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The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="Cafu" data-source="post: 6089842" data-attributes="member: 6692807"><p>Victor replied quietly: “Just as well, I think; those men and women were trained; I don’t know for what, but the way they moved, they were definitely trained; it may have been just as harem dwellers, if that’s the right term, but it could also have been in something else.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, but did you see those girls……”</p><p> </p><p>The conversation went on for quite some time after that.</p><p> </p><p>I knew what a harem was; I just didn’t realize that we had just spent the night in one. Then I remembered that the Khagan said that we were to be “entertained” as he put it. It seemed that our lexicon was far apart; my understanding of the word “entertainment” was wholly different than his.</p><p> </p><p>I was learning all the time.</p><p> </p><p>The journey to the foothills took two uneventful days. We did not meet any other travelers on our trip. The land was devoid of roads or other settlements. Our camping routine was well rehearsed these days and as we did not feel the vagaries of temperature, it was also very restful. We still used tents of course, since waking up covered in snow was annoying. Three Weeping Ravens was also very hardy. So far, the monk had not been particularly talkative but he was an undemanding companion and slotted into our routine without any problems. Thus our progress was rapid.</p><p> </p><p>As we reached the foothills, we noticed that the mountains became far more imposing and that the peaks were covered in clouds, adding an air of mystery to the panorama in front of us.</p><p> </p><p>Initially, Three Weeping Ravens led us up various paths in the foothills until we came to the first steep cliffs. Fortunately, in the distant past, someone had carved a set of steps up the cliffs; at the top of each of these stairs, there was even a large winch, designed to raise horses up to that level. It was extraordinary foresight.</p><p> </p><p>The surrounding terrain was steep cliffs; we were careful in ascending the first set of steps but thankfully, no one ambushed us in this most vulnerable of positions. We managed to winch the horses up the stairs. They were less than happy. There was lots of neighing.</p><p> </p><p>This was repeated once more.</p><p> </p><p>We continued ascending and then reached the third set of stairs; or rather where the third set of stairs should have been. It was here that the terrain changed; the steps had been turned into rubble. They could still be climbed, but it became a far more difficult feat to accomplish, especially for anyone wearing heavy armour. It also immediately made us cautious.</p><p> </p><p>Drudge was looking carefully at the bottom of the steps and then he came back:</p><p> </p><p>“I found some tracks; Three Ravens, do you know if there are any wolves around here? Really big wolves?”</p><p> </p><p>“No.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, there seem to be some now.”</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim said: “I don’t like this.”</p><p> </p><p>I added: “Drudge, I can make you fly. You’re very good at finding things; can you fly up there and tell us what you can see? There may well be someone on the top cliff.”</p><p> </p><p>Drudge nodded and it was actually Felix who cast his flying spell on the ranger. Drudge flew up the cliff face and as he reached approximately half way up, he was met with a hail of arrows. Simultaneous to this, a figure at the top the stairs rose up and cast a spell; or almost capered a spell to be truthful. It was a goblin and his style of spell casting was like nothing I had ever seen before, incorporating lots of shaking of bones and little dolls and fetishes; it was just as effective as any other style though, as a wall of flames appeared right behind us; to make things even more difficult, I noticed that there were a series of images darting about the goblin; I recognized that spell: it was a very effective defence as it was difficult for someone to spot which was the real goblin and which was an illusion. These illusions disappeared as soon as they were struck but they did gain the caster precious time.</p><p> </p><p>This was not good; as I saw the Ragesians rise out from behind various outcrops above us, it quickly became obvious that this was an expertly laid ambush; and we had walked straight into it. The Ragesians had the initiative and we could only react at this time. I saw Drudge jerk several times as he was hit by arrows; then I had to take care of myself. Scrambling up the loose rubble was difficult but it was even harder for the warriors in their heavy armour. Thankfully, we all managed to do it and then I cast my flying spell on Victor; the warrior immediately flew off towards Drudge.</p><p> </p><p>The most surprising individual was Three Weeping Ravens, who seemed to gather himself and then turned into a raven! How extraordinary! I remembered that Lee Sidoneth, when he was fighting us, also showed some of the characteristics of a shape shifter and I wondered if all these monks had this ability of transformation. The raven also flew in Drudge’s direction.</p><p> </p><p>Felix was able to cast a spell on Longhelim, which allowed him to walk on air as if it was solid ground; in turn, he also walked in that direction, although less speedily as it was walking speed.