Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Cafu" data-source="post: 5911141" data-attributes="member: 6692807"><p>We continued down the road; as previously, the flames seemed to dim slightly as we passed and then sprang into renewed fury as we left them behind. I had given up trying to find the cause for this unusual occurrence. Too many strange things happened in this forest. It was past logical explanation. Now was the time to look and learn. Study and interpretation would come later. Even the strangest of locales became more commonplace and my companions were beginning to look weary. We had been on this road for many hours, fought with the strange denizens of the forest several times and ceased to look in wonder at the fire that burned forever. </p><p></p><p>It was in this mood that I trudged along, with very little magic left after our recent conflicts. I almost bumped into the back of Longhelim as the two warriors stopped. I raised my head to see what had caused the delay. Ahead of us was another bridge; it looked to be made of stone and more importantly, it seemed to have some sort of structure built on it. After our last experience on a bridge, we were quite cautious and we gathered to have a quick discussion as to how to approach this obstacle when suddenly things began to happen very fast. So fast in fact that I could only gape as I saw them happening. </p><p></p><p>Several trees burst with a great crackle of flame, deafening even in the Forest. The flaming trunks fell across the road, effectively blocking it. Then a wall of flame suddenly appeared behind us and began rolling down towards us. Not fast enough to cause panic but fast enough to cause concern. Then Crystin screamed at Felix:</p><p></p><p>“Move! Move!” </p><p></p><p>Felix reacted just as a shaft of fire landed on top of the spot where he had just been standing.</p><p></p><p>Almost simultaneously, a huge lick of flame rose from the trees across the road and coalesced into three stags made out of fire. As soon as they formed, fiery eyes gleaming and with snorts of smoke, they charged us!</p><p></p><p>As they reached Longhelim and Felix, two stags seemed to gather and launch themselves at the two humans, only to bounce off their armour. The last stag did the same to Victor but there, he managed to catch the warrior full on with his fiery antlers and this time it was the human who suffered as he was badly gored and burned. However, the stags were now within reach and the warriors set about them with a will. They may have been made out of fire but they still suffered when hit by a sword as Longhelim and Victor soon proved. Both of the humans hit them; cleverly, Victor and Longhelim concentrated their blows on a single beast and it could not take that sort of punishment; almost immediately, the stag facing Longhelim dissipated. I managed to cast a little spell on another, almost my last one; it befuddled it for a brief moment but this tiny advantage allowed the warriors to again concentrate their blows on a single opponent. </p><p></p><p>Suddenly, there was a shout from behind and Crystin and Torrent ran past us. The wall of flame was so close that there was a danger that it would roll right over us. We had forgotten about this hazard! In fact, in the process of getting a last blow into the second stag, Victor was caught in the wall and suffered some burns before he managed to move away from it. </p><p></p><p>There was one more stag left. It scampered into the wall, looked around and then charged again, this time at Felix. We had to dodge the wall quite carefully as we stalked the last stag. Thankfully, this was not too difficult. It may have been made out of fire but it was still an animal and showed animal intelligence; its instinct was to charge, so, although it did hurt Felix, it was then caught by the two warriors who quickly sent it back into whatever fire it had come from. I was thankful to see that Victor was finally becoming accustomed to his strange weapon with its unusual pommel after his problems with its balance. </p><p></p><p>As the last stag dissipated, so did the wall of flame. However, we still had a barrier of burning logs in front of us; as we approached, suddenly a huge draconic head made out of flame rose up from the burning logs. It had a crown of horns, the largest teeth I had ever seen and a voice that sounded like a burning tree: </p><p></p><p>“I am Flame! Free me!” it crackled. “I am a trapped in this accursed place! Follow the River and set me free otherwise, you will burn in here forever with me”. </p><p></p><p>Longhelim nodded. Then we gathered briefly together. Longhelim whispered: </p><p></p><p>“Whatever it is, it is not evil. It seems to be trapped here with us.”</p><p></p><p>Keeping my voice low, I said: “I am not sure where this river is but there could be one flowing under that bridge ahead. Look, don’t laugh; we have no idea what is going here so I don’t see why there couldn’t be a river in a burning forest. Come on, there have been much stranger things happening in this place”. </p><p></p><p>Longhelim continued: “I dislike leaving things, even if they look like dragons, trapped in an ever burning forest. It seems like a form of torture to me. I suggest we at least investigate this area where it is directing us.”</p><p></p><p>No one had anything to add so we moved to the barrier. At this time, we could only see a pair of fiery eyes which regarded us with interest: </p><p></p><p>“Well, what say you?”</p><p></p><p>“We will do our best to free you” answered Longhelim. </p><p></p><p>As he said that, I felt a molten fire running through my veins. Looking at their faces, I could see that I was not the only who was suffering this. Once it was over though, we were even more comfortable in the fire; it was as if the heat had no effect on us unless we specifically came into contact with flame. Of course, me being me, I had to find this out the hard way. Fire still burned. It was just heat that we were impervious to. I thought I heard a crackling chuckle as I was shaking my hand vigorously, trying to cool it down after my test. </p><p></p><p>Then Drudge took out his axe and began to chop the fiery barricade in front of us. </p><p></p><p>It did not take too long to clear a path. Beyond, the road continued towards the bridge. It did indeed provide a crossing over a river. We took the usual precautions but the bridge was clear of danger. More intriguing was the Tower built on a small jutting offshoot from the main road leading across it. Someone went to a great deal of time and effort to build this impressive defensive feature. We approached it with a certain amount of caution. Logic told us that it