Tales of the Legacy - Concluded
Delemental
First Post
Death Makes No Sound
The group saw little of each other after graduation. They were allowed to stay in the Tower while awaiting their compulsory service call, but with no classes or exams to worry about most of them bent their energies to personal pursuits. Money flowed from their hands into the waiting pockets of merchants both within the Tower and in the surrounding city of Trageon. The eight companions didn’t remain completely isolated, however. They met briefly in order to divide up various items they’d acquired in their exams, and to show off their graduation gifts.
Though Kyle was not seen much outside of the Tower, his companions did receive evidence of his well being several days after graduation, when they each received a small gift of a potion or a scroll he’d made for them. The very next day, Kyle received two gifts in return; a new leather-bound book with pen and quill from Autumn, and a new set of robes, a rich forest green with golden embroidery. There was no note identifying who had sent the robes.
Lanara was also rarely seen, though in her case she was rarely inside the school. She put her graduation gift of a magical fiddle to good use, performing throughout Trageon. Though successful, her exuberance cost her in the end, as she ended up contracting a severe case of the Stygian Shakes* after a night of dancing and singing in the Undercity. Thus when the group finally received the call to assemble at the base of the Tower two weeks after graduation, Lanara came to the gathering wrapped in a heavy blanket, shivering despite the warmth that usually accompanied the month of Canith.
The group stood patiently, mingled among several other clusters of students. Part of the terms of education at the Tower was that each graduate was expected to perform a service for the school. In the case of those training as adventurers, the Tower contracted out groups to towns and villages to solve problems. Though the school kept the fees negotiated by the Tower’s representatives, the same amount was credited to each student’s tuition debt, thus easing the considerable financial burden a bit.
Kavan spotted a shiny black bird perched atop Kyle’s shoulder, and his eyes widened. “Is that a raven?”
“Yup,” he said, grinning. “Her name’s Violet, on account of those feathers over her eyes.” He pointed out a line of purple feather arching over the bird’s black eyes like a pair of eyebrows. “She’s my new familiar. Say hello, Violet.”
“Hello,” Violet cawed.
Kavan reached out and stroked the bird’s head. “You’re truly fortunate, Kyle. The raven is Erito’s totem animal.”
“Well, thanks, Kavan. And hey, I know you like to collect raven feathers for your cloak**. You’re welcome to anything Violet ends up molting.”
The group’s old instructor, Shilsen, approached the group. “We’ve hired you out to a remote logging settlement in Tlaxan. We’ll be teleporting to Fingol and crossing through the gate to Aleppi. From there it’s about two days ride.”
“We?” asked Arrie. “Are you coming with us?”
“Of course,” replied Shilsen. “Someone has to make sure the Tower gets their money. But let’s get one thing clear – I’m there as an accountant, nothing more. I’m not saving you if you get in over your head.”
Conversation waned as they stood waiting to be sent to their destination. Soon one of the Tower’s archmage instructors came by. Shilsen handed him a sheet of parchment, and after studying it for a moment the wizard began speaking words of power. Moments later, the scenery of Trageon vanished, to be replaced by a wide road leading through a vast field. Before them lay a small city.
“Fingol,” said Shilsen, as he began walking.
The city of Fingol turned out to be rather unremarkable despite its relatively large size and level of activity. It was the major trade hub between Targeth and the elven nation of Tlaxan to the east. The party proceeded almost directly to the docks, where a ferry was already waiting for them. The craft, which was propelled by a bound water elemental, made straight for the two parallel columns of stone that marked the gateway through Targeth’s defensive magical barrier***. They could see the barrier ripple before them in the middle of the river, appearing almost as a heat shimmer. They all knew well that from Targeth’s side the barrier merely acted as an impenetrable wall, but anyone attempting to enter the nation through the barrier would be utterly destroyed.
The ferry landed in the city of Aleppi, Fingol’s counterpart in Tlaxan. This city, though far more haphazard than where they had just come from, seemed to exude a friendlier, more welcoming air. The group stopped for lunch at one of the local inns. While chatting with the locals, the group learned that the major concern of the city seemed to be the rising cost of metals produced by the dwarves in the mountains. However, one old man was heard to complain about the scarcity of timber recently, which piqued their curiosity.
“So, what exactly is happening in this logging village we’re going to?” Osborn asked Shilsen.
Shilsen shrugged. “You’ll get to find out when you get there. I don’t know any more than you do.”
After lunch the party mounted their horses and rode to the northeast, leaving Aleppi behind them. They made camp that evening, and went about the business of setting watches for the night. Lanara was excluded from the watch due to her illness, as was Kyle, since it was well known that wizards required rest to prepare their spells. Kyle protested that he could take a morning watch, but was overruled.
As the sun set, Osborn and Kaven looked at the horizon at an approaching back of clouds. “Could be rain tomorrow,” said Kavan.
“Maybe,” said Osborn, “but I think they’ll hold for a couple of days.”
The evening passed uneventfully, but at sunrise something odd happened. Kavan sat on watch with Xu, keeping an eye on the surrounding forest, when he spotted a slight movement. As Kavan watched, a humanoid figure slipped out from behind a tree and moved off silently into the woods, away from the group.
“Xu!” Kavan whispered, “do you see that?”
Xu squinted at the spot where Kavan was looking, but she saw nothing save the deep shadows of dawn. The monk shook her head.
Kavan brought up what he’d seen later that morning at breakfast. “What should we do?” he asked.
“Well, whatever it was, at least it wasn’t hostile,” said Autumn.
“Yet,” added her sister Arrie.
Osborn had gone over to the tree Kavan had pointed out to take a look around. He came back after a few minutes. “I found only one footprint, of a human or elf-sized shoe. Any other tracks were well-hidden.”
“There seems to be little we can do except be watchful,” commented Tolly. “So far this creature seems content in observing us. At any rate, we should reach our destination by this evening according to Shilsen.”
They broke camp and continued their way northeast through the forest. However, it turned out that Kavan’s weather prediction was the more accurate, and soon the falling rain turned the trail to mud, slowing their progress. Despite their best efforts, they were forced to make camp yet again.
The next morning, Kavan once again saw the odd figure slip away from a nearby tree. He called out to it, but it seemed to ignore him as it vanished into the forest.
Later that morning, Osborn walked by Kyle as he sat studying his spellbook. “Say, nice robes,” the hin commented. “Where’d you get them?”
“They were a gift,” he said, rubbing the fabric of his sleeve between his fingers. “I have no idea who gave them to me. I’ll admit it’s nice to have robes that fit, though I’m not used to wearing anything this nice. I keep worrying that I’ll get them dirty.” Kyle sighed. “Oh, well, I suppose that’s why they teach us cantrips.”
The group managed to make it to their destination just after the rain stopped. They rode up to a village, deceptively large because it was so spread out. About half the buildings in town were actually constructed in the treetops themselves, connected by sturdy rope bridges. A simple wooden placard on the trail leading to the village proclaimed its name as Canyon Camp.
The townsfolk gave the party curious but fleeting looks as they rode into the village. Most of the population were either elves or humans, with a scattering of elf-touched and a mere handful of the other races. Most of the people in town appeared to be women, children, and the elderly; the healthy adult males were no doubt hard at work somewhere in the forest. The party heard the sound of a waterwheel turning, and saw the sawmill perched on the river’s edge. The river itself seemed just large enough to float the cut timber down the hill toward Aleppi, though much was probably milled in town and taken by wagon.
The party rode toward the large building in the center of town, obviously the town hall. After passing a large number of taverns and brothels, they dismounted and secured their horses outside the hall, following Shilsen inside. Just inside the door, an elven women say at a large wooden desk.
“The company from Trageon, here to see David Adi,” said Shilsen.
“Do you have an appointment?” the woman asked.
Shilsen looked around at the empty foyer. “Yes, we have an appointment.”
She flipped through a large book at her desk. “You’re late,” she said, not betraying any emotion in her voice.
“I know,” he replied. “The rain made the roads difficult. May we see him now?”
“I’ll have to see if Councilman Adi available,” she said. “You are late for your appointment, you realize.”
“I know,” Shilsen said, self-control evident in his voice, “that we’re late.”
After leaving her desk for a moment, the group was escorted back to a small office. Shilsen took a seat outside the door, waving the rest of them in. Inside a small, balding human of perhaps sixty years sat behind a much smaller desk that the one in the foyer. Several wooden chairs had been crammed into the room.
“Please sit,” he said, “and please excuse Milana. She’s always been a stickler for protocol.”
The group found seats and sat as comfortably as they could in the small office. Tolly and Kyle found that the chairs, likely of elven manufacture, were not quite wide enough for their large frames, but made do the best they could.
“I appreciate that our request for aid from Trageon was answered so quickly,” David said. “Normally this would be the type of situation I’m sure Tlaxan would have addressed internally, but the problems of one tiny logging village hardly bear the notice of the capital, thus we felt contacting your school would be the best course.”
“How is it that we can help you?” asked Arrie.
“For some time now, we have had problems with our citizens disappearing,” David said. “Some simply vanish without a trace, others are taken forcefully by their homes. We didn’t have long to wait before we found out what happened to them, though. Witnesses have started to see the same people returning to abduct more of our townsfolk, but they aren’t the same. They’ve been turning into zombies.”
The group winced in unison at the thought of the vile undead.
“We think that a necromancer is in the area somewhere, building up his forces,” David continued. “None of our searches have turned up evidence, but our resources are limited, and as more people disappear the rest of the town is afraid to go out. The attacks have begun to affect our logging operations.”
Arrie looked across the desk at the councilman. “Have you noticed any patterns in the abductions?”
“None, really. They haven’t taken any children, or any of the smaller races,” David nodded toward Osborn as an example, “but I suspect that’s only because they would make less effective troops once reanimated.”
“What has been done to prevent the attacks?” asked Tolly.
“There is little we can do. We have a town militia, but it’s only a handful of volunteers, and they’re much better suited to dealing with drunks and ruffians than the walking dead. The zombies are usually accompanied by skeletal archers that discourage pursuit. Besides, Canyon Camp is so spread out they have trouble covering the entire town.” Councilman Ari sighed.
“Don’t you have any priests here?” asked Kavan.
“We have two,” he replied. “Our priestess of Bles****, Sisz, is new to our town. She does what she can, but her strength is limited. Our other priest, Kath, is devoted to Rovenor*****. He’s been with us a while, but he’s the one who accompanies our men out when they’re cutting trees. Most of his power is tapped just performing his everyday tasks, let alone the added burden of these zombies.”
David stood up and looked out a narrow window at the nearby forest. “Should our timber production fall much further, our financial backers may decide to pull out. They may not even have to wait that long; the people here may decide it’s no longer worth the risk and leave of their own accord.” He looked back at the party. “Can you help us?”
The group looked at each other briefly, nodding. “We’ll do our best,” said Arrie.
“I wish you luck,” said David. “We’ll put you up at the Whistling Satyr. It’ll be a bit cramped at first, I’m afraid, until they can find some more space. But it’s definitely the quietest of our local houses – more of a hostel than an inn. In addition, we’ve negotiated with the Tower and will pay them three hundred gold apiece on your behalf.”
“We’d like to speak with the captain of your town militia,” said Arrie. “We may be able to coordinate with them to patrol the town tonight to improve your defenses.”
“We’d also like to speak with these priests, Sisz and Kath,” said Tolly.
“Any ideas where the zombies are coming from?” asked Kyle.
“You might try looking into the old crypts about a half-day west of here,” David suggested. “It may be where this necromancer obtained his initial supply of corpses for his vile rituals. I’m afraid no one here has had the courage to investigate them.”
“Do you have a map?” asked Osborn.
“Well, we probably have a copy of the original plans somewhere in the records room,” David said. “Though some of it night have changed. Talk to Sisz and Kath; they’re in charge of burials, and would have more first-hand knowledge of them.”
David led them to the town hall’s small records room. After a half-hour or searching, Kavan stumbled upon the map they were looking for, misfiled under tax records. They spread the old, crumbling parchment out on a table.
“This is going to be hard to take with us without destroying it,” said Kyle.
Autumn leaned up close to the wizard and said quietly, “You know, I gave you that book for a reason.”
Kyle grinned sheepishly. “Oh, yeah.”
Once they had finished copying the map, the group followed David’s directions to the Whistling Satyr. Just as the councilman had warned them, their two rooms were ‘cozy’ at best. Each had a single bed that would hold no more than two people.
“I think I will choose to sleep outside tonight,” said Tolly.
They went downstairs and out into the afternoon air. Arrie flagged down a young, rotund boy who was running by.
“What’s your name, son?” she asked.
“Cookie,” said the round-faced boy.
“How appropriate,” said Lanara, though with her voice still hoarse it came out barely audible.
“Well, Cookie, can I ask you to do me a favor?” said Arrie.
“I’ll do it for a cookie,” said the boy. Lanara had to bite her lip, or else she probably would have started choking.
“Well, how about I give you this instead.” Arrie pulled out a silver coin and held it out, then pulled it away as Cookie’s chubby fingers reached for it. “After you deliver two messages for me. If you can go run and find the two priests in town and tell them that we’d like to speak to them at the Whistling Satyr, I’ll give you this when you get back.”
“You mean Antler Lady and Big Kath?”
“Yes, exactly. Now, hurry along.”
The boy waddled away excitedly, eager to earn his silver coin. As they watched him dash off, a stern-looking man in a faded tabard walked up to them. “I’m Kas, scheduler for the watch. I heard you wanted to see me?”
“Yes, indeed we do,” said Autumn. “We’d like to offer our help to you and your men on tonight’s patrol.”
“Sounds good to me,” Kas sniffed. “What you have in mind?”
“Well, how do you normally conduct your patrol?” asked Arrie.
“Well, me and the boys usually start out at one end of town and circle clockwise along the perimeter through the night. What with the zombies, none of us are too keen to be caught alone.”
“Do you always follow the same predictable pattern?” asked Tolly.
“Naw, we mix it up every so often – start in a new place, patrol in the other direction, that sort of thing.”
“Well, Scheduler Kas,” said Arrie, “perhaps my companions and I could walk a patrol similar to yours, but on the opposite side of town. Would that be acceptable to you?”
“Like I said, sounds good to me. I’ll send someone with some watch tabards for you, so the town’ll know why you’re here. We’ll all meet up at sunset at the town hall.” Kas nodded and walked away without another word.
The group only had to wait a half-hour before Cookie returned, red-faced and panting. After collecting his coin, he told the group that Kath was still out with the loggers, but he’d left a message with an attendant at the temple of Rovenor. Priestess Sisz, or ‘Antler Lady’, would be coming by shortly. True to his word, only a few minutes after Cookie departed, a slightly built elf-touched woman came into the hostel. She wore a necklace of antler horn tips around her neck, signifying her status within the church of Bles.
“I am Priestess Sisz,” she said, “how may I help you?”
The group introduced themselves to the priestess, inviting her to sit with them. “We’ve been sent by the Tower in Trageon to help your town with its recent troubles,” Kavan said.
“Oh, good. I’m glad to see you came quickly. I’m happy that Kath and I managed to convince the town council to send for you.”
“What can you tell us about what’s been happening?” asked Kyle.
“Well, I’ve not been here very long, I’m sure you’ve heard. My predecessor died a few months ago, and I was sent to replace her. I’m afraid it couldn’t have come at a worse time; her skills were far greater than my own, and I have been hard pressed to serve. I have tried to remain vigilant during the night, as that is when the undead come, but by the time I learn of a new attack, they are already gone with their victim. I am left to tend the wounds of the survivors.” A saddened look crossed her eyes, and the physical and spiritual fatigue was evident.
“We are planning to investigate the town crypts tomorrow,” said Arrie. “What can you tell us about them?”
“Well, it has been a few weeks since I was last there. Ever since the attacks began, no one wishes to travel that far from town.”
Kyle opened his book and showed the map to Sisz. “What can you tell us about that isn’t on this map?”
Sisz studied the map carefully. “The structure is similar to what you have here, but there’s another chamber here, and one here.” She pointed at blank spots on the paper. Then she looked at the map again, then up at the group. “There’s more,” she said, “but I’m afraid that I have taken certain vows. I can only reveal more to those who are ordained.”
After a moment’s uncertainty, all of the group except Kavan, Tolly, and Autumn stood up and filed out of the Whistling Satyr. They loitered around the outside of the building for several minutes before the four came out again. Priestess Sisz said her farewells and started walking back to her church.
“What’d she tell you?” asked Osborn almost immediately.
Kavan looked down at the eager hin. “We swore to her we would not reveal anything to those not ordained as servants of a faith,” he said. “She revealed some secrets of her church regarding the crypts. We will be able to put the information to use, but only when it becomes necessary.”
“Oh, all right,” Osborn sighed. “What say we take a walk around town while we wait for the loggers to come back, to get ready for our patrol tonight?”
The group agreed to this plan, and spent the next few hours walking through Canyon Camp. They stopped to take a closer look at some of the homes that had been attacked by the zombies, but found nothing unusual about them. They also noticed a few areas on the perimeter of town marked by large ashen circles. Poking around the circles, they turned up bits of broken and charred bone.
“The people have probably started burning their dead,” commented Kavan, “in order to keep them from being turned into zombies.”
The loggers were returning from their day’s work just as the group returned to the Whistling Satyr. A few minutes later, a young boy came into the hostel and told them that Kath was at the Mad Paladin Alehouse, and would speak with them there. Lanara decided to stay inside and rest, hoping to recover from her bout of the Stygian Shakes before their expedition to the crypts tomorrow.
The group pushed their way through crowds of rowdy lumberjacks, who were cheerfully drinking, singing, and groping any woman that came within arm’s reach. Arrie, Autumn, and Xu were spared such treatment, most likely due to going into the tavern fully armed and armored. Kyle asked someone where Kath was, and he wasn’t hard to spot; he was an enormous, red-haired man that towered a full head over everyone else in the place. He had a large bastard sword strapped to his back.
“Evening,” Kath said, as the group approached, “I hear you were looking for me?”
After quick introductions over the noise of the crowd, Arrie got right to the point. “We’d like to know about what’s been done about the undead problem.”
“Well, you’re here, right?”
“Yes,” said Tolly, “Priestess Sisz told us about convincing the council to send for us.”
Kath grunted. “Sounds like she’d taking credits for my ideas.”
“Actually,” replied Tolly, “I find the best ideas are reached by cooperation.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Kath shrugged. “Anyway, what else do you want to know?”
“Well, what are you personally doing about the undead?” asked Kavan.
Kath sighed. “Look, I spend twelve hours a day out in the woods with these lads, helping them out and making sure none of them get killed. After that, I can’t stay up the rest of the night chasing zombies. That’s supposed to be Sisz’s job.”
“But you are obviously better equipped for this situation than she,” said Tolly sternly. “I don’t see why you could not just modify your routine to deal with the current situation.”
“Hey, I’m as worried about the zombies as anyone else, but do you think that they’re the only dangers here? Besides, Sisz wouldn’t be able to handle the strain if she took my place. I spend most of my day running from place to place to heal injuries or help with a problem.”
“What other dangers are you talking about?” asked Autumn.
“Well, recently there’s been rumors that our boys have been attacked by fey creatures from the forest. I haven’t seen anything personally, but the rumors aren’t going away. Now, normally that’s why the elves oversee our work, to make sure we don’t over-cut an area and anger the forest dwellers. Far as I know we’ve done nothing wrong, so I have no idea why the fey would be after us. But if it’s true, then my place is with them.”
The group withdrew from the Mad Paladin Alehouse to confer outside. “I don’t like him,” said Tolly.
“Neither do I,” agreed Kavan.
“Why?” asked Arrie.
“Because he should be protecting this town, not spending his days out in the woods,” said Tolly.
“But you know nothing about him, or what he does,” stated an exasperated Arrie.
“I know enough not to trust him,” said Tolly. “For all we know, he’s the necromancer.”
Arrie just rolled her eyes behind Tolly’s back and let the subject drop.
The group gathered at the hostel for a quick meal and to check on how Lanara was doing, then went to the town hall to rendezvous with Scheduler Kas and the watch. The group was handed seven hastily constructed tabards, and a rough plan was worked out for the evening patrol. The party walked to the northern edge of town, opposite the regular watch, and began walking clockwise around the perimeter of Canyon Camp. Kyle’s familiar Violet circled overhead; Tolly had suggested she fly around the town counter-clockwise in order to provide more coverage, but it was pointed out that a raven’s night-vision wasn’t particularly good, and she’d more likely end up a target of hungry owls. But since Violet had the capability of speech, they agreed that if there were trouble they would send Violet to find Priestess Sisz.
The first few hours passed with little incident. They stepped in to break up a drunken brawl, and chased off a group of young boys that were throwing rocks at a small dog. As the sky darkened, the party noticed that the streets became empty and quiet very early. They could still hear noises coming from the taverns and brothels, but when people did emerge they walked quickly to their homes, looking about fearfully.
They heard the call for help just as the first moon****** reached its peak in the night sky. The group ran as quickly as they could toward the commotion. Xu was the first to arrive, and she quickly surveyed the scene. A group of six zombies crowded around the door of a simple wooden house, trying to bash the door down. The terrified cry of someone inside could plainly be heard. Nearby, two skeletons with bows stood ready to attack any living being who came to help.
Xu decided the skeletons would have to be dealt with first, and charged in, shouting a ear-piercing kiai. Leaping into the air, her foot impacted right into the chest of one of the skeletons, crushing the ribcage into a fine white powder. The bones tumbled into a pile at her feet.
Arrie, Kavan, and Kyle arrived in time to see three of the zombies pull away from the door and head toward Xu. The skeletal archer fired a shot at her, but the monk grabbed the arrow out of the air in mid-flight. Arrie began running toward the three zombies still at the door, pulling her infamous orcish shotput out of the bag at her hip. Kavan rushed in to help Xu, slashing at one of the zombies, while Kyle summoned a wave of pure force that slammed into another zombie on Xu, pushing it away. The zombie reoriented itself, then began to make its way toward Kyle.
Xu leapt nimbly over the head of one of the zombies, coming down between it and the remaining skeleton. Two quick punches left the skeleton in the same state as its former companion. She turned to face the zombie she had just jumped over, even as Arrie’s shotput went flying and smacked into one of the other zombies’ arms, leaving it a useless, dangling sack of broken bones held together by rotting flesh.
Osborn was the next to arrive, his short stride compensated for by his natural skill at long-distance running*******. He took aim at one of the zombies by the door and fired a sling bullet at it, the steel pellet sinking deep into its gullet. Meanwhile, Arrie had thrown her second shotput, which nearly took the head off one of the zombies, while Xu pounded on her opponent, felling it. Kavan stepped back and called forth a sound burst, wounding one of the zombies with the blast of sonic force and toppling the one he’d slashed at before. Kyle, stepping backward to avoid getting in range of his zombie’s fists, unleashed a missile of acid, which began burning away at the undead creature’s ligaments and muscles.
Finally, Tolly and Autumn arrived, panting slightly under the weight of their heavy armor. Tolly stepped over and smashed his warhammer into the skull of the zombie pursuing Kyle, destroying it and spraying Kyle with ichor.
“Hurry up, sis!” shouted Arrie, as she unfurled her spiked chain. “You’ll miss out on the fun!”
Autumn ran as fast as she could to join the melee, but in her burdensome field plate she was too far away. Arrie’s chain whirled around and finished off one of the three remaining zombies, while Xu and Kavan rushed in to finish off a second. Osborn, seeing that the battle was as good as won, put his sling away. Similarly, Kyle and Tolly took stock of the situation, and Kyle cast a prestidigitation spell in order to clean the gore off himself and the Ardaran priest.
Autumn pushed herself to get in at least one blow, but just as she got within reach of the last remaining zombie, Arrie’s chain whipped out and took the head off the final zombie. Autumn, flushed and sweating from her exertion, turned to her sister.
“You could have waited, you know,” she said, her fatigue letting her irritation rise into her voice.
“Sorry, Autumn,” Arrie said. “You were taking too long.”
The group gathered at the door, and called out to whoever was inside. The door cracked open, and an older man peered out at them, gripping a pitchfork with white knuckles. When he saw that the people at the door were still breathing, he relaxed, and threw open the doors, gushing his gratitude. At the same moment, the rest of the town guard arrived, cudgels in hand.
“All clear, gentlemen,” announced Tolly. “You can haul off these bodies to be burned while we check the area for more of them.”
Nearby, Kyle had finished cleaning himself off magically, and was turning his attention to his companions. As gobbets of dead flesh flew out of the links in Kavan’s elven chain, Kyle glanced over at Autumn, who stood nearby. She had removed her helmet, and loose strands of hair clung to her forehead, still wet with perspiration. She had a look of vague disappointment on her face, a distant sort of sadness that she’d been unable to lend her aid in battle.
Kyle’s glance dropped to take in Autumn’s exquisitely designed field plate, unsullied by the evening’s fight. It was the weight of the suit that was the problem, not Autumn herself.
I’ll have to help her with that, somehow, he thought to himself.
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* Stygian Shakes is a dreadful disease that is caught by a character whose player will not be in attendance at the gaming session. The primary symptoms are an inability to speak or take independent action.
** Clerics of Erito frequently make cloaks of raven feathers. The number of feathers is a symbol of the cleric's standing with his or her deity.
*** In recent history, the nation of Targeth was threatened by orcish hordes from the west. To defend their nation, the nation's archmages constructed a magical barrier that surrounds the entire country. One can only penetrate the barrier at one of three gateways. One of these gateways lies in the middle of the river separating the city of Fingol from its couterpart, Aleppi, in neighboring Tlaxan.
**** Bles is the goddess of fertility and agriculture, and serves directly under Erito.
***** Rovenor is the god of freedom and travel, and serves under Feesha.
****** Aelfenn has five moons, one for each of Erito's five servitor deities. There's no formal system worked out for which moons are out when, so there are pretty much as many moons in the sky as I want there to be. I also assume that Aelfenn's five moons are significantly smaller than Earth's moon. This ties in to Aelfenn's rather unique cosmology, which is a bit too much to explain in a footnote. If it becomes necessary, I'll explain it in more detail in the future.
******* (wow, 7 footnotes!) Hin in Aelfenn get Run as a bonus feat. The hin are naturally nomadic, and used to travelling by foot.
The group saw little of each other after graduation. They were allowed to stay in the Tower while awaiting their compulsory service call, but with no classes or exams to worry about most of them bent their energies to personal pursuits. Money flowed from their hands into the waiting pockets of merchants both within the Tower and in the surrounding city of Trageon. The eight companions didn’t remain completely isolated, however. They met briefly in order to divide up various items they’d acquired in their exams, and to show off their graduation gifts.
Though Kyle was not seen much outside of the Tower, his companions did receive evidence of his well being several days after graduation, when they each received a small gift of a potion or a scroll he’d made for them. The very next day, Kyle received two gifts in return; a new leather-bound book with pen and quill from Autumn, and a new set of robes, a rich forest green with golden embroidery. There was no note identifying who had sent the robes.
Lanara was also rarely seen, though in her case she was rarely inside the school. She put her graduation gift of a magical fiddle to good use, performing throughout Trageon. Though successful, her exuberance cost her in the end, as she ended up contracting a severe case of the Stygian Shakes* after a night of dancing and singing in the Undercity. Thus when the group finally received the call to assemble at the base of the Tower two weeks after graduation, Lanara came to the gathering wrapped in a heavy blanket, shivering despite the warmth that usually accompanied the month of Canith.
The group stood patiently, mingled among several other clusters of students. Part of the terms of education at the Tower was that each graduate was expected to perform a service for the school. In the case of those training as adventurers, the Tower contracted out groups to towns and villages to solve problems. Though the school kept the fees negotiated by the Tower’s representatives, the same amount was credited to each student’s tuition debt, thus easing the considerable financial burden a bit.
Kavan spotted a shiny black bird perched atop Kyle’s shoulder, and his eyes widened. “Is that a raven?”
“Yup,” he said, grinning. “Her name’s Violet, on account of those feathers over her eyes.” He pointed out a line of purple feather arching over the bird’s black eyes like a pair of eyebrows. “She’s my new familiar. Say hello, Violet.”
“Hello,” Violet cawed.
Kavan reached out and stroked the bird’s head. “You’re truly fortunate, Kyle. The raven is Erito’s totem animal.”
“Well, thanks, Kavan. And hey, I know you like to collect raven feathers for your cloak**. You’re welcome to anything Violet ends up molting.”
The group’s old instructor, Shilsen, approached the group. “We’ve hired you out to a remote logging settlement in Tlaxan. We’ll be teleporting to Fingol and crossing through the gate to Aleppi. From there it’s about two days ride.”
“We?” asked Arrie. “Are you coming with us?”
“Of course,” replied Shilsen. “Someone has to make sure the Tower gets their money. But let’s get one thing clear – I’m there as an accountant, nothing more. I’m not saving you if you get in over your head.”
Conversation waned as they stood waiting to be sent to their destination. Soon one of the Tower’s archmage instructors came by. Shilsen handed him a sheet of parchment, and after studying it for a moment the wizard began speaking words of power. Moments later, the scenery of Trageon vanished, to be replaced by a wide road leading through a vast field. Before them lay a small city.
“Fingol,” said Shilsen, as he began walking.
The city of Fingol turned out to be rather unremarkable despite its relatively large size and level of activity. It was the major trade hub between Targeth and the elven nation of Tlaxan to the east. The party proceeded almost directly to the docks, where a ferry was already waiting for them. The craft, which was propelled by a bound water elemental, made straight for the two parallel columns of stone that marked the gateway through Targeth’s defensive magical barrier***. They could see the barrier ripple before them in the middle of the river, appearing almost as a heat shimmer. They all knew well that from Targeth’s side the barrier merely acted as an impenetrable wall, but anyone attempting to enter the nation through the barrier would be utterly destroyed.
The ferry landed in the city of Aleppi, Fingol’s counterpart in Tlaxan. This city, though far more haphazard than where they had just come from, seemed to exude a friendlier, more welcoming air. The group stopped for lunch at one of the local inns. While chatting with the locals, the group learned that the major concern of the city seemed to be the rising cost of metals produced by the dwarves in the mountains. However, one old man was heard to complain about the scarcity of timber recently, which piqued their curiosity.
“So, what exactly is happening in this logging village we’re going to?” Osborn asked Shilsen.
