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Into the Icy Darkness: The Great Demon War
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<blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1295649" data-attributes="member: 15043"><p>The party rides hard towards Mephys, arriving in the late afternoon. </p><p></p><p>They see the town is surrounded by a 15-foot wooden palisade, with some parts obviously thrown up in a greater hurry than others. As they approach, they call out the name of the rider, and said they ran into him and are here to help. One particularly tall man on the palisades thunders down a call to open the gates, and the party enters the besieged village. It is none other than Sir Santac himself, who lumbers down the palisade ladder and greets them in person, thanking Tarantor that there are now actual fighters in their midst.</p><p></p><p>Sir Santac (whom they later learn is nicknamed the “the Ogre”) is an enormous, rather ugly man with a titanic salt and pepper mane for a beard. For his lack of good looks, he is blessed with a jovial and courageous heart… he earned his nickname from his bad looks, bad jokes, and ferocity on the battlefield.</p><p></p><p>As they talk to Sir Santac, they discover that Mephys was a large farming village of some 800 souls, the center of agriculture in this large gap in the surrounded woods. At present, nearly 1,400 were crammed within its palisades; enough that almost every available space was taken… even the lord’s manor was full of refugees.</p><p></p><p>The party is able to glean that there have been three attacks, all from the west by these “ice creatures,” goblins and hobgoblins with support from enormous vermin. The most recent attack damaged several sections of wall, which are still being hurriedly repaired. The group heads towards the lord’s manor, an oversized stone house with a small tower on one side. </p><p></p><p>Siabrey asks if there’s anyone who might know where these creatures are coming from or what they are doing, and Santac mentions a “Crazy Old Man” whose presently sleeping in the tower of the manor. Tess and Siabrey, curious, decide to go talk to him.</p><p></p><p>They head to the uppermost room of the tower (formerly the lord of the manor’s master bedroom… now overrun with five families). They find a bent old crone of a man looking out the window. A few seconds talking with him shows he is definitely rather senile.</p><p></p><p>“Such nice young ladies. How can I help you?” his high and wispy voice said.</p><p></p><p>“We’re here to try and stop the attacks of the monsters… and we understand you know where they come from?” Tess asked.</p><p></p><p>“Oh? Them? They come from the mountains… led by the white demon they are,” he said, turning back to looking outside. “None of them would listen to me… say I was crazy they did. And now they hide, and the demon laughs.”</p><p></p><p>Both Tess and Siabrey looked at each other, eyebrows raised.</p><p></p><p>“Demon, you say? What demon?” Siabrey began.</p><p></p><p>“Oh… it’s the ice demon. He gives the creatures power, and he possesses a great many gemstones. I saw the great diamond myself many years back, before I had to flee the place, nigh without my life.”</p><p></p><p>Now thoroughly interested, both Siabrey and Tess pressed the man for information, and the more they discovered, the more it sounded like this ‘ice demon’ or whatnot possessed the diamond the countess had been looking for… Tess reasoned that maybe it was giving him power. The old man shrugged, and then leaned close to them.</p><p></p><p>“I do not know what this diamond you are after does… but I do know this: do you know why a rose closes its petals on a cold winters night?” The two shrugged.</p><p></p><p>“It does because if the rose touches the cold, while the darkness of night touches it also, blood will spill across the land.”</p><p></p><p>Siabrey and Tess nodded, not knowing what the gibberish meant. They thanked the old man, who was rather happy that someone had apparently listened to his words, and went downstairs where an apprehensive Sir Santac asked them if they understood any of his ramblings. They replied they did, and Siabrey lightly chastised the Lord for not listening to the elderly, “for they can be filled with much wisdom.” Sir Santac merely shrugged, and led them outside. </p><p></p><p></p><p>The party spent the night in the town, and rose early the next day.</p><p></p><p>It was still a full day before the enemy would supposedly arrive, and with plenty of time left before the sun fell below the horizon, the party, more specifically Tess and Siabrey, resolved to teach the defenders, many of whom were mere commoners, a thing or two about fighting. Both with equal aplomb set to teaching proper ways to load an arrow, and quickly attracted large crowds of emulators. Hidalas also drew watchers as he tried his best to teach his erstwhile pupils how to properly wield melee weapons, with mixed results. He also endured several barbs about his rather unique helmet (As war clerics have a distinctive white feather that rises from the middle of their helmet, an item that Tess and Siabrey repeatedly mocked).</p><p></p><p>Tess in addition attempted to build up the spirit of the groups with stories of courage of common men, while Siabrey went the more practical route of trying to get them to understand simple commands, such as “Fire by volley!” and “Duck!” By the time night fell, most of the peasants defending the walls had spent at least an hour or two watching the two and their impromptu lessons.