should be safe but there were many things in this strange place that defied logic. The tower itself was round, with several arrow slits. There was a door, but it looked solid and unaffected by the fire, strange in itself. Carefully, we approached it and then John moved forward with his picks. </p><p></p><p>It took him a little time to master the lock so I took advantage of this time to look around a little more. The river was quite wide, slow moving and obviously well down from its normal height. Both banks could be seen. Of equal interest was the water, which seemed to be warm but not boiling. There was no sign of any living creature in the water, not surprisingly. As I looked around, on the far bank, I could see several buildings, dwellings and paths, obviously some sort of habitation although no sign of people; looking at the others in the my group, I could see that everyone was also looking warily at the village. I just hoped that it was not home to some sort of fiery monstrosity. </p><p></p><p>John gave a whoop of triumph and declared that the door was open. We formed our usual defensive order, with the warriors in the front, and Longhelim opened the door. </p><p></p><p>The door revealed a round space, obviously the full interior of the tower. The immediate feature that seized our attention were the two corpses slumped against the far wall. They were close to a set of stairs that led to a door in the ceiling, obviously leading to the first floor. A blast of hot air hit us and as we prepared to enter, John shouted for us to stop. He pointed to the right and we could all see some script etched into the stone. None of us could read it; it looked like a set of runes but Crystin looked at it and then amazingly, opened her mouth and intoned a series of liquid, ancient syllables, straight out of a Shahalesti epic. Well, well, the young lady amazed me. We asked her she had just said and she told us: </p><p></p><p>“Basically, it says….. say friend and enter. So I just told you the elven word for friend”. </p><p></p><p>“Could you repeat it again, please and a little slower”. </p><p></p><p>After some practice, we all said the word rather gingerly and proceeded. Whether we needed to or not, the result was that nothing happened to us. </p><p></p><p>Looking around, this was some sort of supply room, with numerous weapons, suits of armour and supplies, mostly spoilt, dessicated or plainly just too old. The two corpses looked exactly what they were, two dead elves, curiously preserved by the environment. Some of the armour and weapons were very well made but no better than ours so we moved up the stairs. Opening this door revealed another single room taking up the full extent of the interior of the tower. This time, there was a large table in its center, a prominent symbol to Pelor on the wall and finally and most interestingly, a large scale model of the village across the river, showing buildings, paths, alleys and its general layout in great detail. As we looked at this, we also spotted a book on the table. It looked like some sort of notebook and when we opened it, we saw that it was a journal; a cursory glance at the front by Crystin showed that it had been written by someone called Bhurisrava. Finally, there was another set of stairs leading to another door in the ceiling. </p><p></p><p>This door was locked again. John opened it and this door revealed a loft. All sorts of strange things had been stored here, but obviously it was used to house objects that had little use in the tower. A search revealed only one thing of interest: a small paper pouch contained a series of seeds with a couple of notes. One said: “for later study” and was written in elven. The other was written in goblin, showed a strange face and the following note: “For visions of the Firemaker take one. Do not take any more! These are poison!” The seven small black seeds were shaped like small claws. </p><p></p><p>I did not know what to make of this although, from my reading, I associated the term Firemaker with the great Elemental Spirit of Fire, usually perceived as a great red dragon; however, in the Burning Forest of Innenotdar, the term “Firemaker” frankly could mean anyone or anything. </p><p></p><p>Having searched through everything, we settled for the night. Before going to sleep, the notebook was examined by everyone in the group who could speak elven, which basically was Crystin and told a tale which helped to establish the origin of the Fire. As well as history, there were a great many ruminations on faith, its meaning, its powers and its responsibility. The writer was a cleric of Pelor who was losing his belief due to his inability to deal with the Fire and help his people; it looked as if he sought solace in the written word. Whilst interesting, these passages have little bearing to my chronicle so I will only deal with the sections which were important to our mission. </p><p></p><p>First he wrote with great vehemence about the great fires of the Forest and his inability to either put them out or even affect them. He mentioned a group of refugees he found in the village across the river and his quest to send them up the river to someone called Nelle for shelter with a description and a small map showing how to get there. He told of the futility of trying to help his people and his despair at his sense of impotence. He also mentioned visiting a shrine in the elven village. This was a shrine to an elven hero, Anyariel who fought for the side of good and protected the Living Wood of Innenotdar, presumably the name before it became the Burning Forest of Innenotdar. </p><p></p><p>One heartbreaking passage tells of a woman who refused to leave the Forest because she was looking for her betrothed. She found him beneath the willow fountain, burning and she fled into the Forest, horrified, never to be seen again. </p><p></p><p>He mentioned the strange seeds we found. He called them “Dreamseeds” and said that they were found on the goblins who set fire to the Forest, at the behest of an orc, a Ragesian. This important information was obtained through powerful necromantic magic. Bhurisrava had interrogated the corpses of the goblins.