</p><p> </p><p>I hoped that these various spells cast on the warriors would negate the obvious height advantage enjoyed by the Ragesians; I shuddered to think what would have happened if the warriors had had to scramble up the rubble to the enemy and then be forced to fight upwards. I don’t think that would have been a very long fight, no matter what expertise Victor, Longhelim and Ravens possessed.</p><p> </p><p>While this was happening, the goblin spell caster was also busy. Another peculiarity I noticed was that he was mounted on an enormous wolf; I recognized it immediately: it was a worg, not an animal, but an intelligent and evil monster that just looked like a huge wolf; they often made alliances with goblins, as was evident with this one as he also had a series of illusory images darting around him; so, a magical alliance in this case. The goblin was not wasting any time. He cast a spell on each side of his allies; it was a speed spell, the same one that I used so often. This enhanced the speed of the gobbling archers, much to Drudge’s distress. Another set of arrows was loosed at the ranger and this time, after bursting into flames, he floated gently down to the ground.</p><p> </p><p>By this time, Victor had reached his enemy and three orcs quickly converged on him. I was looking carefully at this when suddenly my view was obscured by another wall of flame, this time in a circle around me. Again, I suffered burns from the fire; as did Felix, who was nearby. The one advantage I did have was that I was out of sight of the archers on the nearby slopes.</p><p> </p><p>Gritting my teeth and with single minded intensity, I made sure to carefully enunciate another spell, the one which protected me from the ravages of fire. In spite of the heat raging around me, I managed to get it working and immediately felt blessed relief from the flames. Then I drew my staff and stepped through the flame.</p><p> </p><p>Outside, I saw that many of the Ragesians had half stood to get better aim with their bows. They looked very well armoured; only one was dressed in leather; all the others had full plate mail. Their attention was drawn to the fierce combat between Longhelim, Victor and three of their warriors, including one who was substantially taller than the others and wielded a battle axe very skillfully. I didn’t let that distract me and I aimed a ball of fire carefully, to catch the goblin with his unnatural mount and two other orcs around him.</p><p> </p><p>This brought an immediate reaction: the worg jerked to one side, almost miraculously coming out unharmed; the soldier in leather, dexterously jumped out of the way but the spell caster and another soldier were both caught in it, to a lesser and greater degree respectively.</p><p> </p><p>At this point, Felix also stepped through the flames, seemingly little harmed and cast a spell at the top; it was a spell of magical silence. The worg immediately jumped a huge distance, landing nimbly about half way down the cliff, its rider keeping his seat nonchalantly; as I saw the goblin closer, a huge scar across his neck and running under his clothes became apparent; it looked as if someone had almost decapitated him.</p><p> </p><p>As the worg landed, he was met with another spell cast at him by Felix. I recognized it; it neutralized ongoing magic; or it had a chance of neutralizing ongoing magic and from what I was able to tell, it was partly successful against the goblin, although the darting images remained around the enemy pair. Unfortunately, the archers on this side of the stairs now concentrated their fire on me; very effectively; so effectively that I cast another ball of fire, again in the goblins’ direction and then had to retreat into the circle of flames, out of sight of the archers; another volley like that again and I was liable to have to forget about having any further interest in this combat.</p><p> </p><p>Inside the wall of flame, I cast another spell; this was a spell of invisibility but with a twist; it was of much shorter duration but unlike that other spell, which was negated by violent movement or attacks, this one allowed the caster to do whatever was necessary. So I stepped through and took quick stock.</p><p> </p><p>The fight between Longhelim, Victor and the Ragesians was on a knife edge. Both sides were bleeding badly and just as I stepped out, I saw Victor burst into flames in mid-air and float gently down to the ground. However, Drudge was flying again and I saw that Three Weeping Ravens was now in human form and had joined the fight. There were also several spheres of fire floating around; this was very surprising; it looked like the same spell that Lady Timor had used in Steppengaard’s banqueting hall but I was under the impression that the caster could only control one sphere at a time; the goblin was controlling four and suddenly I felt an urge to ask him how he was doing that; I didn’t think that would appropriate at this moment though.</p><p> </p><p>I began to rain balls of fire on the Ragesians; I did not do so on the goblin as he was on his own but I managed to catch two of the soldiers together. Drudge had already felled one of the other soldiers with his arrows. I caught the individual in leather armour and another soldier. The former dodged skillfully again and the latter was burned, again.