Shilsen shrugged. “You’ll get to find out when you get there. I don’t know any more than you do.”
After lunch the party mounted their horses and rode to the northeast, leaving Aleppi behind them. They made camp that evening, and went about the business of setting watches for the night. Lanara was excluded from the watch due to her illness, as was Kyle, since it was well known that wizards required rest to prepare their spells. Kyle protested that he could take a morning watch, but was overruled.
As the sun set, Osborn and Kaven looked at the horizon at an approaching back of clouds. “Could be rain tomorrow,” said Kavan.
“Maybe,” said Osborn, “but I think they’ll hold for a couple of days.”
The evening passed uneventfully, but at sunrise something odd happened. Kavan sat on watch with Xu, keeping an eye on the surrounding forest, when he spotted a slight movement. As Kavan watched, a humanoid figure slipped out from behind a tree and moved off silently into the woods, away from the group.
“Xu!” Kavan whispered, “do you see that?”
Xu squinted at the spot where Kavan was looking, but she saw nothing save the deep shadows of dawn. The monk shook her head.
Kavan brought up what he’d seen later that morning at breakfast. “What should we do?” he asked.
“Well, whatever it was, at least it wasn’t hostile,” said Autumn.
“Yet,” added her sister Arrie.
Osborn had gone over to the tree Kavan had pointed out to take a look around. He came back after a few minutes. “I found only one footprint, of a human or elf-sized shoe. Any other tracks were well-hidden.”
“There seems to be little we can do except be watchful,” commented Tolly. “So far this creature seems content in observing us. At any rate, we should reach our destination by this evening according to Shilsen.”
They broke camp and continued their way northeast through the forest. However, it turned out that Kavan’s weather prediction was the more accurate, and soon the falling rain turned the trail to mud, slowing their progress. Despite their best efforts, they were forced to make camp yet again.
The next morning, Kavan once again saw the odd figure slip away from a nearby tree. He called out to it, but it seemed to ignore him as it vanished into the forest.
Later that morning, Osborn walked by Kyle as he sat studying his spellbook. “Say, nice robes,” the hin commented. “Where’d you get them?”
“They were a gift,” he said, rubbing the fabric of his sleeve between his fingers. “I have no idea who gave them to me. I’ll admit it’s nice to have robes that fit, though I’m not used to wearing anything this nice. I keep worrying that I’ll get them dirty.” Kyle sighed. “Oh, well, I suppose that’s why they teach us cantrips.”
The group managed to make it to their destination just after the rain stopped. They rode up to a village, deceptively large because it was so spread out. About half the buildings in town were actually constructed in the treetops themselves, connected by sturdy rope bridges. A simple wooden placard on the trail leading to the village proclaimed its name as Canyon Camp.
The townsfolk gave the party curious but fleeting looks as they rode into the village. Most of the population were either elves or humans, with a scattering of elf-touched and a mere handful of the other races. Most of the people in town appeared to be women, children, and the elderly; the healthy adult males were no doubt hard at work somewhere in the forest. The party heard the sound of a waterwheel turning, and saw the sawmill perched on the river’s edge. The river itself seemed just large enough to float the cut timber down the hill toward Aleppi, though much was probably milled in town and taken by wagon.
The party rode toward the large building in the center of town, obviously the town hall. After passing a large number of taverns and brothels, they dismounted and secured their horses outside the hall, following Shilsen inside. Just inside the door, an elven women say at a large wooden desk.
“The company from Trageon, here to see David Adi,” said Shilsen.
“Do you have an appointment?” the woman asked.
Shilsen looked around at the empty foyer. “Yes, we have an appointment.”
She flipped through a large book at her desk. “You’re late,” she said, not betraying any emotion in her voice.
“I know,” he replied. “The rain made the roads difficult. May we see him now?”
“I’ll have to see if Councilman Adi available,” she said. “You are late for your appointment, you realize.”
“I know,” Shilsen said, self-control evident in his voice, “that we’re late.”
After leaving her desk for a moment, the group was escorted back to a small office. Shilsen took a seat outside the door, waving the rest of them in. Inside a small, balding human of perhaps sixty years sat behind a much smaller desk that the one in the foyer. Several wooden chairs had been crammed into the room.
“Please sit,” he said, “and please excuse Milana. She’s always been a stickler for protocol.”
The group found seats and sat as comfortably as they could in the small office. Tolly and Kyle found that the chairs, likely of elven manufacture, were not quite wide enough for their large frames, but made do the best they could.
“I appreciate that our request for aid from Trageon was answered so quickly,” David said. “Normally this would be the type of situation I’m sure Tlaxan would have addressed internally, but the problems of one tiny logging village hardly bear the notice of the capital, thus we felt contacting your school would be the best course.”
“How is it that we can help you?” asked Arrie.
“For some time now, we have had problems with our citizens disappearing,” David said. “Some simply vanish without a trace, others are taken forcefully by their homes. We didn’t have long to wait before we found out what happened to them, though. Witnesses have started to see the same people returning to abduct more of our townsfolk, but they aren’t the same. They’ve been turning into zombies.”
The group winced in unison at the thought of the vile undead.
“We think that a necromancer is in the area somewhere, building up his forces,” David continued. “None of our searches have turned up evidence, but our resources are limited, and as more people disappear the rest of the town is afraid to go out. The attacks have begun to affect our logging operations.”
Arrie looked across the desk at the councilman. “Have you noticed any patterns in the abductions?”
“None, really. They haven’t taken any children, or any of the smaller races,” David nodded toward Osborn as an example, “but I suspect that’s only because they would make less effective troops once reanimated.”
“What has been done to prevent the attacks?” asked Tolly.
“There is little we can do. We have a town militia, but it’s only a handful of volunteers, and they’re much better suited to dealing with drunks and ruffians than the walking dead. The zombies are usually accompanied by skeletal archers that discourage pursuit. Besides, Canyon Camp is so spread out they have trouble covering the entire town.” Councilman Ari sighed.
“Don’t you have any priests here?” asked Kavan.
“We have two,” he replied. “Our priestess of Bles****, Sisz, is new to our town. She does what she can, but her strength is limited. Our other priest, Kath, is devoted to Rovenor*****. He’s been with us a while, but he’s the one who accompanies our men out when they’re cutting trees. Most of his power is tapped just performing his everyday tasks, let alone the added burden of these zombies.”
David stood up and looked out a narrow window at the nearby forest. “Should our timber production fall much further, our financial backers may decide to pull out. They may not even have to wait that long; the people here may decide it’s no longer worth the risk and leave of their own accord.” He looked back at the party. “Can you help us?”
The group looked at each other briefly, nodding. “We’ll do our best,” said Arrie.
“I wish you luck,” said David. “We’ll put you up at the Whistling Satyr. It’ll be a bit cramped at first, I’m afraid, until they can find some more space. But it’s definitely the quietest of our local houses – more of a hostel than an inn. In addition, we’ve negotiated with the Tower and will pay them three hundred gold apiece on your behalf.”
“We’d like to speak with the captain of your town militia,” said Arrie. “We may be able to coordinate with them to patrol the town tonight to improve your defenses.”
“We’d also like to speak with these priests, Sisz and Kath,” said Tolly.
“Any ideas where the zombies are coming from?” asked Kyle.
“You might try looking into the old crypts about a half-day west of here,” David suggested. “It may be where this necromancer obtained his initial supply of corpses for his vile rituals. I’m afraid no one here has had the courage to investigate them.”
“Do you have a map?” asked Osborn.
“Well, we probably have a copy of the original plans somewhere in the records room,” David said. “Though some of it night have changed. Talk to Sisz and Kath; they’re in charge of burials, and would have more first-hand knowledge of them.”
David led them to the town hall’s small records room. After a half-hour or searching, Kavan stumbled upon the map they were looking for, misfiled under tax records. They spread the old, crumbling parchment out on a table.
“This is going to be hard to take with us without destroying it,” said Kyle.
Autumn leaned up close to the wizard and said quietly, “You know, I gave you that book for a reason.”
Kyle grinned sheepishly. “Oh, yeah.”
Once they had finished copying the map, the group followed David’s directions to the Whistling Satyr. Just as the councilman had warned them, their two rooms were ‘cozy’ at best. Each had a single bed that would hold no more than two people.
“I think I will choose to sleep outside tonight,” said Tolly.
They went downstairs and out into the afternoon air. Arrie flagged down a young, rotund boy who was running by.
“What’s your name, son?” she asked.
“Cookie,” said the round-faced boy.
“How appropriate,” said Lanara, though with her voice still hoarse it came out barely audible.
“Well, Cookie, can I ask you to do me a favor?” said Arrie.
“I’ll do it for a cookie,” said the boy. Lanara had to bite her lip, or else she probably would have started choking.
“Well, how about I give you this instead.” Arrie pulled out a silver coin and held it out, then pulled it away as Cookie’s chubby fingers reached for it. “After you deliver two messages for me. If you can go run and find the two priests in town and tell them that we’d like to speak to them at the Whistling Satyr, I’ll give you this when you get back.”
“You mean Antler Lady and Big Kath?”
“Yes, exactly. Now, hurry along.”
The boy waddled away excitedly, eager to earn his silver coin. As they watched him dash off, a stern-looking man in a faded tabard walked up to them. “I’m Kas, scheduler for the watch. I heard you wanted to see me?”
“Yes, indeed we do,” said Autumn. “We’d like to offer our help to you and your men on tonight’s patrol.”
“Sounds good to me,” Kas sniffed. “What you have in mind?”
“Well, how do you normally conduct your patrol?” asked Arrie.
“Well, me and the boys usually start out at one end of town and circle clockwise along the perimeter through the night. What with the zombies, none of us are too keen to be caught alone.”
“Do you always follow the same predictable pattern?” asked Tolly.
“Naw, we mix it up every so often – start in a new place, patrol in the other direction, that sort of thing.”
“Well, Scheduler Kas,” said Arrie, “perhaps my companions and I could walk a patrol similar to yours, but on the opposite side of town. Would that be acceptable to you?”
“Like I said, sounds good to me. I’ll send someone with some watch tabards for you, so the town’ll know why you’re here. We’ll all meet up at sunset at the town hall.” Kas nodded and walked away without another word.
The group only had to wait a half-hour before Cookie returned, red-faced and panting. After collecting his coin, he told the group that Kath was still out with the loggers, but he’d left a message with an attendant at the temple of Rovenor. Priestess Sisz, or ‘Antler Lady’, would be coming by shortly. True to his word, only a few minutes after Cookie departed, a slightly built elf-touched woman came into the hostel. She wore a necklace of antler horn tips around her neck, signifying her status within the church of Bles.
“I am Priestess Sisz,” she said, “how may I help you?”
The group introduced themselves to the priestess, inviting her to sit with them. “We’ve been sent by the Tower in Trageon to help your town with its recent troubles,” Kavan said.
“Oh, good. I’m glad to see you came quickly. I’m happy that Kath and I managed to convince the town council to send for you.”
“What can you tell us about what’s been happening?” asked Kyle.
“Well, I’ve not been here very long, I’m sure you’ve heard. My predecessor died a few months ago, and I was sent to replace her. I’m afraid it couldn’t have come at a worse time; her skills were far greater than my own, and I have been hard pressed to serve. I have tried to remain vigilant during the night, as that is when the undead come, but by the time I learn of a new attack, they are already gone with their victim. I am left to tend the wounds of the survivors.” A saddened look crossed her eyes, and the physical and spiritual fatigue was evident.
“We are planning to investigate the town crypts tomorrow,” said Arrie. “What can you tell us about them?”
“Well, it has been a few weeks since I was last there. Ever since the attacks began, no one wishes to travel that far from town.”
Kyle opened his book and showed the map to Sisz. “What can you tell us about that isn’t on this map?”
Sisz studied the map carefully. “The structure is similar to what you have here, but there’s another chamber here, and one here.” She pointed at blank spots on the paper. Then she looked at the map again, then up at the group. “There’s more,” she said, “but I’m afraid that I have taken certain vows. I can only reveal more to those who are ordained.”
After a moment’s uncertainty, all of the group except Kavan, Tolly, and Autumn stood up and filed out of the Whistling Satyr. They loitered around the outside of the building for several minutes before the four came out again. Priestess Sisz said her farewells and started walking back to her church.
“What’d she tell you?” asked Osborn almost immediately.
Kavan looked down at the eager hin. “We swore to her we would not reveal anything to those not ordained as servants of a faith,” he said. “She revealed some secrets of her church regarding the crypts. We will be able to put the information to use, but only when it becomes necessary.”
“Oh, all right,” Osborn sighed. “What say we take a walk around town while we wait for the loggers to come back, to get ready for our patrol tonight?”
The group agreed to this plan, and spent the next few hours walking through Canyon Camp. They stopped to take a closer look at some of the homes that had been attacked by the zombies, but found nothing unusual about them. They also noticed a few areas on the perimeter of town marked by large ashen circles. Poking around the circles, they turned up bits of broken and charred bone.
“The people have probably started burning their dead,” commented Kavan, “in order to keep them from being turned into zombies.”
The loggers were returning from their day’s work just as the group returned to the Whistling Satyr. A few minutes later, a young boy came into the hostel and told them that Kath was at the Mad Paladin Alehouse, and would speak with them there. Lanara decided to stay inside and rest, hoping to recover from her bout of the Stygian Shakes before their expedition to the crypts tomorrow.
The group pushed their way through crowds of rowdy lumberjacks, who were cheerfully drinking, singing, and groping any woman that came within arm’s reach. Arrie, Autumn, and Xu were spared such treatment, most likely due to going into the tavern fully armed and armored. Kyle asked someone where Kath was, and he wasn’t hard to spot; he was an enormous, red-haired man that towered a full head over everyone else in the place. He had a large bastard sword strapped to his back.
“Evening,” Kath said, as the group approached, “I hear you were looking for me?”
After quick introductions over the noise of the crowd, Arrie got right to the point. “We’d like to know about what’s been done about the undead problem.”
“Well, you’re here, right?”
“Yes,” said Tolly, “Priestess Sisz told us about convincing the council to send for us.”
Kath grunted. “Sounds like she’d taking credits for my ideas.”
“Actually,” replied Tolly, “I find the best ideas are reached by cooperation.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Kath shrugged. “Anyway, what else do you want to know?”
“Well, what are you personally doing about the undead?” asked Kavan.
Kath sighed. “Look, I spend twelve hours a day out in the woods with these lads, helping them out and making sure none of them get killed. After that, I can’t stay up the rest of the night chasing zombies. That’s supposed to be Sisz’s job.”
“But you are obviously better equipped for this situation than she,” said Tolly sternly. “I don’t see why you could not just modify your routine to deal with the current situation.”
“Hey, I’m as worried about the zombies as anyone else, but do you think that they’re the only dangers here? Besides, Sisz wouldn’t be able to handle the strain if she took my place. I spend most of my day running from place to place to heal injuries or help with a problem.”
“What other dangers are you talking about?” asked Autumn.
“Well, recently there’s been rumors that our boys have been attacked by fey creatures from the forest. I haven’t seen anything personally, but the rumors aren’t going away. Now, normally that’s why the elves oversee our work, to make sure we don’t over-cut an area and anger the forest dwellers. Far as I know we’ve done nothing wrong, so I have no idea why the fey would be after us. But if it’s true, then my place is with them.”
The group withdrew from the Mad Paladin Alehouse to confer outside. “I don’t like him,” said Tolly.
“Neither do I,” agreed Kavan.
“Why?” asked Arrie.
“Because he should be protecting this town, not spending his days out in the woods,” said Tolly.
“But you know nothing about him, or what he does,” stated an exasperated Arrie.
“I know enough not to trust him,” said Tolly. “For all we know, he’s the necromancer.”
Arrie just rolled her eyes behind Tolly’s back and let the subject drop.
The group gathered at the hostel for a quick meal and to check on how Lanara was doing, then went to the town hall to rendezvous with Scheduler Kas and the watch. The group was handed seven hastily constructed tabards, and a rough plan was worked out for the evening patrol. The party walked to the northern edge of town, opposite the regular watch, and began walking clockwise around the perimeter of Canyon Camp. Kyle’s familiar Violet circled overhead; Tolly had suggested she fly around the town counter-clockwise in order to provide more coverage, but it was pointed out that a raven’s night-vision wasn’t particularly good, and she’d more likely end up a target of hungry owls. But since Violet had the capability of speech, they agreed that if there were trouble they would send Violet to find Priestess Sisz.
The first few hours passed with little incident. They stepped in to break up a drunken brawl, and chased off a group of young boys that were throwing rocks at a small dog. As the sky darkened, the party noticed that the streets became empty and quiet very early. They could still hear noises coming from the taverns and brothels, but when people did emerge they walked quickly to their homes, looking about fearfully.
They heard the call for help just as the first moon****** reached its peak in the night sky. The group ran as quickly as they could toward the commotion. Xu was the first to arrive, and she quickly surveyed the scene. A group of six zombies crowded around the door of a simple wooden house, trying to bash the door down. The terrified cry of someone inside could plainly be heard. Nearby, two skeletons with bows stood ready to attack any living being who came to help.
Xu decided the skeletons would have to be dealt with first, and charged in, shouting a ear-piercing kiai. Leaping into the air, her foot impacted right into the chest of one of the skeletons, crushing the ribcage into a fine white powder. The bones tumbled into a pile at her feet.
Arrie, Kavan, and Kyle arrived in time to see three of the zombies pull away from the door and head toward Xu. The skeletal archer fired a shot at her, but the monk grabbed the arrow out of the air in mid-flight. Arrie began running toward the three zombies still at the door, pulling her infamous orcish shotput out of the bag at her hip. Kavan rushed in to help Xu, slashing at one of the zombies, while Kyle summoned a wave of pure force that slammed into another zombie on Xu, pushing it away. The zombie reoriented itself, then began to make its way toward Kyle.
Xu leapt nimbly over the head of one of the zombies, coming down between it and the remaining skeleton. Two quick punches left the skeleton in the same state as its former companion. She turned to face the zombie she had just jumped over, even as Arrie’s shotput went flying and smacked into one of the other zombies’ arms, leaving it a useless, dangling sack of broken bones held together by rotting flesh.
Osborn was the next to arrive, his short stride compensated for by his natural skill at long-distance running*******. He took aim at one of the zombies by the door and fired a sling bullet at it, the steel pellet sinking deep into its gullet. Meanwhile, Arrie had thrown her second shotput, which nearly took the head off one of the zombies, while Xu pounded on her opponent, felling it. Kavan stepped back and called forth a sound burst, wounding one of the zombies with the blast of sonic force and toppling the one he’d slashed at before. Kyle, stepping backward to avoid getting in range of his zombie’s fists, unleashed a missile of acid, which began burning away at the undead creature’s ligaments and muscles.
Finally, Tolly and Autumn arrived, panting slightly under the weight of their heavy armor. Tolly stepped over and smashed his warhammer into the skull of the zombie pursuing Kyle, destroying it and spraying Kyle with ichor.
“Hurry up, sis!” shouted Arrie, as she unfurled her spiked chain. “You’ll miss out on the fun!”
Autumn ran as fast as she could to join the melee, but in her burdensome field plate she was too far away. Arrie’s chain whirled around and finished off one of the three remaining zombies, while Xu and Kavan rushed in to finish off a second. Osborn, seeing that the battle was as good as won, put his sling away. Similarly, Kyle and Tolly took stock of the situation, and Kyle cast a prestidigitation spell in order to clean the gore off himself and the Ardaran priest.
Autumn pushed herself to get in at least one blow, but just as she got within reach of the last remaining zombie, Arrie’s chain whipped out and took the head off the final zombie. Autumn, flushed and sweating from her exertion, turned to her sister.
“You could have waited, you know,” she said, her fatigue letting her irritation rise into her voice.
“Sorry, Autumn,” Arrie said. “You were taking too long.”
The group gathered at the door, and called out to whoever was inside. The door cracked open, and an older man peered out at them, gripping a pitchfork with white knuckles. When he saw that the people at the door were still breathing, he relaxed, and threw open the doors, gushing his gratitude. At the same moment, the rest of the town guard arrived, cudgels in hand.
“All clear, gentlemen,” announced Tolly. “You can haul off these bodies to be burned while we check the area for more of them.”
Nearby, Kyle had finished cleaning himself off magically, and was turning his attention to his companions. As gobbets of dead flesh flew out of the links in Kavan’s elven chain, Kyle glanced over at Autumn, who stood nearby. She had removed her helmet, and loose strands of hair clung to her forehead, still wet with perspiration. She had a look of vague disappointment on her face, a distant sort of sadness that she’d been unable to lend her aid in battle.
Kyle’s glance dropped to take in Autumn’s exquisitely designed field plate, unsullied by the evening’s fight. It was the weight of the suit that was the problem, not Autumn herself.
I’ll have to help her with that, somehow, he thought to himself.
---------------------
* Stygian Shakes is a dreadful disease that is caught by a character whose player will not be in attendance at the gaming session. The primary symptoms are an inability to speak or take independent action.
** Clerics of Erito frequently make cloaks of raven feathers. The number of feathers is a symbol of the cleric's standing with his or her deity.
*** In recent history, the nation of Targeth was threatened by orcish hordes from the west. To defend their nation, the nation's archmages constructed a magical barrier that surrounds the entire country. One can only penetrate the barrier at one of three gateways. One of these gateways lies in the middle of the river separating the city of Fingol from its couterpart, Aleppi, in neighboring Tlaxan.
**** Bles is the goddess of fertility and agriculture, and serves directly under Erito.
***** Rovenor is the god of freedom and travel, and serves under Feesha.
****** Aelfenn has five moons, one for each of Erito's five servitor deities. There's no formal system worked out for which moons are out when, so there are pretty much as many moons in the sky as I want there to be. I also assume that Aelfenn's five moons are significantly smaller than Earth's moon. This ties in to Aelfenn's rather unique cosmology, which is a bit too much to explain in a footnote. If it becomes necessary, I'll explain it in more detail in the future.
******* (wow, 7 footnotes!) Hin in Aelfenn get Run as a bonus feat. The hin are naturally nomadic, and used to travelling by foot.
Elder-Basilisk
First Post
Good stuff. I just started reading this and I like it a lot.
Delemental
First Post
Forest Foray For Four
This installment requires a bit of explanation. This was the session following the beginning of 'Death Makes No Sound'. However, real-life events led to a situation where only half of the group could meet. So, our DM decided to run a small side adventure for the four of us, which actually starts before our arrival at the logging camp but ends well after our initial encounter with the zombies at the end of 'Death'. In the following week, the DM ran a side-adventure for the other four players to compensate; those players that had been in the first side adventure played NPCs in the second.
This post, like the last one, runs a bit long for my taste (I like my Story Hour updates substantial enough to be worth the click, but not too much at once). But it's a one-shot adventure, and I see no reason to split it. I'll probably return to breaking things up a bit more after this.
****************************
Tolly’s eyes wandered as he sat on watch, despite himself. They were due to reach the village sometime in the next day, but the proximity of civilization did not settle his mind. Somewhere out there, some unknown entity was watching them. Kavan had spotted it the night before, just before dawn, stealing away from their camp. So far the entity seemed benign, but this fact didn’t put Tolly at ease. Autumn sat nearby, her aasimar eyes able to penetrate the darkness of the forest much better than his own, but neither of them had seen a thing.
Tolly glanced at the moon, high in the sky to his left. “I think it’s time to wake the next watch,” he said quietly.
Nodding, Autumn watched as Tolly rose and went into the tent occupied by the men. He shook Kavan and Osborn gently. Kavan responded almost immediately, emerging from his trance. Osborn was a bit slower to rouse, but eventually his right eye cracked open. Tolly walked out of the tent to give them room to dress and get ready for their watch. He glanced over at Kyle, who was sleeping soundly. The wizard had been excused from watch because of his need to rest in order to prepare his mind for his spells. Tolly felt a twinge of jealousy; though no stranger to all-night vigils, he didn’t relish them, and he and Autumn had agreed to take the middle watch, which was always hardest.
After several minutes Kavan and Osborn emerged, fully dressed in their armor. Kavan looked at Autumn. “How’s Lanara doing?” he asked her. Lanara was fighting a case of the Stygian Shakes that she’d picked up back in Trageon.
“Fair,” she told the elven cleric, “but she’s sleeping poorly. We could hear her tossing and turning all night.”
“Hopefully she’ll recover soon,” said Tolly, as he unbuckled his breastplate and set it down. Autumn watched as the Ardaran priest stretched his shoulders.
“Perhaps I should remove my own armor out here, too,” she said. “So I won’t disturb Lanara. Kavan, can you assist me?”
Tolly muttered goodnight and went into the tent as Kavan began pulling on one of Autumn’s many straps. He knew that the process of removing and packing the sentinel’s field plate would take several minutes, and he saw no need to watch it. Setting his own armor and weapon next to his bunk, he crawled under his blanket, and was asleep within moments.
Which is why he was somewhat irritated to find himself awake moments later. As he stood there, looking around at the trees, he suddenly realized that he had no recollection of getting out of bed, let alone getting dressed again. He also realized that where he was standing was in the same forest, but their camp was nowhere to be seen. What he did see were three of his companions; Kyle, Arrie, and Xu.
“Where are we?” Arrie asked.
“I believe we are dreaming,” said Xu.
“This seems very real for a dream,” replied Tolly. “Not to mention that we all seem to be sharing the same dream.”
“I think I read about something like this in school,” Kyle piped in. “There’s magic that can do something like this. A very powerful mage or magical creature could do it.”
“You mean, something like that?” Arrie said, pointing off into the woods.
The rest of them turned to see a large, translucent figure floating toward them. The creature had the head of a wise-looking human male, perched atop a lion’s body. Enormous feathered wings were folded at its sides.
“What is that?” asked Xu.
“Androsphinx,” both Kyle and Tolly whispered simultaneously.
The sphinx came within a few feet of the four adventurers, floating in midair. Then his mouth opened, and his voice was like thunder.
“Who will hear the riddle of Ujaset?”
Both Kyle and Tolly yelped at the loud noise. Xu and Arrie remained calmer. “What riddle?” Arrie asked.
This time Ujaset’s voice seemed to emanate from all around them. “What is half a dragon, but lacks a wyrmling’s strength? What is half a dog, but lacks a mongrel’s length? What is it that has two halves, but has but half to stand on?”
As the echo of the sphinx’s words died down, the group moved together to consult. “What do you think?” asked Arrie.
“Well, he seems to be describing a creature that is small and weak,” Tolly said, “and is somehow related to both dragons and canines.”
“A chimera, perhaps?” offered Xu.
Kyle shook his head. “No, a chimera’s got three heads, but only one’s a dragon head. The others are lion and goat; no dog.”
“Perhaps the part about ‘having half to stand on’ means that the creature is bipedal,” said Tolly.
“So, a small, weak biped, with both dog-like and dragon-like features…” Kyle mused.
It only took them a moment to put the clues together. “A kobold,” announced Tolly.
“Correct,” Ujaset said, smiling. “You are just the sort I am looking for.”
“Where are the rest of our companions?” asked Kyle.
“My power was unable to bind them into the dream world,” said Ujaset, “they must be asleep for the magic to work.”
“So, what did you mean when you said we were ‘just the sort you were looking for’?” Arrie asked.
“I would ask you to do a task for me, so that my soul may be at rest.”
“So… you’re a ghost?” Kyle asked. The androsphinx nodded.
“I was slain in my lair and my possessions taken, and now my spirit is restless and cannot depart this world for the next. I need to have someone avenge my death and remove the taint of the creatures from my home so that I can be at peace. Do this task for me, and what was once mine shall be yours.”
“What sort of creatures?” asked Arrie.
“The answer to your question is the answer to my question,” replied Ujaset.
“Kobolds?” Tolly asked, incredulously. “You were slain by kobolds?”
“I do not wish to speak of it,” the sphinx said, and the sky seemed to darken. “But there were many of them, and there was a sorcerer of considerable ability among them.”
“Forgive me for asking,” Tolly said, “but you seem to be a creature of considerable power yourself, and as a ghost you cannot be harmed by physical weapons. Why not deal with the kobolds yourself?”
“Because I cannot return to my lair. I have wards in place to keep out the undead, which are unfortunately still active. Also, I am unable to manifest in the physical world, so my ability to affect the kobolds is limited. After all, I have only been a ghost for a few days.”
“Okay, fair enough,” Arrie responded. “So where are these kobolds, and how many are there?”
“They are in my lair still,” said Ujaset. “As to their numbers, I cannot say, for I died before I get a sense of that. As I said before, one of them is a sorcerer.”
The four adventurers talked amongst themselves briefly. “Okay, we’ll do it,” said Kyle. “Where’s your lair?”
Ujaset described the location of his lair, in a cave perhaps a half-day’s walk from their campsite. As the androsphinx finished, the world suddenly became hazy, and then vanished. Each of them awoke in their own bedrolls. They went about their day as usual, proceeding to the village they’d been hired to help. The four humans discussed the dream privately as they walked. They agreed not to involve the other four members of their party yet, so that they could focus on their current mission. Having only half the group show up to the village would probably reflect poorly on them. They resolved to address Ujaset’s plight as soon as an opportunity arose.
The opportunity came sooner than expected. The group had settled into the village, and had gone on a night patrol looking for the undead that were plaguing the loggers there. They encountered and destroyed a group of zombies and skeletons. The next day, some of the group wanted to go out with the loggers to investigate rumors of fey creatures attacking the men. Upon hearing this, Arrie mentioned that a ‘local’ has asked for help with a problem. They agreed to have Kavan, Lanara, Autumn, and Osborn accompany the loggers, while Arrie, Kyle, Tolly and Xu went to investigate the other problem. Later that morning the four humans mounted their horses and rode out into the forest.
They left their horses secured at the site of their last campground, and proceeded on foot to the sphinx’s lair. After a couple of hours of walking, they emerged from the forest into a boulder-strewn glacial plain. As they walked on, Tolly heard a sharp, reptilian rattling coming from the trees behind them.
“I believe there is something behind us,” said Tolly. “I suggest we…”
He was interrupted by a horrific screech, as a large winged form burst from the treetops and dove for the group. The flying reptile’s body was twice as long as a horse, and its long tail was that length by itself. At the end of the tail was a barb that was slick with a foul-looking ichor. The creature swooped down and grasped Tolly by the shoulders, and began lifting him into the air before anyone could react.