</p><p></p><p>Siabrey and Sir Santac during this time also sat down and began drawing up strategies for defending the wall… Santac mentioned that most of the previous attacks had come from the west; with feints towards the south… hence most of the defenders would be located there. As the west wall was the zone of greatest danger, Santac wanted the group posted there, near a section of wall that had been just shored up that day. The attacks also always came after nightfall, so the party would be able to enter and leave the city up until sundown.</p><p></p><p>Rogar had run off to the south wall to help with preparations there, and came back sporting yet another new necklace. When Tess grumpily asked him why he’d stolen it, he replied that several woodland elves (who also sought refuge in the town) had spoke rather haughtily to him, and he’d relieved one of them of this necklace, “as a way of getting back and making myself feel a little better.” He offered the necklace to Tess, who refused it.</p><p></p><p>It was around this time that Siabrey noticed her cat was glowing slightly bluish… despite this he mewed and gobbled food as normal, and did not exhibit any untoward or unnatural reactions.</p><p></p><p>Thoroughly unnerved, everyone in the party realized that something big was about to happen…</p><p></p><p><strong>The Defense of Mephys</strong></p><p></p><p>The party found shelter in a small cottage that had been opened by its owners to defenders of the town. All five of them found themselves crammed into a small room with literally no walking space. Tess and Siabrey both noticed that while Hidalas and Rogar had both settled in fairly quickly, Lucius had strewn his books (which had been brought along by Hidalas, in the cleric’s official capacity as the tutor of the young man) around his little area and was busily reading, counter-reading, and most interestingly of all… attempting to braid his hair.</p><p></p><p>Very curious, Siabrey went over to ask him what he was doing, and Lucius commented that according to one of his family’s histories (one of the books strewn out), the warriors of his ancestor Ananias (whose tomb they found him in) braided their hair before battle… a sign of ultimate disdain for the enemy. Lucius said plainly he didn’t know if he’d survive the morrow, and if he went down he wanted to go down as a Caladron warrior. Siabrey cautioned him against such thoughts, while she and Tess properly got the hair braided. </p><p></p><p>Lucius then grumbled that the last few pages of the family history of Ananias was missing. All he knew from conjecture was the man was a fairly brilliant commander, and he wished to find out his end. All Lucius had to go on was family stories that he took on the Empire in Iskeldrun itself, and that he fell in battle. Tess and Siabrey looked at the book in question, and found the last page ended in mid sentence: "Ananias then took up his helm, and his sword, and led his forces north to..." It looked as if the remaining pages had been cleanly removed, not torn out, as if someone had magically removed them.</p><p></p><p>Reasoning that it was too late to argue about such mysteries, Tess told the young man to go to bed, and he promised to after he finished the section in one of the books… one noticeably newer than the others. After a few minutes, the two women realized that Lucius was a true bookworm and would likely remain up all night unless they acted, so they blew his candle out for him. The muffled noises of his pouting went on for a few minutes, until Tess pulled out her harp and began softly singing a song of rest. Within a few moments, the crabby young man was sound asleep. The entire party was sound asleep soon after.</p><p></p><p>Very early the next morning, the party awoke, all affected by a chill. Unable to return to sleep, Siabrey and Tess managed to drag the others awake. The only way the stubborn Lucius rose was once breakfast was promised to him. After asking a few night watchmen, it was determined that the only place serving breakfast was the lord of the manor’s kitchen, which had co-opted most of the cooks within the village to feed all those stuck inside the walls.</p><p></p><p>The party traversed up there, long before anyone else was awake (several members woke up due to an unusual feeling of cold… waking the others in the process), and Tess attempted to peer into the kitchen to see what was being served. The cooks saw her looking, and stated that was being served was “catch all” stew… meat, potatoes, and whatever else could be thrown in (some shuddered to think of small rodents being thrown in) were boiling in several large pots. The party ate the rather plain tasting meal, and decided that the cooks needed better morsels to pick from.</p><p></p><p>Tess, Siabrey, and several locals headed out early that morning on a small hunting expedition, returning later in the day (mid afternoon) with a deer, black duck, a boar, and most peculiarly, a peacock. Tess and Siabrey of course took this opportunity to harass Hidalas as he talked with Santac, offering to replace his white feather with the peacock’s. Hidalas was not amused, though Santac certainly was.</p><p></p><p>As were the cooks, who salivated over the prospects of fresh meat… though one of them almost cried when he realized a fresh duck would be entirely thrown into a stew, as opposed to, “properly roasted and garnished to perfection… a true waste.”</p><p></p><p>As the party stepped outside from delivering the animals, everyone noticed it was starting to snow, and the sky had turned a dull gray. A crisp, biting wind came from the west, and without anyone telling them, defenders began to mount the ramparts. Siabrey attempted to get her cat to stay in the cottage where they had slept, but the small animal clawed itself into her backpack, and stalwartly refused to leave. She groaned, and took him with, admonishing him to stay inside at all times, and finally climbed the rampart to join the others.