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim and Three Weeping Ravens seemed to be gaining the upper hand in their conflict; Victor had managed to defeat the tall orc before he fell, leaving two lesser soldiers. Longhelim had just managed to vanquish another, leaving only one for the monk.</p><p> </p><p>Felix and the goblin were conducting a spell duel; not in the dueling sense but exchanging spells until the goblin tired of this and his worg jumped straight in front of the priest. Felix then cast a huge cloud of misty fog which obscured the area around him; it also caught me on the edge and even Victor, who seemed to be stirring. I couldn’t see John anywhere but I suspected that he may have been helping the warrior while invisible. I just caught sight of the last Ragesian warrior on the upper parts of the stairs so I caught him with another ball of fire; I saw him fall.</p><p> </p><p>Then, after moving out of Felix’s cloud, I began to cast spells of magical force onto the soldier with leather armour, who seemed so adept at dodging. He couldn’t dodge these; he couldn’t dodge Drudge’s arrows either and it was those that did for him in the end. Longhelim and the monk had also managed to deal with the final two soldiers, leaving everyone facing the goblin. It was obvious that he was going to fight to the death; he had plenty of chances to get away, which he didn’t take. The worg emerged with his rider and there were several more spells on him; I had managed to cast my spell of speed on Victor and this helped greatly. Even though there were only two of them, they were still very tough opponents.</p><p> </p><p>As Victor went into the fray, now partially healed, he did manage to strike the goblin, even through his illusion; however, he was immediately sent crashing prone by the worg. He still swung at the goblin from his position on the ground but only succeeded in eliminating various illusions. Longhelim had joined him and finally Drudge’s arrows were having a great effect on the same spell. Still game, the goblin began trying to stab people with a small trident, shouting shrilly about the glory of the Ragesian Empire but then a particularly accurate volley of arrows silenced him forever. Immediately, the worg also lost his protective spells and although he still bit Victor ferociously once, the warrior smashed the Living Blade through his torso.</p><p> </p><p>We all looked at each other. It had been a close run thing; we had also made a serious blunder; we had been far too careless about scouting and stealth. We were certainly not the most stealthy of groups but in Drudge, we had a very good scout and we had not used him. As such, we had walked into this ambush and almost paid the ultimate penalty. This would have to change. We were now well and truly in hostile territory.</p><p> </p><p>As we began to recover, we also checked the bodies for spoils of war and surprisingly found a magical ring on the worg. I was very curious about that.</p><p> </p><p>Then, another thought struck me and I asked:</p><p> </p><p>“Weeping Ravens, just how close are we from this town, Eresh?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, a few miles away.”</p><p> </p><p>I hadn’t realised that we were that close; then again, I hadn’t asked either. I had to remember to pin down these details. If I had realised we were that close to Eresh, I would have advocated greater caution.</p><p> </p><p>As we were disassembling armour and stowing it on horses, John and Felix were using their magical wands to heal everyone who had been hurt, mostly the warriors. Then, using the winch at the top of the escarpment, we winched the horses up and with much greater caution, rode off.</p><p> </p><p>Thinking about caution, brought me to another point. I stopped my horse and fell in beside Three Weeping Ravens.</p><p> </p><p>“My friend, that was a very powerful ability you showed below; being able to change shape into a raven is something I have never seen before. I have a great interest in all sorts of magic: if this is not personal, would you be able to tell me a little about this?”</p><p> </p><p>The monk looked at me serenely and just smiled: “It is something that was granted to me through my study of the disciplines and the rigours of my training. It is no secret that some members of my order are capable of this but we do not propagate this information. If necessary, I can stay in the shape of the raven for nine hours; however, I can only do this once a day.”</p><p> </p><p>Silently, I thought about this; it was a most intriguing ability. Druids were said to be able to do this but I had never heard of anyone else being able to do so. Yet, here was Three Weeping Ravens, telling me that his order had the same power. This was yet another instance where scholarship and practical reality diverged.</p><p> </p><p>As I was thinking about this, we came to the edge of the high ground; the path had widened slightly at this point and going on the path below this point would involve quite a steep descent. Three Weeping Ravens motioned us to stop:</p><p> </p><p>“Should you advance over the high point, you will become quite visible.”</p><p> </p><p>Thus warned, we left the horses and then crawled to the edge of the highest point. The view below was quite breathtaking.</p><p> </p><p>We looked over a valley. It wasn’t huge but it was surrounded by mountains and covered in snow. The far end contained a town with a defensive wall. The entrance to the valley nearest to us contained a military camp; there was a collection of neatly laid out tents, brightly coloured with a myriad of flags and banners flying in the wind. Although we could not feel it, there was obviously a strong wind throughout this region.