</p><p></p><p>A final despairing entry related how Bhurisrava saw or witnessed something which finally broke his faith. He wanted to be forgiven by whoever found this journal and also he prayed for strength to find an answer as to how to put out this fire. He mentioned two companions he would leave behind before setting out to gain provisions. It seemed that to add to their woes, the poor inhabitants of this village were starving as well. The two poor wretches left behind, who I assumed were also downstairs slumped against the wall, were named Refaran and Tendil. </p><p></p><p>This reading and discussion took us most of the evening. I was very excited. Finally we were getting to the bottom of this great mystery. If only I could let other people know what we had found out. Although the goblins had set the fires they had done so at the behest of a Ragesian. No mention of how or why this was such a mighty magical fire or why it burned forever but at least this was a start and we were leagues ahead of any other previous research done on this mystery, so far as I knew. Now all we had to do was to find out what else was going on here. </p><p></p><p>Having set watches, the night passed uneventfully. The next morning, we discussed matters briefly. </p><p></p><p>Longhelim said: “We are going to see this shrine across the river”. </p><p></p><p>We all agreed to this. Inside, I was gleeful. It was exactly what I wanted to do before we followed the river to find out more about the mysterious Flame. </p><p></p><p>Crystin and Torrent decided to wait in the tower for our return. </p><p></p><p>After our usual morning preparation, we exited the structure and crossing the bridge, entered the village. Remarkably, many of the buildings were quite intact although burning as usual. It would not be difficult to investigate them. However, that could wait. Our initial focus for research was the shrine.</p><p></p><p>It did not take us long to arrive there. It must have been a feature of true beauty in its full glory. We could see an empty pool, with an arrangement of stepping stones in the shape of a cross. At the far end was a stone fountain beautifully crafted in the shape of a willow tree. Surrounding the whole shrine was a ring of burning willows, swaying in the wind. Even on fire, the whole scene had an innate beauty to it; the only jarring feature was the two corpses somehow wedged in the branches of the stone fountain. Longhelim stopped, straightened and cried:</p><p></p><p>“Beware. The corpses are no ordinary dead and they radiate the stench of foul evil.”</p><p></p><p>Well, that is not quite what he said but the meaning was the same. His words mentioned pigs and farms and what happened after they ate, especially on a hot mid-summer’s day……he was known as Longhelim the Farmer after all, even if he was a Holy Warrior of Heironeous and said he had grown up on a tobacco plantation.</p><p></p><p>Thus warned, we moved forward cautiously until we were a little closer. We stopped and Drudge nocked an arrow and shot. As soon as that happened, the corpses jumped off the tree and ran towards us. These were fast. Then, just as suddenly, they ran away; Felix seemed to grow and brandishing his holy symbol his voice rang out in a mighty imprecation: </p><p></p><p>“Begone foul creatures. Go back to whatever hell spawned you!”</p><p></p><p>And they did. </p><p></p><p>Unlike Longhelim, that is what he actually said.</p><p></p><p>As they moved away, a door opened a crack at the bottom of the willow. Again, we approached with caution: Slippery John looked inside and said he could see stairs going down. Then he threw a glowing sunrod down there and after waiting a few moments, he followed it down. </p><p></p><p>He stayed down there for a little time; we called down after a few minutes and he called back, saying he was all right; then, suddenly, there was a blue glow from the bottom: Drudge started and turned to us, his eyes wide, saying: </p><p></p><p>“I could have sworn John said….Nice hooters”. </p><p></p><p>What on earth did that mean? I turned to the others and asked: “What does that mean?”</p><p></p><p>Longhelim and Victor just shared a glance and looked at me. “Never mind but let’s just say that he doesn’t seem to be in danger. Not quite yet anyway,” Longhelim said in a dry tone.</p><p></p><p>“Give him time”, a mutter from Victor.</p><p></p><p>A little later, John returned. He explained: </p><p></p><p>“Below is a room, just under the willow. The roots have caught fire and are burning like everything else in this place. There is a big statue of an elven bint, sticking a sword into a big stag. Sword looks good, big, huge thing; carved to look as if it’s wood; vines all over it and all over her hands. She looks sort of heroic; I think she is supposed to be this Anyariel. There are two other corpses, although they don’t look like corpses. Felix, you need to look at them I think; one is an armoured elf. He looks like one of them from Shahalesti. The other is another elf and this one looks like a priest. He looks as if he’s been clawed to death. There is also a glass case that’s been smashed. Amateurs! Anyway, something was there and some disgusting thief got there before….umm took whatever was in the case.”</p><p></p><p>“What was the blue glow?”asked Longhelim. </p><p></p><p>“Give us a minute,” answered John. “As I was getting ready to go in to investigate for clues as to what we were supposed to do next, this really good looking elven woman turns up out of thin air. All armour and big sword, she had really nice eyes, all pearly and white. Never seen eyes like that before. She glowed as well, glowed blue.”</p><p></p><p>I became very excited. It couldn’t be…..”Could you repeat that about the eyes. No pupil, no iris, just white? Like pearls? And she glowed?”</p><p></p><p>“Just like pearls” John said, dreamily. </p><p></p><p>“It sounds like a ghaele” I said, bouncing with excitement. “They are lovely, beautiful extra planar beings; they are only used for the most important of missions. This shrine must be really important. I have only read of about half a dozen sightings of ghaeles in Gabal’s library. Let’s go down and talk to her! She is bound to know everything that’s going on in this place.” </p><p></p><p>“Lovely, beautiful eyes and nice…..” John was still looking dreamy. </p><p></p><p>“You are forgetting our undead friends. They will be back soon. We had better get ready.”That was Victor; he didn’t say much but when he did, it usually brought us back down to earth.</p><p></p><p>I was chagrined. I had completely forgotten about that undead in my excitement at meeting a real ghaele. It was almost too late as well, as Longhelim pointed at two figures which were running with astonishing speed towards us, shouting:</p><p></p><p>“HUNGRY! SO HUNGRY! You all taste good! Roast you all! Eat you all!!”</p><p></p><p>So, big teeth and claws, ugly and a limited vocabulary;….just perfect.