“Wyvern!” shouted Kyle.
Arrie stepped back and tried to lash at the creature with her spiked chain, but barely missed. Xu tried to leap up to attack the wyvern by using Arrie as a makeshift ramp, but mistimed her step and ended up flat on her back. Tolly wrenched his arm around enough to produce his holy symbol, and despite the pain managed to unleash a blast of sound at the wyvern’s head. Reeling from the assault, the wyvern dropped Tolly, and then hit the ground itself, too disoriented to stay in the air.
Unfortunately, the wyvern was directly above the party when this happened.
Only Arrie was out of the way when the wyvern hit the earth. Tolly and Xu, already prone, were not much harmed by the ton of draconic flesh dropping on them, but Kyle was buried under the creature’s bulk. He struggled to break free, but was unsuccessful. Xu and Tolly fared better, squirming out from under the wyvern even as Arrie took a chunk out of its side with her chain. The pain of Arrie’s attack roused the creature, and it lashed out in several directions at once. Tolly was impaled by the poisonous tail barb, while Arrie leapt out of the way of the wyvern’s jaws and Xu nimbly dodged the thrashing wings. The beast found an easier target in Kyle, who was directly under its claws. Bleeding profusely, Kyle finally managed to free himself as the wyvern lifted its bulk off him.
Arrie, Xu, and Tolly attacked the wyvern again, slashing, punching, and hammering at its scaly hide. The beast, its breathing now labored from the punishment it had received, spread it’s wings and threw itself into the air, clearly trying to flee. It lurched in midair as two magical bolts summoned by Kyle struck the wyvern in the chest. As the wyvern started to climb and bank away, melee weapons were dropped in favor of bows and crossbows. Arrie launched a quick shot from her double bow, striking the fleeing wyvern just under the wing. Xu fired her crossbow, but the bolt went wide. Then, as the wyvern started to soar over the treetops, blood dripping onto the forest floor below, Kyle stepped up and leveled the butt of his crossbow to his shoulder. Ignoring the pain from his own considerable wounds, he squeezed the trigger.
Moments later, they all heard the satisfying snap and crunch as the wyvern dropped through the trees and landed head first in the hard earth.
“So,” said Tolly, as he walked up to administer healing to the party with his wand, “do we go after the body now, or come back for it?”
“What do we need the body for?” asked Arrie, as she stowed her weapons.
“Well, the tail does contain sacs with a rather potent poison,” said Kyle, who was looking considerably less pale now that he’d received the attention of Tolly’s wand.
As if to underscore the wizard’s point, Tolly suddenly doubled over, vomiting. His knees shook as he tried to regain composure. Arrie stepped up and used her innate talent to detect poisonous substances. The area around the puncture wound in his shoulder glowed a sickly green.
“Are you all right?” she asked, helping the priest to stand.
“I… will be,” said Tolly, only a slight tremor in his voice. “I think the worst has passed. I do feel weaker, but tomorrow I will pray for the power to restore some of my strength.”
“I think that we should not stray from our mission,” commented Xu. “The wyvern is no longer of concern to us.”
The others agreed, and after giving Tolly a moment to recover they set out for Ujaset’s lair again. The group arrived at the cave entrance shortly before sunset. They saw the yawning opening in the side of a hill, no signs of life anywhere nearby.
“What’s our plan?” asked Kyle.
“Well, Ujaset said it was just one big open cave, no passages or side chambers,” said Arrie, studying the cave entrance. “So the kobolds are likely camped out right in the middle. Tactically, it’s not the best scene. Our best bet is to go in as fast as we can and hit them hard before they know what’s up. Hopefully we take enough of them out in the first attack that they can’t counterattack.”
The party began making preparations. Tolly invoked a blessing on the group, and enhanced Arrie’s strength. Xu drank a potion that surrounded her in a field of force to deflect blows. Kyle created his own protective field, then cast another spell that caused a half-dozen illusory duplicates of himself to appear.
“I have a spell that will neutralize the sorcerer,” said Kyle, his words somehow strange coming from seven separate mouths. “But I’ll need to touch him.”
“We’ll see what we can do,” said Arrie. “But the basic plan is Xu and I are the front line, and you stay behind us. Of all of us, Kyle, you’re the least protected and not trained in close combat.”
“I’ll make sure that nothing happens to him,” said Tolly.
With no other preparations to make, the group moved as close as possible to the cave, then charged in, weapons ready. As they drew near, they spotted a single kobold sentry crouched behind a loose boulder. The kobold spotted them at the same time, and with a terrified yelp at seeing a group of hardened warriors charging him (including, apparently, seven wizards), it dropped its spear and threw its hands in the air.
Kyle rushed up to the kobold, as he was the only one who spoke the kobold’s language. “How many of you are there?” he barked.
“Me!” the kobold squeaked.
Kyle suppressed the urge to punch the kobold; he reminded himself that in a situation like this he’d need to be very concrete with the poor creature. “I mean, how many are there inside the cave?”
“Me!” it yelped again.
Tolly saw the look of frustration cross Kyle’s features. “Let me ask him,” he said, hefting his warhammer. The kobold screeched and soiled itself.
Kyle held his hand up to stop Tolly, then took a deep breath, not an inconsiderable feat considering the strong odor of kobold urine now surrounding their captive. “I want to know,” he said slowly, “how many kobolds there are inside the cave besides yourself.”
“None!” it squawked. “Jaalask here alone!”
The others blinked in disbelief when Kyle translated. But sure enough, when Xu stepped into the cavern, it was empty except for a large, half-rotting corpse; Ujaset’s remains.
Tolly picked up the kobold, apparently named Jaalask, and shook him. “Tell us where they are,” he growled.
The rest of the group stepped up as Tolly dropped Jaalask to the ground. Kyle knelt down to the kobold’s level. “Look, Jaalask, we’re here because we were told a tribe of your people had come here and killed the androsphinx that lived here.”
“Yes yes! Blackspear tribe kill big lion-man! Blackspear tribe very strong!”
“And where is the Blackspear tribe now?” Kyle asked, after translating for the others.
“Tribe take lion-man’s shineys, go back into woods.” Jaalask suddenly frowned. “Leave Jaalask here because Oppal say I no fight good.”
“Who is Oppal? Your tribe’s leader?”
“No,” Jaalask said at first, then a sly smile crept onto his face. “Well, yes. Oppal is shaman, his mojo is strong.”
Kyle was about to ask another question when he saw Arrie watching him intently. “Is something wrong?” he asked.
“Oh, no,” she said. “I just wanted to listen in, see if I can pick up a little Draconic.”
“Well, why didn’t you say so? I’d be more than happy to teach you if you wanted. But let’s finish up here, shall we?” He turned back to address Jaalask. “How strong is Oppal’s mojo? What magic have you seen him do?”
“Oh, Oppal’s mojo very strong. He can make lightning come from his hands. He can make blizzards come from his hands. He can make himself look like other people – he goes to other tribes to spy on them, which is why Blackspear tribe is strongest. He can make scary animals come from nowhere and fight for him.”
After hearing this translation, Arrie frowned. “What does that mean?”
“Well,” replied Kyle, “the spells he’s describing could be as simple as a shocking grasp or a ray of frost; both of those are spells I know. Jaalask could also be describing lightning bolt and cone of cold, which are well past what I could manage. Potentially, that’s bad news for us.”
“Well, what now?” asked Tolly. “What do we do with this one?”
Kyle knelt down again. “Can you tell us how to find your tribe?”
Jaalask nodded furiously. “Jaalask will swear oath to Grabâkh to lead you to tribe if you swear oath to your gods that Jaalask will not be harmed.”
“Why would you lead us to your own tribe? You must know that we’re going to attack them.”
Jaalask shrugged. “If you beat tribe, you stronger. Jaalask will go find new tribe. If tribe wins, then Jaalask is hero for leading humans to tribe to be killed.”
The group mulled the proposal over. “I’m not fond of the idea of letting such an evil creature go free,” Tolly said.
“I know,” said Kyle, “but if he leads us to the Blackspear tribe we could potentially wipe them all out. Then Jaalask either finds a new tribe, or he’s eaten by something in the woods while trying. Even if he finds another tribe to take him in, one kobold isn’t going to make that much of a difference.”
“You have a good point,” Tolly admitted. “But we’re securing him with rope.”
Kyle went back and relayed their terms. At first Jaalask was skittish about being tied up, but Kyle explained that they were doing it to help their priest feel safer, so that he wouldn’t accidentally injure Jaalask. Then Arrie stepped up, and after talking briefly with Kyle to learn the proper words, she spoke with the kobold.
“I swear by my god Tor that no harm will come to you if you lead us safely to the Blakspear tribe.”
Jaalask nodded enthusiastically. “Come come! Blackspear tribe not far! We get there before moon is high in sky!”
The group began collecting their things. Tolly, however, walked into the cave mouth and looked at the decomposing body of Ujaset. Summoning divine power, he caused some of the rock in the cave ceiling to soften, which allowed much of the cave to collapse on the body, burying it. As the rocks tumbled down, a large boulder in the side of the cave came loose, and through the dust Tolly saw a glint of metal. Once it was safe, he went to investigate and found a suit of mithral chainmail stashed in the hidden alcove, obviously missed by the kobolds. After showing the prize to the others, Tolly tucked it away in his pack.
The group set off, pausing long enough to pull a loose rope around Jaalask’s waist. They walked quickly across the plain and headed back into the forest. As they walked, Kyle asked more questions to Jaalask about the tribe; he learned that there were between 15-20 of them, in addition to Oppal and a pair of dire weasel “pets”. A few hours later, Jaalask stopped and pointed. Just beyond the rise they saw the glow of campfires.
“Do you think they’ll try and move before sunrise?” Kyle asked the kobold. Jaalask shook his head.
“Tribe likes it here. Trees are big, block sun. Tribe sleep here during day.”
“Well, then,” said Kyle, after relaying the news, “I’d like to propose resting here and attacking in the morning.”
“Why not attack now?” asked Tolly. “They won’t be expecting it.”
“Yes, but all those spells we used to get ready have worn off, and I hardly have anything left,” said Kyle. “Besides which, you’re still suffering from wyvern venom. In the morning we’ll be close to full strength, and they’ll be sleeping.”
Arrie nodded approvingly. “Where’d this come from, Kyle?”
“Hey, they do give us classes in basic tactics in the school of wizardry, you know,” Kyle said, grinning. “True, it’s usually not much more in depth than ‘here’s where you want to put the fireball', but still…”
The group bedded down in a small depression just out of sight of the Blackspear camp. Arrie and Xu took turns at watch, allowing Tolly and Kyle to rest. The next day they rose and made their preparations as before, except that Kyle did not use his mirror image spell. Jaalask agreed to stay back away from the camp so that he wasn’t accidentally targeted. They decided to move up to the camp quietly to scout it out before engaging.
The group came over a small rise and approached the camp. Most of the kobolds were fast asleep, sprawled out on the ground surrounding a large fire pit. The remains of several casks of ale were strewn about, and off on the far side of the camp the dire weasels were curled up next to each other. Three sentries stood around the camp, barely watching the forest around them.
The group moved forward, hoping to be able to take the sentries out quickly and leave the remainder of the kobolds as easy targets. Unfortunately, as they approached the edge of the camp both Kyle and Xu stepped on a large branch buried under a pile of dead leaves, snapping in cleanly in half. The sentries jerked their heads up, and began chattering loudly. The two weasels looked up, and began bounding toward the group, prodded on by one of the sentries.
Tolly was first to act, obliterating a trio of kobolds with a sound blast before they even had a chance to get to their feet. Xu moved around a tree and took a shot at one of the dire weasels, injuring it. Kyle cast a spell, and a translucent glowing hand appeared just over his shoulder, hovering. Arrie trained her elven double bow on a larger kobold that was rushing toward them, sending two arrows into its chest. Another large kobold in chainmail armor fired a crossbow back at Arrie, but missed.
Now the entire camp was on their feet and rushing to engage the intruders. The weasels leapt up on Xu and grabbed hold of her, even as another sound burst from Tolly killed three more kobolds nearby. Xu managed to get out of the grip of one, but the other held fast and began biting at her neck in an attempt to sever her arteries. Kyle, seeing Xu’s plight, cast a spell that coated her in a layer of grease, allowing her to wrench free. The large kobold that Arrie had shot tried to attack Tolly with its spear, but was cut down by Arrie, who had switched to her deadly spiked chain. Tolly looked around and realized that as Xu had backed away from the dire weasels, she had opened a direct path between them and Kyle, and so moved to protect him. But Kyle had seen the dire weasels coming, and threw out a spell that created a hypnotic pattern of light and color that mesmerized one of them.
The kobolds finally managed to swarm into melee, yapping with glee. But their enthusiasm waned as four of them were beheaded by a swipe from Arrie’s chain. The kobold’s own attacks were not nearly as effective; even the kobold in chainmail, a safe distance away, was so nervous that his shot fired at Arrie missed. As Tolly engaged the lone dire weasel, Xu quaffed a healing potion to staunch the blood flowing from her throat. Kyle sent a pair of magic missiles at the kobold with the crossbow, demonstrating that distance did not guarantee safety. As Arrie ripped another kobold to shreds, the three remaining enemies saw that the writing on the wall was written in kobold blood, and scattered. Xu began to run after the kobold in chainmail even as Kyle singed him with a rolling ball of flames. Arrie moved to help Tolly finish off the dire weasels as Kyle cast a detect magic spell. He looked around, but could detect no magical auras other than those possessed by his friends. Kyle scowled; there had been no sign of magical attack coming from the kobolds. Where was Oppal? Kyle even scanned Jaalask quickly to make sure he wasn’t cloaked in illusion magic, but there was nothing.
Tolly stepped back as Arrie landed the killing blow against the last dire weasel. He looked around and surveyed the carnage in the exoticist’s wake. “That was… impressive,” he said.
Arrie grinned, flecks of gore dotting her face. “Yeah, my master’s thesis was ‘Ripping Little Gobbets of Flesh From My Opponents’.”
Meanwhile, Xu managed to run down the fleeing kobold leader. Cornered, it fought back savagely even as Xu attempted to bring it down without killing it. The kobold’s short sword slashed out and drew blood on a few blows, and for a moment it seemed as though the small creature’s desperation might bring him victory. But then with a lightning-fast backhand Xu sent the kobold to the ground, senseless. She bound him and dragged him back to the camp.
It was several hours before the kobold prisoner awoke. It that time the group had tended to their wounds, burned most of the bodies, and allowed Jaalask to take his pick of the kobold’s meager belongings and be on his way. They found remnants of Ujaset’s treasure, including a short sword and a cloak worn by the kobold leader, which Kyle saw were magical. Another kobold, likely a lieutenant, had a potion. Coins of various kinds and denominations were found in a sack stuffed under a rotten log; Kyle had used his innate talent to summon an unseen servant to sort the coins for them.
Interrogation of the leader led the party to discover that Oppal had left the camp two days ago with the gems the tribe had taken from Ujaset in order to buy weapons for the tribe. The leader sold out the sorcerer in exchange for his life; he told the group that Oppal would go to the nearby village in disguise to buy supplies. After giving a detailed description of Oppal’s usual magical guise of a gnomish merchant, he was released after being allowed to take a spear from one of his fallen tribesmen.
The party made their way back to their horses, and made their best speed for the village. They arrived in the late afternoon, just before the loggers were due to return. Knowing that their companions were out with the loggers and couldn’t be reached, the group went straight for the merchant section of the village, knowing that a gnome wouldn’t be hard to find in an elven logging village. A few questions pointed them to Caramip’s Spicehouse, whose proprietor was a gnome and would likely have had contact with others of her race.
“Greetings!” Caramip said brightly, as the group walked in. “What can I do for you?”
“We’re looking for a gnome,” said Tolly.
“Well, you’ve found one!” she replied.
“No, I mean another gnome, a different one.”
Caramip pouted slightly. “Why, is there something wrong with my shop?”
“No, no,” said Arrie impatiently. “That’s not what we meant. We’re looking for a gnomish merchant with blue eyes and a blue shirt. We were told you might have seen him.”
“Oh, him?” said Caramip, the pout disappearing. “Yes, he was here. Very strange – didn’t want to talk, very impolite. Not very… gnomish, if you know what I mean.”
“I think we do,” Arrie said. “Do you know where he went?”
“He said that he was going to see Potter, the blacksmith,” she said.
“Thanks,” Arrie said over her shoulder as she moved out the door of the spice shop. Tolly, however, lingered a bit to buy some spicy dried peppers, hoping to smooth over their rather brusque conversation. Kyle went outside to keep Arrie from getting too far ahead of them.
Once reunited, the group went to Potter’s forge. They found him just as he was packing up the last of his work for the day.
“Greetings,” said Tolly. “We’re looking for a gnomish merchant with blue eyes and a blue shirt by the name of Oppal. We understand he came looking for you.”
“Why yes, he did,” Potter said. “He was here two days ago. He wanted to buy weapons and shields from me. He’s staying in a house nearby waiting for me to finish my work.”
“How many weapons and shields?” Arrie asked.
“He wanted twenty of each, whatever he could get. He had a bag of gems to pay for them, too. I was actually just about to go out to see him – a friend of mine from the city came into town yesterday and sold me a large amount of surplus weapons and armor.”
The party looked at each other. “Do you think we could go with you to see him?” asked Kyle.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“We have reason to believe that the money Oppal is using to buy your goods is stolen,” Tolly said. “In addition, we believe he intends to give these weapons to a local kobold tribe.”
Potter’s brow furrowed. “Stolen money, you say? That’s serious.” He walked over to a hand-cart in the corner of his smithy, laden with wooden crates. “If what you say is true, then Oppal has no right to these. I can show you where he’s staying.”
“Thank you,” said Tolly. “Hopefully we can lure him out and capture him without incident. However, we fear he may resist. If you take us to Oppal’s residence, I would be prepared to get to safety should the situation get out of hand.”
Potter led the group across town, carting the load of weapons and shields. He stopped outside a two-story home near the edge of town. A set of wooden stairs on the side of the house led up to a doorway.
“He’s upstairs,” said Potter. “The woman who lives here rents rooms to traveling merchants.”
“Call him down,” suggested Arrie. We’ll wait down here to get him when he’s out in the open.”
The group spread out to cover the area. Arrie hid underneath the stairs, while Tolly waited at the bottom. Xu remained close to Potter, while Kyle moved off near the corner of the house and waited.
“Hey! Oppal!” shouted Potter. “I’ve got your order ready! Come down here!”
After a minute, a high-pitched voice shouted back. “Why can’t you bring them up to me? You’re a big, strong man.”
“Uh, er…” Potter looked around for help, but the group had moved too far away. “You, uh, need to come take a look to make sure they’re all right!”
There was the sound of soft grumbling, but a moment later a gnome in a blue shirt appeared at the top of the stairs. He looked around, squinting. “Who’re these other three people with you, Potter?”
“They helped me bring the stuff over,” Potter lied.
Oppal’s eyes narrowed even further. “But it’s all on that cart you’ve got there.”
At this point Arrie stepped out from under the stairs. “Actually, Oppal, we have other business with you.”
Tolly began heading up the stairs. “Oppal of the Blackspear Tribe, you are under arrest for deceptive trading practices, bargaining with stolen goods, and intent to provide armaments to hostile humanoids.”
In response, Oppal uttered a short, barking string of arcane syllables, and promptly vanished. Tolly dashed up the stairs, but the landing was empty; he stood in the doorway, hoping to block Oppal’s escape if he’d fled inside. The others waited for some sign of the kobold sorcerer’s presence.
They didn’t have to wait long. There was a shimmering in the air on the stairs behind Tolly, and suddenly a vicious-looking dog with burning eyes and black fur appeared, snarling at the priest. It opened its jaws and a gout of flame erupted from its snout, singing Tolly but fortunately not spreading to the wooden house. Xu moved up behind the hellhound to attack it, while Potter the smith promptly fled, as did several other passers-by. Arrie moved out away from the house, listening intently for any sound the kobold was making. Kyle did the same, but remained where he was.
Tolly, realizing that he was trapped, leapt over the rail and down to the ground. He tried to help Arrie search, but their efforts produced no results. Arrie could hear Oppal casting more spells, but she could neither pinpoint the sound nor see any visual effect from the casting. Snarling, she moved far out away from the house, hoping to cut off a retreat.
“This isn’t working!” she shouted. “I can’t even find him!”
“Keep looking!” Tolly shouted back.
“What good does it do? We have no idea where he is!”
“Well, do you have a better idea?”
Kyle, listening to the exchange, suddenly realized that he did have a better idea. He saw that Xu was having little difficulty with the hellhound; she’d been bitten, but not badly. He ran around the corner to the door on the lower story of the house, and pounded his fist furiously on it.
Whatever Kyle had planned, it was never put into practice. As Tolly moved out searching for the sorcerer, there was a shimmer, and Oppal appeared, hand outstretched toward the priest. A blast of frigid air came flying from Oppal’s palm, blasting Tolly full force. Arrie, finally seeing a target, pulled out her double bow and fired a quick arrow at Oppal, but the blast from the ice storm diverted the shaft and it missed. But the sound of the spell distracted the hellhound long enough for Xu to land the killing blow, dispersing the summoned creature. Kyle, seeing his chance, cast a spell that surrounded his hand in glowing energy. He started moving closer to the sorcerer.
Tolly moved in to engage Oppal, despite the fact that he was barely standing. He swung at the disguised kobold even as it was chanting another spell. He managed to wound Oppal, and another two shots from Arrie hit their mark. But despite the injuries Oppal managed to keep control of his spell, and suddenly four large, wicked-looking rats appeared, two surrounding Tolly and the other two positioned to block Xu and Kyle’s advance. Xu stayed back to deal with the new threat, killing one of the fiendish rats, while Kyle took his chances and charged in, swinging at Oppal with his ensorcelled hand even as the other rat sunk its teeth into his calf. The pain of the bite broke Kyle’s focus, and his swing missed. Nearby, the other two fiendish rats swarmed Tolly, and their bites managed to overwhelm the priest, sending him down.
Oppal turned to deal with the new threat posed by Kyle. He summoned four magic missiles, slamming them into the wizard. He also directed the rats that had just downed Tolly to attack Kyle, and one of them sunk its teeth into his other leg. Xu also received a disease-laden bite while battling her summoned foe. Arrie, seeing that Kyle was in trouble, began running toward the combat, unfurling her spiked chain as she ran.
Kyle’s vision blurred slightly as he considered his predicament. He’d used up most of his defensive magic in the fight with the Blackspear tribe, and thus was relatively unprotected. He’d intended to use this spell against Oppal from a safe distance, but he’d already wasted his spectral hand spell in that same combat. For some reason Kyle’s mind flashed to memories of his days at the Tower – struggling to answer questions in class that the other students seemed to know by heart because he hadn’t been studying magic since childhood; watching helplessly during the first examination with his new group of friends because he’d chosen the wrong kind of spells to prepare; stumbling through the investigation at Dagger Rock because he’d never learned the finer points of talking to people. And now it looked like he was about to be taken down by a kobold and a couple of rats, which would force Arrie and Xu to break off their attack to save him and Tolly. That could give Oppal the opportunity to escape. Kyle was tired of feeling helpless, tired of not being able to pull his weight.
No more.
Lunging forward past the snapping teeth and claws of the fiendish rats, Kyle’s hand shot out and grabbed Oppal by the head, lifting him off the ground by his skull. Arcane energy poured directly into the kobold’s brain. Kyle let go, and Oppal dropped to the ground. He sat on the ground, unmoving, a line of drool dribbling from the corner of his mouth. The summoned rats, with no will to direct them, suddenly became quiescent.
Arrie slowed her charge, seeing that all the opponents were down. Xu moved to help Tolly, pouring a potion down his throat to stop the priest’s slow descent into death. She smiled as she saw the bluish tinge fade from his skin, and heard his breathing become less ragged.
Arrie approached Kyle, stopping long enough to step on the necks of the motionless fiendish rats. “What did you do to him?” she asked.
“Touch of idiocy,” he said. He looked at the hand that delivered the spell. “Though I didn’t expect it to be that… effective.”*
“Well, whatever you did, good job. Let’s see what he’s got on him.”
Once Tolly had revived and recovered enough to see to the rest of his and Kyle’s injuries, they secured Oppal and removed his belongings. They also searched the room he rented, and found a pouch of star sapphires as well as some other loose coin. Oppal the sorcerer was handed over to the town guard, after warning them of his abilities and pointing out that his true form would be obvious to all within a few hours. As the comatose kobold was hauled away, the four heroes felt a sudden sensation of peace wash over them.
“I think we’ve satisfied Ujaset,” Kyle said.
“Agreed,” added Tolly. “Now we should focus on our task of aiding these villagers with the undead menace.”
“Actually, Tolly,” said Arrie, “we’ve been pushing hard for the past two days, and we don’t even have an idea what our companions have been up to. I think our focus should be on a good night’s sleep.” She paused, then smiled. “Hopefully with no dreams.”
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* Kyle rolled a critical on his touch attack for the spell, and nearly maxed out the double roll. The more rules-lawyery among the readers will note that a critical on touch of idiocy shouldn't do anything, as the spell applies a penalty rather than ability damage. At the time, however, none of us caught that (and hey, it was cool).
This installment requires a bit of explanation. This was the session following the beginning of 'Death Makes No Sound'. However, real-life events led to a situation where only half of the group could meet. So, our DM decided to run a small side adventure for the four of us, which actually starts before our arrival at the logging camp but ends well after our initial encounter with the zombies at the end of 'Death'. In the following week, the DM ran a side-adventure for the other four players to compensate; those players that had been in the first side adventure played NPCs in the second.
This post, like the last one, runs a bit long for my taste (I like my Story Hour updates substantial enough to be worth the click, but not too much at once). But it's a one-shot adventure, and I see no reason to split it. I'll probably return to breaking things up a bit more after this.
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Tolly’s eyes wandered as he sat on watch, despite himself. They were due to reach the village sometime in the next day, but the proximity of civilization did not settle his mind. Somewhere out there, some unknown entity was watching them. Kavan had spotted it the night before, just before dawn, stealing away from their camp. So far the entity seemed benign, but this fact didn’t put Tolly at ease. Autumn sat nearby, her aasimar eyes able to penetrate the darkness of the forest much better than his own, but neither of them had seen a thing.
Tolly glanced at the moon, high in the sky to his left. “I think it’s time to wake the next watch,” he said quietly.
Nodding, Autumn watched as Tolly rose and went into the tent occupied by the men. He shook Kavan and Osborn gently. Kavan responded almost immediately, emerging from his trance. Osborn was a bit slower to rouse, but eventually his right eye cracked open. Tolly walked out of the tent to give them room to dress and get ready for their watch. He glanced over at Kyle, who was sleeping soundly. The wizard had been excused from watch because of his need to rest in order to prepare his mind for his spells. Tolly felt a twinge of jealousy; though no stranger to all-night vigils, he didn’t relish them, and he and Autumn had agreed to take the middle watch, which was always hardest.
After several minutes Kavan and Osborn emerged, fully dressed in their armor. Kavan looked at Autumn. “How’s Lanara doing?” he asked her. Lanara was fighting a case of the Stygian Shakes that she’d picked up back in Trageon.
“Fair,” she told the elven cleric, “but she’s sleeping poorly. We could hear her tossing and turning all night.”
“Hopefully she’ll recover soon,” said Tolly, as he unbuckled his breastplate and set it down. Autumn watched as the Ardaran priest stretched his shoulders.
“Perhaps I should remove my own armor out here, too,” she said. “So I won’t disturb Lanara. Kavan, can you assist me?”
Tolly muttered goodnight and went into the tent as Kavan began pulling on one of Autumn’s many straps. He knew that the process of removing and packing the sentinel’s field plate would take several minutes, and he saw no need to watch it. Setting his own armor and weapon next to his bunk, he crawled under his blanket, and was asleep within moments.
Which is why he was somewhat irritated to find himself awake moments later. As he stood there, looking around at the trees, he suddenly realized that he had no recollection of getting out of bed, let alone getting dressed again. He also realized that where he was standing was in the same forest, but their camp was nowhere to be seen. What he did see were three of his companions; Kyle, Arrie, and Xu.
“Where are we?” Arrie asked.
“I believe we are dreaming,” said Xu.
“This seems very real for a dream,” replied Tolly. “Not to mention that we all seem to be sharing the same dream.”
“I think I read about something like this in school,” Kyle piped in. “There’s magic that can do something like this. A very powerful mage or magical creature could do it.”
“You mean, something like that?” Arrie said, pointing off into the woods.
The rest of them turned to see a large, translucent figure floating toward them. The creature had the head of a wise-looking human male, perched atop a lion’s body. Enormous feathered wings were folded at its sides.
“What is that?” asked Xu.
“Androsphinx,” both Kyle and Tolly whispered simultaneously.
The sphinx came within a few feet of the four adventurers, floating in midair. Then his mouth opened, and his voice was like thunder.
“Who will hear the riddle of Ujaset?”
Both Kyle and Tolly yelped at the loud noise. Xu and Arrie remained calmer. “What riddle?” Arrie asked.
This time Ujaset’s voice seemed to emanate from all around them. “What is half a dragon, but lacks a wyrmling’s strength? What is half a dog, but lacks a mongrel’s length? What is it that has two halves, but has but half to stand on?”
As the echo of the sphinx’s words died down, the group moved together to consult. “What do you think?” asked Arrie.
“Well, he seems to be describing a creature that is small and weak,” Tolly said, “and is somehow related to both dragons and canines.”
“A chimera, perhaps?” offered Xu.
Kyle shook his head. “No, a chimera’s got three heads, but only one’s a dragon head. The others are lion and goat; no dog.”
“Perhaps the part about ‘having half to stand on’ means that the creature is bipedal,” said Tolly.
“So, a small, weak biped, with both dog-like and dragon-like features…” Kyle mused.
It only took them a moment to put the clues together. “A kobold,” announced Tolly.
“Correct,” Ujaset said, smiling. “You are just the sort I am looking for.”
“Where are the rest of our companions?” asked Kyle.
“My power was unable to bind them into the dream world,” said Ujaset, “they must be asleep for the magic to work.”
“So, what did you mean when you said we were ‘just the sort you were looking for’?” Arrie asked.