</p><p> </p><p>Strangely, although it was difficult to see from this distance, there was little activity in the military camp, which we all assumed was Ragesian. There were certainly figures around, but it didn’t look to be at high readiness; having said that, it was straddling the entrance to the valley and it would prohibit our progress into the town.</p><p> </p><p>Slowly, we withdrew.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim lit up his pipe.</p><p> </p><p>“So, anyone have any thoughts?”</p><p> </p><p>Felix rubbed his chin: “Well, I still have another spell which allows people to walk on air. That would allow one person to just bypass the camp. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t stop the danger of a company of archers firing into the individual walking up there.”</p><p> </p><p>I had also been thinking how to help.</p><p> </p><p>“I’ve got a few spells left as well, including one invisibility spell; it won’t last that long but it should at least get someone over the Ragesians. I’m willing to go, but I just don’t move as fast as everyone else.”</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim stood up.</p><p> </p><p>“I’ll go.”</p><p> </p><p>He began to take off his armour. We all stared at him.</p><p> </p><p>“What? There’s no point in keeping my armour. I need to be able to move fast.”</p><p> </p><p>We waited until the paladin took off his armour and then Felix and I cast our spells on him. Then we waited. Since my spell didn’t last very long, we didn’t have to wait that much; after the appointed time, Longhelim appeared some distance away from us but fortunately, there were no shouts of alarm from below. He ran towards us and stopped, breathing hard; he had obviously been running for a while.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s all very curious,” he said, as he took a water bottle which I had handed to him.</p><p> </p><p>“The camp first: well, it’s the most unmilitary Ragesian camp I have ever seen; yes, there are men around; or figures at least; and they seem to be sitting around; a few of them are even holding weapons so far as I could tell from above but…..and this is where it gets very curious….. there are no sentries, no patrols, no men drilling or marching, in fact no military maneuvers whatsoever. Then it became even curioser as I left the camp behind to try to get above the town. The main gate through the wall is open! There are no guards on the wall or the gate; the town seems very quiet. I saw some movement which were probably people but no details; lots of banners and flags over the buildings though. The structures are built to complement the mountains around them and are quite impressive in many cases, but the dominant building is the monastery. It has been built into the side of the mountain, high up, overlooking the town and the valley; how it manages to stay up there is an architectural mystery but the whole effect is quite astonishing. It is a series of tall structures, with those odd curving roofs; again, many, many flags and banners. I am not sure if they actually mean something but if they do, unfortunately none of us are skilled in reading them.”</p><p> </p><p>I was becoming confused as Longhelim was describing this.</p><p> </p><p>“So let me get his correct,” I said, rubbing my head, “we have a besieging Ragesian camp, with a goodly amount of soldiers, an open gate, a town with obvious signs of habitation but seemingly unconcerned about being besieged, a monastery that’s perched up on a hillside by willpower alone, or magic or whatever. Tell me, Longhelim, did the Ragesians have enough men in their camp to take the town?”</p><p> </p><p>The paladin thought about this: “Yes, judging from what I saw, they would have no trouble in taking it; as for the rest, yes, that pretty much describes the situation.”</p><p> </p><p>John was looking thoughtful: “Could there have been a spell effect on the Ragesians, stopping them from taking the town? Was there magic around?”</p><p> </p><p>I remembered something I had heard from Simeon’s initial briefing: “It’s possible; when Simeon was telling us about the last message received from the members of the previous mission, he did say that they sounded curiously passive and unperturbed about the prospect of a Ragesian invasion. Weirdly calm – I believe were the words he used.”</p><p> </p><p>John frowned: “If that is the case, then, that is some magical effect.” Then he grinned: “If we could convince whoever did it to go to Gallo’s Fend and cast it on that Ragesian army that’s preparing to invade, we would get a Lordship out of that in no time!”</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim spoke up: “ In answer to your question John, no I did not see any overt magical effect apart from what I have already described; but, then again, I wouldn’t know what to look for; not my field of expertise. Your theory may well be right, but if so what can we do about it; mind you, just to be safe, I don’t think we particularly want to go down there, in case it affects us as well.”</p><p> </p><p>I looked towards the far end of the valley: “So, you’re thinking of bypassing the town as well as the camp and going straight to the monastery?”