</p><p></p><p>Victor stepped forward and as one of the creatures launched itself at him, he gave it a mighty cut with his sword. It recoiled but then lashed out with its claw and as it struck, suddenly Victor stopped moving. Gleefully, the creature launched itself at the warrior and began lashing at him with its claws. Victor was quickly covered in blood but was unable to do anything about it. The other creature was engaged by Longhelim but was unable to hit him, as its claws were blocked by the warrior’s shield again and again. Then Felix, seeing the danger to Victor, summoned the power of his God and repelled the creatures again. A few moments later, some healing had been administered to Victor and he had began to move again when the two undead bounded back. This time Drudge was deadly with bow fire and one of the creatures stumbled and fell with several arrows protruding from its starved frame. The other jumped on Victor again and again the poor warrior was paralysed after being lashed with one of the claws. In a repeat of the last engagement, the creature launched itself at him in a mad flurry of claws and teeth. This time, Victor collapsed and to our horror, burst into flame. </p><p></p><p>Longhelim confronted the last ghast, as Felix called them and quickly slew it as it tried to get at the helpless Victor. Felix caused a powerful stream of water to fall on the warrior but that just created a lot of steam. Then Longhelim touched him, using his holy power and it was only then that Victor stopped burning, groaned and opened his eyes. Gasping, he thanked Longhelim for healing him and then asked Felix and Longhelim to look and see if some sort of foul disease had been left in his wounds from the claws of these creatures. </p><p></p><p>Once Victor had recovered, the group cleaned itself and walked down the steps. As if on cue, the elven woman appeared. John’s description had been accurate. She was beautiful, with large milky white eyes, heavy armour, a large sword and she glowed a light blue colour, like a summer sky. Even the ever-burning fires in the room seemed to diminish when she appeared. </p><p></p><p>I was just staring. It was not every day you met someone who was almost certainly thousands of years old. I almost asked her for her name but restrained myself. </p><p></p><p> Longhelim bowed respectfully:</p><p></p><p>“Greetings mighty ghaele. My name is Longhelim the Farmer and these are my companions. We are here to rid the forest of this curse and free all its denizens from whatever strange malady is assaulting them……”</p><p></p><p>He went on like this. He could speak so well when it suited him and he didn’t mention his farm, tobacco or its animals once. He explained our purpose here, our aims to rid the Forest of the Fire and our determination to aid Gate Pass. He was very charming with the voice and words of a born story teller. Initially, his voice sounded like the caress of a gentle breeze and increased in volume as he described what we had done already, gaining a distinctly martial tone. I was whispering some things to him which I hoped would help him convince her to allow us to enter the shrine. </p><p></p><p>She looked at him, smiling, and then said: </p><p></p><p>“I was summoned here by the power of the last dying breath of that priest lying there. He cannot die due to the curse of the Forest. I found the shrine like this and I cannot go outside. It is my task to guard it until the shrine ceases to exist. You may enter and see if you can find anything that may help you in your quest.”</p><p></p><p>She stepped aside and everyone entered. </p><p></p><p>Searching the shrine was disappointing. It revealed little. We found a mace lying by the elven cleric whom we suspected was Bhurisrava. We did not understand the significance of the presence of the Shahalesti warrior but upon examination, I realised that I was witnessing extremely powerful magic which allowed a body or room or group to stay still in time, watching Ages go by. Only the most powerful of magicians knew the secrets of time. </p><p></p><p>The ghaele continued speaking as we were looking: “I know that the case contained a lock of Anyariel’s hair.”</p><p></p><p>I then stepped forward and bowed to her. She looked at me and I felt the full force of those beautiful white eyes. </p><p></p><p>“Please, mighty ghaele, we are now on a dangerous quest to rescue a being who may release the Forest from this curse. For this, we will need help and this mace was not part of the original shrine. May we borrow it for our quest? We will return it if at all possible as soon as we have completed it but as it is a magical weapon, it may make the difference between our success and failure.”</p><p></p><p>She looked at me as she considered this and then she nodded and said: </p><p></p><p>“You may take it.”</p><p></p><p>We gave this mace to Felix as it was he who was the most likely to make the best use of it.</p><p></p><p>Having satisfied our curiosity that there was nothing there to reveal further answers to our mysteries, we moved out and into the village.</p><p></p><p>Having left the shrine, we decided to search parts of the village, trying to find something that would give us further clues as to what had happened and how to correct it. Those were the fundamental questions, as Victor put it.</p><p></p><p>We did find several interesting items, including a book of tattoo magic (a strange discipline about which I had heard but never seen), a lacy red cord and a necklace made of ivory. All these pieces radiated a magical aura but we did not know what they did. </p><p></p><p>We were also disturbed several times as we conducted this search. The first time, a hell hound found us and attacked. I did not know if this was the same one that we had met previously but Victor moved in and hit it very hard. The creature opened its mouth and breathed a mixture of flame and bile over the poor warrior but then Drudge shot it twice with arrows and it collapsed. Victor was looking a bit burned around the edges but he did not seem that much worse for his experience. </p><p></p><p>The second time we were attacked, it was by another swarm of fiery bats. We could deal quicker with these creatures now that we knew of their weakness. I didn’t cast any spells at them this time. As they swarmed towards us, we pelted them with streams of water squirted from our bottles. Thankfully, we had remembered to refill them from the river at the beginning of the day. Felix also had several spells which soaked them and caused them great distress. As previously, the more we poured water over them, the smaller the swarm became, until finally all that was left were a few bats flapping weakly on the ground. However, as before, suddenly, they seemed to get a new lease of life and attempted to rise again but again, we were ready for this and soaked them thoroughly until they finally succumbed. </p><p></p><p>Then, towards the end of the day, as we searched one last section of the village, we could see another two figures approaching. They were similar to the undead ghasts we had defeated previously, but not quite the same. Drudge shot one of them with a couple of arrows so it was severely weakened. The two undead, ghouls, as Felix called them, threw themselves in mindless hunger at the warriors but they made little progress against the metal half plate armour and were soon dispatched. </p><p></p><p>After that, we decided to retire back to the tower to rest. There, we spoke to Crystin and Torrent and let them know of the latest developments.