“I would ask you to do a task for me, so that my soul may be at rest.”
“So… you’re a ghost?” Kyle asked. The androsphinx nodded.
“I was slain in my lair and my possessions taken, and now my spirit is restless and cannot depart this world for the next. I need to have someone avenge my death and remove the taint of the creatures from my home so that I can be at peace. Do this task for me, and what was once mine shall be yours.”
“What sort of creatures?” asked Arrie.
“The answer to your question is the answer to my question,” replied Ujaset.
“Kobolds?” Tolly asked, incredulously. “You were slain by kobolds?”
“I do not wish to speak of it,” the sphinx said, and the sky seemed to darken. “But there were many of them, and there was a sorcerer of considerable ability among them.”
“Forgive me for asking,” Tolly said, “but you seem to be a creature of considerable power yourself, and as a ghost you cannot be harmed by physical weapons. Why not deal with the kobolds yourself?”
“Because I cannot return to my lair. I have wards in place to keep out the undead, which are unfortunately still active. Also, I am unable to manifest in the physical world, so my ability to affect the kobolds is limited. After all, I have only been a ghost for a few days.”
“Okay, fair enough,” Arrie responded. “So where are these kobolds, and how many are there?”
“They are in my lair still,” said Ujaset. “As to their numbers, I cannot say, for I died before I get a sense of that. As I said before, one of them is a sorcerer.”
The four adventurers talked amongst themselves briefly. “Okay, we’ll do it,” said Kyle. “Where’s your lair?”
Ujaset described the location of his lair, in a cave perhaps a half-day’s walk from their campsite. As the androsphinx finished, the world suddenly became hazy, and then vanished. Each of them awoke in their own bedrolls. They went about their day as usual, proceeding to the village they’d been hired to help. The four humans discussed the dream privately as they walked. They agreed not to involve the other four members of their party yet, so that they could focus on their current mission. Having only half the group show up to the village would probably reflect poorly on them. They resolved to address Ujaset’s plight as soon as an opportunity arose.
The opportunity came sooner than expected. The group had settled into the village, and had gone on a night patrol looking for the undead that were plaguing the loggers there. They encountered and destroyed a group of zombies and skeletons. The next day, some of the group wanted to go out with the loggers to investigate rumors of fey creatures attacking the men. Upon hearing this, Arrie mentioned that a ‘local’ has asked for help with a problem. They agreed to have Kavan, Lanara, Autumn, and Osborn accompany the loggers, while Arrie, Kyle, Tolly and Xu went to investigate the other problem. Later that morning the four humans mounted their horses and rode out into the forest.
They left their horses secured at the site of their last campground, and proceeded on foot to the sphinx’s lair. After a couple of hours of walking, they emerged from the forest into a boulder-strewn glacial plain. As they walked on, Tolly heard a sharp, reptilian rattling coming from the trees behind them.
“I believe there is something behind us,” said Tolly. “I suggest we…”
He was interrupted by a horrific screech, as a large winged form burst from the treetops and dove for the group. The flying reptile’s body was twice as long as a horse, and its long tail was that length by itself. At the end of the tail was a barb that was slick with a foul-looking ichor. The creature swooped down and grasped Tolly by the shoulders, and began lifting him into the air before anyone could react.
“Wyvern!” shouted Kyle.
Arrie stepped back and tried to lash at the creature with her spiked chain, but barely missed. Xu tried to leap up to attack the wyvern by using Arrie as a makeshift ramp, but mistimed her step and ended up flat on her back. Tolly wrenched his arm around enough to produce his holy symbol, and despite the pain managed to unleash a blast of sound at the wyvern’s head. Reeling from the assault, the wyvern dropped Tolly, and then hit the ground itself, too disoriented to stay in the air.
Unfortunately, the wyvern was directly above the party when this happened.
Only Arrie was out of the way when the wyvern hit the earth. Tolly and Xu, already prone, were not much harmed by the ton of draconic flesh dropping on them, but Kyle was buried under the creature’s bulk. He struggled to break free, but was unsuccessful. Xu and Tolly fared better, squirming out from under the wyvern even as Arrie took a chunk out of its side with her chain. The pain of Arrie’s attack roused the creature, and it lashed out in several directions at once. Tolly was impaled by the poisonous tail barb, while Arrie leapt out of the way of the wyvern’s jaws and Xu nimbly dodged the thrashing wings. The beast found an easier target in Kyle, who was directly under its claws. Bleeding profusely, Kyle finally managed to free himself as the wyvern lifted its bulk off him.
Arrie, Xu, and Tolly attacked the wyvern again, slashing, punching, and hammering at its scaly hide. The beast, its breathing now labored from the punishment it had received, spread it’s wings and threw itself into the air, clearly trying to flee. It lurched in midair as two magical bolts summoned by Kyle struck the wyvern in the chest. As the wyvern started to climb and bank away, melee weapons were dropped in favor of bows and crossbows. Arrie launched a quick shot from her double bow, striking the fleeing wyvern just under the wing. Xu fired her crossbow, but the bolt went wide. Then, as the wyvern started to soar over the treetops, blood dripping onto the forest floor below, Kyle stepped up and leveled the butt of his crossbow to his shoulder. Ignoring the pain from his own considerable wounds, he squeezed the trigger.
Moments later, they all heard the satisfying snap and crunch as the wyvern dropped through the trees and landed head first in the hard earth.
“So,” said Tolly, as he walked up to administer healing to the party with his wand, “do we go after the body now, or come back for it?”
“What do we need the body for?” asked Arrie, as she stowed her weapons.
“Well, the tail does contain sacs with a rather potent poison,” said Kyle, who was looking considerably less pale now that he’d received the attention of Tolly’s wand.
As if to underscore the wizard’s point, Tolly suddenly doubled over, vomiting. His knees shook as he tried to regain composure. Arrie stepped up and used her innate talent to detect poisonous substances. The area around the puncture wound in his shoulder glowed a sickly green.
“Are you all right?” she asked, helping the priest to stand.
“I… will be,” said Tolly, only a slight tremor in his voice. “I think the worst has passed. I do feel weaker, but tomorrow I will pray for the power to restore some of my strength.”
“I think that we should not stray from our mission,” commented Xu. “The wyvern is no longer of concern to us.”
The others agreed, and after giving Tolly a moment to recover they set out for Ujaset’s lair again. The group arrived at the cave entrance shortly before sunset. They saw the yawning opening in the side of a hill, no signs of life anywhere nearby.
“What’s our plan?” asked Kyle.
“Well, Ujaset said it was just one big open cave, no passages or side chambers,” said Arrie, studying the cave entrance. “So the kobolds are likely camped out right in the middle. Tactically, it’s not the best scene. Our best bet is to go in as fast as we can and hit them hard before they know what’s up. Hopefully we take enough of them out in the first attack that they can’t counterattack.”
The party began making preparations. Tolly invoked a blessing on the group, and enhanced Arrie’s strength. Xu drank a potion that surrounded her in a field of force to deflect blows. Kyle created his own protective field, then cast another spell that caused a half-dozen illusory duplicates of himself to appear.
“I have a spell that will neutralize the sorcerer,” said Kyle, his words somehow strange coming from seven separate mouths. “But I’ll need to touch him.”
“We’ll see what we can do,” said Arrie. “But the basic plan is Xu and I are the front line, and you stay behind us. Of all of us, Kyle, you’re the least protected and not trained in close combat.”
“I’ll make sure that nothing happens to him,” said Tolly.
With no other preparations to make, the group moved as close as possible to the cave, then charged in, weapons ready. As they drew near, they spotted a single kobold sentry crouched behind a loose boulder. The kobold spotted them at the same time, and with a terrified yelp at seeing a group of hardened warriors charging him (including, apparently, seven wizards), it dropped its spear and threw its hands in the air.
Kyle rushed up to the kobold, as he was the only one who spoke the kobold’s language. “How many of you are there?” he barked.
“Me!” the kobold squeaked.
Kyle suppressed the urge to punch the kobold; he reminded himself that in a situation like this he’d need to be very concrete with the poor creature. “I mean, how many are there inside the cave?”
“Me!” it yelped again.
Tolly saw the look of frustration cross Kyle’s features. “Let me ask him,” he said, hefting his warhammer. The kobold screeched and soiled itself.
Kyle held his hand up to stop Tolly, then took a deep breath, not an inconsiderable feat considering the strong odor of kobold urine now surrounding their captive. “I want to know,” he said slowly, “how many kobolds there are inside the cave besides yourself.”
“None!” it squawked. “Jaalask here alone!”
The others blinked in disbelief when Kyle translated. But sure enough, when Xu stepped into the cavern, it was empty except for a large, half-rotting corpse; Ujaset’s remains.
Tolly picked up the kobold, apparently named Jaalask, and shook him. “Tell us where they are,” he growled.
The rest of the group stepped up as Tolly dropped Jaalask to the ground. Kyle knelt down to the kobold’s level. “Look, Jaalask, we’re here because we were told a tribe of your people had come here and killed the androsphinx that lived here.”
“Yes yes! Blackspear tribe kill big lion-man! Blackspear tribe very strong!”
“And where is the Blackspear tribe now?” Kyle asked, after translating for the others.
“Tribe take lion-man’s shineys, go back into woods.” Jaalask suddenly frowned. “Leave Jaalask here because Oppal say I no fight good.”
“Who is Oppal? Your tribe’s leader?”
“No,” Jaalask said at first, then a sly smile crept onto his face. “Well, yes. Oppal is shaman, his mojo is strong.”
Kyle was about to ask another question when he saw Arrie watching him intently. “Is something wrong?” he asked.
“Oh, no,” she said. “I just wanted to listen in, see if I can pick up a little Draconic.”
“Well, why didn’t you say so? I’d be more than happy to teach you if you wanted. But let’s finish up here, shall we?” He turned back to address Jaalask. “How strong is Oppal’s mojo? What magic have you seen him do?”
“Oh, Oppal’s mojo very strong. He can make lightning come from his hands. He can make blizzards come from his hands. He can make himself look like other people – he goes to other tribes to spy on them, which is why Blackspear tribe is strongest. He can make scary animals come from nowhere and fight for him.”
After hearing this translation, Arrie frowned. “What does that mean?”
“Well,” replied Kyle, “the spells he’s describing could be as simple as a shocking grasp or a ray of frost; both of those are spells I know. Jaalask could also be describing lightning bolt and cone of cold, which are well past what I could manage. Potentially, that’s bad news for us.”
“Well, what now?” asked Tolly. “What do we do with this one?”
Kyle knelt down again. “Can you tell us how to find your tribe?”
Jaalask nodded furiously. “Jaalask will swear oath to Grabâkh to lead you to tribe if you swear oath to your gods that Jaalask will not be harmed.”
“Why would you lead us to your own tribe? You must know that we’re going to attack them.”
Jaalask shrugged. “If you beat tribe, you stronger. Jaalask will go find new tribe. If tribe wins, then Jaalask is hero for leading humans to tribe to be killed.”
The group mulled the proposal over. “I’m not fond of the idea of letting such an evil creature go free,” Tolly said.
“I know,” said Kyle, “but if he leads us to the Blackspear tribe we could potentially wipe them all out. Then Jaalask either finds a new tribe, or he’s eaten by something in the woods while trying. Even if he finds another tribe to take him in, one kobold isn’t going to make that much of a difference.”
“You have a good point,” Tolly admitted. “But we’re securing him with rope.”
Kyle went back and relayed their terms. At first Jaalask was skittish about being tied up, but Kyle explained that they were doing it to help their priest feel safer, so that he wouldn’t accidentally injure Jaalask. Then Arrie stepped up, and after talking briefly with Kyle to learn the proper words, she spoke with the kobold.
“I swear by my god Tor that no harm will come to you if you lead us safely to the Blakspear tribe.”
Jaalask nodded enthusiastically. “Come come! Blackspear tribe not far! We get there before moon is high in sky!”
The group began collecting their things. Tolly, however, walked into the cave mouth and looked at the decomposing body of Ujaset. Summoning divine power, he caused some of the rock in the cave ceiling to soften, which allowed much of the cave to collapse on the body, burying it. As the rocks tumbled down, a large boulder in the side of the cave came loose, and through the dust Tolly saw a glint of metal. Once it was safe, he went to investigate and found a suit of mithral chainmail stashed in the hidden alcove, obviously missed by the kobolds. After showing the prize to the others, Tolly tucked it away in his pack.
The group set off, pausing long enough to pull a loose rope around Jaalask’s waist. They walked quickly across the plain and headed back into the forest. As they walked, Kyle asked more questions to Jaalask about the tribe; he learned that there were between 15-20 of them, in addition to Oppal and a pair of dire weasel “pets”. A few hours later, Jaalask stopped and pointed. Just beyond the rise they saw the glow of campfires.
“Do you think they’ll try and move before sunrise?” Kyle asked the kobold. Jaalask shook his head.
“Tribe likes it here. Trees are big, block sun. Tribe sleep here during day.”
“Well, then,” said Kyle, after relaying the news, “I’d like to propose resting here and attacking in the morning.”
“Why not attack now?” asked Tolly. “They won’t be expecting it.”
“Yes, but all those spells we used to get ready have worn off, and I hardly have anything left,” said Kyle. “Besides which, you’re still suffering from wyvern venom. In the morning we’ll be close to full strength, and they’ll be sleeping.”
Arrie nodded approvingly. “Where’d this come from, Kyle?”
“Hey, they do give us classes in basic tactics in the school of wizardry, you know,” Kyle said, grinning. “True, it’s usually not much more in depth than ‘here’s where you want to put the fireball', but still…”
The group bedded down in a small depression just out of sight of the Blackspear camp. Arrie and Xu took turns at watch, allowing Tolly and Kyle to rest. The next day they rose and made their preparations as before, except that Kyle did not use his mirror image spell. Jaalask agreed to stay back away from the camp so that he wasn’t accidentally targeted. They decided to move up to the camp quietly to scout it out before engaging.
The group came over a small rise and approached the camp. Most of the kobolds were fast asleep, sprawled out on the ground surrounding a large fire pit. The remains of several casks of ale were strewn about, and off on the far side of the camp the dire weasels were curled up next to each other. Three sentries stood around the camp, barely watching the forest around them.
The group moved forward, hoping to be able to take the sentries out quickly and leave the remainder of the kobolds as easy targets. Unfortunately, as they approached the edge of the camp both Kyle and Xu stepped on a large branch buried under a pile of dead leaves, snapping in cleanly in half. The sentries jerked their heads up, and began chattering loudly. The two weasels looked up, and began bounding toward the group, prodded on by one of the sentries.
Tolly was first to act, obliterating a trio of kobolds with a sound blast before they even had a chance to get to their feet. Xu moved around a tree and took a shot at one of the dire weasels, injuring it. Kyle cast a spell, and a translucent glowing hand appeared just over his shoulder, hovering. Arrie trained her elven double bow on a larger kobold that was rushing toward them, sending two arrows into its chest. Another large kobold in chainmail armor fired a crossbow back at Arrie, but missed.
Now the entire camp was on their feet and rushing to engage the intruders. The weasels leapt up on Xu and grabbed hold of her, even as another sound burst from Tolly killed three more kobolds nearby. Xu managed to get out of the grip of one, but the other held fast and began biting at her neck in an attempt to sever her arteries. Kyle, seeing Xu’s plight, cast a spell that coated her in a layer of grease, allowing her to wrench free. The large kobold that Arrie had shot tried to attack Tolly with its spear, but was cut down by Arrie, who had switched to her deadly spiked chain. Tolly looked around and realized that as Xu had backed away from the dire weasels, she had opened a direct path between them and Kyle, and so moved to protect him. But Kyle had seen the dire weasels coming, and threw out a spell that created a hypnotic pattern of light and color that mesmerized one of them.
The kobolds finally managed to swarm into melee, yapping with glee. But their enthusiasm waned as four of them were beheaded by a swipe from Arrie’s chain. The kobold’s own attacks were not nearly as effective; even the kobold in chainmail, a safe distance away, was so nervous that his shot fired at Arrie missed. As Tolly engaged the lone dire weasel, Xu quaffed a healing potion to staunch the blood flowing from her throat. Kyle sent a pair of magic missiles at the kobold with the crossbow, demonstrating that distance did not guarantee safety. As Arrie ripped another kobold to shreds, the three remaining enemies saw that the writing on the wall was written in kobold blood, and scattered. Xu began to run after the kobold in chainmail even as Kyle singed him with a rolling ball of flames. Arrie moved to help Tolly finish off the dire weasels as Kyle cast a detect magic spell. He looked around, but could detect no magical auras other than those possessed by his friends. Kyle scowled; there had been no sign of magical attack coming from the kobolds. Where was Oppal? Kyle even scanned Jaalask quickly to make sure he wasn’t cloaked in illusion magic, but there was nothing.
Tolly stepped back as Arrie landed the killing blow against the last dire weasel. He looked around and surveyed the carnage in the exoticist’s wake. “That was… impressive,” he said.
Arrie grinned, flecks of gore dotting her face. “Yeah, my master’s thesis was ‘Ripping Little Gobbets of Flesh From My Opponents’.”
Meanwhile, Xu managed to run down the fleeing kobold leader. Cornered, it fought back savagely even as Xu attempted to bring it down without killing it. The kobold’s short sword slashed out and drew blood on a few blows, and for a moment it seemed as though the small creature’s desperation might bring him victory. But then with a lightning-fast backhand Xu sent the kobold to the ground, senseless. She bound him and dragged him back to the camp.
It was several hours before the kobold prisoner awoke. It that time the group had tended to their wounds, burned most of the bodies, and allowed Jaalask to take his pick of the kobold’s meager belongings and be on his way. They found remnants of Ujaset’s treasure, including a short sword and a cloak worn by the kobold leader, which Kyle saw were magical. Another kobold, likely a lieutenant, had a potion. Coins of various kinds and denominations were found in a sack stuffed under a rotten log; Kyle had used his innate talent to summon an unseen servant to sort the coins for them.
Interrogation of the leader led the party to discover that Oppal had left the camp two days ago with the gems the tribe had taken from Ujaset in order to buy weapons for the tribe. The leader sold out the sorcerer in exchange for his life; he told the group that Oppal would go to the nearby village in disguise to buy supplies. After giving a detailed description of Oppal’s usual magical guise of a gnomish merchant, he was released after being allowed to take a spear from one of his fallen tribesmen.
The party made their way back to their horses, and made their best speed for the village. They arrived in the late afternoon, just before the loggers were due to return. Knowing that their companions were out with the loggers and couldn’t be reached, the group went straight for the merchant section of the village, knowing that a gnome wouldn’t be hard to find in an elven logging village. A few questions pointed them to Caramip’s Spicehouse, whose proprietor was a gnome and would likely have had contact with others of her race.
“Greetings!” Caramip said brightly, as the group walked in. “What can I do for you?”
“We’re looking for a gnome,” said Tolly.
“Well, you’ve found one!” she replied.
“No, I mean another gnome, a different one.”
Caramip pouted slightly. “Why, is there something wrong with my shop?”
“No, no,” said Arrie impatiently. “That’s not what we meant. We’re looking for a gnomish merchant with blue eyes and a blue shirt. We were told you might have seen him.”
“Oh, him?” said Caramip, the pout disappearing. “Yes, he was here. Very strange – didn’t want to talk, very impolite. Not very… gnomish, if you know what I mean.”
“I think we do,” Arrie said. “Do you know where he went?”
“He said that he was going to see Potter, the blacksmith,” she said.
“Thanks,” Arrie said over her shoulder as she moved out the door of the spice shop. Tolly, however, lingered a bit to buy some spicy dried peppers, hoping to smooth over their rather brusque conversation. Kyle went outside to keep Arrie from getting too far ahead of them.
Once reunited, the group went to Potter’s forge. They found him just as he was packing up the last of his work for the day.
“Greetings,” said Tolly. “We’re looking for a gnomish merchant with blue eyes and a blue shirt by the name of Oppal. We understand he came looking for you.”
“Why yes, he did,” Potter said. “He was here two days ago. He wanted to buy weapons and shields from me. He’s staying in a house nearby waiting for me to finish my work.”
“How many weapons and shields?” Arrie asked.
“He wanted twenty of each, whatever he could get. He had a bag of gems to pay for them, too. I was actually just about to go out to see him – a friend of mine from the city came into town yesterday and sold me a large amount of surplus weapons and armor.”
The party looked at each other. “Do you think we could go with you to see him?” asked Kyle.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“We have reason to believe that the money Oppal is using to buy your goods is stolen,” Tolly said. “In addition, we believe he intends to give these weapons to a local kobold tribe.”
Potter’s brow furrowed. “Stolen money, you say? That’s serious.” He walked over to a hand-cart in the corner of his smithy, laden with wooden crates. “If what you say is true, then Oppal has no right to these. I can show you where he’s staying.”
“Thank you,” said Tolly. “Hopefully we can lure him out and capture him without incident. However, we fear he may resist. If you take us to Oppal’s residence, I would be prepared to get to safety should the situation get out of hand.”
Potter led the group across town, carting the load of weapons and shields. He stopped outside a two-story home near the edge of town. A set of wooden stairs on the side of the house led up to a doorway.
“He’s upstairs,” said Potter. “The woman who lives here rents rooms to traveling merchants.”
“Call him down,” suggested Arrie. We’ll wait down here to get him when he’s out in the open.”
The group spread out to cover the area. Arrie hid underneath the stairs, while Tolly waited at the bottom. Xu remained close to Potter, while Kyle moved off near the corner of the house and waited.
“Hey! Oppal!” shouted Potter. “I’ve got your order ready! Come down here!”
After a minute, a high-pitched voice shouted back. “Why can’t you bring them up to me? You’re a big, strong man.”
“Uh, er…” Potter looked around for help, but the group had moved too far away. “You, uh, need to come take a look to make sure they’re all right!”
There was the sound of soft grumbling, but a moment later a gnome in a blue shirt appeared at the top of the stairs. He looked around, squinting. “Who’re these other three people with you, Potter?”
“They helped me bring the stuff over,” Potter lied.
Oppal’s eyes narrowed even further. “But it’s all on that cart you’ve got there.”
At this point Arrie stepped out from under the stairs. “Actually, Oppal, we have other business with you.”
Tolly began heading up the stairs. “Oppal of the Blackspear Tribe, you are under arrest for deceptive trading practices, bargaining with stolen goods, and intent to provide armaments to hostile humanoids.”
In response, Oppal uttered a short, barking string of arcane syllables, and promptly vanished. Tolly dashed up the stairs, but the landing was empty; he stood in the doorway, hoping to block Oppal’s escape if he’d fled inside. The others waited for some sign of the kobold sorcerer’s presence.
They didn’t have to wait long. There was a shimmering in the air on the stairs behind Tolly, and suddenly a vicious-looking dog with burning eyes and black fur appeared, snarling at the priest. It opened its jaws and a gout of flame erupted from its snout, singing Tolly but fortunately not spreading to the wooden house. Xu moved up behind the hellhound to attack it, while Potter the smith promptly fled, as did several other passers-by. Arrie moved out away from the house, listening intently for any sound the kobold was making. Kyle did the same, but remained where he was.
Tolly, realizing that he was trapped, leapt over the rail and down to the ground. He tried to help Arrie search, but their efforts produced no results. Arrie could hear Oppal casting more spells, but she could neither pinpoint the sound nor see any visual effect from the casting. Snarling, she moved far out away from the house, hoping to cut off a retreat.
“This isn’t working!” she shouted. “I can’t even find him!”
“Keep looking!” Tolly shouted back.
“What good does it do? We have no idea where he is!”
“Well, do you have a better idea?”
Kyle, listening to the exchange, suddenly realized that he did have a better idea. He saw that Xu was having little difficulty with the hellhound; she’d been bitten, but not badly. He ran around the corner to the door on the lower story of the house, and pounded his fist furiously on it.
Whatever Kyle had planned, it was never put into practice. As Tolly moved out searching for the sorcerer, there was a shimmer, and Oppal appeared, hand outstretched toward the priest. A blast of frigid air came flying from Oppal’s palm, blasting Tolly full force. Arrie, finally seeing a target, pulled out her double bow and fired a quick arrow at Oppal, but the blast from the ice storm diverted the shaft and it missed. But the sound of the spell distracted the hellhound long enough for Xu to land the killing blow, dispersing the summoned creature. Kyle, seeing his chance, cast a spell that surrounded his hand in glowing energy. He started moving closer to the sorcerer.
Tolly moved in to engage Oppal, despite the fact that he was barely standing. He swung at the disguised kobold even as it was chanting another spell. He managed to wound Oppal, and another two shots from Arrie hit their mark. But despite the injuries Oppal managed to keep control of his spell, and suddenly four large, wicked-looking rats appeared, two surrounding Tolly and the other two positioned to block Xu and Kyle’s advance. Xu stayed back to deal with the new threat, killing one of the fiendish rats, while Kyle took his chances and charged in, swinging at Oppal with his ensorcelled hand even as the other rat sunk its teeth into his calf. The pain of the bite broke Kyle’s focus, and his swing missed. Nearby, the other two fiendish rats swarmed Tolly, and their bites managed to overwhelm the priest, sending him down.
Oppal turned to deal with the new threat posed by Kyle. He summoned four magic missiles, slamming them into the wizard. He also directed the rats that had just downed Tolly to attack Kyle, and one of them sunk its teeth into his other leg. Xu also received a disease-laden bite while battling her summoned foe. Arrie, seeing that Kyle was in trouble, began running toward the combat, unfurling her spiked chain as she ran.
Kyle’s vision blurred slightly as he considered his predicament. He’d used up most of his defensive magic in the fight with the Blackspear tribe, and thus was relatively unprotected. He’d intended to use this spell against Oppal from a safe distance, but he’d already wasted his spectral hand spell in that same combat. For some reason Kyle’s mind flashed to memories of his days at the Tower – struggling to answer questions in class that the other students seemed to know by heart because he hadn’t been studying magic since childhood; watching helplessly during the first examination with his new group of friends because he’d chosen the wrong kind of spells to prepare; stumbling through the investigation at Dagger Rock because he’d never learned the finer points of talking to people. And now it looked like he was about to be taken down by a kobold and a couple of rats, which would force Arrie and Xu to break off their attack to save him and Tolly. That could give Oppal the opportunity to escape. Kyle was tired of feeling helpless, tired of not being able to pull his weight.
No more.
Lunging forward past the snapping teeth and claws of the fiendish rats, Kyle’s hand shot out and grabbed Oppal by the head, lifting him off the ground by his skull. Arcane energy poured directly into the kobold’s brain. Kyle let go, and Oppal dropped to the ground. He sat on the ground, unmoving, a line of drool dribbling from the corner of his mouth. The summoned rats, with no will to direct them, suddenly became quiescent.
Arrie slowed her charge, seeing that all the opponents were down. Xu moved to help Tolly, pouring a potion down his throat to stop the priest’s slow descent into death. She smiled as she saw the bluish tinge fade from his skin, and heard his breathing become less ragged.
Arrie approached Kyle, stopping long enough to step on the necks of the motionless fiendish rats. “What did you do to him?” she asked.
“Touch of idiocy,” he said. He looked at the hand that delivered the spell. “Though I didn’t expect it to be that… effective.”*
“Well, whatever you did, good job. Let’s see what he’s got on him.”
Once Tolly had revived and recovered enough to see to the rest of his and Kyle’s injuries, they secured Oppal and removed his belongings. They also searched the room he rented, and found a pouch of star sapphires as well as some other loose coin. Oppal the sorcerer was handed over to the town guard, after warning them of his abilities and pointing out that his true form would be obvious to all within a few hours. As the comatose kobold was hauled away, the four heroes felt a sudden sensation of peace wash over them.
“I think we’ve satisfied Ujaset,” Kyle said.
“Agreed,” added Tolly. “Now we should focus on our task of aiding these villagers with the undead menace.”
“Actually, Tolly,” said Arrie, “we’ve been pushing hard for the past two days, and we don’t even have an idea what our companions have been up to. I think our focus should be on a good night’s sleep.” She paused, then smiled. “Hopefully with no dreams.”
-------------------
* Kyle rolled a critical on his touch attack for the spell, and nearly maxed out the double roll. The more rules-lawyery among the readers will note that a critical on touch of idiocy shouldn't do anything, as the spell applies a penalty rather than ability damage. At the time, however, none of us caught that (and hey, it was cool).
Delemental
First Post
Just dropping a line to say that I haven't vanished. Simply dealing with a technical issue.
Specifically, the next installment should be the adventure that the other four characters went on. However, I myself wasn't present for that session, so I asked another player to take notes (this was before I got smart and started taping sessions). Unfortunately, on game night that player was suffering from a case of the 'sleepies', which resulted in a less than precise accounting - specifically, the last half of the adventure is pretty much non-existent. It's been long enough now that no one really remembers details of the session (this Story Hour is about 4-5 months behind our campaign).
So, I'm faced with having to craft the session from scratch. I'll tackle the project as time allows and hopefully post soon, and then return to a regular posting schedule.
Specifically, the next installment should be the adventure that the other four characters went on. However, I myself wasn't present for that session, so I asked another player to take notes (this was before I got smart and started taping sessions). Unfortunately, on game night that player was suffering from a case of the 'sleepies', which resulted in a less than precise accounting - specifically, the last half of the adventure is pretty much non-existent. It's been long enough now that no one really remembers details of the session (this Story Hour is about 4-5 months behind our campaign).
So, I'm faced with having to craft the session from scratch. I'll tackle the project as time allows and hopefully post soon, and then return to a regular posting schedule.
Delemental
First Post
Just another quick note to say I'm still around.
I've written up the missing adventure, and just sent it off to the rest of my group for review to make sure I didn't miss anything important. I can't promise this will be the best installment; for one, the first half was written by someone else, and so there will be the inevitable differences in style. And since this session was so long ago, I was forced to be rather skimpy on details. However, hopefully I can get this up within the week, and then return to weekly postings next weekend.
Thanks for your patience. I realize that as an unestablished Story Hour author, I can't afford too long a break between updates (unlike, say, folks like Destan, Sepulchrave or Piratecat, who can go months between posts and still have their audience hanging on every thread bump).
I've written up the missing adventure, and just sent it off to the rest of my group for review to make sure I didn't miss anything important. I can't promise this will be the best installment; for one, the first half was written by someone else, and so there will be the inevitable differences in style. And since this session was so long ago, I was forced to be rather skimpy on details. However, hopefully I can get this up within the week, and then return to weekly postings next weekend.
