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Steel Dragon's "Tales of Orea"
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<blockquote data-quote="steeldragons" data-source="post: 5944549" data-attributes="member: 92511"><p>Some of the party stood, staring agape at Alaria who leaned heavily upon her staff. Some stood staring agape at the old man in the cell who had, moments before been twisted floating horror.</p><p></p><p>"Give me the keys!" Haelan said, breaking the post magical silence.</p><p></p><p>"Wut? Nuh uh! Could still be some crazed magician or something." Duor protested even as Braddok reached over and grabbed the keys away from the dwarf.</p><p></p><p>After some fumbling, they found the correct one and Haelan raced inside the cell.</p><p></p><p>"He's alive. Barely." Haelan said. "Uh, Fen, you should look at this." the daelvar said with some shock before attempting to invoke his goddess to heal the man's old form.</p><p></p><p>The druid moved into the cell and the daelvar brushed aside the man's lengthy wiry and filthy beard, around the man's neck, clasping the remnants of his robes was the crescent moon set in a half-sun wooden carved symbol of Fen's Ancient Holy Order of Mistwood.</p><p></p><p>"What? How is that possible?" Fen said, sincerely sorrowful that he had attacted one of his brothers of the Order.</p><p></p><p>Haelan concluded his simple prayer and the man coughed...hacked really...and turned his head, still not opening his eyes. The daelvar recoiled at the sight of the man's eyes being<em> sewn </em>shut. Lines of long blackened dried blood streaked part way down his dirty cheeks.</p><p></p><p>"Who's there?" he said meekly. The old man threw his arms up in a defensive, full of fear, manner. It was then the companions could plainly see, the man had no hands. The skin covering his wrists was obviously bruised and raw looking.</p><p></p><p>"<em>Brother. Forgive me! I am sorry to have attacked you. Who are you? What brought you to this awful place? How did you end up in that monstrous form?!</em>" <<em>translated from the Druidic tongue</em>> Fen said, full of concern. </p><p></p><p>Haelan edged away, the sound of the archaic unknown language bit at his ears.</p><p></p><p>"<em>Brother?! You are of the Holy Order? Tell me the names of the sacred 10.</em>" the old man said, staring through closed eyelids.</p><p></p><p>Fen looked quizzically at the old man. He knew the sacred tongue...but..."<em>Brother, there are 13 sacred trees.</em>" he replied.</p><p></p><p>The old man coughed and grinned, close lipped. "Just so." he said in the common language of men.</p><p></p><p>"I am...Brother...Father?...I am here with others, my friends and companions, not of the order. Can you speak the Common tongue?" Fen asked gently.</p><p></p><p>"I can." he coughed again. "Ye hast undone the most cruel of curses. I would thank ye. But I fear, mine time is short. I am to finally return to the Cycle...long denied me." the old man said.</p><p></p><p>"Haelan! Can you heal him more?!" Fen turned to the daelvar who had moved back to the cell door.</p><p></p><p>"I...I can..."the Hilltender began to take a couple of steps toward the druids.</p><p></p><p>"Nay, Brother. Nay. Mine time is long done. I've been kept by the Deceiver for longer than I can recall. Twas a fit fate for my folly." the old man replied and then descended into another fit of hacking cough.</p><p></p><p>"Are....are you the druid that brought the Dark One to Gorathgraard?" Erevan asked, without any hint of emotion.</p><p></p><p>"Erevan! That would not be possible...even with magic." Fen said. It was the first time her realised later that he'd ever spoken to Erevan in haste or anger.</p><p></p><p>"Nay, my Brother...or my son perhaps? Your voice sounds as young men sound...Do not speak in anger. Your friend...elf is he?...he is correct. I am Ornfael the Long Cursed." the old man said.</p><p></p><p>"It was by my folly that I allowed the Dark One, Desaarthal, to come unhindered into Gorathgraard. It is my folly that I brought about the destruction of the Gleaming Land....and betrayed, unknownst to me, my lord's trust." </p><p></p><p>Now the man seemed wracked with a twitching seizure. "My time is not long." he said. "What is the year?" </p><p></p><p>"Nearly 5 centuries A.G." Alaria replied. "After the Godswar by today's accounting." she added, realizing, if this druid was actually from the time of Evaranthriine and Amthyriine, he would have no idea what "A.G." was.