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cafu, post: 5911141, member: 6692807"] We continued down the road; as previously, the flames seemed to dim slightly as we passed and then sprang into renewed fury as we left them behind. I had given up trying to find the cause for this unusual occurrence. Too many strange things happened in this forest. It was past logical explanation. Now was the time to look and learn. Study and interpretation would come later. Even the strangest of locales became more commonplace and my companions were beginning to look weary. We had been on this road for many hours, fought with the strange denizens of the forest several times and ceased to look in wonder at the fire that burned forever. It was in this mood that I trudged along, with very little magic left after our recent conflicts. I almost bumped into the back of Longhelim as the two warriors stopped. I raised my head to see what had caused the delay. Ahead of us was another bridge; it looked to be made of stone and more importantly, it seemed to have some sort of structure built on it. After our last experience on a bridge, we were quite cautious and we gathered to have a quick discussion as to how to approach this obstacle when suddenly things began to happen very fast. So fast in fact that I could only gape as I saw them happening. Several trees burst with a great crackle of flame, deafening even in the Forest. The flaming trunks fell across the road, effectively blocking it. Then a wall of flame suddenly appeared behind us and began rolling down towards us. Not fast enough to cause panic but fast enough to cause concern. Then Crystin screamed at Felix: “Move! Move!” Felix reacted just as a shaft of fire landed on top of the spot where he had just been standing. Almost simultaneously, a huge lick of flame rose from the trees across the road and coalesced into three stags made out of fire. As soon as they formed, fiery eyes gleaming and with snorts of smoke, they charged us! As they reached Longhelim and Felix, two stags seemed to gather and launch themselves at the two humans, only to bounce off their armour. The last stag did the same to Victor but there, he managed to catch the warrior full on with his fiery antlers and this time it was the human who suffered as he was badly gored and burned. However, the stags were now within reach and the warriors set about them with a will. They may have been made out of fire but they still suffered when hit by a sword as Longhelim and Victor soon proved. Both of the humans hit them; cleverly, Victor and Longhelim concentrated their blows on a single beast and it could not take that sort of punishment; almost immediately, the stag facing Longhelim dissipated. I managed to cast a little spell on another, almost my last one; it befuddled it for a brief moment but this tiny advantage allowed the warriors to again concentrate their blows on a single opponent. Suddenly, there was a shout from behind and Crystin and Torrent ran past us. The wall of flame was so close that there was a danger that it would roll right over us. We had forgotten about this hazard! In fact, in the process of getting a last blow into the second stag, Victor was caught in the wall and suffered some burns before he managed to move away from it. There was one more stag left. It scampered into the wall, looked around and then charged again, this time at Felix. We had to dodge the wall quite carefully as we stalked the last stag. Thankfully, this was not too difficult. It may have been made out of fire but it was still an animal and showed animal intelligence; its instinct was to charge, so, although it did hurt Felix, it was then caught by the two warriors who quickly sent it back into whatever fire it had come from. I was thankful to see that Victor was finally becoming accustomed to his strange weapon with its unusual pommel after his problems with its balance. As the last stag dissipated, so did the wall of flame. However, we still had a barrier of burning logs in front of us; as we approached, suddenly a huge draconic head made out of flame rose up from the burning logs. It had a crown of horns, the largest teeth I had ever seen and a voice that sounded like a burning tree: “I am Flame! Free me!” it crackled. “I am a trapped in this accursed place! Follow the River and set me free otherwise, you will burn in here forever with me”. Longhelim nodded. Then we gathered briefly together. Longhelim whispered: “Whatever it is, it is not evil. It seems to be trapped here with us.” Keeping my voice low, I said: “I am not sure where this river is but there could be one flowing under that bridge ahead. Look, don’t laugh; we have no idea what is going here so I don’t see why there couldn’t be a river in a burning forest. Come on, there have been much stranger things happening in this place”. Longhelim continued: “I dislike leaving things, even if they look like dragons, trapped in an ever burning forest. It seems like a form of torture to me. I suggest we at least investigate this area where it is directing us.” No one had anything to add so we moved to the barrier. At this time, we could only see a pair of fiery eyes which regarded us with interest: “Well, what say you?” “We will do our best to free you” answered Longhelim. As he said that, I felt a molten fire running through my veins. Looking at their faces, I could see that I was not the only who was suffering this. Once it was over though, we were even more comfortable in the fire; it was as if the heat had no effect on us unless we specifically came into contact with flame. Of course, me being me, I had to find this out the hard way. Fire still burned. It was just heat that we were impervious to. I thought I heard a crackling chuckle as I was shaking my hand vigorously, trying to cool it down after my test. Then Drudge took out his axe and began to chop the fiery barricade in front of us. It did not take too long to clear a path. Beyond, the road continued towards the bridge. It did indeed provide a crossing over a river. We took the usual precautions but the bridge was