Thanks for your patience. I realize that as an unestablished Story Hour author, I can't afford too long a break between updates (unlike, say, folks like Destan, Sepulchrave or Piratecat, who can go months between posts and still have their audience hanging on every thread bump).
Delemental
First Post
Where Shadows Lurk...
The four nonhumans watched as the humans rode into the dim light of the false morning. The group had decided to split, as the humans all claimed to have a need to check into something they had passed.
"Well, now that they are gone, shall we meet the loggers, and go find this 'problem'?" asked the cansin, Lanara.
Autumn shrugged, disconcerted by her sister's insistence that they separate for this particular outing. The group wordlessly moved as one to the central meeting area of the town, and joined Kath, the Rovenori priest.
"Morning, all! Ready for a walk?" He turned and left without further ado, and the loggers filed in behind him and the foreman Rek. Eyes met throughout the party, and a near-simultaneous shrug gave voice to their reactions.
As they moved to the central logging camp, Kath explained that the loggers would operate from a central location and fan out in a certain direction, working in small groups of 5-10 each, for maximal flexibility. They usually went no further than a half-mile, and Kath spent his time running from group to group, tending to accidents and checking on them. The foreman would remain in the camp, and provide a central authority who was always there for aid. The loggers and party moved into the campsite, and the foreman climbed upon a large stump in the center of the clearing, and started giving out orders and locations.
A roar suddenly ripped through the clearing, and loggers began running desperately to the south. A huge bear burst from the woods and tore towards the stump. Kath and Kavan moved forward, along with Autumn to form a defensive line. Lanara took a position behind them, her whip at the ready, as Osborn ran for a tree, to ‘get a better vantage point’. His hurry cost him, as it took the nimble hin two attempts to climb to a low branch. Kavan summoned Erito's energies, and doomed the beast, as it laid into Autumn, laying rents open in her armor. Kath swung at the bear's head, cutting a line from ear to shoulder, and Lanara followed his assault with cracks of her whip at the beast's eyes and sensitive nose. Autumn returned the bear's claw attack with a "claw" of her own, and plunged the point of her longsword deep into the bear's shoulder through the slice Kath had made. The bear reared back, and voicing its displeasure, turned and ran for the forest. He escaped handily, as the party and loggers made no attempt to pursue or hinder it.
The loggers returned as Kath and the party yelled for them to return, and when heads were counted, a young man named Len was missing. The party searched the immediate area and unfortunately, found him. He was impaled on a branch, with a noose of thorns encasing his head and ending at his now empty eye sockets. They carefully searched the area around him, as Kavan laid hands upon him and commended his soul to Erito, and did his best to carefully take down the body. Osborn suddenly clicked his tongue, having found boot prints, and they left the body in Kath's care and followed the faint trail. They had just lost the trail and were desperately trying to reclaim it, when a shout came up from somewhere nearby. They ran to assist, finding that another logger had hit a tree only to have it explode with acid. The badly burned young man was healed by Kavan, but he could do naught for the scarring that the acid would leave. As they cared for him, the foreman came up to them, and explained that the crew was breaking it up early, due to the death and burning, as well as an entire crews axes breaking in the same point. Investigation provided evidence of sabotage on the axes, as well as the 'acid tree'. It was getting too close to dark for the loggers, and they returned to town.
The next day it was a very subdued crew of loggers, escorted by wary adventurers that moved into the forest. As they moved down the well-worn path, the party spotted a feline looking creature ahead of them, and moving very fast to intercept. Lanara fired her crossbow at the creature, but its speed avoided the quarrel. Kavan created a glowing longsword of Erito's energy, and assaulted the creature with it as it closed. It leapt at Autumn, and she barely had time to hit it before it laid into her with claws and teeth. It looked as if a mad wizard had bred a lion with a lizard, and wrapped an anemone about its neck, and was vicious as Arrie was before her morning tea.
Kavan and his holy sword swung in unison at the beast, both striking deep into its side. Lanara began a song of confidence, its energies coursing into the companions, bolstering their arms and spirits. The creature struck back at Kavan, its claws unable to penetrate his chainmail, and thrust its tail at Autumn, clubbing her shoulder. Osborn fired a bolt at the creature, but it flew wide to the right.
Gleaming energies surrounded Kavan's hand, and he slapped the creature's face as it bit at him. The beast howled in pain as its skin turned black and cracked, showing the muscle beneath. Autumn lunged at the howling beast, pressing her blade into the cracks and through to the other side of its neck. Osborn followed through with his daggers, driving them into its spine. The ghastly creature fell back and to the ground, and the light went from its eyes. A brief search allowed the party to find its lair, and pick up certain items that its victims had been carrying.
“What was that thing, anyway?” Osborn asked, as he held open a sack that Lanara was dropping loose coins into.
“A gorgon*,” the bard explained. “They pop up all over from time to time. Some are created one purpose by experimenting wizards, others are natural creatures that wander too close to a magical node and get mutated.”
The party paused, and refreshed itself before walking into the clearing of the campsite. They arrived to find a trio of strange fey humanoids standing upon the stump forming the center of the site. They wore suits of dark leather than seemed infused with thorns, and their weapons were similarly emblazoned with wicked-looking barbs and spikes.
“Who are you?” demanded Autumn.
“We are Shadar-Kai,” hissed one of the fey creatures, “and you are trespassing on our land.”
“Your land?” Lanara asked.
“Our land,” the shadar-kai repeated.
“You are the ones who have been sabotaging and attacking the loggers,” said Kavan.
The shadar-kai leader turned to the priest. “A simple reminder to them to respect our territory.”
“Your territ…” Autumn trailed off, and she took a moment to compose herself. “You have no right. These people are here by right of a legal charter with the Imperial Court of Tlaxan, within the Empire of Tlaxan. Under what terms has the Court given you rights to this land?”
The leader made a noise that almost sounded like a snort. “Our claim precedes that of the elves on this land. Now that we have returned, we shall reclaim it.”
“Returned? Returned from where?” Autumn asked.
Lanara suddenly grew pale as she remembered the answer. She remembered hearing the tale of a race of fey creatures, not unlike the dryads, satyrs, and nymphs, who had survived the Cataclysm** by going ‘somewhere else’. Where they had gone, Lanara wasn’t exactly sure; the tale had become increasingly metaphysical at that point, and it seemed as though these fey had gone nowhere, to a place that didn’t exist. But these fey were not known for their cruelty before they had vanished; and now they were back, returned from some place that was nowhere on Aelfenn, and apparently changed.
“You will deliver a message,” the head of the shadar-kai was saying, “tell those who reside in the settlement to depart at once. They will be given time to gather that which they hold precious, no more.”
“Look here,” Kavan said, “you can’t just come in here and order these people out of there homes.”
Lanara had a sudden idea. “That’s right. This land is important to Tlaxan. I mean, we got sent out here just to look into a little zombie problem. Imagine what the Imperial Court will do when they find out a bunch of fey have shown up in their lands, claiming they were here first and giving their citizens the boot?”
The shadar-kai were silent for a moment. “We are not ready for a conflict with the elves,” the lead one stated.
“Look, it’s a big forest, right? Maybe you could both live here without getting in each other’s way.”
“Your words have merit,” the leader admitted. “Wait here while we consider this.” The three shadar-kai stood, and walked back into the forest, quickly vanishing from sight.
Lanara looked at her companions. “What do you think?”
“I say we kill them,” Autumn said flatly.
“Whoa! Bad idea.” Osborn stepped forward from where he’d been trying not to be noticed much. “It’s not that I don’t agree with you, Autumn. I’d love to put a dagger in their hearts for what they did to Len. But we have no idea what these ‘shadar-kai’ are capable of. Those three could wipe us out without breaking a sweat. And we have no idea how many there are out there.”
“They at least seem like they’re willing to negotiate,” added Lanara. “Let’s see what happens.”
Autumn gritted her teeth, and nodded. The thought of dealing with such tainted beings grated on her, but she had to admit to herself that there were too many unknowns to act.
The shadar-kai did not return for almost an hour. When they did, they took up positions almost exactly as they had before. “We are altering the terms of our offer,” the lead fey said. “Send a message to the leaders of this settlement. Tell them that they must no longer send their men north of the three standing stones that lie an hour’s walk from here.” The shadar-kai pointed to indicate the direction of the stones. “We shall erect markers along the borders so that none can mistake our territory. They will have two days to decide if they accept these terms; until then we will not harm you or the people of the settlement. If they accept, they may signal this by placing a dagger in the earth in the middle of the standing stones.”
“What if they refuse?” asked Osborn.
“Then they accept the consequences of that refusal.”
“Will you at least hear their reasons for not accepting, if they choose that path?” the hin persisted.
The lead shadar-kai thought for a moment. “Very well. If they wish to plea their case, they may send one of their own to the standing stones, and we will meet with them. But understand this – this land belongs to us, not the elves. In allowing these mortals to remain, we have already compromised. We will be reluctant to compromise further.”
“We understand,” Lanara said. “We’ll deliver your message.”
The three shadar-kai turned and walked away into the forest, vanishing as before. The party gathered their things and hurried back to where Kath and the loggers were working.
“Where were you?” demanded the big Rovenori priest. “We could’ve used your help.”
The party quickly explained their meeting with the shadar-kai and their demands. Kath paled as he heard the story. Then, he blew three sharp blasts on a whistle around his neck, signaling that work was done for the day.
“We’ll have to take this message to the elders,” Kath said. “They’ll probably call a town meeting for something this big.” Kath looked around at the loggers quickly packing up their tools. “Grabâkh’s Flaming Balls!” the priest swore, “first the zombies, and now this.”
“Let us take care of the zombies,” Autumn said. “The rest of our companions should be back by morning, and we can investigate the catacombs and root out the source of this evil.”
“Fine, fine,” Kath said, between barking orders. “Just try not to stir up any more trouble, okay?”
“Not much on gratitude, is he?” Osborn commented as Kath walked away.
Kavan smiled. “Those who revere the God of Roads are not known for their patience.”
“Yeah, well they’d better be known for their apologies,” Lanara quipped. “Because after we clear out their zombie problem, I’m expecting a big fat one from Kath. Preferably expressed with expensive wine or jewelry.”
-----------------------
* THe term 'gorgon' is used for any magically-mutated creature. The 'gorgon' in the Monster Manual is known as a 'stonebreather' on Aelfenn. THe group encounters one in a later adventure.
** I'm not sure I've ever had the Cataclysm come up. THousands of years ago, humans were the only inteligent humanoids on the planet, a joint creation of Erito and the four elemental gods. But the humans started messing around with forbidden powers, and eventually ended up getting mostly wiped out by a divine plague that swept the planet (the Cataclysm). After that, each deity went off and created a race pleasing to them; Erito created the elves, Ardara the dwarves, Krush the gnomes, Feesha the hin, and Grabakh the orcs. The specifics behind what led to the Cataclysm are unknown in the present day; the gods eradicated such knowledge. All that is known is that whatever powers the humans were tinkering with led to the destruction of an entire continent.
The four nonhumans watched as the humans rode into the dim light of the false morning. The group had decided to split, as the humans all claimed to have a need to check into something they had passed.
"Well, now that they are gone, shall we meet the loggers, and go find this 'problem'?" asked the cansin, Lanara.
Autumn shrugged, disconcerted by her sister's insistence that they separate for this particular outing. The group wordlessly moved as one to the central meeting area of the town, and joined Kath, the Rovenori priest.
"Morning, all! Ready for a walk?" He turned and left without further ado, and the loggers filed in behind him and the foreman Rek. Eyes met throughout the party, and a near-simultaneous shrug gave voice to their reactions.
As they moved to the central logging camp, Kath explained that the loggers would operate from a central location and fan out in a certain direction, working in small groups of 5-10 each, for maximal flexibility. They usually went no further than a half-mile, and Kath spent his time running from group to group, tending to accidents and checking on them. The foreman would remain in the camp, and provide a central authority who was always there for aid. The loggers and party moved into the campsite, and the foreman climbed upon a large stump in the center of the clearing, and started giving out orders and locations.
A roar suddenly ripped through the clearing, and loggers began running desperately to the south. A huge bear burst from the woods and tore towards the stump. Kath and Kavan moved forward, along with Autumn to form a defensive line. Lanara took a position behind them, her whip at the ready, as Osborn ran for a tree, to ‘get a better vantage point’. His hurry cost him, as it took the nimble hin two attempts to climb to a low branch. Kavan summoned Erito's energies, and doomed the beast, as it laid into Autumn, laying rents open in her armor. Kath swung at the bear's head, cutting a line from ear to shoulder, and Lanara followed his assault with cracks of her whip at the beast's eyes and sensitive nose. Autumn returned the bear's claw attack with a "claw" of her own, and plunged the point of her longsword deep into the bear's shoulder through the slice Kath had made. The bear reared back, and voicing its displeasure, turned and ran for the forest. He escaped handily, as the party and loggers made no attempt to pursue or hinder it.
The loggers returned as Kath and the party yelled for them to return, and when heads were counted, a young man named Len was missing. The party searched the immediate area and unfortunately, found him. He was impaled on a branch, with a noose of thorns encasing his head and ending at his now empty eye sockets. They carefully searched the area around him, as Kavan laid hands upon him and commended his soul to Erito, and did his best to carefully take down the body. Osborn suddenly clicked his tongue, having found boot prints, and they left the body in Kath's care and followed the faint trail. They had just lost the trail and were desperately trying to reclaim it, when a shout came up from somewhere nearby. They ran to assist, finding that another logger had hit a tree only to have it explode with acid. The badly burned young man was healed by Kavan, but he could do naught for the scarring that the acid would leave. As they cared for him, the foreman came up to them, and explained that the crew was breaking it up early, due to the death and burning, as well as an entire crews axes breaking in the same point. Investigation provided evidence of sabotage on the axes, as well as the 'acid tree'. It was getting too close to dark for the loggers, and they returned to town.
The next day it was a very subdued crew of loggers, escorted by wary adventurers that moved into the forest. As they moved down the well-worn path, the party spotted a feline looking creature ahead of them, and moving very fast to intercept. Lanara fired her crossbow at the creature, but its speed avoided the quarrel. Kavan created a glowing longsword of Erito's energy, and assaulted the creature with it as it closed. It leapt at Autumn, and she barely had time to hit it before it laid into her with claws and teeth. It looked as if a mad wizard had bred a lion with a lizard, and wrapped an anemone about its neck, and was vicious as Arrie was before her morning tea.
Kavan and his holy sword swung in unison at the beast, both striking deep into its side. Lanara began a song of confidence, its energies coursing into the companions, bolstering their arms and spirits. The creature struck back at Kavan, its claws unable to penetrate his chainmail, and thrust its tail at Autumn, clubbing her shoulder. Osborn fired a bolt at the creature, but it flew wide to the right.
Gleaming energies surrounded Kavan's hand, and he slapped the creature's face as it bit at him. The beast howled in pain as its skin turned black and cracked, showing the muscle beneath. Autumn lunged at the howling beast, pressing her blade into the cracks and through to the other side of its neck. Osborn followed through with his daggers, driving them into its spine. The ghastly creature fell back and to the ground, and the light went from its eyes. A brief search allowed the party to find its lair, and pick up certain items that its victims had been carrying.
“What was that thing, anyway?” Osborn asked, as he held open a sack that Lanara was dropping loose coins into.
“A gorgon*,” the bard explained. “They pop up all over from time to time. Some are created one purpose by experimenting wizards, others are natural creatures that wander too close to a magical node and get mutated.”
The party paused, and refreshed itself before walking into the clearing of the campsite. They arrived to find a trio of strange fey humanoids standing upon the stump forming the center of the site. They wore suits of dark leather than seemed infused with thorns, and their weapons were similarly emblazoned with wicked-looking barbs and spikes.
“Who are you?” demanded Autumn.
“We are Shadar-Kai,” hissed one of the fey creatures, “and you are trespassing on our land.”
“Your land?” Lanara asked.
“Our land,” the shadar-kai repeated.
“You are the ones who have been sabotaging and attacking the loggers,” said Kavan.
The shadar-kai leader turned to the priest. “A simple reminder to them to respect our territory.”
“Your territ…” Autumn trailed off, and she took a moment to compose herself. “You have no right. These people are here by right of a legal charter with the Imperial Court of Tlaxan, within the Empire of Tlaxan. Under what terms has the Court given you rights to this land?”
The leader made a noise that almost sounded like a snort. “Our claim precedes that of the elves on this land. Now that we have returned, we shall reclaim it.”
“Returned? Returned from where?” Autumn asked.
Lanara suddenly grew pale as she remembered the answer. She remembered hearing the tale of a race of fey creatures, not unlike the dryads, satyrs, and nymphs, who had survived the Cataclysm** by going ‘somewhere else’. Where they had gone, Lanara wasn’t exactly sure; the tale had become increasingly metaphysical at that point, and it seemed as though these fey had gone nowhere, to a place that didn’t exist. But these fey were not known for their cruelty before they had vanished; and now they were back, returned from some place that was nowhere on Aelfenn, and apparently changed.
“You will deliver a message,” the head of the shadar-kai was saying, “tell those who reside in the settlement to depart at once. They will be given time to gather that which they hold precious, no more.”
“Look here,” Kavan said, “you can’t just come in here and order these people out of there homes.”
Lanara had a sudden idea. “That’s right. This land is important to Tlaxan. I mean, we got sent out here just to look into a little zombie problem. Imagine what the Imperial Court will do when they find out a bunch of fey have shown up in their lands, claiming they were here first and giving their citizens the boot?”
The shadar-kai were silent for a moment. “We are not ready for a conflict with the elves,” the lead one stated.
“Look, it’s a big forest, right? Maybe you could both live here without getting in each other’s way.”
“Your words have merit,” the leader admitted. “Wait here while we consider this.” The three shadar-kai stood, and walked back into the forest, quickly vanishing from sight.
Lanara looked at her companions. “What do you think?”
“I say we kill them,” Autumn said flatly.
“Whoa! Bad idea.” Osborn stepped forward from where he’d been trying not to be noticed much. “It’s not that I don’t agree with you, Autumn. I’d love to put a dagger in their hearts for what they did to Len. But we have no idea what these ‘shadar-kai’ are capable of. Those three could wipe us out without breaking a sweat. And we have no idea how many there are out there.”
“They at least seem like they’re willing to negotiate,” added Lanara. “Let’s see what happens.”
Autumn gritted her teeth, and nodded. The thought of dealing with such tainted beings grated on her, but she had to admit to herself that there were too many unknowns to act.
The shadar-kai did not return for almost an hour. When they did, they took up positions almost exactly as they had before. “We are altering the terms of our offer,” the lead fey said. “Send a message to the leaders of this settlement. Tell them that they must no longer send their men north of the three standing stones that lie an hour’s walk from here.” The shadar-kai pointed to indicate the direction of the stones. “We shall erect markers along the borders so that none can mistake our territory. They will have two days to decide if they accept these terms; until then we will not harm you or the people of the settlement. If they accept, they may signal this by placing a dagger in the earth in the middle of the standing stones.”
“What if they refuse?” asked Osborn.
“Then they accept the consequences of that refusal.”
“Will you at least hear their reasons for not accepting, if they choose that path?” the hin persisted.
The lead shadar-kai thought for a moment. “Very well. If they wish to plea their case, they may send one of their own to the standing stones, and we will meet with them. But understand this – this land belongs to us, not the elves. In allowing these mortals to remain, we have already compromised. We will be reluctant to compromise further.”
“We understand,” Lanara said. “We’ll deliver your message.”
The three shadar-kai turned and walked away into the forest, vanishing as before. The party gathered their things and hurried back to where Kath and the loggers were working.
“Where were you?” demanded the big Rovenori priest. “We could’ve used your help.”
The party quickly explained their meeting with the shadar-kai and their demands. Kath paled as he heard the story. Then, he blew three sharp blasts on a whistle around his neck, signaling that work was done for the day.
“We’ll have to take this message to the elders,” Kath said. “They’ll probably call a town meeting for something this big.” Kath looked around at the loggers quickly packing up their tools. “Grabâkh’s Flaming Balls!” the priest swore, “first the zombies, and now this.”
“Let us take care of the zombies,” Autumn said. “The rest of our companions should be back by morning, and we can investigate the catacombs and root out the source of this evil.”
“Fine, fine,” Kath said, between barking orders. “Just try not to stir up any more trouble, okay?”
“Not much on gratitude, is he?” Osborn commented as Kath walked away.
Kavan smiled. “Those who revere the God of Roads are not known for their patience.”
“Yeah, well they’d better be known for their apologies,” Lanara quipped. “Because after we clear out their zombie problem, I’m expecting a big fat one from Kath. Preferably expressed with expensive wine or jewelry.”
-----------------------
* THe term 'gorgon' is used for any magically-mutated creature. The 'gorgon' in the Monster Manual is known as a 'stonebreather' on Aelfenn. THe group encounters one in a later adventure.
** I'm not sure I've ever had the Cataclysm come up. THousands of years ago, humans were the only inteligent humanoids on the planet, a joint creation of Erito and the four elemental gods. But the humans started messing around with forbidden powers, and eventually ended up getting mostly wiped out by a divine plague that swept the planet (the Cataclysm). After that, each deity went off and created a race pleasing to them; Erito created the elves, Ardara the dwarves, Krush the gnomes, Feesha the hin, and Grabakh the orcs. The specifics behind what led to the Cataclysm are unknown in the present day; the gods eradicated such knowledge. All that is known is that whatever powers the humans were tinkering with led to the destruction of an entire continent.
Delemental
First Post
Death Makes No Sound, Part Two
It was another two days after stopping the zombie attack in Canyon Camp before the group set out for the tombs. After catching a little sleep, the group had divided in half – Osborn, Kavan, Autumn, and Lanara went out with the loggers and the priest Kath the next day to investigate the rumors of attacks, while Arrie, Kyle, Tolly and Xu went out into the woods to assist the spirit of an androsphinx that had enlisted their aid via dream-messages. It wasn't until they reunited that they set out for the town's crypt.
The tomb itself was only an hour’s walk from the village, embedded in the side of a hill. The group had spent much of the previous afternoon poring over their map, making marks for the locations of hidden doors and pit traps and discussing strategy. They had picked up several long planks to use as makeshift bridges across the pit traps; even though they knew how to deactivate the traps, it was assumed that if the necromancer was in there he or she would know how to rearm them.
The sun shone high in the sky when the group came to the tomb location. Small blocks of stone and carved statuary were scattered about the hillside. The wooden doors to the tomb appeared to have been burst open from the inside.
“Well, it certainly looks like Councilman Adi’s suspicions about the tomb could be correct,” mused Tolly.
“Okay, then,” said Osborn, clapping his hands together. “Looks like I’m in the lead. Just give me a little space.”
“Wait a moment, Osborn,” said Tolly. He cast a spell, then touched the hin on the shoulder. “This enchantment will render you undetectable to the undead,” he said. “If you are going to be our scout, you may as well benefit from some protection.”
The group approached the tomb entrance and went inside, unpacking their lanterns. The small entryway was strewn with dead leaves, but the wind had swept away any dust and did not show any tracks. The twisting corridors were narrow, and they were forced to move single file. Osborn stayed a few paces ahead, glancing occasionally at their copy of the map to locate the hidden doors in the chamber.
“Which way do we go?” he asked at one point. “There’s a passageway beyond this wall that leads to the rear of the ossuary, or we can just proceed further into the tombs.”
“I don’t want to leave any surprises behind us if we can help it,” said Arrie. “Let’s check out the ossuary.”
The group navigated past the secret corridor into the ossuary. The dried bones of hundreds of dead men and women were piled against the walls, a little over waist high to the humans. A narrow pathway remained down the center of the pile, allowing the group to more through but so narrow that their hips would occasionally knock a few loose bones to the floor.
“Gee, looks like the perfect place for a few hidden undead skeletons to jump us,” quipped Kyle.
His joke turned into prophecy as six forms rose from the piles on each side of them. Four were human skeletons wielding swords, while the other two appeared to be skeletal dogs or wolves. The undead laid into the party, but their own movement was just as hampered by the piles of bones as that of the living, and after being blasted by the holy power summoned by both Tolly and Kavan, the skeletons proved more an inconvenience than a challenge.
They emerged from the piles of bones into a room tiled with black onyx. They moved from there to a back section of the tomb that was used for preparing bodies. The stench of dried blood and offal was nearly overwhelming, but there was nothing unnatural in the chambers. The only item of note they found was a corridor that did not appear on their map. The hallway sloped downward, and extended past the range of their light.
“Down the hole we go?” Osborn asked, already knowing the answer. He moved forward into the hallway, moving even more slowly than before since he could no longer rely on a map to find traps or secret doors. The hallway descended for a considerable distance before stopping at a dead end. A large boulder sat off to their right, blocking up a passageway. Tolly and Kyle set to work on it, borrowing a crowbar from Osborn. Eventually Tolly realized that the stone would be easier to push from the top rather than the side, and after a few minutes the large boulder fell over and rolled into a bowl-shaped depression beyond. The party moved into the chamber, and saw another opening across from them, as well as an opening about thirty feet above their heads.
Osborn pointed at the landing above, looking at the map. “I know where we are,” he said. “This is the bottom of this pit here on the map. Had we gone down the hallway when we first got here instead of going into the ossuary, we would have ended up there.”
Behind them Lanara sighed. “So much for the thrill of the unexplored passageway.”
They moved across the pit to the other opening, and climbed up a narrow stair to get back to the main part of the tombs. They continued moving, eventually coming upon a small antechamber where two corpses were hanging garishly from the wall. Close inspection showed that barbed wire had been laced through the flesh of the bodies.
“These look like they’re being prepared for animation,” said Kavan, examining the bodies.
“Should we destroy them?” asked Autumn. “Can they animate and pursue us if we leave them behind?”
“No,” said Kyle. “The fellow that’s behind this needs to touch the body to animate it. I figure we can deal with these two on the way out.”
While the group discussed the finer points of undead, Osborn stole ahead a bit to see what to expect. He was getting nervous, but a little excited at the same time – the map showed that there wasn’t much left of the tomb to explore. He glanced into the next room, secure that Tolly’s spell would let him spot any undead without being seen. Sure enough, in the next open area he spotted a quartet of zombies, oblivious to his presence. He went back to report to his companions.
“There’s four zombies in the next room,” he said. “It’s divided up into cells, and there’s one zombie in each cell. The cells have open doorways, so no chance of picking them off one by one.”
“Then I say we rush them,” said Arrie. “Pin them in so they can’t join forces.”
The group agreed to the plan. Kyle remained in the back, watching the passage behind them for any surprises, while Osborn moved past the zombies to watch what lay beyond. The others prepared themselves, and moved into the room en masse.
The zombies proved tougher opponents than the skeletons in the ossuary. For one thing, they were laced with barbed wire like the two bodies they’d found, and had apparently been instructed to grab their opponents and squeeze. They were also far stronger than expected. At one point Kavan found himself pinned between two of them, and was in a bit of trouble until Xu moved in to assist the elf. But eventually the party triumphed, hacking down the last zombie. Osborn signaled that all was clear; the battle had apparently not raised any alarms.
The group moved onward past the chamber into a small makeshift chapel, stripped bare of any religious trappings. Past the chapel lay a reinforced wooden door.
“This is it,” Osborn whispered. “This is the last room on the map. It’s the mausoleum – should be nothing but a bunch of stone sarcophagi.”
“Sounds like the perfect place for a necromancer to hang out,” quipped Arrie.
“I’ll go check it out first,” said Osborn, “and let you know what’s in there.”
“Hey, be careful,” said Lanara. “Remember that necromancer’s probably not undead, and Tolly’s spell won’t do jack to protect you.”
Osborn’s only answer to the cansin was a wink as he went inside. After several tense minutes, he emerged from the shadows and motioned for the group to follow him back away from the door a few paces.
“The crypts are in three chambers in the center of the room,” Osborn said, sketching a quick map in the dust. “The hallway wraps around them like a U. There are open archways between the chambers and out into the hallway here, here, and here. This far chamber here, that looks like it only holds one coffin? It’s actually a desk. I heard someone moving around in there, but I couldn’t see them. There was a big black book on the desk – I’d guess a spellbook.”
Kyle’s eyes lit up for a moment, then sank. He remembered that all property gains from this mission were to be given to the Tower as part of their contract. He’d never get to see the spells in that book.
Autumn caught the look in his eyes. “There are probably nothing but vile, evil rituals in that book, Kyle,” she said.
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
“Okay, so, what’s the plan?” Osborn looked at the group expectantly.
“Perhaps a pincer move might be the best strategy,” said Tolly. “Send our quietest members around to the far side of the room and surround the necromancer.”
“Good plan,” said Arrie. “Osborn, Xu, and Lanara; that would be you three. You up to it?”
They nodded their agreement. They took a moment to make what preparations they could, with Tolly laying a blessing on the group and enhancing the strength of Arrie and Autumn. Then the three stealthiest party members crept into the room. After giving them a silent count of thirty to get into position, the others moved into the chamber.
As they approached, they heard the sound of something moving inside the chamber where the necromancer was supposed to be – something far larger than what they expected. But it turned out that they were not the only ones with discerning hearing.
“Ah, I was wondering when you would arrive,” said a smooth, elegant voice. “I’ve been expecting you for some time.”
The group was hardly surprised at being discovered, though they were not expecting such a cordial welcome. Arrie, however, seemed stunned when she heard the necromancer’s voice. Arrie’s reaction was not lost on her sister.
“Ariadne? Is something wrong?” Autumn asked.
The question seemed to snap Arrie out of her stupor. “The family will be so disappointed in you,” she called out to the necromancer.
Autumn’s look went from puzzled to shocked. “Do you know him?” she asked.
The necromancer himself seemed just as uncertain. “Who is that? What are you speaking of?”
Arrie stepped into the room. She saw the necromancer, a thin, pale elven noble, standing behind his desk. In the corner of the room stood an enormous fleshy construct that seemed stitched from several bodies. Electricity arced between metal bolts protruding from its skin.
The necromancer, seeing Arrie’s face, suddenly smiled. “Ah, yes.”