</p><p> </p><p>John said: “That’s a good plan. We were supposed to investigate both the monastery and the town, weren’t we? And when Three Weeping Ravens was here last, the leaders of the monastery talked to him; they told him to go away but at least they did speak to him. So, hopefully, they will speak with us.”</p><p> </p><p>Felix joined in at this point: “I could learn three of the spells that allow someone to walk on air. We could easily just walk up to the monastery from the top of these mountains without actually setting foot in the valley.”</p><p> </p><p>“And I could learn my spell which makes an area around the recipient invisible; that way, if things go wrong, we have at least some chance of getting away,” I chimed in.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim took another drink and then said: “So, we have a plan; let’s sleep on it and do that.”</p><p> </p><p> We retired back to the site of our recent battle and settled down for a night’s sleep.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cafu, post: 6089842, member: 6692807"] Victor replied quietly: “Just as well, I think; those men and women were trained; I don’t know for what, but the way they moved, they were definitely trained; it may have been just as harem dwellers, if that’s the right term, but it could also have been in something else.” “Yes, but did you see those girls……” The conversation went on for quite some time after that. I knew what a harem was; I just didn’t realize that we had just spent the night in one. Then I remembered that the Khagan said that we were to be “entertained” as he put it. It seemed that our lexicon was far apart; my understanding of the word “entertainment” was wholly different than his. I was learning all the time. The journey to the foothills took two uneventful days. We did not meet any other travelers on our trip. The land was devoid of roads or other settlements. Our camping routine was well rehearsed these days and as we did not feel the vagaries of temperature, it was also very restful. We still used tents of course, since waking up covered in snow was annoying. Three Weeping Ravens was also very hardy. So far, the monk had not been particularly talkative but he was an undemanding companion and slotted into our routine without any problems. Thus our progress was rapid. As we reached the foothills, we noticed that the mountains became far more imposing and that the peaks were covered in clouds, adding an air of mystery to the panorama in front of us. Initially, Three Weeping Ravens led us up various paths in the foothills until we came to the first steep cliffs. Fortunately, in the distant past, someone had carved a set of steps up the cliffs; at the top of each of these stairs, there was even a large winch, designed to raise horses up to that level. It was extraordinary foresight. The surrounding terrain was steep cliffs; we were careful in ascending the first set of steps but thankfully, no one ambushed us in this most vulnerable of positions. We managed to winch the horses up the stairs. They were less than happy. There was lots of neighing. This was repeated once more. We continued ascending and then reached the third set of stairs; or rather where the third set of stairs should have been. It was here that the terrain changed; the steps had been turned into rubble. They could still be climbed, but it became a far more difficult feat to accomplish, especially for anyone wearing heavy armour. It also immediately made us cautious. Drudge was looking carefully at the bottom of the steps and then he came back: “I found some tracks; Three Ravens, do you know if there are any wolves around here? Really big wolves?” “No.” “Well, there seem to be some now.” Longhelim said: “I don’t like this.” I added: “Drudge, I can make you fly. You’re very good at finding things; can you fly up there and tell us what you can see? There may well be someone on the top cliff.” Drudge nodded and it was actually Felix who cast his flying spell on the ranger. Drudge flew up the cliff face and as he reached approximately half way up, he was met with a hail of arrows. Simultaneous to this, a figure at the top the stairs rose up and cast a spell; or almost capered a spell to be truthful. It was a goblin and his style of spell casting was like nothing I had ever seen before, incorporating lots of shaking of bones and little dolls and fetishes; it was just as effective as any other style though, as a wall of flames appeared right behind us; to make things even more difficult, I noticed that there were a series of images darting about the goblin; I recognized that spell: it was a very effective defence as it was difficult for someone to spot which was the real goblin and which was an illusion. These illusions disappeared as soon as they were struck but they did gain the caster precious time. This was not good; as I saw the Ragesians rise out from behind various outcrops above us, it quickly became obvious that this was an expertly laid ambush; and we had walked straight into it. The Ragesians had the initiative and we could only react at this time. I saw Drudge jerk several times as he was hit by arrows; then I had to take care of myself. Scrambling up the loose rubble was difficult but it was even harder for the warriors in their heavy armour. Thankfully, we all managed to do it and then I cast my flying spell on Victor; the warrior immediately flew off towards Drudge. The most surprising individual was Three Weeping