</p><p></p><p> Soon afterwards, they began noticing a blinking pinpoint in the growing gloom. A few minutes revealed other points following the pinpoint, until everyone realized to their horror what was coming.</p><p></p><p>In the lead was a titanic firefly, the largest anyone in the village or the party had ever seen, followed by four enormous dragonflies. Atop each of these creatures was the small figure of a kobold, holding on for dear life.</p><p></p><p>While most of the villagers did as commanded and held their fire (the range was upwards of 300 feet, far beyond the range of any of their short bows), Siabrey strung her composite longbow and launched. Her first strike smacked the lead firefly, and it bucked, its rider managing to hold on. Tess let loose against one of the dragonflies, striking it as well. Its rider was not as fortunately, and the screams of the kobold echoed as he fell some 50 feet to his death on the fields below.</p><p></p><p>Successive hits were mostly impotent until range had fallen to 100 feet. The entire west wall of defenders opened up, with only arrows from Tess, Siabrey and Hidalas finding their targets. The firefly fell from the sky, as did another dragonfly, both of their riders ending up impaled on the palisade walls. The final kobold survived the barrage, and managed to toss from his mount a small bottle, which landed on one of the cottages and exploded in a ball of flame (alchemist’s fire). Within minutes, the entire cottage and its neighbor were engulfed, and commoners from all across the defensive line were swarming to put the flames out.</p><p></p><p>Another wave of flying creatures swept in, and the party took aim again, downing two of the flying creatures (one rather spectacularly falling into the blazing remains of one of the cottages) and killing the other kobolds. Now with a breather, the party had time to notice something else very alarming.</p><p></p><p>A bright, blue light in the distance, indistinct as if it was in a cloud.</p><p></p><p>Not only had the snow increased from a slight flurry, but a thick fogbank was inching towards the village, the blue light deep within its depths. A village adept placed herself behind the group and began incantations, and the rolling fog halted a mere 30 feet from the palisade wall. Beyond that, the party could only hear the oncoming maelstrom… as the noises of hundreds of boots slamming into the ground rose into a roar, the screeches and howls of hundreds of creatures reaching a crescendo. </p><p></p><p>The party’s training of the townspeople proved good, as no one loosed arrows early this night. From the southern wall, however, a great din arose, roaring, shouting, screaming, wailing and crashing, rising as a gigantic wave. </p><p></p><p>Battle had been joined.</p><p></p><p>The party watched with some apprehension as more and more of the commoners and refugees helping their sector of defense streamed southward, and as Sir Santac himself left their quarter and galloped south to supervise the defense. Even as the roar of battle rose in that direction, the party heard something far more disconcerting to their front.</p><p></p><p>A roar, a shouted, echoed along the line. And out of the mists erupted the goblins.</p><p></p><p>The lead groups were not armed… instead they carried ladders, four to each ladder. They ran towards the wall at full tilt, their eyes clearly fearful at what their masters might do should they fail. Behind them came 12 goblin archers to the groups direct front, others all up and down the walls.</p><p></p><p>The party immediately loosed arrows, with Siabrey’s call to fire echoing along the line. The deepening dark grew darker as a shower of arrows slashed into the ground, cutting up the goblin formations. Yet they continued to run.</p><p></p><p>Tess was the first to notice the group to their front drawing back their short bows, and the other order of the day echoed along the wall.</p><p></p><p>“Duck!”</p><p></p><p>Commoner and party member alike squatted low, as a series of thuds rumbled along the walls as arrows impacted. Siabrey attempted to stand and continue firing, only to receive an arrow wound to her shoulder. It was slight, but enough that she sought cover as well.</p><p></p><p>Once it was apparent the goblins were reloading, the party and others along the wall (by this point, only a ranger, a commoner, and the adept behind the line remained to back up the party in this section of the wall) fired back, shattering the goblin ranks to their immediate front. One goblin ladder crew was completely wiped out, while two others had to consolidate. Within a few seconds, one ladder was completely in place, while another was rising.</p><p></p><p>Acting quickly, Siabrey shoved the rising ladder back, and it fell on its goblin owners. Arrow fire then gutted that crews ranks, and the survivors ran screaming back into the mist.</p><p></p><p>The other ladder’s owners ran once it was up, but instead of pushing it down, Tess resolved to pull it up so it couldn’t be used. After some cajoling, Hidalas came over and helped, and the two slowly managed to get the ladder up out of reach, even as the mists swirled about to reveal numerous tight, dense ranks of hobgoblins preparing to surge forward.</p><p></p><p>Tess and Hidalas finally managed to pull the ladder over the wall, and deposit it rudely on the town side. Just as quickly as they materialized, the hobgoblin ranks disappeared back into the mists, and a loud, deep horn sounded. The party members looked at each other in wonder, and in horror, as their next challenge came from the mists.