Meanwhile, Osborn, Lanara, and Xu waited impatiently in the hallway. Why were they suddenly having a conversation with this man? But then, another figure stepped around the corner in their direction. It looked like another zombie, but this one was constructed from the corpse of an ogre. It towered over their heads, swinging a large bone club.
Inside the chamber, the necromancer seemed just about to address Arrie, when he cocked his head to the side, seeming to look through the wall behind him for a moment. His smile turned into a sneer. “Clever adventurers.”
Tolly decided he’d had enough prattle. Stepping into the room, he unleashed a blast of acid at both the necromancer and his guardian. It seemed to drip off both with little effect.
“Golem!” shouted Tolly in warning, as the stitched-up horror raised it’s arms and began moving to defend its master.
Kyle moved around the group of heavily-armored fighters. He’d never get a good line of fire from where he was. As he moved, he threw up his last defensive spell. Kavan threw a blast of sonic energy at the golem and its master with the same results as Tolly. Xu moved up to engage the ogre zombie, but a single swing from its massive club sent her reeling back. She and Lanara moved away from the undead monster. Osborn, still protected by Tolly’s hide from undead spell, moved around the zombie. He knew he could do little to hurt the undead with his skills, but the necromancer was another story.
Autumn had the same idea as Osborn, and laid into the elven wizard with her longsword. Her blow connected solidly with the necromancer’s chest, but the gash seemed to close up instantly as tendrils of black energy pulled the wound together. In response, the necromancer cast a spell at Tolly, and a pair of translucent hands wrapped around his neck and began to strangle him. Tolly also suffered a blow from the golem’s flailing fists. He and Arrie tried to fight back against the golem, but their blows bounced off its skin harmlessly.
Kyle rounded the corner and saw the battle raging. He launched two magic missiles at the necromancer, but they fizzled against the shield spell that was already in place. With Kyle in sight now, the necromancer grinned and cast a spell at him. Suddenly Kyle could no longer hear anything at all. Almost at the same time, the necromancer kicked a lever underneath his desk. There was the sound of a metallic crashing from the entrance to the mausoleum, and everyone in the room (except Kyle, who couldn’t hear it) assumed that they were now trapped inside.
Kavan heard Lanara crying out for assistance, and so moved and used his healing magic on Xu. The monk tried to wade back into battle, but even her iron blows could not penetrate the flesh of the ogre zombie. The zombie itself ignored Xu and moved partially back into the chamber to pound Autumn with its club. Lanara, now by herself but away from the combat, caught a quick glance of the necromancer through the doorways between them. With nothing to lose, she sang the words to one of her magical compositions, and sent it toward the necromancer. Amazingly, the magic seemed to penetrate the wizard’s sinister mind, and moments later the necromancer was on the ground, laughing nasally. But despite his new vulnerability, Autumn was still unable to penetrate his magical defenses.
Tolly and the golem exchanged blows, but Tolly was receiving the worst of the exchange. Kyle sent a ray of intense heat at the necromancer, which barely succeeded as Kyle was unable to hear himself intone the magical words needed to cast the spell. Kavan slashed at the ogre, and dodged a return strike from it. Lanara began to sing an inspiring song to her companions, which gave Osborn the strength of spirit needed to wade into the chamber where the golem was and shove his dagger deep into the necromancer’s side. This time the wound did not close completely, and blood flowed from the elf’s ribcage even as he continued to laugh.
Arrie, seeing that Tolly was badly injured, pressed a potion into his hand as she moved past. But Tolly did not drink it, fearing that the pause might give the golem the opening it needed to finish him. Instead he pressed the attack, wounding the golem further. He’d used Ardara’s power to temporarily enchant his warhammer before the battle, and he was glad he had. He remembered enough about golems to know that only magical weapons, such as his hammer and Arrie’s chain, could penetrate the skin of a flesh golem. He also knew that all golems had a weakness to a particular type of energy, and were enhanced by another. However, he couldn’t remember which was which for flesh golems.
“Kyle!” he shouted. “What magic do you use against flesh golems!”
Tolly got no response; he was unaware that his companion had been deafened. Instead, Kyle had produced a tanglefoot bag, and thrown it on top of the necromancer, hoping to keep him secure once Lanara’s hideous laughter spell wore off. Xu and Kavan pressed their attack on the ogre, Kavan sending positive energy into it with a touch. In response the ogre zombie smashed its club into the priest’s shoulder, dislocating it. Lanara tried Kyle’s tactic against the ogre, but her tanglefoot bag missed and splattered against the back wall. Both Autumn and Osborn laid into the necromancer and opened up new wounds. The golem moved to protect its creator, and launched a mighty blow at Autumn that dented the sentinel’s breastplate.
As the ringing of the golem’s blow reverberated through the chamber, the others heard a new sound – a steady hissing coming from above them. Looking up, they saw that pipes in the ceiling were pumping a foul greenish gas into the room.
As Tolly and Arrie continued to assault the flesh golem, Kyle moved to aid Kavan and Xu. The ogre zombie had swung at Xu and broken her leg, while Kavan had stepped back to heal his own wounds. Kyle threw a flask of acid onto the zombie, while behind him Lanara moved up, ending her song in order to use the power of her magical fiddle to heal Xu’s leg.
In the other chamber, Osborn and Autumn prepared to attack the necromancer again. But Lanara’s spell had ended, and the elven wizard was in control of himself again. He uttered a few magical syllables and vanished, the strands of alchemical goo that had been holding him down collapsing into a puddle. The hin and the aasimar looked at each other for a moment, then chose new targets. Autumn slashed at the ogre zombie, while Osborn produced a small pebble from a bag and threw it at the golem. The pebble expanded in size to that of a small boulder, and it smashed into the golem’s skull. Despite the grievous damage it had endured, however, the golem still stood, and it directed it’s attention toward Tolly. Both fists came down on Tolly’s shoulders, and the priest dropped to the floor, blood spurting from his lips and nose.
Arrie lashed out at the golem again, both in hopes of avenging Tolly and in fear of the fact that she would be its next target. Sure enough, the golem pounded her mercilessly, leaving her bruised and bloody. Most of the group, unaware that Tolly had fallen, continued to press the attack on the zombie. Xu, still grievously wounded, rolled out of range of the zombie’s club and eagerly took a healing potion from Kyle before rejoining the battle. Kyle himself, now juggling several vials and flasks, hurled alchemists’ fire at the zombie, followed by more acid. Lanara used her magical fiddle again to weave protective magic around Xu before restarting her inspirational music. Kavan attempted to banish the undead creature, but was unable to summon enough strength within the unholy place. For a moment, only Autumn was left standing toe to toe with the ogre, and her blows landed true while the ogre’s club was deflected by her shield.
The gas had seeped down into the room. Kyle, who had not heard the gas being piped into the room, inhaled the vapors deeply before he knew what had happened. Suddenly he began to feel weaker. The others fared better, but they were running out of time. Osborn was underneath the desk, trying to reverse the mechanism triggered by the necromancer, but it was a complex device and would take time – perhaps more time than they had.
The golem smashed into Arrie again, and her head swam. She staggered back out of the chamber, holding onto the wall to keep herself steady as she fumbled for a healing potion. Kyle caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, and moved back into the chamber to see the situation. He quickly weighed his options. He had only one offensive spell left, burning hands. Was fire good or bad to use against flesh golems? He couldn’t remember. Either way, an attack would certainly draw the golem’s attention, which might give Arrie enough breathing room to heal herself. Kyle decided to take a chance. As the flames surrounded the golem, he saw it roar in pain, and then saw that the arcs of electricity around it seemed to be diminished, and its movements slower. But not slow enough; the creature turned and smashed its fist into Kyle. The wizard’s protective spells held, but the force of the blow still hit him full on, and he felt ribs give way.
At the same time, Kavan had moved back into melee with the ogre zombie, joining Xu and Autumn. Autumn’s blade missed the ogre, while Xu’s fists and Kavan’s sword hit home. The zombie ignored the monk’s attacks, as her fists were doing little harm to it’s leathery skin, and instead focused on the one who had hurt it the most; Kavan. With a swipe of its club, Kavan was sent flying into the far wall, where she slumped unconscious.
Now several of those still standing were feeling the effects of the poisonous gas. Arrie managed to heal some of her injuries with a potion even as Kyle threw more alchemist’s fire at the flesh golem. The golem’s counterattack glanced off his shield spell. Xu dragged Kavan’s unconscious body away from the ogre, leaving Autumn standing alone against it. The monk attempted to bandage the Eritan priest’s wounds, but was having trouble stanching the bleeding. As the ogre’s lifeless eyes turned toward Autumn, the sentinel muttered a quick prayer and buried her sword into its skull, finally toppling the creature. Without a moment’s pause, she moved into the next room to assault the golem, arriving at the same time as her sister. But both of their blows glanced off the creature without effect, and Kyle’s last vial of acid went wide and missed as well. The golem tried to finish off Arrie, but its luck was as poor as its opponents. For a moment it was a tense standoff between the three – Arrie, Autumn, and the golem were all grievously wounded, and another blow could finish any one of them. The three launched their attacks almost in unison.
Almost… except that Arrie was just a little faster.
Her spiked chain ripped through the golem, tearing apart stitching and ripping dead flesh. The golem did not so much fall as collapse, separating into its component parts. Exhausted, Arrie and Autumn lowered their weapons and went to find their companions. Kavan was just sitting up as they approached, Xu having given up on bandages and gone for another healing potion instead. A few seconds later, there was a click, and the hissing sound stopped. Osborn walked out a second later.
“Good news, bad news, worse news,” he said. “Good news is I stopped the gas. Bad news is there’s no way to get rid of the gas that’s already here. Worse news is that there’s no way I can open the door.”
“Then we have to break it down,” said Arrie. “Where are Kyle and Tolly?”
Osborn shook his head sadly. “I just checked on Tolly,” he said. “He’s not helping anyone… he’s gone.”
The news sank in fast, but they had little time to mourn. Several of them had already been affected by the poison; Kyle and Osborn in particular were looking very pale and unsteady. They moved to the entrance to the chamber, where an iron door had dropped from the ceiling and sealed the chamber. Kyle tried to lift it (after some quick pantomiming from his companions), but it didn’t budge.
“Wait a minute,” said Lanara, pointing at Arrie and Autumn, “didn’t Tolly make you two stronger?”
The two sisters looked at each other. Osborn grinned despite the situation. “Looks like Tolly found a way to help after all.”
The three of them managed to get the door opened, and they quickly moved outside to fresh air. Gasping, Kyle summoned his familiar, Violet, who he’d left perched in the trees outside. “Go to town,” he told her, in a voice that was a little too loud. “Find Priestess Sisz. Tell her to meet us at the tombs, and that several of us have been poisoned.”
As the raven flew off, Osborn approached Arrie and offered her a flask. “Drink this,” he said, “you look like you need it.”
“I’m fine,” she replied. “Keep it.”
“But you’re hurt,” said Osborn. “You need healing.”
“We’ve finished the battle, Osborn,” she said, snapping at the hin. “Save it. I’m fine.”
Osborn’s brow furrowed at the fighter’s stubbornness. He stuffed the vial back into his belt pouch.
It was nearly two hours before Sisz arrived, accompanied by Violet and by Shilsen, their former instructor and overseer for their mission. He listened attentively to the group’s account of the battle with the necromancer, then proceeded down into the tombs. He emerged a few minutes later holding a large sack.
“This fulfills your last obligation to the Tower,” Shilsen said. “Good luck to you in your future careers.” He looked over at the body of Tolly, who was being strapped to a makeshift travois for the trip back to Canyon Camp. “I’m sorry for your loss,” he said. “Would you like me to return his body to the Ardaran priests?”
They thought for a moment. “We don’t know if Tolly wishes to rest in the afterlife, or if he would want the opportunity to return,” Kavan said. “Perhaps you could deliver a message to the priests of Ardara in Trageon and ask them to contact Tolly’s spirit to learn what his wishes are. Should he wish to return to us, we will see to it that the arrangements are made.”
“Very well,” Shilsen said, and he touched the brooch on his chest and vanished.
Meanwhile, Sisz had done what she could for the group, lifting most of the weakness from Kyle and healing the wounds of others. “I’ll need more time to tend to the rest of you,” she said, “and I can get some help from Kath.” She looked anxiously at the entrance to the tombs. “Do you think the threat to our town is gone?”
“I think so,” said Autumn. “Though the necromancer escaped, we have destroyed all his creations and rooted him out of his lair. He would be foolish to return.”
As the group began following Sisz back to the town, Autumn walked over and whispered into Arrie’s ear.
“All right, Arrie, who was that elf? You seemed to know each other, but I don’t recognize him.”
“I’ll tell you when we get back,” she whispered. “But the first thing I need to do is send a message to the capital. Now.”
It was another two days after stopping the zombie attack in Canyon Camp before the group set out for the tombs. After catching a little sleep, the group had divided in half – Osborn, Kavan, Autumn, and Lanara went out with the loggers and the priest Kath the next day to investigate the rumors of attacks, while Arrie, Kyle, Tolly and Xu went out into the woods to assist the spirit of an androsphinx that had enlisted their aid via dream-messages. It wasn't until they reunited that they set out for the town's crypt.
The tomb itself was only an hour’s walk from the village, embedded in the side of a hill. The group had spent much of the previous afternoon poring over their map, making marks for the locations of hidden doors and pit traps and discussing strategy. They had picked up several long planks to use as makeshift bridges across the pit traps; even though they knew how to deactivate the traps, it was assumed that if the necromancer was in there he or she would know how to rearm them.
The sun shone high in the sky when the group came to the tomb location. Small blocks of stone and carved statuary were scattered about the hillside. The wooden doors to the tomb appeared to have been burst open from the inside.
“Well, it certainly looks like Councilman Adi’s suspicions about the tomb could be correct,” mused Tolly.
“Okay, then,” said Osborn, clapping his hands together. “Looks like I’m in the lead. Just give me a little space.”
“Wait a moment, Osborn,” said Tolly. He cast a spell, then touched the hin on the shoulder. “This enchantment will render you undetectable to the undead,” he said. “If you are going to be our scout, you may as well benefit from some protection.”
The group approached the tomb entrance and went inside, unpacking their lanterns. The small entryway was strewn with dead leaves, but the wind had swept away any dust and did not show any tracks. The twisting corridors were narrow, and they were forced to move single file. Osborn stayed a few paces ahead, glancing occasionally at their copy of the map to locate the hidden doors in the chamber.
“Which way do we go?” he asked at one point. “There’s a passageway beyond this wall that leads to the rear of the ossuary, or we can just proceed further into the tombs.”
“I don’t want to leave any surprises behind us if we can help it,” said Arrie. “Let’s check out the ossuary.”
The group navigated past the secret corridor into the ossuary. The dried bones of hundreds of dead men and women were piled against the walls, a little over waist high to the humans. A narrow pathway remained down the center of the pile, allowing the group to more through but so narrow that their hips would occasionally knock a few loose bones to the floor.
“Gee, looks like the perfect place for a few hidden undead skeletons to jump us,” quipped Kyle.
His joke turned into prophecy as six forms rose from the piles on each side of them. Four were human skeletons wielding swords, while the other two appeared to be skeletal dogs or wolves. The undead laid into the party, but their own movement was just as hampered by the piles of bones as that of the living, and after being blasted by the holy power summoned by both Tolly and Kavan, the skeletons proved more an inconvenience than a challenge.
They emerged from the piles of bones into a room tiled with black onyx. They moved from there to a back section of the tomb that was used for preparing bodies. The stench of dried blood and offal was nearly overwhelming, but there was nothing unnatural in the chambers. The only item of note they found was a corridor that did not appear on their map. The hallway sloped downward, and extended past the range of their light.
“Down the hole we go?” Osborn asked, already knowing the answer. He moved forward into the hallway, moving even more slowly than before since he could no longer rely on a map to find traps or secret doors. The hallway descended for a considerable distance before stopping at a dead end. A large boulder sat off to their right, blocking up a passageway. Tolly and Kyle set to work on it, borrowing a crowbar from Osborn. Eventually Tolly realized that the stone would be easier to push from the top rather than the side, and after a few minutes the large boulder fell over and rolled into a bowl-shaped depression beyond. The party moved into the chamber, and saw another opening across from them, as well as an opening about thirty feet above their heads.
Osborn pointed at the landing above, looking at the map. “I know where we are,” he said. “This is the bottom of this pit here on the map. Had we gone down the hallway when we first got here instead of going into the ossuary, we would have ended up there.”
Behind them Lanara sighed. “So much for the thrill of the unexplored passageway.”
They moved across the pit to the other opening, and climbed up a narrow stair to get back to the main part of the tombs. They continued moving, eventually coming upon a small antechamber where two corpses were hanging garishly from the wall. Close inspection showed that barbed wire had been laced through the flesh of the bodies.
“These look like they’re being prepared for animation,” said Kavan, examining the bodies.
“Should we destroy them?” asked Autumn. “Can they animate and pursue us if we leave them behind?”
“No,” said Kyle. “The fellow that’s behind this needs to touch the body to animate it. I figure we can deal with these two on the way out.”
While the group discussed the finer points of undead, Osborn stole ahead a bit to see what to expect. He was getting nervous, but a little excited at the same time – the map showed that there wasn’t much left of the tomb to explore. He glanced into the next room, secure that Tolly’s spell would let him spot any undead without being seen. Sure enough, in the next open area he spotted a quartet of zombies, oblivious to his presence. He went back to report to his companions.
“There’s four zombies in the next room,” he said. “It’s divided up into cells, and there’s one zombie in each cell. The cells have open doorways, so no chance of picking them off one by one.”
“Then I say we rush them,” said Arrie. “Pin them in so they can’t join forces.”
The group agreed to the plan. Kyle remained in the back, watching the passage behind them for any surprises, while Osborn moved past the zombies to watch what lay beyond. The others prepared themselves, and moved into the room en masse.
The zombies proved tougher opponents than the skeletons in the ossuary. For one thing, they were laced with barbed wire like the two bodies they’d found, and had apparently been instructed to grab their opponents and squeeze. They were also far stronger than expected. At one point Kavan found himself pinned between two of them, and was in a bit of trouble until Xu moved in to assist the elf. But eventually the party triumphed, hacking down the last zombie. Osborn signaled that all was clear; the battle had apparently not raised any alarms.
The group moved onward past the chamber into a small makeshift chapel, stripped bare of any religious trappings. Past the chapel lay a reinforced wooden door.
“This is it,” Osborn whispered. “This is the last room on the map. It’s the mausoleum – should be nothing but a bunch of stone sarcophagi.”
“Sounds like the perfect place for a necromancer to hang out,” quipped Arrie.
“I’ll go check it out first,” said Osborn, “and let you know what’s in there.”
“Hey, be careful,” said Lanara. “Remember that necromancer’s probably not undead, and Tolly’s spell won’t do jack to protect you.”
Osborn’s only answer to the cansin was a wink as he went inside. After several tense minutes, he emerged from the shadows and motioned for the group to follow him back away from the door a few paces.
“The crypts are in three chambers in the center of the room,” Osborn said, sketching a quick map in the dust. “The hallway wraps around them like a U. There are open archways between the chambers and out into the hallway here, here, and here. This far chamber here, that looks like it only holds one coffin? It’s actually a desk. I heard someone moving around in there, but I couldn’t see them. There was a big black book on the desk – I’d guess a spellbook.”
Kyle’s eyes lit up for a moment, then sank. He remembered that all property gains from this mission were to be given to the Tower as part of their contract. He’d never get to see the spells in that book.
Autumn caught the look in his eyes. “There are probably nothing but vile, evil rituals in that book, Kyle,” she said.
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
“Okay, so, what’s the plan?” Osborn looked at the group expectantly.
“Perhaps a pincer move might be the best strategy,” said Tolly. “Send our quietest members around to the far side of the room and surround the necromancer.”
“Good plan,” said Arrie. “Osborn, Xu, and Lanara; that would be you three. You up to it?”
They nodded their agreement. They took a moment to make what preparations they could, with Tolly laying a blessing on the group and enhancing the strength of Arrie and Autumn. Then the three stealthiest party members crept into the room. After giving them a silent count of thirty to get into position, the others moved into the chamber.
As they approached, they heard the sound of something moving inside the chamber where the necromancer was supposed to be – something far larger than what they expected. But it turned out that they were not the only ones with discerning hearing.
“Ah, I was wondering when you would arrive,” said a smooth, elegant voice. “I’ve been expecting you for some time.”
The group was hardly surprised at being discovered, though they were not expecting such a cordial welcome. Arrie, however, seemed stunned when she heard the necromancer’s voice. Arrie’s reaction was not lost on her sister.
“Ariadne? Is something wrong?” Autumn asked.
The question seemed to snap Arrie out of her stupor. “The family will be so disappointed in you,” she called out to the necromancer.
Autumn’s look went from puzzled to shocked. “Do you know him?” she asked.
The necromancer himself seemed just as uncertain. “Who is that? What are you speaking of?”
Arrie stepped into the room. She saw the necromancer, a thin, pale elven noble, standing behind his desk. In the corner of the room stood an enormous fleshy construct that seemed stitched from several bodies. Electricity arced between metal bolts protruding from its skin.
The necromancer, seeing Arrie’s face, suddenly smiled. “Ah, yes.”
Meanwhile, Osborn, Lanara, and Xu waited impatiently in the hallway. Why were they suddenly having a conversation with this man? But then, another figure stepped around the corner in their direction. It looked like another zombie, but this one was constructed from the corpse of an ogre. It towered over their heads, swinging a large bone club.
Inside the chamber, the necromancer seemed just about to address Arrie, when he cocked his head to the side, seeming to look through the wall behind him for a moment. His smile turned into a sneer. “Clever adventurers.”
Tolly decided he’d had enough prattle. Stepping into the room, he unleashed a blast of acid at both the necromancer and his guardian. It seemed to drip off both with little effect.
“Golem!” shouted Tolly in warning, as the stitched-up horror raised it’s arms and began moving to defend its master.
Kyle moved around the group of heavily-armored fighters. He’d never get a good line of fire from where he was. As he moved, he threw up his last defensive spell. Kavan threw a blast of sonic energy at the golem and its master with the same results as Tolly. Xu moved up to engage the ogre zombie, but a single swing from its massive club sent her reeling back. She and Lanara moved away from the undead monster. Osborn, still protected by Tolly’s hide from undead spell, moved around the zombie. He knew he could do little to hurt the undead with his skills, but the necromancer was another story.
Autumn had the same idea as Osborn, and laid into the elven wizard with her longsword. Her blow connected solidly with the necromancer’s chest, but the gash seemed to close up instantly as tendrils of black energy pulled the wound together. In response, the necromancer cast a spell at Tolly, and a pair of translucent hands wrapped around his neck and began to strangle him. Tolly also suffered a blow from the golem’s flailing fists. He and Arrie tried to fight back against the golem, but their blows bounced off its skin harmlessly.
Kyle rounded the corner and saw the battle raging. He launched two magic missiles at the necromancer, but they fizzled against the shield spell that was already in place. With Kyle in sight now, the necromancer grinned and cast a spell at him. Suddenly Kyle could no longer hear anything at all. Almost at the same time, the necromancer kicked a lever underneath his desk. There was the sound of a metallic crashing from the entrance to the mausoleum, and everyone in the room (except Kyle, who couldn’t hear it) assumed that they were now trapped inside.
Kavan heard Lanara crying out for assistance, and so moved and used his healing magic on Xu. The monk tried to wade back into battle, but even her iron blows could not penetrate the flesh of the ogre zombie. The zombie itself ignored Xu and moved partially back into the chamber to pound Autumn with its club. Lanara, now by herself but away from the combat, caught a quick glance of the necromancer through the doorways between them. With nothing to lose, she sang the words to one of her magical compositions, and sent it toward the necromancer. Amazingly, the magic seemed to penetrate the wizard’s sinister mind, and moments later the necromancer was on the ground, laughing nasally. But despite his new vulnerability, Autumn was still unable to penetrate his magical defenses.
Tolly and the golem exchanged blows, but Tolly was receiving the worst of the exchange. Kyle sent a ray of intense heat at the necromancer, which barely succeeded as Kyle was unable to hear himself intone the magical words needed to cast the spell. Kavan slashed at the ogre, and dodged a return strike from it. Lanara began to sing an inspiring song to her companions, which gave Osborn the strength of spirit needed to wade into the chamber where the golem was and shove his dagger deep into the necromancer’s side. This time the wound did not close completely, and blood flowed from the elf’s ribcage even as he continued to laugh.
Arrie, seeing that Tolly was badly injured, pressed a potion into his hand as she moved past. But Tolly did not drink it, fearing that the pause might give the golem the opening it needed to finish him. Instead he pressed the attack, wounding the golem further. He’d used Ardara’s power to temporarily enchant his warhammer before the battle, and he was glad he had. He remembered enough about golems to know that only magical weapons, such as his hammer and Arrie’s chain, could penetrate the skin of a flesh golem. He also knew that all golems had a weakness to a particular type of energy, and were enhanced by another. However, he couldn’t remember which was which for flesh golems.
“Kyle!” he shouted. “What magic do you use against flesh golems!”
Tolly got no response; he was unaware that his companion had been deafened. Instead, Kyle had produced a tanglefoot bag, and thrown it on top of the necromancer, hoping to keep him secure once Lanara’s hideous laughter spell wore off. Xu and Kavan pressed their attack on the ogre, Kavan sending positive energy into it with a touch. In response the ogre zombie smashed its club into the priest’s shoulder, dislocating it. Lanara tried Kyle’s tactic against the ogre, but her tanglefoot bag missed and splattered against the back wall. Both Autumn and Osborn laid into the necromancer and opened up new wounds. The golem moved to protect its creator, and launched a mighty blow at Autumn that dented the sentinel’s breastplate.
As the ringing of the golem’s blow reverberated through the chamber, the others heard a new sound – a steady hissing coming from above them. Looking up, they saw that pipes in the ceiling were pumping a foul greenish gas into the room.
As Tolly and Arrie continued to assault the flesh golem, Kyle moved to aid Kavan and Xu. The ogre zombie had swung at Xu and broken her leg, while Kavan had stepped back to heal his own wounds. Kyle threw a flask of acid onto the zombie, while behind him Lanara moved up, ending her song in order to use the power of her magical fiddle to heal Xu’s leg.
In the other chamber, Osborn and Autumn prepared to attack the necromancer again. But Lanara’s spell had ended, and the elven wizard was in control of himself again. He uttered a few magical syllables and vanished, the strands of alchemical goo that had been holding him down collapsing into a puddle. The hin and the aasimar looked at each other for a moment, then chose new targets. Autumn slashed at the ogre zombie, while Osborn produced a small pebble from a bag and threw it at the golem. The pebble expanded in size to that of a small boulder, and it smashed into the golem’s skull. Despite the grievous damage it had endured, however, the golem still stood, and it directed it’s attention toward Tolly. Both fists came down on Tolly’s shoulders, and the priest dropped to the floor, blood spurting from his lips and nose.
Arrie lashed out at the golem again, both in hopes of avenging Tolly and in fear of the fact that she would be its next target. Sure enough, the golem pounded her mercilessly, leaving her bruised and bloody. Most of the group, unaware that Tolly had fallen, continued to press the attack on the zombie. Xu, still grievously wounded, rolled out of range of the zombie’s club and eagerly took a healing potion from Kyle before rejoining the battle. Kyle himself, now juggling several vials and flasks, hurled alchemists’ fire at the zombie, followed by more acid. Lanara used her magical fiddle again to weave protective magic around Xu before restarting her inspirational music. Kavan attempted to banish the undead creature, but was unable to summon enough strength within the unholy place. For a moment, only Autumn was left standing toe to toe with the ogre, and her blows landed true while the ogre’s club was deflected by her shield.
The gas had seeped down into the room. Kyle, who had not heard the gas being piped into the room, inhaled the vapors deeply before he knew what had happened. Suddenly he began to feel weaker. The others fared better, but they were running out of time. Osborn was underneath the desk, trying to reverse the mechanism triggered by the necromancer, but it was a complex device and would take time – perhaps more time than they had.
The golem smashed into Arrie again, and her head swam. She staggered back out of the chamber, holding onto the wall to keep herself steady as she fumbled for a healing potion. Kyle caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, and moved back into the chamber to see the situation. He quickly weighed his options. He had only one offensive spell left, burning hands. Was fire good or bad to use against flesh golems? He couldn’t remember. Either way, an attack would certainly draw the golem’s attention, which might give Arrie enough breathing room to heal herself. Kyle decided to take a chance. As the flames surrounded the golem, he saw it roar in pain, and then saw that the arcs of electricity around it seemed to be diminished, and its movements slower. But not slow enough; the creature turned and smashed its fist into Kyle. The wizard’s protective spells held, but the force of the blow still hit him full on, and he felt ribs give way.
At the same time, Kavan had moved back into melee with the ogre zombie, joining Xu and Autumn. Autumn’s blade missed the ogre, while Xu’s fists and Kavan’s sword hit home. The zombie ignored the monk’s attacks, as her fists were doing little harm to it’s leathery skin, and instead focused on the one who had hurt it the most; Kavan. With a swipe of its club, Kavan was sent flying into the far wall, where she slumped unconscious.
Now several of those still standing were feeling the effects of the poisonous gas. Arrie managed to heal some of her injuries with a potion even as Kyle threw more alchemist’s fire at the flesh golem. The golem’s counterattack glanced off his shield spell. Xu dragged Kavan’s unconscious body away from the ogre, leaving Autumn standing alone against it. The monk attempted to bandage the Eritan priest’s wounds, but was having trouble stanching the bleeding. As the ogre’s lifeless eyes turned toward Autumn, the sentinel muttered a quick prayer and buried her sword into its skull, finally toppling the creature. Without a moment’s pause, she moved into the next room to assault the golem, arriving at the same time as her sister. But both of their blows glanced off the creature without effect, and Kyle’s last vial of acid went wide and missed as well. The golem tried to finish off Arrie, but its luck was as poor as its opponents. For a moment it was a tense standoff between the three – Arrie, Autumn, and the golem were all grievously wounded, and another blow could finish any one of them. The three launched their attacks almost in unison.
Almost… except that Arrie was just a little faster.