Ravens, who seemed to gather himself and then turned into a raven! How extraordinary! I remembered that Lee Sidoneth, when he was fighting us, also showed some of the characteristics of a shape shifter and I wondered if all these monks had this ability of transformation. The raven also flew in Drudge’s direction. Felix was able to cast a spell on Longhelim, which allowed him to walk on air as if it was solid ground; in turn, he also walked in that direction, although less speedily as it was walking speed. I hoped that these various spells cast on the warriors would negate the obvious height advantage enjoyed by the Ragesians; I shuddered to think what would have happened if the warriors had had to scramble up the rubble to the enemy and then be forced to fight upwards. I don’t think that would have been a very long fight, no matter what expertise Victor, Longhelim and Ravens possessed. While this was happening, the goblin spell caster was also busy. Another peculiarity I noticed was that he was mounted on an enormous wolf; I recognized it immediately: it was a worg, not an animal, but an intelligent and evil monster that just looked like a huge wolf; they often made alliances with goblins, as was evident with this one as he also had a series of illusory images darting around him; so, a magical alliance in this case. The goblin was not wasting any time. He cast a spell on each side of his allies; it was a speed spell, the same one that I used so often. This enhanced the speed of the gobbling archers, much to Drudge’s distress. Another set of arrows was loosed at the ranger and this time, after bursting into flames, he floated gently down to the ground. By this time, Victor had reached his enemy and three orcs quickly converged on him. I was looking carefully at this when suddenly my view was obscured by another wall of flame, this time in a circle around me. Again, I suffered burns from the fire; as did Felix, who was nearby. The one advantage I did have was that I was out of sight of the archers on the nearby slopes. Gritting my teeth and with single minded intensity, I made sure to carefully enunciate another spell, the one which protected me from the ravages of fire. In spite of the heat raging around me, I managed to get it working and immediately felt blessed relief from the flames. Then I drew my staff and stepped through the flame. Outside, I saw that many of the Ragesians had half stood to get better aim with their bows. They looked very well armoured; only one was dressed in leather; all the others had full plate mail. Their attention was drawn to the fierce combat between Longhelim, Victor and three of their warriors, including one who was substantially taller than the others and wielded a battle axe very skillfully. I didn’t let that distract me and I aimed a ball of fire carefully, to catch the goblin with his unnatural mount and two other orcs around him. This brought an immediate reaction: the worg jerked to one side, almost miraculously coming out unharmed; the soldier in leather, dexterously jumped out of the way but the spell caster and another soldier were both caught in it, to a lesser and greater degree respectively. At this point, Felix also stepped through the flames, seemingly little harmed and cast a spell at the top; it was a spell of magical silence. The worg immediately jumped a huge distance, landing nimbly about half way down the cliff, its rider keeping his seat nonchalantly; as I saw the goblin closer, a huge scar across his neck and running under his clothes became apparent; it looked as if someone had almost decapitated him. As the worg landed, he was met with another spell cast at him by Felix. I recognized it; it neutralized ongoing magic; or it had a chance of neutralizing ongoing magic and from what I was able to tell, it was partly successful against the goblin, although the darting images remained around the enemy pair. Unfortunately, the archers on this side of the stairs now concentrated their fire on me; very effectively; so effectively that I cast another ball of fire, again in the goblins’ direction and then had to retreat into the circle of flames, out of sight of the archers; another volley like that again and I was liable to have to forget about having any further interest in this combat. Inside the wall of flame, I cast another spell; this was a spell of invisibility but with a twist; it was of much shorter duration but unlike that other spell, which was negated by violent movement or attacks, this one allowed the caster to do whatever was necessary. So I stepped through and took quick stock. The fight between Longhelim, Victor and the Ragesians was on a knife edge. Both sides were bleeding badly and just as I stepped out, I saw Victor burst into flames in mid-air and float gently down to the ground. However, Drudge was flying again and I saw that Three Weeping Ravens was now in human form and had joined the fight. There were also several spheres of fire floating around; this was very surprising; it looked like the same spell that Lady Timor had used in Steppengaard’s banqueting hall but I was under the impression that the caster could only control one sphere at a time; the goblin was controlling four and suddenly I felt an urge to ask him how he was doing that; I didn’t think that would appropriate at this moment though. I began to rain balls of fire on the Ragesians; I did not do so on the goblin as he was on his own but I managed