</p><p></p><p>Two enormous stag beetles, each at least 20 feet long, came from the mists and charged the wall. Desperately the party launched arrows at them, many of the pieces glancing off of the thick carapaces. The first beetle impacted the wall, causing the whole of this section of palisade to shudder. When the section hit, a ten-foot wide section of the wall snapped free from its sister sections and fell backwards. </p><p></p><p>Tess, Lucius and Siabrey by this point had found weak points in the beetle’s armor… a crack in their carapace just behind the head and before the body. Their arrows aimed there went true, and while one beetle retreated off into the mists, their fire brought down the second. They had little time to celebrate, as their enemy began moving to exploit the gap...</p><p></p><p>Breaking out of the mists was a dense group of ten hobgoblin warriors. Six were clad in dark chain shirts, far heavier than any normal hobgoblin armor. Four were clad in dark half-plate, with strange idols strapped onto their backs. All were armed with either long swords or bastard swords, along with shields. They were up against six fighters (all 2nd level) and four hobgoblin blackguards (all 1st level).</p><p></p><p>The party’s arrow fire redoubled, and two of the fighters fell before they reached the walls. The others however, formed a dense mass and started to pass through the wall. Sir Santac himself returned to this section of the wall, and desperately began trying to hold them himself.</p><p></p><p>The mists swirled again, and another form emerged. An enormous spider, this one glowing a bright blue in the gloom. Atop its spindly form was mounted a creature in dark full plate, two enormous horns mounted on his helm. In his hands was a massive great sword, serrated and wicked. He launched himself at the wall with a snarl, his spider racing forward with a scream (hobgoblin blackguard, lvl 3, atop an intelligent monstrous huge ice spider). </p><p></p><p>Tess and Siabrey both drew their bows, and for a moment, the clashes of battle in the fallen section of wall disappeared. Hidalas’ calls to shoot at the blackguards vanished, the snow falling into their eyes melted away. Both saw only one thing in their vision: a gap in the armor of the oncoming rider of death, between his helm and his breastplate, no wider than the thickness of a thumb. Both drew their bows, and let loose simultaneously.</p><p></p><p>Their arrows flew straight and true, and as trusted sisters slammed side by side into the neck of the enemy commander. The creature did not have time or breath to scream, and flew backwards off its mount, landing ignominiously on the ground in a fluff of snow. (Double criticals… need I say more? <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>The creatures mount screeched onward, enraged at its masters fall. It reached the palisade wall, and began to climb it, even as shouldered off more arrows from Siabrey and Tess and blows from Hidalas. It mounted the palisade wall, and with a screech, grabbed Siabrey, biting hard.</p><p></p><p>She felt a stinging, biting pain like none she felt before, yet managed to break herself free. As her friends tried to distract the beast from her, she swung at it in desperation. It was then that both she and Tess noticed Lucius dropped his sword and shield, his face looking blank. They both were sure he was going to run.</p><p></p><p>It was then his face changed… into something frightening to behold, and a voice from seemingly another place, and another time, filled with something horrible, echoed from his lips, “Leave her alone!” There wasn't really enough time for the act to sink in their minds until after the battle; it was then that some party members began to wonder how exactly their 15 year old warrior companion had <em>commanded</em> a large, intelligent monster to flee...</p><p></p><p>The spider stopped its assault, and with another screech, spun around, falling off the palisade wall and fleeing into the swirling mists, even as Siabrey began to feel weaker. Her body began to shake, and she could hardly grip her bow enough to shoot. Nonetheless, she and Tess began covering fire for Sir Santac, who was holding his own. The ranger along the wall came down and launched himself into the fray, as did Hidalas. The three began to shove the monsters back, even as Tess shot one through the helm and Siabrey managed to down one with an arrow to the heart. The blackguards stood, fought, and died in the gap, the last falling beneath the hooves of Santac’s horse.</p><p></p><p>The mists swirled a final time, as a group of hobgoblin archers came forth, and issued two volleys of arrows before the sniping of the party forced them to withdraw, and another horn sounded. Soon afterwards the ground began to quake again with the sounds of moving feet. Instead of increasing and breaking out of the mists, the sounds began to die away. The blue light faded, and the mists began to withdraw. A ragged cheer echoed up from the lines, as it became apparent that Mephys would survive the night.</p><p></p><p>Siabrey spent the next thirty minutes or so shaking from the spiders poison, until eventually her body, worn by the repeated seizures, lapsed into unconsciousness, which delved even further into a deep deep sleep… the state that would help her heal the most, in the opinion of Hidalas the cleric and other healers who checked her over.