Her spiked chain ripped through the golem, tearing apart stitching and ripping dead flesh. The golem did not so much fall as collapse, separating into its component parts. Exhausted, Arrie and Autumn lowered their weapons and went to find their companions. Kavan was just sitting up as they approached, Xu having given up on bandages and gone for another healing potion instead. A few seconds later, there was a click, and the hissing sound stopped. Osborn walked out a second later.
“Good news, bad news, worse news,” he said. “Good news is I stopped the gas. Bad news is there’s no way to get rid of the gas that’s already here. Worse news is that there’s no way I can open the door.”
“Then we have to break it down,” said Arrie. “Where are Kyle and Tolly?”
Osborn shook his head sadly. “I just checked on Tolly,” he said. “He’s not helping anyone… he’s gone.”
The news sank in fast, but they had little time to mourn. Several of them had already been affected by the poison; Kyle and Osborn in particular were looking very pale and unsteady. They moved to the entrance to the chamber, where an iron door had dropped from the ceiling and sealed the chamber. Kyle tried to lift it (after some quick pantomiming from his companions), but it didn’t budge.
“Wait a minute,” said Lanara, pointing at Arrie and Autumn, “didn’t Tolly make you two stronger?”
The two sisters looked at each other. Osborn grinned despite the situation. “Looks like Tolly found a way to help after all.”
The three of them managed to get the door opened, and they quickly moved outside to fresh air. Gasping, Kyle summoned his familiar, Violet, who he’d left perched in the trees outside. “Go to town,” he told her, in a voice that was a little too loud. “Find Priestess Sisz. Tell her to meet us at the tombs, and that several of us have been poisoned.”
As the raven flew off, Osborn approached Arrie and offered her a flask. “Drink this,” he said, “you look like you need it.”
“I’m fine,” she replied. “Keep it.”
“But you’re hurt,” said Osborn. “You need healing.”
“We’ve finished the battle, Osborn,” she said, snapping at the hin. “Save it. I’m fine.”
Osborn’s brow furrowed at the fighter’s stubbornness. He stuffed the vial back into his belt pouch.
It was nearly two hours before Sisz arrived, accompanied by Violet and by Shilsen, their former instructor and overseer for their mission. He listened attentively to the group’s account of the battle with the necromancer, then proceeded down into the tombs. He emerged a few minutes later holding a large sack.
“This fulfills your last obligation to the Tower,” Shilsen said. “Good luck to you in your future careers.” He looked over at the body of Tolly, who was being strapped to a makeshift travois for the trip back to Canyon Camp. “I’m sorry for your loss,” he said. “Would you like me to return his body to the Ardaran priests?”
They thought for a moment. “We don’t know if Tolly wishes to rest in the afterlife, or if he would want the opportunity to return,” Kavan said. “Perhaps you could deliver a message to the priests of Ardara in Trageon and ask them to contact Tolly’s spirit to learn what his wishes are. Should he wish to return to us, we will see to it that the arrangements are made.”
“Very well,” Shilsen said, and he touched the brooch on his chest and vanished.
Meanwhile, Sisz had done what she could for the group, lifting most of the weakness from Kyle and healing the wounds of others. “I’ll need more time to tend to the rest of you,” she said, “and I can get some help from Kath.” She looked anxiously at the entrance to the tombs. “Do you think the threat to our town is gone?”
“I think so,” said Autumn. “Though the necromancer escaped, we have destroyed all his creations and rooted him out of his lair. He would be foolish to return.”
As the group began following Sisz back to the town, Autumn walked over and whispered into Arrie’s ear.
“All right, Arrie, who was that elf? You seemed to know each other, but I don’t recognize him.”
“I’ll tell you when we get back,” she whispered. “But the first thing I need to do is send a message to the capital. Now.”
Delemental
First Post
A Difference of Opinion
It was not an easy night.
The group returned to the town of Canyon Camp to nurse their wounds after the battle with the necromancer. Tolly’s body was brought to the church of Bles, where Priestess Sisz said she would keep him and prepare his body for whatever fate held in store. After a moment of silence, Kavan told the others that he needed to spend some time alone in reflection and meditation. He gathered his belongings and left the small bed and breakfast they had taken up shelter in, promising to return after a day.
The others cleaned up as best they could, and prepared to meet the onslaught of grateful townspeople who came to extend their thanks. Only Kyle did not participate in the revelry – the deafness inflicted upon him by the necromancer would not lift, and so the celebration held little joy for him. In addition, he was beginning to feel unwell, complaining of chills despite the fact that he was sweating profusely. He remained in the upstairs rooms while the festivities went on. For the others, the death of Tolly and the absence of Kavan and Kyle weighed heavily on them, making the evening less enjoyable. Adding to the discomfort was the obvious tension between Arrie and Autumn, though they left their thoughts unspoken while in the midst of the joyful villagers.
It wasn’t until the next morning, after everyone had gone to bed exhausted, that the tension came to a head. Osborn, Xu, and Lanara were awakened by the sounds of shouting coming from the room the two sisters had shared. Uncomfortable over the heated words being exchanged, the three left the inn and went about their business in the town. Only Kyle, unaware of the noise, remained in his room, listlessly making notes in one of his large tomes while coughing into his sleeve. For a while Osborn tried to entertain him with an acrobatic routine, with some success, but eventually the hin grew restless and departed. He went to see Sisz, who was carefully washing Tolly’s body and making it as presentable as possible.
“Good morning,” said Osborn. “I was wondering if you could help my friend Kyle. He seems to have lost his hearing.”
“Oh, dear,” said Sisz. “How did it happen? Was he exposed to a loud noise?”
“No, I think the necromancer cast a spell on him in the battle,” Osborn replied.
“Oh. Well, I’m sorry, but I believe your friend has been affected by a kind of curse. It’s permanent, I’m afraid, unless it’s lifted.”
“Can you do that?”
She shook her head. “I know that such feats are possible to those of faith. However, my own power is not great enough for the task.”
“What about the Rovenori priest? Kath?”
“His skills in harnessing divine power are even less developed than my own, to tell the truth,” Sisz replied. “His talents lie in more physical pursuits. What of your own companions?”
“Well,” said Osborn, “we do have two priests. But Kavan’s gone off into some sort of retreat, so I can’t ask him. And our other priest is, well…” he gestured at Tolly’s mangled corpse.
“I see. I’m sorry I could not aid you. Please give my sympathy to your friend, and I’m sure you’ll run across someone who can end his condition.”
“I hope so,” Osborn said.
Meanwhile, the fight between Arrie and Autumn had reached its head, and Autumn had stormed out, slamming the door so hard that even Kyle noticed it, feeling the vibrations through the floorboards. She went out a short distance from the village, her crossbow and a brace of bolts in hand. She stopped a short distance from where Xu sat cross-legged under a tree.
“What are you doing here?” Autumn said, a little too harshly.
“Meditating,” she replied. “And yourself?”
Autumn held up the crossbow. “Target practice.”
“Perhaps I can be of some assistance,” Xu said as she rose. “It is time for my morning exercises as well.”
The two of them spent almost the next hour in practice together. Autumn shot bolts at Xu, while the monk caught them. Autumn tried to challenge Xu, shooting from different angles and locations. Slowly, her anger toward Arrie diminished. But toward the end of their practice, Autumn loosed a bolt from her crossbow which sailed across a clearing and buried itself into a tree truck a mere inch from Xu’s head. The monk seemed not to have even noticed.
“Xu!” Autumn shouted, running up. “Are you all right?”
“I am fine,” she replied. “Did you not hear it?”
“Hear what?”
“A voice, which sounded as though it were carried on the wind, yet I know it sounded only inside my head. The voice said, ‘Meet me at the town square at noon’.”
“Do you recognize the voice?” Autumn asked.
“No, I do not.”
Autumn frowned. “I’m not sure what it means,” said the sentinel, “but perhaps we had all better be with you at the town square at noon.”
The sun glared down from above them, warming the cool forest. It was late spring, and it was just starting to get hot in the fullness of the day. The group stood in an uneven semi-circle, waiting. Kyle stood picking loose bits of dirt off his robes. He had almost not joined the others, but Lanara pointed out to him (in writing) that with Tolly dead and Kavan still gone, they were sorely lacking in spell power should whatever had contacted Xu turn out to be unfriendly.
A full fifteen minutes past noon, just as the group was beginning to wonder if it had all been some kind of hoax, a man suddenly appeared out of the ground, rising up through it as if surfacing from the bottom of a pool of water. He was old and wizened, though his eyes gleamed with intelligence. His white beard was braided with all manner of precious stones, and he wore resplendent robes in earth tones. Slowly, he looked over the group assembled in front of him.
“My apologies for being late,” he said. “There was a strata shift I hadn’t anticipated that delayed me.”
“Er, hello?” offered Osborn. “Who are you?”
“Oh, of course, how rude of me. My name is Jerome. I imagine you must be Osborn. And this would be Ariadne, Autumn, Lanara, Xu, and Kyle. There’s one missing, I think… ah, yes, Kavan.”
“Um, how do you know who we are?” asked Arrie.
Suddenly, the pieces clicked together for Lanara. “Wait a minute,” the bard said, “you’re Jerome?”
Jerome nodded his answer to Lanara.
“As in Archprelate Jerome?”
He nodded again.
“As in Archprelate Jerome, head of the church of Ardara on Aelfenn?”
A third nod. “I’ve heard reports of the companions Tolly had taken up with after leaving the school. Nice to put faces to the names.”
The other group members, now aware of who stood before them, did their best to offer the proper greetings. Only Kyle stood by, unaware of what was going on, wondering why everyone was making such a fuss.
“Well, enough of that,” Jerome said, waving them aside. “I received a report from your former instructor, Shilsen, about you predicament, or rather about Tolly’s. But let’s have a bit of lunch first, then see what we can do for him.” The Archprelate began to shuffle off. The others followed him, with Autumn tugging on Kyle’s sleeve to let him know they were leaving.
Jerome stopped and looked at the wizard. “Something wrong with your large friend there?”
“Well, sir,” said Osborn, “I’m afraid he was affected by a spell cast on him by a necromancer. He can’t hear.”
“Really? Well, that’s no way to spend an afternoon.” Jerome walked up and touched Kyle on the forehead, speaking words thick with divine power. Suddenly Kyle’s hearing returned.
“Wow, thanks a bunch, sir!” he exclaimed. “I’m sorry I missed all that before, can I…” Kyle was interrupted by a fit of coughing, “ask your name?”
Autumn leaned in. “Kyle, this is Archprelate Jerome, of the church of Ardara. He’s here about Tolly.”
“Yes,” said Jerome, “but let’s have a look at you first. Nasty cough you’ve got there, and looks like chills, too.”
“Oh, really, sir, I’ll be fine. You shouldn’t waste your time on someone like me.”
“I’ll be the judge of what’s a waste of my time or not,” said Jerome, not unkindly. “Now, open your mouth and let me have a look.”
Thus Kyle found himself standing toe to toe with the head of the Ardaran church as he peered down the wizard’s throat. “Filth fever, just as I thought. You’ve been bitten by some sort of vermin recently, haven’t you?”
Kyle started to answer that he hadn’t, then he remembered the fiendish rats the kobold sorcerer Oppal had summoned. He nodded his head.
“Well, let’s take care of that.” Jerome spoke more words of power, and healing energy raced through Kyle’s body, eliminating the disease. Kyle immediately felt better. “Wow, sir, I mean, thanks a lot.”
“Just watch out for evil necromancers and rats next time, son,” Jerome grinned. “Now, where’s a good place to eat in this town?”
As they walked, Kyle stepped back to Arrie. “Well, now that I can hear the answer, I have a question I’m dying to ask. Who was that necromancer we fought? You two seemed to know each other.”
Arrie looked uncomfortable and tried not to notice Autumn’s eyes flashing behind her. “Well, his name is Sauroth, and he’s… well, he’s a cousin of the elven royal family. I know him because my family has close ties with the elven royal family.”
“Yes,” said Jerome, interrupting suddenly, “I thought you looked like a Verahannen to me.” He grinned as the group blinked at his sudden intrustion. “Nothing wrong with my ears, you know.”
“Well,” said Arrie, regaining her composure, “don’t worry about it, Kyle. I’ve sent messengers off to the Elven Court telling them of our encounter with Sauroth. Although technically the practice of necromancy itself is not illegal among the elves, his behavior will get him in trouble. The Court will take care of it.”
“Yes,” said Xu quietly behind them, too soft for Arrie to hear, “with all the speed of elven bureaucracy. Which means that they will attend to this Sauroth in about five hundred years.”
Lanara, who was able to hear Xu, blinked. “I think you just made a joke, Xu,” she said. “I must be rubbing off on you.”
Xu smiled one of her half-smiles. “My family had dealings with elven merchants on many occasions, and had many occasions to curse their endless laws and regulations.”
Lunch was a simple affair at a local tavern. The group drew many curious stares from the townsfolk, many of whom had already heard of the method of Jerome’s arrival. The group tried to engage in small talk, but found it difficult to know exactly what one discusses with the head of a major religion and one of the most powerful priests on the planet. If Jerome found their efforts lacking, he did not indicate it.
Finally, Jerome stood up. “Well, I suppose it’s time to go see Tolly, and see what he has to say about all this.”
Jerome followed the group to the church of Bles, where Tolly’s body lay in state. Priestess Sisz, upon seeing who was with the group, bowed deeply before Jerome.
“You honor us with your presence, Archprelate,” she said.
“Rise, Harvestchild,” he said, smiling. “The church of Ardara recognizes the service that you have performed for one of our fallen. I shall be certain that you superiors within the church of Bles are made aware of your devotion.” Jerome placed a grandfatherly hand on the head of the young priestess. “Now, I must attend to Tolly.”
Archprelate Jerome approached the altar where Tolly’s body lay. Surveying the damage inflicted by the flesh golem, Jerome shook his head sadly. “At least there is little damage to his head,” said Jerome. “That makes things easier.”
Placing his hands on Tolly’s body, Jerome began to intone words of power. After a while, the chanting stopped, and those assembled nearby could see Tolly’s jaw move slightly.
“Tolly.”
“Yes?” Tolly’s voice sounded strangely far away, as if he were standing in the bottom of a deep cave.
“Do you feel your work in this world is finished?”
There was a pause. “Apparently not.”
“Do you wish to return to the world of the living?”
“Yes.”
“Very well.” Jerome spoke a word, and Tolly’s jaw stopped moving. “Tolly wishes to return,” said Jerome. “I assume you wish it as well?”
Each of them nodded. “The ritual used to return someone from Erito’s embrace is not an easy one, not even for me. In addition, as recognition for Tolly’s service to our church, I will be asking Erito to forego her Tithe on Tolly’s life-force*. In consideration of this, I must ask that the rest of you agree to perform some service for my church in the future.”
“What kind of service?” asked Arrie.
“Something suiting your talents, and not opposed to your personal ethics, I assure you,” said Jerome. “I will contact you through Tolly when a suitable task is found. Do you agree?”
Kyle looked at the others. “Well, I say it sounds fair, and it’s the least we can do.”
The others were in agreement. Jerome turned his attention back to Tolly’s body. He reached into a pouch and produced four large, flawless diamonds. He placed one on Tolly’s forehead, one in each hand, and the last one atop his chest. Then Jerome produced a golden flask, and began to pour a dark, gritty oil from it onto the body, anointing it. The preparations complete, Jerome began to chant again. This time the words he spoke seemed almost saturated with holy power, and they seemed to reverberate from the very ground itself. As the archprelate chanted, Tolly’s body began to glow with white light. As the others watched, the terrible wounds in Tolly’s torso began to mend. Finally, as Jerome’s spell reached it’s climax, Tolly suddenly breathed in sharply, and the nimbus surrounding him exploded outward in a burst of positive energy.
Slowly, Tolly’s eyes opened. He blinked, and looked around, spotting his companions first. He sat up on the altar, flexing his fingers as if they were brand new to him. As his feet swiveled around to the edge of the altar, he saw Jerome standing nearby. Tolly immediately dropped to the floor and went to one knee. He grasped Jerome’s hand and kissed the large ring on it.
“Archprelate,” he said, “I am honored by your presence.”
“Rise, Tolly Nightsleaving,” said Jerome. “and rejoin your companions. I wish I could stay to speak with you further, Tolly, but I must return home to pressing matters.” Jerome walked down the central aisle of the small chapel, stopping just outside the doors. “But Tolly? Next time, duck.” With that, Jerome vanished, swallowed up by the earth in the same manner he had arrived.
The group exchanged hearty greetings to their newly restored friend. They spent the better part of the next hour discussing what had happened to their group; not only the battle with Sauroth, but their efforts to aid the sphinx Ujaset against the kobolds, and the encounter in the woods with the mysterious shadar-kai.
“Well,” said Tolly, after a time. “What are our plans for dealing with these fey, then?”
“We should hunt them down and destroy them,” said Autumn, eyes flashing.
“I agree,” said Tolly.
“Wait a minute,” said Arrie. “Before you two get all worked up, remember that the townspeople haven’t decided how they’re going to respond to the shadar-kai. We could be getting ahead of ourselves here.”
“Why?” asked Osborn. “We don’t need their permission to do what’s right.”
“Actually, we do,” Arrie replied. “Within the borders of Tlaxan, adventurers must operate with the consent of some sort of governing body, or else they’re considered brigands. The town has to ask us to deal with the shadar-kai.”
“Where did they come from, anyway?” asked Tolly. “Why have they not made themselves known before now?”
“Well, there’s an old story about them,” said Lanara. “The story goes that the shadar-kai used to be the kinds of fey we’re used to seeing – nymphs, satyrs, pixies, and so on. But during the Cataclysm, they were in danger of being destroyed. So, they went… somewhere else. No one knows for sure – it wasn’t any of the known planets**, or the Astral or Shadow planes. But when they returned, many centuries later, they had changed. They had become malicious and cruel… they had become the shadar-kai.”
“All the more reason to destroy them,” said Autumn. “It is my sworn duty to defend this world against incursions by outsiders.”
“But they might have been here first,” said Arrie. “You heard Lanara. Maybe they’re coming back to reclaim their old territory. The Elven Court might even recognize their claim as legitimate.”
“Are you actually trying to defend them?” asked Osborn. “Do I have to remind you they left one of the loggers impaled on a tree as a ‘warning’?”
“I’m not saying they’re not evil,” said Arrie, “but I don’t attack an orc just because he’s an orc. Yes, that act was wrong, but they’re also offering to negotiate with the loggers about territory. I’m just saying that we’re standing on uncertain ground in regard to local laws.”
“If I may,” interjected Kyle, “why don’t we go see what the villagers have decided. They’re supposed to have a meeting about it, right? Maybe if we know what their response is, it’ll help us decide on ours. Besides, Arrie does have a point – we can’t just go off doing whatever we want without someone saying it’s all right. I’m as mad as any of you about what those shadar-kai did, but we should be careful. We don’t know how many there are, and they seem to be willing to live in peace with this town, for what it’s worth. We go charging in there, and maybe we all end up on a slab like Tolly was. And then the shadar-kai think the villagers sent us, and they decide not to be so neighborly any more.”
The group absorbed his words. “Hey, Kyle,” said Lanara, “when did you become the diplomat?”
He grinned. “Must be the filth fever affecting my brain.”
As it turned out, the town had already held their meeting. Councilor Adi informed them that a vote had been taken that morning, and the town had decided to honor the shadar-kai’s territorial claims and move their logging to the south. He also paid them for ridding the town of the necromancer, handing out a script for thirty platinum coins apiece from the treasury. They were about to head to collect their reward, when Autumn turned on her heels and stormed out of the town hall, clearly unhappy that they would apparently not be eradicating the shadar-kai.
“Ooh, she’s sooo angry,” winced Arrie. “Maybe I should catch up to her.” She left to follow her sister out the door.
She caught up to Autumn at the edge of town. Autumn had dunked her head into a small stream nearby. The sentinel looked up at Autumn, droplets of water dripping from the ends of golden wet curls of hair.
“What?” she snapped.
“You look like you could use a good ride,” said Arrie. “Nothing clears the head like speed.”
Grudgingly, Autumn agreed. They went to the stable and saddled their horses, Defiance and Ghost. They rode together through the trees, winding between the large trunks and trying to find clear spaces to spur their steeds into a gallop. After a while, Autumn’s mind wandered away from the shadar-kai. She began to take in the scenery around her, the deep forest reminding her a little of the lands around her childhood home. Things had been simpler then, when it was just her and her adopted siblings. Before that bastard had ever laid eyes on Ariadne…
Her train of thought stopped short as she caught a glimpse of something to her left. She reined her horse in and held out her hand to bring Arrie to a stop. She pointed through a pair of elm trees at a large, hunched figure in the distance. The grotesque, tentacled creature appeared to be gorging itself on the body of a wolf.
“Gorgon!” hissed Autumn. “Bigger than the one we fought the other day.”
“It’s close to the village,” Arrie whispered back. “Too close.”
“Let’s go back and get the others,” said Autumn.
They turned their horses and moved away as quietly as they could, getting several hundred yards away before breaking into a trot. Upon reaching the edge of town, they leapt off their horses and dashed toward the bed and breakfast where they had been staying.
“Gorgon!” shouted Arrie, bursting in through the door of the business. “Big one! Everyone get your things and meet us at the southwest edge of town!”
The group scrambled to don armor and secure weapons. Arrie and Autumn mounted their horses again, and offered a hand up to the others. Osborn arrived astride his riding dog Rupert, and Xu stated she would run. Kyle, after casting a spell upon himself, said he would run as well. Thus Tolly and Lanara were hoisted up onto the flanks of the two horses, and they took off after the gorgon.
It was still in the same spot as before, chewing on wolf bones, as the group approached from the rear. They had dismounted several yards back and made their initial preparations. Most of them stayed in a group, but Xu and Osborn circled around to flank the creature.
“Let it come to us,” Arrie said. “We’ll stay together and lure it into being surrounded.”
“I can hit it from here,” said Kyle. “One of my new spells. It should get the critter’s attention.”
They moved up into position behind the still unaware gorgon. Kyle chanted for a moment, then thrust his hands toward the creature. A jagged streak of lightning shot from his hands and arced toward the gorgon. But as the bolt reached the creature, it seemed to skitter away and dissipate, the spell deflected by the arcane energies that had warped the creature into a gorgon in the first place.
Kyle looked crestfallen. “This is not good for my self-esteem,” he muttered.
The others launched their own attacks. Arrows and bolts launched by Arrie, Autumn, and Osborn hit, penetrating the gorgon’s thick hide. A sling bullet fired by Lanara went wind and impacted a tree, shattering and releasing its payload of alchemist’s fire. The flames slowly began to climb into the branches. With a scream of pain and anger it whirled around and charged at the largest cluster of enemies it could see. Tolly, Arrie, and Autumn readied their weapons, waiting for the beast to get within range. Osborn but another bolt in its flank as it charged, while Kyle charged up another spell, waiting for Xu to charge into combat so he could reach her with it as well.
He didn’t have long to wait. The creature tore into Tolly and Autumn, slashing each of them viciously and batting away their counterstrikes. Autumn felt the sting of acid in the creature’s slavering bite, but her celestial blood protected her from the worst of it, though the bite itself was still painful. Xu jumped into the combat, shouting savagely. As soon as she was within range, Kyle let his spell loose, and suddenly Arrie, Autumn, Tolly, and Xu felt as though they were moving faster than before. Arrie and Tolly put the new speed to good use, landing savage blows against the gorgon. Autumn, however, seemed disconcerted by the change, and her attacks went wide. The gorgon was not so easily distracted, and went after the vulnerable Autumn. Its claws slipped under the plates of her heavy armor, and the sentinel collapsed, blood flowing from a hole just under her ribcage. Tolly received a vicious bite from the gorgon’s jaws, while Xu narrowly avoided a blow from its prehensile tail.
The mystical melodies of Lanara’s bardic music began to fill the air, and the group closed in. A trio of magic missiles from Kyle lanced into the gorgon, this time penetrating the arcane warp surrounding the creature. Xu’s feet and fists pounded the gorgon in a blur of motion, snapping bones and severing tendons. Finally, Arrie’s spiked chain wrapped around the gorgon’s neck, and she pulled, ripping away flesh until the creature’s jugular was torn open. It died, spasming on the ground.
Tolly and Lanara bent to offer healing to Autumn. As she came to, Tolly stepped away and dealt with the fire, dousing most of the flames with magically created water. Arrie grabbed Tolly’s cloak and smothered the oily residue of the alchemist’s fire. Once they were sure the gorgon was dead, they sought out its lair, not too far from where it had fallen, and recovered a few odd valuables from some less fortunate travelers.
The group made their way slowly back to Canyon Camp to rest once again, stopping in a tavern just before the loggers returned from their day’s work. “I think we should be moving on,” said Arrie. “There’s not much left to do around here.”
“Well, where should we go?” asked Lanara.
“Kind of depends on what we want to do, doesn’t it?” said Kyle. “I mean, we’re out of school now, so I guess it’s up to us what we decide to do with ourselves, isn’t it?”
They all paused at the question they knew had been hanging over their heads since graduation day. Where was their place in the world?
“We could form a sort of traveling troupe of performers,” offered Xu. “Use our talents to entertain. It would be the perfect excuse to travel about.”
“I like it,” said Lanara.
“I have nothing against performing,” said Osborn. “It’s what I used to do for a living. But why do we need an excuse or a cover story? We’re Tower-certified adventurers.”
“I have to admit that I didn’t exactly get into this line of work to end up as a stage magician,” said Kyle.
There was another pause before Autumn spoke. “We aren’t going to resolve this today. It will require greater thought and discussion. I suggest that we travel to a larger city, where there are more resources. I know my own coin purse is heavy, and there isn’t much I can use here. Perhaps we could go northeast, to the capital?”
Tolly frowned. “While I am as interested in seeing Noxolt as anyone, I would like to suggest Laeshir, a city to the south over the mountains. It’s a dwarven city, and more likely to have the kinds of things we need. Besides, I could use some time at a forge, and such are easier to find in a dwarven city.”
After some discussion, the group agreed to go to Laeshir. Osborn and Lanara grumbled a bit about spending time in a city full of stuffy dwarves, but even they had to admit it was practical. They decided to leave in the morning, after Kavan returned from his retreat and they had bought supplies for the two-week journey.
As they discussed their travel plans, none of them noticed that one of the other patrons in the tavern was not a familiar face. As more customers began to stream in, the observer sat quietly, watching with dark eyes.
-----------------------------
* Erito is the Goddess of Life and Death, and her Tithe is the portion of a dead soul's life-force she retains when a person is brought back from the dead (ie, the lost level). Jerome is asking his goddess, Ardara, to pay the Tithe in Tolly's stead (ie, he's casting True Resurrection).
** I see that I can no longer delay the cosmology discussion. Aelfenn is in the center of a geocentric solar system, and the other four major celestial bodies (one sun, three planets) are the domains of The Four. There are no outer planes or elemental planes; the planets serve that function. For example, Karakor, the system's sun, is Grabâkh's realm, the home of evil outsiders (devils) and the elemental plane of fire. The Many, who are the lesser servitor gods of the pantheon, have their realms on the moons orbiting their patron's planet. It's not known whether Erito's realm is Aelfenn itself or somewhere else entirely, but Aelfenn does have five moons - one for each of Erito's five servitors.
The Ethereal, Astral, and Shadow planes do exist in pretty much the same way they do in standard D&D. The Astral, of course, facilitates extra-planetary movement (instead of extra-planar). The Ethereal is the realm of unborn spirits, and the Shadow Plane is the realm of dead spirits (a temporary waystop for those recently dead, unless they have no patron deity to claim them, in which case their souls are trapped on the plane).
As a side note: because alignment is rather strongly implemented in this world, some of the standard alignment patterns of outsiders have been altered. Devils are still evil, but not necessarily lawful evil. Demons are associated with chaos, but are not all chaotic evil (yes, that means a Chaotic Good balor is possible). The archons are lawful in nature, and good is represented by the angels. Eladrins are neutral in alignment, but can vary in their neutrality (Chaotic Neutral, Neutral Evil, etc). Elemental creatures aren't True Neutral, but take on the appropriate aspect associated with their deity (fire=Neutral Evil, air=Chaotic Neutral, etc).
It was not an easy night.
The group returned to the town of Canyon Camp to nurse their wounds after the battle with the necromancer. Tolly’s body was brought to the church of Bles, where Priestess Sisz said she would keep him and prepare his body for whatever fate held in store. After a moment of silence, Kavan told the others that he needed to spend some time alone in reflection and meditation. He gathered his belongings and left the small bed and breakfast they had taken up shelter in, promising to return after a day.
The others cleaned up as best they could, and prepared to meet the onslaught of grateful townspeople who came to extend their thanks. Only Kyle did not participate in the revelry – the deafness inflicted upon him by the necromancer would not lift, and so the celebration held little joy for him. In addition, he was beginning to feel unwell, complaining of chills despite the fact that he was sweating profusely. He remained in the upstairs rooms while the festivities went on. For the others, the death of Tolly and the absence of Kavan and Kyle weighed heavily on them, making the evening less enjoyable. Adding to the discomfort was the obvious tension between Arrie and Autumn, though they left their thoughts unspoken while in the midst of the joyful villagers.
It wasn’t until the next morning, after everyone had gone to bed exhausted, that the tension came to a head. Osborn, Xu, and Lanara were awakened by the sounds of shouting coming from the room the two sisters had shared. Uncomfortable over the heated words being exchanged, the three left the inn and went about their business in the town. Only Kyle, unaware of the noise, remained in his room, listlessly making notes in one of his large tomes while coughing into his sleeve. For a while Osborn tried to entertain him with an acrobatic routine, with some success, but eventually the hin grew restless and departed. He went to see Sisz, who was carefully washing Tolly’s body and making it as presentable as possible.
“Good morning,” said Osborn. “I was wondering if you could help my friend Kyle. He seems to have lost his hearing.”
“Oh, dear,” said Sisz. “How did it happen? Was he exposed to a loud noise?”
“No, I think the necromancer cast a spell on him in the battle,” Osborn replied.
“Oh. Well, I’m sorry, but I believe your friend has been affected by a kind of curse. It’s permanent, I’m afraid, unless it’s lifted.”
“Can you do that?”
She shook her head. “I know that such feats are possible to those of faith. However, my own power is not great enough for the task.”
“What about the Rovenori priest? Kath?”