</p><p></p><p>"Godswar? The Gods of Men had a war? heh *hack* heh heh heh. Typical."</p><p></p><p>"High Father <Fen now realizing this druid could be no "Brother">, we can save you. you may again work the Holy Order's will." Fen said desperately.</p><p></p><p>"Nay. *cough* Nay. I did the Order's will...once...and brought about the fall of Gorathgraard. In seeking the Balance, in our hubris, we released a great evil the world was not prepared for. I will return now, to the Cycle and continue in a form that, I pray to the Balance, shall not bring more evil to Orea." the old man said. His face turned to the floor.</p><p></p><p>"Ornfael, might you have knowledge of a way out of this place?" Alaria asked gently.</p><p></p><p>"Alas,...wizard? Unless I miss my guess...I have been a creature of her design for more ages than your Godswar. Indeed, the time in this cell has passed without accounting of the sun or stars....I will miss the stars...but see them again."</p><p></p><p>"The time is short...give me your spear, son of Oak." Ornfael said.</p><p></p><p>Fen handed to him without question or thought. As soon as it entered the old man's hand, the blade flared into green flames much larger and brighter than Fen's enchantments ever did.</p><p></p><p>The old man began, again, speaking in the sacred tongue, loudly. Even Fen had to cover his ears! The syllables he intoned meant nothing to the young half-elf. </p><p></p><p>The corridor, perhaps the whole mountain, seemed to shake with an alarming force. Several of the companions were thrown from their feet by the shuddering floor. Duor cursed under his beard, expecting a cave-in.</p><p></p><p>As the old man's chanting ended, the flame at the tip of his spear spread down the shaft and engulfed, first himself and then Fen as well.</p><p></p><p>The companions were helpless to attempt to aid their friend. They could barely stand and shielded their faces from the green flames that licked even to the outside of the bars.</p><p></p><p>Then everything subsided. Where the old man had been sat a small lump of dirt atop which grew bright green grass, Fen's spear laying beside it. The druid himself seemed completely unharmed.</p><p></p><p>From the mound, a sprout shot up and grew with incredible speed to become a great, wooden trunk. The pointed branches and leafing boughs forced their way through the ceiling and rumbled for some time before ending. </p><p></p><p>Fen took up his spear and looked, in complete and utter shock up where the thick oaken trunk had pressed through the ceiling. Branches and bough struck out, periodically generating a wide enough opening that one could climb up through the hole. At the end of the twisting passage, Fen could see the bright light of real sun ad feel the sudden flow of fresh air. An...exit?!</p><p></p><p><em>*Take them.</em>* the voice of Ornfael sounded in Fen's mind. The half-elf looked down about the base of the tree trunk that now took up nearly half of the cell. There were a dozen acorns laying about the grassy mound. *<em>Use them with wisdom. Use them to restore the Balance I have sorely undone.</em>* </p><p></p><p>Fen did as he was bid. And then, again, looked up through the huge tree's opening.</p><p></p><p>The sunlight on his face and fresh air that streamed down into the stale dungeon caused the others to come into the cell.</p><p></p><p>Erevan first of all. He looked to Alaria and nodded an affirmative. "We can get out through this."</p><p></p><p>"Thank you, Ornfael. May your Balance bless you." Alaria said in relief.</p><p></p><p>"Buh...wutabout this magic door?" Festus asked looking at the thick door engraved with arcane symbols.</p><p></p><p>"Wut about the dragon's treasure?! I'm not goin' anywhere! We're here! Braved the swamp. Beat the behir. Found the traitorous druid...There's that other opening at the end of the stairs...Hells we even killed that crazy witch!" Duor argued. His voice faded off as one companion after the other began climbing the thick twisting tree.