</p><p></p><p>Tess led a ragged party to search the remains of the dead. Siabrey’s cat jumped out of her sack as she sat, panting and shaking by the wall, and followed Tess. They found a treasure trove of coins and gems. More importantly, Tess also found three unusual statues, all carved out of ivory with sapphires for the creature’s eyes and diamonds for its hair. The creature depicted was thin, human-like, with large, outstretched wings. Realizing this was their god; Tess took the idols back into town.</p><p></p><p>It was at this moment the cat spoke… <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite12" alt="o_O" title="Er... what? o_O" loading="lazy" data-shortname="o_O" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Emperor Valerian, post: 1295649, member: 15043"] The party rides hard towards Mephys, arriving in the late afternoon. They see the town is surrounded by a 15-foot wooden palisade, with some parts obviously thrown up in a greater hurry than others. As they approach, they call out the name of the rider, and said they ran into him and are here to help. One particularly tall man on the palisades thunders down a call to open the gates, and the party enters the besieged village. It is none other than Sir Santac himself, who lumbers down the palisade ladder and greets them in person, thanking Tarantor that there are now actual fighters in their midst. Sir Santac (whom they later learn is nicknamed the “the Ogre”) is an enormous, rather ugly man with a titanic salt and pepper mane for a beard. For his lack of good looks, he is blessed with a jovial and courageous heart… he earned his nickname from his bad looks, bad jokes, and ferocity on the battlefield. As they talk to Sir Santac, they discover that Mephys was a large farming village of some 800 souls, the center of agriculture in this large gap in the surrounded woods. At present, nearly 1,400 were crammed within its palisades; enough that almost every available space was taken… even the lord’s manor was full of refugees. The party is able to glean that there have been three attacks, all from the west by these “ice creatures,” goblins and hobgoblins with support from enormous vermin. The most recent attack damaged several sections of wall, which are still being hurriedly repaired. The group heads towards the lord’s manor, an oversized stone house with a small tower on one side. Siabrey asks if there’s anyone who might know where these creatures are coming from or what they are doing, and Santac mentions a “Crazy Old Man” whose presently sleeping in the tower of the manor. Tess and Siabrey, curious, decide to go talk to him. They head to the uppermost room of the tower (formerly the lord of the manor’s master bedroom… now overrun with five families). They find a bent old crone of a man looking out the window. A few seconds talking with him shows he is definitely rather senile. “Such nice young ladies. How can I help you?” his high and wispy voice said. “We’re here to try and stop the attacks of the monsters… and we understand you know where they come from?” Tess asked. “Oh? Them? They come from the mountains… led by the white demon they are,” he said, turning back to looking outside. “None of them would listen to me… say I was crazy they did. And now they hide, and the demon laughs.” Both Tess and Siabrey looked at each other, eyebrows raised. “Demon, you say? What demon?” Siabrey began. “Oh… it’s the ice demon. He gives the creatures power, and he possesses a great many gemstones. I saw the great diamond myself many years back, before I had to flee the place, nigh without my life.” Now thoroughly interested, both Siabrey and Tess pressed the man for information, and the more they discovered, the more it sounded like this ‘ice demon’ or whatnot possessed the diamond the countess had been looking for… Tess reasoned that maybe it was giving him power. The old man shrugged, and then leaned close to them. “I do not know what this diamond you are after does… but I do know this: do you know why a rose closes its petals on a cold winters night?” The two shrugged. “It does because if the rose touches the cold, while the darkness of night touches it also, blood will spill across the land.” Siabrey and Tess nodded, not knowing what the gibberish meant. They thanked the old man, who was rather happy that someone had apparently listened to his words, and went downstairs where an apprehensive Sir Santac asked them if they understood any of his ramblings. They replied they did, and Siabrey lightly chastised the Lord for not listening to the elderly, “for they can be filled with much wisdom.” Sir Santac merely shrugged, and led them outside. The party spent the night in the town, and rose early the next day. It was still a full day before the enemy would supposedly arrive, and with plenty of time left before the sun fell below the horizon, the party, more specifically Tess and Siabrey, resolved to teach the defenders, many of whom were mere commoners, a thing or two about fighting. Both with equal aplomb set to teaching proper ways to load an arrow, and quickly attracted large crowds of emulators. Hidalas also drew watchers as he tried his best to teach his erstwhile pupils how to properly wield melee weapons, with mixed results. He also endured several barbs about his rather unique helmet (As war clerics have a distinctive white feather that rises from the middle of their helmet, an item that Tess and Siabrey repeatedly mocked). Tess in addition attempted to build up the spirit of the groups with stories of courage of common men, while Siabrey went the more practical route of trying to get them to understand simple commands, such as “Fire by volley!” and “Duck!” By the time night fell, most of the peasants defending the walls had spent