clear of danger. More intriguing was the Tower built on a small jutting offshoot from the main road leading across it. Someone went to a great deal of time and effort to build this impressive defensive feature. We approached it with a certain amount of caution. Logic told us that it should be safe but there were many things in this strange place that defied logic. The tower itself was round, with several arrow slits. There was a door, but it looked solid and unaffected by the fire, strange in itself. Carefully, we approached it and then John moved forward with his picks. It took him a little time to master the lock so I took advantage of this time to look around a little more. The river was quite wide, slow moving and obviously well down from its normal height. Both banks could be seen. Of equal interest was the water, which seemed to be warm but not boiling. There was no sign of any living creature in the water, not surprisingly. As I looked around, on the far bank, I could see several buildings, dwellings and paths, obviously some sort of habitation although no sign of people; looking at the others in the my group, I could see that everyone was also looking warily at the village. I just hoped that it was not home to some sort of fiery monstrosity. John gave a whoop of triumph and declared that the door was open. We formed our usual defensive order, with the warriors in the front, and Longhelim opened the door. The door revealed a round space, obviously the full interior of the tower. The immediate feature that seized our attention were the two corpses slumped against the far wall. They were close to a set of stairs that led to a door in the ceiling, obviously leading to the first floor. A blast of hot air hit us and as we prepared to enter, John shouted for us to stop. He pointed to the right and we could all see some script etched into the stone. None of us could read it; it looked like a set of runes but Crystin looked at it and then amazingly, opened her mouth and intoned a series of liquid, ancient syllables, straight out of a Shahalesti epic. Well, well, the young lady amazed me. We asked her she had just said and she told us: “Basically, it says….. say friend and enter. So I just told you the elven word for friend”. “Could you repeat it again, please and a little slower”. After some practice, we all said the word rather gingerly and proceeded. Whether we needed to or not, the result was that nothing happened to us. Looking around, this was some sort of supply room, with numerous weapons, suits of armour and supplies, mostly spoilt, dessicated or plainly just too old. The two corpses looked exactly what they were, two dead elves, curiously preserved by the environment. Some of the armour and weapons were very well made but no better than ours so we moved up the stairs. Opening this door revealed another single room taking up the full extent of the interior of the tower. This time, there was a large table in its center, a prominent symbol to Pelor on the wall and finally and most interestingly, a large scale model of the village across the river, showing buildings, paths, alleys and its general layout in great detail. As we looked at this, we also spotted a book on the table. It looked like some sort of notebook and when we opened it, we saw that it was a journal; a cursory glance at the front by Crystin showed that it had been written by someone called Bhurisrava. Finally, there was another set of stairs leading to another door in the ceiling. This door was locked again. John opened it and this door revealed a loft. All sorts of strange things had been stored here, but obviously it was used to house objects that had little use in the tower. A search revealed only one thing of interest: a small paper pouch contained a series of seeds with a couple of notes. One said: “for later study” and was written in elven. The other was written in goblin, showed a strange face and the following note: “For visions of the Firemaker take one. Do not take any more! These are poison!” The seven small black seeds were shaped like small claws. I did not know what to make of this although, from my reading, I associated the term Firemaker with the great Elemental Spirit of Fire, usually perceived as a great red dragon; however, in the Burning Forest of Innenotdar, the term “Firemaker” frankly could mean anyone or anything. Having searched through everything, we settled for the night. Before going to sleep, the notebook was examined by everyone in the group who could speak elven, which basically was Crystin and told a tale which helped to establish the origin of the Fire. As well as history, there were a great many ruminations on faith, its meaning, its powers and its responsibility. The writer was a cleric of Pelor who was losing his belief due to his inability to deal with the Fire and help his people; it looked as if he sought solace in the written word. Whilst interesting, these passages have little bearing to my chronicle so I will only deal with the sections which were important to our mission. First he wrote with great vehemence about the great fires of the Forest and his inability to either put them out or even affect them. He mentioned a group of refugees he found in the village across the river and his quest to send them up the river to someone called Nelle for shelter with a description and a small map showing how to get there. He told of the futility of trying to help his people and his despair at his sense of impotence. He also mentioned visiting a shrine in the elven village. This was a shrine to an elven hero, Anyariel who fought for the side of good and protected the Living Wood of Innenotdar, presumably the name before it became the Burning Forest of Innenotdar. One heartbreaking passage tells of a woman who refused to leave the Forest because she was looking for her betrothed. She found him beneath the willow fountain, burning and she fled into the Forest, horrified, never to be seen again. He mentioned the strange seeds we found. He called them “Dreamseeds” and said that they were found on the goblins who set fire to the Forest, at the behest of an orc, a Ragesian. This important information was obtained through powerful necromantic magic. Bhurisrava had interrogated the corpses of the goblins. A final despairing entry related how Bhurisrava saw or witnessed something which finally broke his faith. He wanted to be forgiven by whoever found this journal and also he prayed for strength to find an answer as to how to put out this fire. He mentioned two companions he would leave behind before setting out to gain provisions. It seemed that to add to their woes, the poor inhabitants of this village were