</p><p></p><p>There were thin branches or knobs in the bark or thick boughs that made getting hand and foot holds very simple.</p><p></p><p>Festus was the last standing at the base of the tree with the dwarf. He looked at his bearded companion and shrugged before taking a hand hold and beginning to climb the trunk.</p><p></p><p>"NO! No, Festus stay here! We'll do it ourselves! We'll do it together!" the dwarf implored in a manner he had never done before. A dwarf to beg, Duor thought to himself in disgust.</p><p></p><p>The sound of garbled hoops and hollers sounded through the corridor. Goblins...or goblinoids. Large numbers by the amount of noise.</p><p></p><p>This'll do it. Thought the dwarf. I'll get into a fight. The others will be forced to come to my rescue...daft wanna-be heroes. Stupid sorceress. Sentimental hairfoot. This'll do, nicely.</p><p></p><p>The dwarf raced out of the cell of Ornfael and ran to the bend in the cell corridor. Many tens of creatures were running back and forth passed the dungeons' entrance.</p><p></p><p>"<em>Here! They're here! Hurry! Hurry! They're freeing the druid! HOOMUNS! HOOMUNS n' ELVES!</em>" Duor shouted down the corridor in goblin.</p><p></p><p>Seeing more than a few goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears hear him and enter the dungeon corridor, shouting commands to others as they came.</p><p></p><p>The dwarf smirked to himself and ducked back around the bend, unnoticed. He backed into the now completely shadowed alcove across the way from the druid's cell.</p><p></p><p>His heel dipped over the edge of something.</p><p></p><p>Duor found himself plummeting into darkness only to come to a hard landing and begin tumbling, ass over head, to come to another free fall and another hard, metal hard, landing (inside an iron mining cart though he had no conscious awareness of that).</p><p></p><p>Consciousness slipped out of the dwarf's grasp as easily as had the lip of the circular opening in the floor that was used to transport Rach'sha's feedings to the cart below (which the goblins in the lower chamber would then push down the shaft through which the party entered and dump into the behir's cavern.)</p><p></p><p> <<em>DM's note: 2 failed Dex checks later</em>. <em>Think there was even a botched "climb walls" check, just to be nice- maybe he could have ended or slowed his descent before dumping into the cart? Nope. Luck o' the dice, dear readers. Luck. O'. thuh. Dice. "Best laid plans" n' all o' that.</em>></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="steeldragons, post: 5944549, member: 92511"] Some of the party stood, staring agape at Alaria who leaned heavily upon her staff. Some stood staring agape at the old man in the cell who had, moments before been twisted floating horror. "Give me the keys!" Haelan said, breaking the post magical silence. "Wut? Nuh uh! Could still be some crazed magician or something." Duor protested even as Braddok reached over and grabbed the keys away from the dwarf. After some fumbling, they found the correct one and Haelan raced inside the cell. "He's alive. Barely." Haelan said. "Uh, Fen, you should look at this." the daelvar said with some shock before attempting to invoke his goddess to heal the man's old form. The druid moved into the cell and the daelvar brushed aside the man's lengthy wiry and filthy beard, around the man's neck, clasping the remnants of his robes was the crescent moon set in a half-sun wooden carved symbol of Fen's Ancient Holy Order of Mistwood. "What? How is that possible?" Fen said, sincerely sorrowful that he had attacted one of his brothers of the Order. Haelan concluded his simple prayer and the man coughed...hacked really...and turned his head, still not opening his eyes. The daelvar recoiled at the sight of the man's eyes being[I] sewn [/I]shut. Lines of long blackened dried blood streaked part way down his dirty cheeks. "Who's there?" he said meekly. The old man threw his arms up in a defensive, full of fear, manner. It was then the companions could plainly see, the man had no hands. The skin covering his wrists was obviously bruised and raw looking. "[I]Brother. Forgive me! I am sorry to have attacked you. Who are you? What brought you to this awful place? How did you end up in that monstrous form?![/I]" <[I]translated from the Druidic tongue[/I]> Fen said, full of concern. Haelan edged away, the sound of the archaic unknown language bit at his ears. "[I]Brother?! You are of the Holy Order? Tell me the names of the sacred 10.