One door had a leering, demonic face upon it. Between the doors stood four stone statues, one in each corner.

The statues were of an efreet, a sahuagin, a raven and a xorn. This seemed too neatly a reflection of the four elements for it to be coincidence, but it gave no useful indication of the purpose of the room. With no better option than to select a door and go through it, I directed Dargrim to examine the one before us.

As soon as he stepped from the dais, however, each of the four statues unleashed a gout of water, which rapidly began to fill the room, and the demonic face in one door became animate, cackling that there was no escape, and we would soon all be drowned.

The architect of this 'trap' should have spent more time on strengthening the doors.

Moving past Dargrim, I struck the door three times with my flail, leaving it a pile of rubble at my feet. As soon as the door was broken, the flow of water ceased, and vents opened at the base of the statues to drain the fluid away.

Moving on, we came to an area of magical darkness, that resisted our attempts to dispel it. At last, Gnorric's presence was of use to us, as he sent his pet bat into the darkness to scout out the area. The wizard swears that he can communicate with the creature. According to him, it reported that there was a room there, with a deep shaft in the middle, and that the tunnel continued on the other side, where it was light once more. It noticed no other dangers in the area, so I led the way into the darkness, running one hand along the wall so that we would not stray too close to the shaft.

It proved that there was in fact another threat within the darkened room, for a creature of air coalesced around Ulfgar, and began to drag him toward the hole. Dargrim and I both stepped carefully away from the room, striking at the area of Ulfgar's voice and trusting that his armour would turn our blows more readily than the creature could endure them.

As we destroyed the elemental, I heard Gnorric recite the incantation for magic missile. Naturally, lacking a target, the spell failed. The wizard's foolishness is astonishing: what did he propose to do? Attack the darkness?

The tunnel beyond the room lead to nothing more than a dead end, so I began to lead the return to the first chamber. As we reached the dark room, however, it occurred to me that the elemental might have succeeded in dragging previous intruders into the shaft. At the bottom, therefore, there might be useful information or items for my quest.

I resolved, therefore, to go down into the shaft and learn what lay at the bottom.

 

[Lela]

As we destroyed the elemental, I heard Gnorric recite the incantation for magic missile. Naturally, lacking a target, the spell failed. The wizard's foolishness is astonishing: what did he propose to do? Attack the darkness?

Ha, HA!!