at least an hour or two watching the two and their impromptu lessons. Siabrey and Sir Santac during this time also sat down and began drawing up strategies for defending the wall… Santac mentioned that most of the previous attacks had come from the west; with feints towards the south… hence most of the defenders would be located there. As the west wall was the zone of greatest danger, Santac wanted the group posted there, near a section of wall that had been just shored up that day. The attacks also always came after nightfall, so the party would be able to enter and leave the city up until sundown. Rogar had run off to the south wall to help with preparations there, and came back sporting yet another new necklace. When Tess grumpily asked him why he’d stolen it, he replied that several woodland elves (who also sought refuge in the town) had spoke rather haughtily to him, and he’d relieved one of them of this necklace, “as a way of getting back and making myself feel a little better.” He offered the necklace to Tess, who refused it. It was around this time that Siabrey noticed her cat was glowing slightly bluish… despite this he mewed and gobbled food as normal, and did not exhibit any untoward or unnatural reactions. Thoroughly unnerved, everyone in the party realized that something big was about to happen… [b]The Defense of Mephys[/b] The party found shelter in a small cottage that had been opened by its owners to defenders of the town. All five of them found themselves crammed into a small room with literally no walking space. Tess and Siabrey both noticed that while Hidalas and Rogar had both settled in fairly quickly, Lucius had strewn his books (which had been brought along by Hidalas, in the cleric’s official capacity as the tutor of the young man) around his little area and was busily reading, counter-reading, and most interestingly of all… attempting to braid his hair. Very curious, Siabrey went over to ask him what he was doing, and Lucius commented that according to one of his family’s histories (one of the books strewn out), the warriors of his ancestor Ananias (whose tomb they found him in) braided their hair before battle… a sign of ultimate disdain for the enemy. Lucius said plainly he didn’t know if he’d survive the morrow, and if he went down he wanted to go down as a Caladron warrior. Siabrey cautioned him against such thoughts, while she and Tess properly got the hair braided. Lucius then grumbled that the last few pages of the family history of Ananias was missing. All he knew from conjecture was the man was a fairly brilliant commander, and he wished to find out his end. All Lucius had to go on was family stories that he took on the Empire in Iskeldrun itself, and that he fell in battle. Tess and Siabrey looked at the book in question, and found the last page ended in mid sentence: "Ananias then took up his helm, and his sword, and led his forces north to..." It looked as if the remaining pages had been cleanly removed, not torn out, as if someone had magically removed them. Reasoning that it was too late to argue about such mysteries, Tess told the young man to go to bed, and he promised to after he finished the section in one of the books… one noticeably newer than the others. After a few minutes, the two women realized that Lucius was a true bookworm and would likely remain up all night unless they acted, so they blew his candle out for him. The muffled noises of his pouting went on for a few minutes, until Tess pulled out her harp and began softly singing a song of rest. Within a few moments, the crabby young man was sound asleep. The entire party was sound asleep soon after. Very early the next morning, the party awoke, all affected by a chill. Unable to return to sleep, Siabrey and Tess managed to drag the others awake. The only way the stubborn Lucius rose was once breakfast was promised to him. After asking a few night watchmen, it was determined that the only place serving breakfast was the lord of the manor’s kitchen, which had co-opted most of the cooks within the village to feed all those stuck inside the walls. The party traversed up there, long before anyone else was awake (several members woke up due to an unusual feeling of cold… waking the others in the process), and Tess attempted to peer into the kitchen to see what was being served. The cooks saw her looking, and stated that was being served was “catch all” stew… meat, potatoes, and whatever else could be thrown in (some shuddered to think of small rodents being thrown in) were boiling in several large pots. The party ate the rather plain tasting meal, and decided that the cooks needed better morsels to pick from. Tess, Siabrey, and several locals headed out early that morning on a small hunting expedition, returning later in the day (mid afternoon) with a deer, black duck, a boar, and most peculiarly, a peacock. Tess and Siabrey of course took this opportunity to harass Hidalas as he talked with Santac, offering to replace his white feather with the peacock’s. Hidalas was not amused, though Santac certainly was. As were the cooks, who salivated over the prospects of fresh meat… though one of them almost cried when he realized a fresh duck would be entirely thrown into a stew, as opposed to, “properly roasted and garnished to perfection… a true waste.” As the party stepped outside from delivering the animals, everyone noticed it was starting to snow, and the sky had turned a dull gray. A crisp, biting wind came from the west, and without anyone telling them, defenders began to mount the ramparts. Siabrey attempted to get her cat to stay in the cottage where they had slept, but the small animal