[/I]" the old man said, staring through closed eyelids. Fen looked quizzically at the old man. He knew the sacred tongue...but..."[I]Brother, there are 13 sacred trees.[/I]" he replied. The old man coughed and grinned, close lipped. "Just so." he said in the common language of men. "I am...Brother...Father?...I am here with others, my friends and companions, not of the order. Can you speak the Common tongue?" Fen asked gently. "I can." he coughed again. "Ye hast undone the most cruel of curses. I would thank ye. But I fear, mine time is short. I am to finally return to the Cycle...long denied me." the old man said. "Haelan! Can you heal him more?!" Fen turned to the daelvar who had moved back to the cell door. "I...I can..."the Hilltender began to take a couple of steps toward the druids. "Nay, Brother. Nay. Mine time is long done. I've been kept by the Deceiver for longer than I can recall. Twas a fit fate for my folly." the old man replied and then descended into another fit of hacking cough. "Are....are you the druid that brought the Dark One to Gorathgraard?" Erevan asked, without any hint of emotion. "Erevan! That would not be possible...even with magic." Fen said. It was the first time her realised later that he'd ever spoken to Erevan in haste or anger. "Nay, my Brother...or my son perhaps? Your voice sounds as young men sound...Do not speak in anger. Your friend...elf is he?...he is correct. I am Ornfael the Long Cursed." the old man said. "It was by my folly that I allowed the Dark One, Desaarthal, to come unhindered into Gorathgraard. It is my folly that I brought about the destruction of the Gleaming Land....and betrayed, unknownst to me, my lord's trust." Now the man seemed wracked with a twitching seizure. "My time is not long." he said. "What is the year?" "Nearly 5 centuries A.G." Alaria replied. "After the Godswar by today's accounting." she added, realizing, if this druid was actually from the time of Evaranthriine and Amthyriine, he would have no idea what "A.G." was. "Godswar? The Gods of Men had a war? heh *hack* heh heh heh. Typical." "High Father <Fen now realizing this druid could be no "Brother">, we can save you. you may again work the Holy Order's will." Fen said desperately. "Nay. *cough* Nay. I did the Order's will...once...and brought about the fall of Gorathgraard. In seeking the Balance, in our hubris, we released a great evil the world was not prepared for. I will return now, to the Cycle and continue in a form that, I pray to the Balance, shall not bring more evil to Orea." the old man said. His face turned to the floor. "Ornfael, might you have knowledge of a way out of this place?" Alaria asked gently. "Alas,...wizard? Unless I miss my guess...I have been a creature of her design for more ages than your Godswar. Indeed, the time in this cell has passed without accounting of the sun or stars....I will miss the stars...but see them again." "The time is short...give me your spear, son of Oak." Ornfael said. Fen handed to him without question or thought. As soon as it entered the old man's hand, the blade flared into green flames much larger and brighter than Fen's enchantments ever did. The old man began, again, speaking in the sacred tongue, loudly. Even Fen had to cover his ears! The syllables he intoned meant nothing to the young half-elf. The corridor, perhaps the whole mountain, seemed to shake with an alarming force. Several of the companions were thrown from their feet by the shuddering floor. Duor cursed under his beard, expecting a cave-in. As the old man's chanting ended, the flame at the tip of his spear spread down the shaft and engulfed, first himself and then Fen as well. The companions were helpless to attempt to aid their friend. They could barely stand and shielded their faces from the green flames that licked even to the outside of the bars. Then everything subsided. Where the old man