“His skills in harnessing divine power are even less developed than my own, to tell the truth,” Sisz replied. “His talents lie in more physical pursuits. What of your own companions?”
“Well,” said Osborn, “we do have two priests. But Kavan’s gone off into some sort of retreat, so I can’t ask him. And our other priest is, well…” he gestured at Tolly’s mangled corpse.
“I see. I’m sorry I could not aid you. Please give my sympathy to your friend, and I’m sure you’ll run across someone who can end his condition.”
“I hope so,” Osborn said.
Meanwhile, the fight between Arrie and Autumn had reached its head, and Autumn had stormed out, slamming the door so hard that even Kyle noticed it, feeling the vibrations through the floorboards. She went out a short distance from the village, her crossbow and a brace of bolts in hand. She stopped a short distance from where Xu sat cross-legged under a tree.
“What are you doing here?” Autumn said, a little too harshly.
“Meditating,” she replied. “And yourself?”
Autumn held up the crossbow. “Target practice.”
“Perhaps I can be of some assistance,” Xu said as she rose. “It is time for my morning exercises as well.”
The two of them spent almost the next hour in practice together. Autumn shot bolts at Xu, while the monk caught them. Autumn tried to challenge Xu, shooting from different angles and locations. Slowly, her anger toward Arrie diminished. But toward the end of their practice, Autumn loosed a bolt from her crossbow which sailed across a clearing and buried itself into a tree truck a mere inch from Xu’s head. The monk seemed not to have even noticed.
“Xu!” Autumn shouted, running up. “Are you all right?”
“I am fine,” she replied. “Did you not hear it?”
“Hear what?”
“A voice, which sounded as though it were carried on the wind, yet I know it sounded only inside my head. The voice said, ‘Meet me at the town square at noon’.”
“Do you recognize the voice?” Autumn asked.
“No, I do not.”
Autumn frowned. “I’m not sure what it means,” said the sentinel, “but perhaps we had all better be with you at the town square at noon.”
* * *
The sun glared down from above them, warming the cool forest. It was late spring, and it was just starting to get hot in the fullness of the day. The group stood in an uneven semi-circle, waiting. Kyle stood picking loose bits of dirt off his robes. He had almost not joined the others, but Lanara pointed out to him (in writing) that with Tolly dead and Kavan still gone, they were sorely lacking in spell power should whatever had contacted Xu turn out to be unfriendly.
A full fifteen minutes past noon, just as the group was beginning to wonder if it had all been some kind of hoax, a man suddenly appeared out of the ground, rising up through it as if surfacing from the bottom of a pool of water. He was old and wizened, though his eyes gleamed with intelligence. His white beard was braided with all manner of precious stones, and he wore resplendent robes in earth tones. Slowly, he looked over the group assembled in front of him.
“My apologies for being late,” he said. “There was a strata shift I hadn’t anticipated that delayed me.”
“Er, hello?” offered Osborn. “Who are you?”
“Oh, of course, how rude of me. My name is Jerome. I imagine you must be Osborn. And this would be Ariadne, Autumn, Lanara, Xu, and Kyle. There’s one missing, I think… ah, yes, Kavan.”
“Um, how do you know who we are?” asked Arrie.
Suddenly, the pieces clicked together for Lanara. “Wait a minute,” the bard said, “you’re Jerome?”
Jerome nodded his answer to Lanara.
“As in Archprelate Jerome?”
He nodded again.
“As in Archprelate Jerome, head of the church of Ardara on Aelfenn?”
A third nod. “I’ve heard reports of the companions Tolly had taken up with after leaving the school. Nice to put faces to the names.”
The other group members, now aware of who stood before them, did their best to offer the proper greetings. Only Kyle stood by, unaware of what was going on, wondering why everyone was making such a fuss.
“Well, enough of that,” Jerome said, waving them aside. “I received a report from your former instructor, Shilsen, about you predicament, or rather about Tolly’s. But let’s have a bit of lunch first, then see what we can do for him.” The Archprelate began to shuffle off. The others followed him, with Autumn tugging on Kyle’s sleeve to let him know they were leaving.
Jerome stopped and looked at the wizard. “Something wrong with your large friend there?”
“Well, sir,” said Osborn, “I’m afraid he was affected by a spell cast on him by a necromancer. He can’t hear.”
“Really? Well, that’s no way to spend an afternoon.” Jerome walked up and touched Kyle on the forehead, speaking words thick with divine power. Suddenly Kyle’s hearing returned.
“Wow, thanks a bunch, sir!” he exclaimed. “I’m sorry I missed all that before, can I…” Kyle was interrupted by a fit of coughing, “ask your name?”
Autumn leaned in. “Kyle, this is Archprelate Jerome, of the church of Ardara. He’s here about Tolly.”
“Yes,” said Jerome, “but let’s have a look at you first. Nasty cough you’ve got there, and looks like chills, too.”
“Oh, really, sir, I’ll be fine. You shouldn’t waste your time on someone like me.”
“I’ll be the judge of what’s a waste of my time or not,” said Jerome, not unkindly. “Now, open your mouth and let me have a look.”
Thus Kyle found himself standing toe to toe with the head of the Ardaran church as he peered down the wizard’s throat. “Filth fever, just as I thought. You’ve been bitten by some sort of vermin recently, haven’t you?”
Kyle started to answer that he hadn’t, then he remembered the fiendish rats the kobold sorcerer Oppal had summoned. He nodded his head.
“Well, let’s take care of that.” Jerome spoke more words of power, and healing energy raced through Kyle’s body, eliminating the disease. Kyle immediately felt better. “Wow, sir, I mean, thanks a lot.”
“Just watch out for evil necromancers and rats next time, son,” Jerome grinned. “Now, where’s a good place to eat in this town?”
As they walked, Kyle stepped back to Arrie. “Well, now that I can hear the answer, I have a question I’m dying to ask. Who was that necromancer we fought? You two seemed to know each other.”
Arrie looked uncomfortable and tried not to notice Autumn’s eyes flashing behind her. “Well, his name is Sauroth, and he’s… well, he’s a cousin of the elven royal family. I know him because my family has close ties with the elven royal family.”
“Yes,” said Jerome, interrupting suddenly, “I thought you looked like a Verahannen to me.” He grinned as the group blinked at his sudden intrustion. “Nothing wrong with my ears, you know.”
“Well,” said Arrie, regaining her composure, “don’t worry about it, Kyle. I’ve sent messengers off to the Elven Court telling them of our encounter with Sauroth. Although technically the practice of necromancy itself is not illegal among the elves, his behavior will get him in trouble. The Court will take care of it.”
“Yes,” said Xu quietly behind them, too soft for Arrie to hear, “with all the speed of elven bureaucracy. Which means that they will attend to this Sauroth in about five hundred years.”
Lanara, who was able to hear Xu, blinked. “I think you just made a joke, Xu,” she said. “I must be rubbing off on you.”
Xu smiled one of her half-smiles. “My family had dealings with elven merchants on many occasions, and had many occasions to curse their endless laws and regulations.”
Lunch was a simple affair at a local tavern. The group drew many curious stares from the townsfolk, many of whom had already heard of the method of Jerome’s arrival. The group tried to engage in small talk, but found it difficult to know exactly what one discusses with the head of a major religion and one of the most powerful priests on the planet. If Jerome found their efforts lacking, he did not indicate it.
Finally, Jerome stood up. “Well, I suppose it’s time to go see Tolly, and see what he has to say about all this.”
Jerome followed the group to the church of Bles, where Tolly’s body lay in state. Priestess Sisz, upon seeing who was with the group, bowed deeply before Jerome.
“You honor us with your presence, Archprelate,” she said.
“Rise, Harvestchild,” he said, smiling. “The church of Ardara recognizes the service that you have performed for one of our fallen. I shall be certain that you superiors within the church of Bles are made aware of your devotion.” Jerome placed a grandfatherly hand on the head of the young priestess. “Now, I must attend to Tolly.”
Archprelate Jerome approached the altar where Tolly’s body lay. Surveying the damage inflicted by the flesh golem, Jerome shook his head sadly. “At least there is little damage to his head,” said Jerome. “That makes things easier.”
Placing his hands on Tolly’s body, Jerome began to intone words of power. After a while, the chanting stopped, and those assembled nearby could see Tolly’s jaw move slightly.
“Tolly.”
“Yes?” Tolly’s voice sounded strangely far away, as if he were standing in the bottom of a deep cave.
“Do you feel your work in this world is finished?”
There was a pause. “Apparently not.”
“Do you wish to return to the world of the living?”
“Yes.”
“Very well.” Jerome spoke a word, and Tolly’s jaw stopped moving. “Tolly wishes to return,” said Jerome. “I assume you wish it as well?”
Each of them nodded. “The ritual used to return someone from Erito’s embrace is not an easy one, not even for me. In addition, as recognition for Tolly’s service to our church, I will be asking Erito to forego her Tithe on Tolly’s life-force*. In consideration of this, I must ask that the rest of you agree to perform some service for my church in the future.”
“What kind of service?” asked Arrie.
“Something suiting your talents, and not opposed to your personal ethics, I assure you,” said Jerome. “I will contact you through Tolly when a suitable task is found. Do you agree?”
Kyle looked at the others. “Well, I say it sounds fair, and it’s the least we can do.”
The others were in agreement. Jerome turned his attention back to Tolly’s body. He reached into a pouch and produced four large, flawless diamonds. He placed one on Tolly’s forehead, one in each hand, and the last one atop his chest. Then Jerome produced a golden flask, and began to pour a dark, gritty oil from it onto the body, anointing it. The preparations complete, Jerome began to chant again. This time the words he spoke seemed almost saturated with holy power, and they seemed to reverberate from the very ground itself. As the archprelate chanted, Tolly’s body began to glow with white light. As the others watched, the terrible wounds in Tolly’s torso began to mend. Finally, as Jerome’s spell reached it’s climax, Tolly suddenly breathed in sharply, and the nimbus surrounding him exploded outward in a burst of positive energy.
Slowly, Tolly’s eyes opened. He blinked, and looked around, spotting his companions first. He sat up on the altar, flexing his fingers as if they were brand new to him. As his feet swiveled around to the edge of the altar, he saw Jerome standing nearby. Tolly immediately dropped to the floor and went to one knee. He grasped Jerome’s hand and kissed the large ring on it.
“Archprelate,” he said, “I am honored by your presence.”
“Rise, Tolly Nightsleaving,” said Jerome. “and rejoin your companions. I wish I could stay to speak with you further, Tolly, but I must return home to pressing matters.” Jerome walked down the central aisle of the small chapel, stopping just outside the doors. “But Tolly? Next time, duck.” With that, Jerome vanished, swallowed up by the earth in the same manner he had arrived.
The group exchanged hearty greetings to their newly restored friend. They spent the better part of the next hour discussing what had happened to their group; not only the battle with Sauroth, but their efforts to aid the sphinx Ujaset against the kobolds, and the encounter in the woods with the mysterious shadar-kai.
“Well,” said Tolly, after a time. “What are our plans for dealing with these fey, then?”
“We should hunt them down and destroy them,” said Autumn, eyes flashing.
“I agree,” said Tolly.
“Wait a minute,” said Arrie. “Before you two get all worked up, remember that the townspeople haven’t decided how they’re going to respond to the shadar-kai. We could be getting ahead of ourselves here.”
“Why?” asked Osborn. “We don’t need their permission to do what’s right.”
“Actually, we do,” Arrie replied. “Within the borders of Tlaxan, adventurers must operate with the consent of some sort of governing body, or else they’re considered brigands. The town has to ask us to deal with the shadar-kai.”
“Where did they come from, anyway?” asked Tolly. “Why have they not made themselves known before now?”
“Well, there’s an old story about them,” said Lanara. “The story goes that the shadar-kai used to be the kinds of fey we’re used to seeing – nymphs, satyrs, pixies, and so on. But during the Cataclysm, they were in danger of being destroyed. So, they went… somewhere else. No one knows for sure – it wasn’t any of the known planets**, or the Astral or Shadow planes. But when they returned, many centuries later, they had changed. They had become malicious and cruel… they had become the shadar-kai.”
“All the more reason to destroy them,” said Autumn. “It is my sworn duty to defend this world against incursions by outsiders.”
“But they might have been here first,” said Arrie. “You heard Lanara. Maybe they’re coming back to reclaim their old territory. The Elven Court might even recognize their claim as legitimate.”
“Are you actually trying to defend them?” asked Osborn. “Do I have to remind you they left one of the loggers impaled on a tree as a ‘warning’?”
“I’m not saying they’re not evil,” said Arrie, “but I don’t attack an orc just because he’s an orc. Yes, that act was wrong, but they’re also offering to negotiate with the loggers about territory. I’m just saying that we’re standing on uncertain ground in regard to local laws.”
“If I may,” interjected Kyle, “why don’t we go see what the villagers have decided. They’re supposed to have a meeting about it, right? Maybe if we know what their response is, it’ll help us decide on ours. Besides, Arrie does have a point – we can’t just go off doing whatever we want without someone saying it’s all right. I’m as mad as any of you about what those shadar-kai did, but we should be careful. We don’t know how many there are, and they seem to be willing to live in peace with this town, for what it’s worth. We go charging in there, and maybe we all end up on a slab like Tolly was. And then the shadar-kai think the villagers sent us, and they decide not to be so neighborly any more.”
The group absorbed his words. “Hey, Kyle,” said Lanara, “when did you become the diplomat?”
He grinned. “Must be the filth fever affecting my brain.”
* * *
As it turned out, the town had already held their meeting. Councilor Adi informed them that a vote had been taken that morning, and the town had decided to honor the shadar-kai’s territorial claims and move their logging to the south. He also paid them for ridding the town of the necromancer, handing out a script for thirty platinum coins apiece from the treasury. They were about to head to collect their reward, when Autumn turned on her heels and stormed out of the town hall, clearly unhappy that they would apparently not be eradicating the shadar-kai.
“Ooh, she’s sooo angry,” winced Arrie. “Maybe I should catch up to her.” She left to follow her sister out the door.
She caught up to Autumn at the edge of town. Autumn had dunked her head into a small stream nearby. The sentinel looked up at Autumn, droplets of water dripping from the ends of golden wet curls of hair.
“What?” she snapped.
“You look like you could use a good ride,” said Arrie. “Nothing clears the head like speed.”
Grudgingly, Autumn agreed. They went to the stable and saddled their horses, Defiance and Ghost. They rode together through the trees, winding between the large trunks and trying to find clear spaces to spur their steeds into a gallop. After a while, Autumn’s mind wandered away from the shadar-kai. She began to take in the scenery around her, the deep forest reminding her a little of the lands around her childhood home. Things had been simpler then, when it was just her and her adopted siblings. Before that bastard had ever laid eyes on Ariadne…
Her train of thought stopped short as she caught a glimpse of something to her left. She reined her horse in and held out her hand to bring Arrie to a stop. She pointed through a pair of elm trees at a large, hunched figure in the distance. The grotesque, tentacled creature appeared to be gorging itself on the body of a wolf.
“Gorgon!” hissed Autumn. “Bigger than the one we fought the other day.”
“It’s close to the village,” Arrie whispered back. “Too close.”
“Let’s go back and get the others,” said Autumn.
They turned their horses and moved away as quietly as they could, getting several hundred yards away before breaking into a trot. Upon reaching the edge of town, they leapt off their horses and dashed toward the bed and breakfast where they had been staying.
“Gorgon!” shouted Arrie, bursting in through the door of the business. “Big one! Everyone get your things and meet us at the southwest edge of town!”
The group scrambled to don armor and secure weapons. Arrie and Autumn mounted their horses again, and offered a hand up to the others. Osborn arrived astride his riding dog Rupert, and Xu stated she would run. Kyle, after casting a spell upon himself, said he would run as well. Thus Tolly and Lanara were hoisted up onto the flanks of the two horses, and they took off after the gorgon.
It was still in the same spot as before, chewing on wolf bones, as the group approached from the rear. They had dismounted several yards back and made their initial preparations. Most of them stayed in a group, but Xu and Osborn circled around to flank the creature.
“Let it come to us,” Arrie said. “We’ll stay together and lure it into being surrounded.”
“I can hit it from here,” said Kyle. “One of my new spells. It should get the critter’s attention.”
They moved up into position behind the still unaware gorgon. Kyle chanted for a moment, then thrust his hands toward the creature. A jagged streak of lightning shot from his hands and arced toward the gorgon. But as the bolt reached the creature, it seemed to skitter away and dissipate, the spell deflected by the arcane energies that had warped the creature into a gorgon in the first place.
Kyle looked crestfallen. “This is not good for my self-esteem,” he muttered.
The others launched their own attacks. Arrows and bolts launched by Arrie, Autumn, and Osborn hit, penetrating the gorgon’s thick hide. A sling bullet fired by Lanara went wind and impacted a tree, shattering and releasing its payload of alchemist’s fire. The flames slowly began to climb into the branches. With a scream of pain and anger it whirled around and charged at the largest cluster of enemies it could see. Tolly, Arrie, and Autumn readied their weapons, waiting for the beast to get within range. Osborn but another bolt in its flank as it charged, while Kyle charged up another spell, waiting for Xu to charge into combat so he could reach her with it as well.
He didn’t have long to wait. The creature tore into Tolly and Autumn, slashing each of them viciously and batting away their counterstrikes. Autumn felt the sting of acid in the creature’s slavering bite, but her celestial blood protected her from the worst of it, though the bite itself was still painful. Xu jumped into the combat, shouting savagely. As soon as she was within range, Kyle let his spell loose, and suddenly Arrie, Autumn, Tolly, and Xu felt as though they were moving faster than before. Arrie and Tolly put the new speed to good use, landing savage blows against the gorgon. Autumn, however, seemed disconcerted by the change, and her attacks went wide. The gorgon was not so easily distracted, and went after the vulnerable Autumn. Its claws slipped under the plates of her heavy armor, and the sentinel collapsed, blood flowing from a hole just under her ribcage. Tolly received a vicious bite from the gorgon’s jaws, while Xu narrowly avoided a blow from its prehensile tail.
The mystical melodies of Lanara’s bardic music began to fill the air, and the group closed in. A trio of magic missiles from Kyle lanced into the gorgon, this time penetrating the arcane warp surrounding the creature. Xu’s feet and fists pounded the gorgon in a blur of motion, snapping bones and severing tendons. Finally, Arrie’s spiked chain wrapped around the gorgon’s neck, and she pulled, ripping away flesh until the creature’s jugular was torn open. It died, spasming on the ground.
Tolly and Lanara bent to offer healing to Autumn. As she came to, Tolly stepped away and dealt with the fire, dousing most of the flames with magically created water. Arrie grabbed Tolly’s cloak and smothered the oily residue of the alchemist’s fire. Once they were sure the gorgon was dead, they sought out its lair, not too far from where it had fallen, and recovered a few odd valuables from some less fortunate travelers.
The group made their way slowly back to Canyon Camp to rest once again, stopping in a tavern just before the loggers returned from their day’s work. “I think we should be moving on,” said Arrie. “There’s not much left to do around here.”
“Well, where should we go?” asked Lanara.
“Kind of depends on what we want to do, doesn’t it?” said Kyle. “I mean, we’re out of school now, so I guess it’s up to us what we decide to do with ourselves, isn’t it?”
They all paused at the question they knew had been hanging over their heads since graduation day. Where was their place in the world?
“We could form a sort of traveling troupe of performers,” offered Xu. “Use our talents to entertain. It would be the perfect excuse to travel about.”
“I like it,” said Lanara.
“I have nothing against performing,” said Osborn. “It’s what I used to do for a living. But why do we need an excuse or a cover story? We’re Tower-certified adventurers.”
“I have to admit that I didn’t exactly get into this line of work to end up as a stage magician,” said Kyle.
There was another pause before Autumn spoke. “We aren’t going to resolve this today. It will require greater thought and discussion. I suggest that we travel to a larger city, where there are more resources. I know my own coin purse is heavy, and there isn’t much I can use here. Perhaps we could go northeast, to the capital?”
Tolly frowned. “While I am as interested in seeing Noxolt as anyone, I would like to suggest Laeshir, a city to the south over the mountains. It’s a dwarven city, and more likely to have the kinds of things we need. Besides, I could use some time at a forge, and such are easier to find in a dwarven city.”
After some discussion, the group agreed to go to Laeshir. Osborn and Lanara grumbled a bit about spending time in a city full of stuffy dwarves, but even they had to admit it was practical. They decided to leave in the morning, after Kavan returned from his retreat and they had bought supplies for the two-week journey.
As they discussed their travel plans, none of them noticed that one of the other patrons in the tavern was not a familiar face. As more customers began to stream in, the observer sat quietly, watching with dark eyes.
-----------------------------
* Erito is the Goddess of Life and Death, and her Tithe is the portion of a dead soul's life-force she retains when a person is brought back from the dead (ie, the lost level). Jerome is asking his goddess, Ardara, to pay the Tithe in Tolly's stead (ie, he's casting True Resurrection).
** I see that I can no longer delay the cosmology discussion. Aelfenn is in the center of a geocentric solar system, and the other four major celestial bodies (one sun, three planets) are the domains of The Four. There are no outer planes or elemental planes; the planets serve that function. For example, Karakor, the system's sun, is Grabâkh's realm, the home of evil outsiders (devils) and the elemental plane of fire. The Many, who are the lesser servitor gods of the pantheon, have their realms on the moons orbiting their patron's planet. It's not known whether Erito's realm is Aelfenn itself or somewhere else entirely, but Aelfenn does have five moons - one for each of Erito's five servitors.
The Ethereal, Astral, and Shadow planes do exist in pretty much the same way they do in standard D&D. The Astral, of course, facilitates extra-planetary movement (instead of extra-planar). The Ethereal is the realm of unborn spirits, and the Shadow Plane is the realm of dead spirits (a temporary waystop for those recently dead, unless they have no patron deity to claim them, in which case their souls are trapped on the plane).
As a side note: because alignment is rather strongly implemented in this world, some of the standard alignment patterns of outsiders have been altered. Devils are still evil, but not necessarily lawful evil. Demons are associated with chaos, but are not all chaotic evil (yes, that means a Chaotic Good balor is possible). The archons are lawful in nature, and good is represented by the angels. Eladrins are neutral in alignment, but can vary in their neutrality (Chaotic Neutral, Neutral Evil, etc). Elemental creatures aren't True Neutral, but take on the appropriate aspect associated with their deity (fire=Neutral Evil, air=Chaotic Neutral, etc).
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Delemental
First Post
Tolly's Education
This week we have a two for one; first a brief interlude written by Tolly's player, then the next installment. This interlude actually takes place between "Death Makes No Sound" and "Difference of Opinion", but I posted it here only because it sort of gives away Tolly being raised from the dead.
So, without further ado...
Tolly swung the hammer yet again. His enchanted hammer was badly denting the gruesome creature, but not fast enough. He could see the chain of his companion come whipping past him time and again, but whether it was his body blocking her view, or the wizard's incantations, she was having trouble reaching the golem. The sweat ran fast down his back under his breastplate as he dodged, again too late. The pain of his carefully worked armor collapsing into his ribs was shocking, but no worse than the constant choking he felt around his neck. Ariadne had tried to hand him a potion to heal the wounds the creature had dealt him so far, but there was no time to drink it. If he moved his attention from the beast in front of him, it would surely kill him and then go for Autumn's back as she fought the Necromancer. He could not, WOULD not allow that. Not on his life and vows as a protector of those weaker than he. He had advantages over the usual people in the world--the Church had seen to his every need. Most orphans had not that advantage. He swung again. The golem was definitely feeling the blows, and turned all of its attention to him. He saw the strike coming--both fists swung up and then down at him. There was no time to dodge. He threw his shield in the path of those arms, and it crumpled beneath their force. He felt his shoulder give and tear from its socket. Then the other fist hit. He felt nothing more.
He opened his eyes to the distinct lack of pain, and a pale green light. An Archon stood before him. He leaped to his feet, and performed the proper obeisance for the rank of Trumpet Archon.
"We see that passing has not changed you, Tolly."
He heard the voice, yet could not say that it had been spoken. "It is finished then? So soon..."
"Yes, too soon, son of the Earth. You were brave, but somewhat foolish. That creature was beyond your abilities."
Tolly felt a burst of anger. "Do you imply I should have done other? Abandon my post, and left them to be crushed. There was but one other who could harm the golem."
"Then should you not have let her do it?"
"It was my duty as a member of the Secretariat. We aid. I had hoped she would be able to get to the villain who had created the beast while I stood my ground. That form of communication had not yet become second nature. It was, after all, our first true outing. Why do you question me so, Herald? Is there a flaw in my thinking? Am I not in the state I should be for passing on?"
"No, Tolly, We do not question you to point out errors--only to confirm how We suspected your thoughts were on the matter. We feel that perhaps some speech with a less comfortable hand would do you good. Your adopted Fathers have done well, but their affection has left you naive. We feel this needs correcting."
Tolly puzzled over this. "In what way, Herald?"
The Archon spread it wings and then they were in a classroom, and there was but one desk. "Sit Tolly, and we shall teach to you the Philosophy of Ardara, and of Steel."
Tolly sat--he could think of little else to do.
"In the beginning, there was but Erito, and she thought to create a world, and in that thought was contained a planet to be on, and the rules by which it could exist, and in those rules and Earth was Ardara. And she moved forth into the world.
"She brought with her Law, and in her strength was unassailable, for Law is likened unto Steel, Tolly. Steel, like Law, can be defense for those being attacked, but can also be a weapon in the hand of the attacker. It can be flexible as the rapier, or as rigid as the blade of an axe. It must be tested many times before it is known to be the correct mix for the ends to be met, and those ends are Ardara's.
"You have been training as a Protector, Tolly, and have served Her well in this regard, but it is becoming a time where She needs Her Blades--She has plenty of Armor. For this to be, you must return. When you hear the call of the Prelate, you will return."
"But, Herald..."
"There is no time for such questions! Are you Hers?"
"Of course, Herald."
"Then do Her bidding, Tolly Mulholland, and know that you are in Her Hands, as her Weapon of Choice, and Weapons have not mercy. As a surgeon's scalpel you will be, removing bits of poisoned Earth and unLawful debris. If some healthy flesh must be sacrificed to make the body well again, so be it."
Tolly could hear the call of the Prelate. "Wait, Herald, Mulholland...?"
"The time for questions has passed, Tolly, now GO!"
"But..."
He opened his eyes...
This week we have a two for one; first a brief interlude written by Tolly's player, then the next installment. This interlude actually takes place between "Death Makes No Sound" and "Difference of Opinion", but I posted it here only because it sort of gives away Tolly being raised from the dead.
So, without further ado...
* * *
Tolly swung the hammer yet again. His enchanted hammer was badly denting the gruesome creature, but not fast enough. He could see the chain of his companion come whipping past him time and again, but whether it was his body blocking her view, or the wizard's incantations, she was having trouble reaching the golem. The sweat ran fast down his back under his breastplate as he dodged, again too late. The pain of his carefully worked armor collapsing into his ribs was shocking, but no worse than the constant choking he felt around his neck. Ariadne had tried to hand him a potion to heal the wounds the creature had dealt him so far, but there was no time to drink it. If he moved his attention from the beast in front of him, it would surely kill him and then go for Autumn's back as she fought the Necromancer. He could not, WOULD not allow that. Not on his life and vows as a protector of those weaker than he. He had advantages over the usual people in the world--the Church had seen to his every need. Most orphans had not that advantage. He swung again. The golem was definitely feeling the blows, and turned all of its attention to him. He saw the strike coming--both fists swung up and then down at him. There was no time to dodge. He threw his shield in the path of those arms, and it crumpled beneath their force. He felt his shoulder give and tear from its socket. Then the other fist hit. He felt nothing more.
* * *
He opened his eyes to the distinct lack of pain, and a pale green light. An Archon stood before him. He leaped to his feet, and performed the proper obeisance for the rank of Trumpet Archon.
"We see that passing has not changed you, Tolly."
He heard the voice, yet could not say that it had been spoken. "It is finished then? So soon..."
"Yes, too soon, son of the Earth. You were brave, but somewhat foolish. That creature was beyond your abilities."
Tolly felt a burst of anger. "Do you imply I should have done other? Abandon my post, and left them to be crushed. There was but one other who could harm the golem."
"Then should you not have let her do it?"
"It was my duty as a member of the Secretariat. We aid. I had hoped she would be able to get to the villain who had created the beast while I stood my ground. That form of communication had not yet become second nature. It was, after all, our first true outing. Why do you question me so, Herald? Is there a flaw in my thinking? Am I not in the state I should be for passing on?"
"No, Tolly, We do not question you to point out errors--only to confirm how We suspected your thoughts were on the matter. We feel that perhaps some speech with a less comfortable hand would do you good. Your adopted Fathers have done well, but their affection has left you naive. We feel this needs correcting."
Tolly puzzled over this. "In what way, Herald?"
The Archon spread it wings and then they were in a classroom, and there was but one desk. "Sit Tolly, and we shall teach to you the Philosophy of Ardara, and of Steel."
Tolly sat--he could think of little else to do.
"In the beginning, there was but Erito, and she thought to create a world, and in that thought was contained a planet to be on, and the rules by which it could exist, and in those rules and Earth was Ardara. And she moved forth into the world.
"She brought with her Law, and in her strength was unassailable, for Law is likened unto Steel, Tolly. Steel, like Law, can be defense for those being attacked, but can also be a weapon in the hand of the attacker. It can be flexible as the rapier, or as rigid as the blade of an axe. It must be tested many times before it is known to be the correct mix for the ends to be met, and those ends are Ardara's.
"You have been training as a Protector, Tolly, and have served Her well in this regard, but it is becoming a time where She needs Her Blades--She has plenty of Armor. For this to be, you must return. When you hear the call of the Prelate, you will return."
"But, Herald..."
"There is no time for such questions! Are you Hers?"
"Of course, Herald."
"Then do Her bidding, Tolly Mulholland, and know that you are in Her Hands, as her Weapon of Choice, and Weapons have not mercy. As a surgeon's scalpel you will be, removing bits of poisoned Earth and unLawful debris. If some healthy flesh must be sacrificed to make the body well again, so be it."
Tolly could hear the call of the Prelate. "Wait, Herald, Mulholland...?"
"The time for questions has passed, Tolly, now GO!"
"But..."
* * *
He opened his eyes...