clawed itself into her backpack, and stalwartly refused to leave. She groaned, and took him with, admonishing him to stay inside at all times, and finally climbed the rampart to join the others. Soon afterwards, they began noticing a blinking pinpoint in the growing gloom. A few minutes revealed other points following the pinpoint, until everyone realized to their horror what was coming. In the lead was a titanic firefly, the largest anyone in the village or the party had ever seen, followed by four enormous dragonflies. Atop each of these creatures was the small figure of a kobold, holding on for dear life. While most of the villagers did as commanded and held their fire (the range was upwards of 300 feet, far beyond the range of any of their short bows), Siabrey strung her composite longbow and launched. Her first strike smacked the lead firefly, and it bucked, its rider managing to hold on. Tess let loose against one of the dragonflies, striking it as well. Its rider was not as fortunately, and the screams of the kobold echoed as he fell some 50 feet to his death on the fields below. Successive hits were mostly impotent until range had fallen to 100 feet. The entire west wall of defenders opened up, with only arrows from Tess, Siabrey and Hidalas finding their targets. The firefly fell from the sky, as did another dragonfly, both of their riders ending up impaled on the palisade walls. The final kobold survived the barrage, and managed to toss from his mount a small bottle, which landed on one of the cottages and exploded in a ball of flame (alchemist’s fire). Within minutes, the entire cottage and its neighbor were engulfed, and commoners from all across the defensive line were swarming to put the flames out. Another wave of flying creatures swept in, and the party took aim again, downing two of the flying creatures (one rather spectacularly falling into the blazing remains of one of the cottages) and killing the other kobolds. Now with a breather, the party had time to notice something else very alarming. A bright, blue light in the distance, indistinct as if it was in a cloud. Not only had the snow increased from a slight flurry, but a thick fogbank was inching towards the village, the blue light deep within its depths. A village adept placed herself behind the group and began incantations, and the rolling fog halted a mere 30 feet from the palisade wall. Beyond that, the party could only hear the oncoming maelstrom… as the noises of hundreds of boots slamming into the ground rose into a roar, the screeches and howls of hundreds of creatures reaching a crescendo. The party’s training of the townspeople proved good, as no one loosed arrows early this night. From the southern wall, however, a great din arose, roaring, shouting, screaming, wailing and crashing, rising as a gigantic wave. Battle had been joined. The party watched with some apprehension as more and more of the commoners and refugees helping their sector of defense streamed southward, and as Sir Santac himself left their quarter and galloped south to supervise the defense. Even as the roar of battle rose in that direction, the party heard something far more disconcerting to their front. A roar, a shouted, echoed along the line. And out of the mists erupted the goblins. The lead groups were not armed… instead they carried ladders, four to each ladder. They ran towards the wall at full tilt, their eyes clearly fearful at what their masters might do should they fail. Behind them came 12 goblin archers to the groups direct front, others all up and down the walls. The party immediately loosed arrows, with Siabrey’s call to fire echoing along the line. The deepening dark grew darker as a shower of arrows slashed into the ground, cutting up the goblin formations. Yet they continued to run. Tess was the first to notice the group to their front drawing back their short bows, and the other order of the day echoed along the wall. “Duck!” Commoner and party member alike squatted low, as a series of thuds rumbled along the walls as arrows impacted. Siabrey attempted to stand and continue firing, only to receive an arrow wound to her shoulder. It was slight, but enough that she sought cover as well. Once it was apparent the goblins were reloading, the party and others along the wall (by this point, only a ranger, a commoner, and the adept behind the line remained to back up the party in this section of the wall) fired back, shattering the goblin ranks to their immediate front. One goblin ladder crew was completely wiped out, while two others had to consolidate. Within a few seconds, one ladder was completely in place, while another was rising. Acting quickly, Siabrey shoved the rising ladder back, and it fell on its goblin owners. Arrow fire then gutted that crews ranks, and the survivors ran screaming back into the mist. The other ladder’s owners ran once it was up, but instead of pushing it down, Tess resolved to pull it up so it couldn’t be used. After some cajoling, Hidalas came over and helped, and the two slowly managed to get the ladder up out of reach, even as the mists swirled about to reveal numerous tight, dense ranks of hobgoblins preparing to surge forward. Tess and Hidalas finally managed to pull the ladder over the wall, and deposit it rudely on the town side. Just as quickly as they materialized, the hobgoblin ranks disappeared back into the mists, and a loud, deep horn sounded. The party members looked at each other in wonder, and in horror, as their next challenge came from the mists. Two enormous stag beetles, each at least 20 feet long, came from the mists and charged the wall. Desperately the party launched arrows at