had been sat a small lump of dirt atop which grew bright green grass, Fen's spear laying beside it. The druid himself seemed completely unharmed. From the mound, a sprout shot up and grew with incredible speed to become a great, wooden trunk. The pointed branches and leafing boughs forced their way through the ceiling and rumbled for some time before ending. Fen took up his spear and looked, in complete and utter shock up where the thick oaken trunk had pressed through the ceiling. Branches and bough struck out, periodically generating a wide enough opening that one could climb up through the hole. At the end of the twisting passage, Fen could see the bright light of real sun ad feel the sudden flow of fresh air. An...exit?! [I]*Take them.[/I]* the voice of Ornfael sounded in Fen's mind. The half-elf looked down about the base of the tree trunk that now took up nearly half of the cell. There were a dozen acorns laying about the grassy mound. *[I]Use them with wisdom. Use them to restore the Balance I have sorely undone.[/I]* Fen did as he was bid. And then, again, looked up through the huge tree's opening. The sunlight on his face and fresh air that streamed down into the stale dungeon caused the others to come into the cell. Erevan first of all. He looked to Alaria and nodded an affirmative. "We can get out through this." "Thank you, Ornfael. May your Balance bless you." Alaria said in relief. "Buh...wutabout this magic door?" Festus asked looking at the thick door engraved with arcane symbols. "Wut about the dragon's treasure?! I'm not goin' anywhere! We're here! Braved the swamp. Beat the behir. Found the traitorous druid...There's that other opening at the end of the stairs...Hells we even killed that crazy witch!" Duor argued. His voice faded off as one companion after the other began climbing the thick twisting tree. There were thin branches or knobs in the bark or thick boughs that made getting hand and foot holds very simple. Festus was the last standing at the base of the tree with the dwarf. He looked at his bearded companion and shrugged before taking a hand hold and beginning to climb the trunk. "NO! No, Festus stay here! We'll do it ourselves! We'll do it together!" the dwarf implored in a manner he had never done before. A dwarf to beg, Duor thought to himself in disgust. The sound of garbled hoops and hollers sounded through the corridor. Goblins...or goblinoids. Large numbers by the amount of noise. This'll do it. Thought the dwarf. I'll get into a fight. The others will be forced to come to my rescue...daft wanna-be heroes. Stupid sorceress. Sentimental hairfoot. This'll do, nicely. The dwarf raced out of the cell of Ornfael and ran to the bend in the cell corridor. Many tens of creatures were running back and forth passed the dungeons' entrance. "[I]Here! They're here! Hurry! Hurry! They're freeing the druid! HOOMUNS! HOOMUNS n' ELVES![/I]" Duor shouted down the corridor in goblin. Seeing more than a few goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears hear him and enter the dungeon corridor, shouting commands to others as they came. The dwarf smirked to himself and ducked back around the bend, unnoticed. He backed into the now completely shadowed alcove across the way from the druid's cell. His heel dipped over the edge of something. Duor found himself plummeting into darkness only to come to a hard landing and begin tumbling, ass over head, to come to another free fall and another hard, metal hard, landing (inside an iron mining cart though he had no conscious awareness of that). Consciousness slipped out of the dwarf's grasp as easily as had the lip of the circular opening in the floor that was used to transport Rach'sha's feedings to the cart below (which the goblins in the lower chamber would then push down the shaft through which the party entered and dump into the behir's cavern.) <[I]DM's note: 2 failed Dex checks later[/I]. [I]Think there was even a botched "climb walls" check, just to be nice- maybe he could have ended or slowed his descent before dumping into the cart? Nope. Luck o' the dice, dear readers. Luck. O'. thuh. Dice. "Best laid plans" n' all o' that.[/I]> [/QUOTE]
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