starving as well. The two poor wretches left behind, who I assumed were also downstairs slumped against the wall, were named Refaran and Tendil. This reading and discussion took us most of the evening. I was very excited. Finally we were getting to the bottom of this great mystery. If only I could let other people know what we had found out. Although the goblins had set the fires they had done so at the behest of a Ragesian. No mention of how or why this was such a mighty magical fire or why it burned forever but at least this was a start and we were leagues ahead of any other previous research done on this mystery, so far as I knew. Now all we had to do was to find out what else was going on here. Having set watches, the night passed uneventfully. The next morning, we discussed matters briefly. Longhelim said: “We are going to see this shrine across the river”. We all agreed to this. Inside, I was gleeful. It was exactly what I wanted to do before we followed the river to find out more about the mysterious Flame. Crystin and Torrent decided to wait in the tower for our return. After our usual morning preparation, we exited the structure and crossing the bridge, entered the village. Remarkably, many of the buildings were quite intact although burning as usual. It would not be difficult to investigate them. However, that could wait. Our initial focus for research was the shrine. It did not take us long to arrive there. It must have been a feature of true beauty in its full glory. We could see an empty pool, with an arrangement of stepping stones in the shape of a cross. At the far end was a stone fountain beautifully crafted in the shape of a willow tree. Surrounding the whole shrine was a ring of burning willows, swaying in the wind. Even on fire, the whole scene had an innate beauty to it; the only jarring feature was the two corpses somehow wedged in the branches of the stone fountain. Longhelim stopped, straightened and cried: “Beware. The corpses are no ordinary dead and they radiate the stench of foul evil.” Well, that is not quite what he said but the meaning was the same. His words mentioned pigs and farms and what happened after they ate, especially on a hot mid-summer’s day……he was known as Longhelim the Farmer after all, even if he was a Holy Warrior of Heironeous and said he had grown up on a tobacco plantation. Thus warned, we moved forward cautiously until we were a little closer. We stopped and Drudge nocked an arrow and shot. As soon as that happened, the corpses jumped off the tree and ran towards us. These were fast. Then, just as suddenly, they ran away; Felix seemed to grow and brandishing his holy symbol his voice rang out in a mighty imprecation: “Begone foul creatures. Go back to whatever hell spawned you!” And they did. Unlike Longhelim, that is what he actually said. As they moved away, a door opened a crack at the bottom of the willow. Again, we approached with caution: Slippery John looked inside and said he could see stairs going down. Then he threw a glowing sunrod down there and after waiting a few moments, he followed it down. He stayed down there for a little time; we called down after a few minutes and he called back, saying he was all right; then, suddenly, there was a blue glow from the bottom: Drudge started and turned to us, his eyes wide, saying: “I could have sworn John said….Nice hooters”. What on earth did that mean? I turned to the others and asked: “What does that mean?” Longhelim and Victor just shared a glance and looked at me. “Never mind but let’s just say that he doesn’t seem to be in danger. Not quite yet anyway,” Longhelim said in a dry tone. “Give him time”, a mutter from Victor. A little later, John returned. He explained: “Below is a room, just under the willow. The roots have caught fire and are burning like everything else in this place. There is a big statue of an elven bint, sticking a sword into a big stag. Sword looks good, big, huge thing; carved to look as if it’s wood; vines all over it and all over her hands. She looks sort of heroic; I think she is supposed to be this Anyariel. There are two other corpses, although they don’t look like corpses. Felix, you need to look at them I think; one is an armoured elf. He looks like one of them from Shahalesti. The other is another elf and this one looks like a priest. He looks as if he’s been clawed to death. There is also a glass case that’s been smashed. Amateurs! Anyway, something was there and some disgusting thief got there before….umm took whatever was in the case.” “What was the blue glow?”asked Longhelim. “Give us a minute,” answered John. “As I was getting ready to go in to investigate for clues as to what we were supposed to do next, this really good looking elven woman turns up out of thin air. All armour and big sword, she had really nice eyes, all pearly and white. Never seen eyes like that before. She glowed as well, glowed blue.” I became very excited. It couldn’t be…..”Could you repeat that about the eyes. No pupil, no iris, just white? Like pearls? And she glowed?” “Just like pearls” John said, dreamily. “It sounds like a ghaele” I said, bouncing with excitement. “They are lovely, beautiful extra planar beings; they are only used for the most important of missions. This shrine must be really important. I have only read of about half a dozen sightings of ghaeles in Gabal’s library. Let’s go down and talk to her! She is bound to know everything that’s going on in this place.” “Lovely, beautiful eyes and nice…..” John was still looking dreamy. “You are forgetting our undead friends. They will be back soon. We had better get ready.”That was Victor; he didn’t say much but when he did, it usually brought us back down to earth. I was chagrined. I had completely forgotten about that undead in my excitement at meeting a real ghaele. It was almost too late as well, as Longhelim pointed at two figures which were running with astonishing speed towards us, shouting: “HUNGRY! SO HUNGRY! You all taste good! Roast you all! Eat you all!!” So, big teeth and claws, ugly and a limited vocabulary;….just perfect. Victor stepped forward and as one of the creatures launched itself at him, he gave it a mighty cut with his sword. It recoiled but then lashed out with its claw and as it struck, suddenly Victor stopped moving. Gleefully, the creature launched itself at the warrior and began lashing at him with its claws. Victor was quickly covered in blood but was unable to do anything about it. The other creature was engaged by Longhelim but was unable to hit him, as its claws were blocked by the warrior’s shield again and again. Then Felix, seeing the danger to Victor, summoned the power of his God and