them, many of the pieces glancing off of the thick carapaces. The first beetle impacted the wall, causing the whole of this section of palisade to shudder. When the section hit, a ten-foot wide section of the wall snapped free from its sister sections and fell backwards. Tess, Lucius and Siabrey by this point had found weak points in the beetle’s armor… a crack in their carapace just behind the head and before the body. Their arrows aimed there went true, and while one beetle retreated off into the mists, their fire brought down the second. They had little time to celebrate, as their enemy began moving to exploit the gap... Breaking out of the mists was a dense group of ten hobgoblin warriors. Six were clad in dark chain shirts, far heavier than any normal hobgoblin armor. Four were clad in dark half-plate, with strange idols strapped onto their backs. All were armed with either long swords or bastard swords, along with shields. They were up against six fighters (all 2nd level) and four hobgoblin blackguards (all 1st level). The party’s arrow fire redoubled, and two of the fighters fell before they reached the walls. The others however, formed a dense mass and started to pass through the wall. Sir Santac himself returned to this section of the wall, and desperately began trying to hold them himself. The mists swirled again, and another form emerged. An enormous spider, this one glowing a bright blue in the gloom. Atop its spindly form was mounted a creature in dark full plate, two enormous horns mounted on his helm. In his hands was a massive great sword, serrated and wicked. He launched himself at the wall with a snarl, his spider racing forward with a scream (hobgoblin blackguard, lvl 3, atop an intelligent monstrous huge ice spider). Tess and Siabrey both drew their bows, and for a moment, the clashes of battle in the fallen section of wall disappeared. Hidalas’ calls to shoot at the blackguards vanished, the snow falling into their eyes melted away. Both saw only one thing in their vision: a gap in the armor of the oncoming rider of death, between his helm and his breastplate, no wider than the thickness of a thumb. Both drew their bows, and let loose simultaneously. Their arrows flew straight and true, and as trusted sisters slammed side by side into the neck of the enemy commander. The creature did not have time or breath to scream, and flew backwards off its mount, landing ignominiously on the ground in a fluff of snow. (Double criticals… need I say more? :) ) The creatures mount screeched onward, enraged at its masters fall. It reached the palisade wall, and began to climb it, even as shouldered off more arrows from Siabrey and Tess and blows from Hidalas. It mounted the palisade wall, and with a screech, grabbed Siabrey, biting hard. She felt a stinging, biting pain like none she felt before, yet managed to break herself free. As her friends tried to distract the beast from her, she swung at it in desperation. It was then that both she and Tess noticed Lucius dropped his sword and shield, his face looking blank. They both were sure he was going to run. It was then his face changed… into something frightening to behold, and a voice from seemingly another place, and another time, filled with something horrible, echoed from his lips, “Leave her alone!” There wasn't really enough time for the act to sink in their minds until after the battle; it was then that some party members began to wonder how exactly their 15 year old warrior companion had [i]commanded[/i] a large, intelligent monster to flee... The spider stopped its assault, and with another screech, spun around, falling off the palisade wall and fleeing into the swirling mists, even as Siabrey began to feel weaker. Her body began to shake, and she could hardly grip her bow enough to shoot. Nonetheless, she and Tess began covering fire for Sir Santac, who was holding his own. The ranger along the wall came down and launched himself into the fray, as did Hidalas. The three began to shove the monsters back, even as Tess shot one through the helm and Siabrey managed to down one with an arrow to the heart. The blackguards stood, fought, and died in the gap, the last falling beneath the hooves of Santac’s horse. The mists swirled a final time, as a group of hobgoblin archers came forth, and issued two volleys of arrows before the sniping of the party forced them to withdraw, and another horn sounded. Soon afterwards the ground began to quake again with the sounds of moving feet. Instead of increasing and breaking out of the mists, the sounds began to die away. The blue light faded, and the mists began to withdraw. A ragged cheer echoed up from the lines, as it became apparent that Mephys would survive the night. Siabrey spent the next thirty minutes or so shaking from the spiders poison, until eventually her body, worn by the repeated seizures, lapsed into unconsciousness, which delved even further into a deep deep sleep… the state that would help her heal the most, in the opinion of Hidalas the cleric and other healers who checked her over. Tess led a ragged party to search the remains of the dead. Siabrey’s cat jumped out of her sack as she sat, panting and shaking by the wall, and followed Tess. They found a treasure trove of coins and gems. More importantly, Tess also found three unusual statues, all carved out of ivory with sapphires for the creature’s eyes and diamonds for its hair. The creature depicted was thin, human-like, with large, outstretched wings. Realizing this was their god; Tess took the idols back into town. It was at this moment the cat spoke… O.o [/QUOTE]
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