repelled the creatures again. A few moments later, some healing had been administered to Victor and he had began to move again when the two undead bounded back. This time Drudge was deadly with bow fire and one of the creatures stumbled and fell with several arrows protruding from its starved frame. The other jumped on Victor again and again the poor warrior was paralysed after being lashed with one of the claws. In a repeat of the last engagement, the creature launched itself at him in a mad flurry of claws and teeth. This time, Victor collapsed and to our horror, burst into flame. Longhelim confronted the last ghast, as Felix called them and quickly slew it as it tried to get at the helpless Victor. Felix caused a powerful stream of water to fall on the warrior but that just created a lot of steam. Then Longhelim touched him, using his holy power and it was only then that Victor stopped burning, groaned and opened his eyes. Gasping, he thanked Longhelim for healing him and then asked Felix and Longhelim to look and see if some sort of foul disease had been left in his wounds from the claws of these creatures. Once Victor had recovered, the group cleaned itself and walked down the steps. As if on cue, the elven woman appeared. John’s description had been accurate. She was beautiful, with large milky white eyes, heavy armour, a large sword and she glowed a light blue colour, like a summer sky. Even the ever-burning fires in the room seemed to diminish when she appeared. I was just staring. It was not every day you met someone who was almost certainly thousands of years old. I almost asked her for her name but restrained myself. Longhelim bowed respectfully: “Greetings mighty ghaele. My name is Longhelim the Farmer and these are my companions. We are here to rid the forest of this curse and free all its denizens from whatever strange malady is assaulting them……” He went on like this. He could speak so well when it suited him and he didn’t mention his farm, tobacco or its animals once. He explained our purpose here, our aims to rid the Forest of the Fire and our determination to aid Gate Pass. He was very charming with the voice and words of a born story teller. Initially, his voice sounded like the caress of a gentle breeze and increased in volume as he described what we had done already, gaining a distinctly martial tone. I was whispering some things to him which I hoped would help him convince her to allow us to enter the shrine. She looked at him, smiling, and then said: “I was summoned here by the power of the last dying breath of that priest lying there. He cannot die due to the curse of the Forest. I found the shrine like this and I cannot go outside. It is my task to guard it until the shrine ceases to exist. You may enter and see if you can find anything that may help you in your quest.” She stepped aside and everyone entered. Searching the shrine was disappointing. It revealed little. We found a mace lying by the elven cleric whom we suspected was Bhurisrava. We did not understand the significance of the presence of the Shahalesti warrior but upon examination, I realised that I was witnessing extremely powerful magic which allowed a body or room or group to stay still in time, watching Ages go by. Only the most powerful of magicians knew the secrets of time. The ghaele continued speaking as we were looking: “I know that the case contained a lock of Anyariel’s hair.” I then stepped forward and bowed to her. She looked at me and I felt the full force of those beautiful white eyes. “Please, mighty ghaele, we are now on a dangerous quest to rescue a being who may release the Forest from this curse. For this, we will need help and this mace was not part of the original shrine. May we borrow it for our quest? We will return it if at all possible as soon as we have completed it but as it is a magical weapon, it may make the difference between our success and failure.” She looked at me as she considered this and then she nodded and said: “You may take it.” We gave this mace to Felix as it was he who was the most likely to make the best use of it. Having satisfied our curiosity that there was nothing there to reveal further answers to our mysteries, we moved out and into the village. Having left the shrine, we decided to search parts of the village, trying to find something that would give us further clues as to what had happened and how to correct it. Those were the fundamental questions, as Victor put it. We did find several interesting items, including a book of tattoo magic (a strange discipline about which I had heard but never seen), a lacy red cord and a necklace made of ivory. All these pieces radiated a magical aura but we did not know what they did. We were also disturbed several times as we conducted this search. The first time, a hell hound found us and attacked. I did not know if this was the same one that we had met previously but Victor moved in and hit it very hard. The creature opened its mouth and breathed a mixture of flame and bile over the poor warrior but then Drudge shot it twice with arrows and it collapsed. Victor was looking a bit burned around the edges but he did not seem that much worse for his experience. The second time we were attacked, it was by another swarm of fiery bats. We could deal quicker with these creatures now that we knew of their weakness. I didn’t cast any spells at them this time. As they swarmed towards us, we pelted them with streams of water squirted from our bottles. Thankfully, we had remembered to refill them from the river at the beginning of the day. Felix also had several spells which soaked them and caused them great distress. As previously, the more we poured water over them, the smaller the swarm became, until finally all that was left were a few bats flapping weakly on the ground. However, as before, suddenly, they seemed to get a new lease of life and attempted to rise again but again, we were ready for this and soaked them thoroughly until they finally succumbed. Then, towards the end of the day, as we searched one last section of the village, we could see another two figures approaching. They were similar to the undead ghasts we had defeated previously, but not quite the same. Drudge shot one of them with a couple of arrows so it was severely weakened. The two undead, ghouls, as Felix called them, threw themselves in mindless hunger at the warriors but they made little progress against the metal half plate armour and were soon dispatched. After that, we decided to retire back to the tower to rest. There, we spoke to Crystin and Torrent and let them know of the latest developments. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign
Top