to catch two of the soldiers together. Drudge had already felled one of the other soldiers with his arrows. I caught the individual in leather armour and another soldier. The former dodged skillfully again and the latter was burned, again. Longhelim and Three Weeping Ravens seemed to be gaining the upper hand in their conflict; Victor had managed to defeat the tall orc before he fell, leaving two lesser soldiers. Longhelim had just managed to vanquish another, leaving only one for the monk. Felix and the goblin were conducting a spell duel; not in the dueling sense but exchanging spells until the goblin tired of this and his worg jumped straight in front of the priest. Felix then cast a huge cloud of misty fog which obscured the area around him; it also caught me on the edge and even Victor, who seemed to be stirring. I couldn’t see John anywhere but I suspected that he may have been helping the warrior while invisible. I just caught sight of the last Ragesian warrior on the upper parts of the stairs so I caught him with another ball of fire; I saw him fall. Then, after moving out of Felix’s cloud, I began to cast spells of magical force onto the soldier with leather armour, who seemed so adept at dodging. He couldn’t dodge these; he couldn’t dodge Drudge’s arrows either and it was those that did for him in the end. Longhelim and the monk had also managed to deal with the final two soldiers, leaving everyone facing the goblin. It was obvious that he was going to fight to the death; he had plenty of chances to get away, which he didn’t take. The worg emerged with his rider and there were several more spells on him; I had managed to cast my spell of speed on Victor and this helped greatly. Even though there were only two of them, they were still very tough opponents. As Victor went into the fray, now partially healed, he did manage to strike the goblin, even through his illusion; however, he was immediately sent crashing prone by the worg. He still swung at the goblin from his position on the ground but only succeeded in eliminating various illusions. Longhelim had joined him and finally Drudge’s arrows were having a great effect on the same spell. Still game, the goblin began trying to stab people with a small trident, shouting shrilly about the glory of the Ragesian Empire but then a particularly accurate volley of arrows silenced him forever. Immediately, the worg also lost his protective spells and although he still bit Victor ferociously once, the warrior smashed the Living Blade through his torso. We all looked at each other. It had been a close run thing; we had also made a serious blunder; we had been far too careless about scouting and stealth. We were certainly not the most stealthy of groups but in Drudge, we had a very good scout and we had not used him. As such, we had walked into this ambush and almost paid the ultimate penalty. This would have to change. We were now well and truly in hostile territory. As we began to recover, we also checked the bodies for spoils of war and surprisingly found a magical ring on the worg. I was very curious about that. Then, another thought struck me and I asked: “Weeping Ravens, just how close are we from this town, Eresh?” “Oh, a few miles away.” I hadn’t realised that we were that close; then again, I hadn’t asked either. I had to remember to pin down these details. If I had realised we were that close to Eresh, I would have advocated greater caution. As we were disassembling armour and stowing it on horses, John and Felix were using their magical wands to heal everyone who had been hurt, mostly the warriors. Then, using the winch at the top of the escarpment, we winched the horses up and with much greater caution, rode off. Thinking about caution, brought me to another point. I stopped my horse and fell in beside Three Weeping Ravens. “My friend, that was a very powerful ability you showed below; being able to change shape into a raven is something I have never seen before. I have a great interest in all sorts of magic: if this is not personal, would you be able to tell me a little about this?” The monk looked at me serenely and just smiled: “It is something that was granted to me through my study of the disciplines and the rigours of my training. It is no secret that some members of my order are capable of this but we do not propagate this information. If necessary, I can stay in the shape of the raven for nine hours; however, I can only do this once a day.” Silently, I thought about this; it was a most intriguing ability. Druids were said to be able to do this but I had never heard of anyone else being able to do so. Yet, here was Three Weeping Ravens, telling me that his order had the same power. This was yet another instance where scholarship and practical reality diverged. As I was thinking about this, we came to the edge of the high ground; the path had widened slightly at this point and going on the path below this point would involve quite a steep descent. Three Weeping Ravens motioned us to stop: “Should you advance over the high point, you will become quite visible.” Thus warned, we left the horses and then crawled to the edge of the highest point. The view below was quite breathtaking. We looked over a valley. It wasn’t huge but it was surrounded by mountains and covered in snow. The far end contained a town with a defensive wall. The entrance to the valley nearest to us contained a military camp; there was a collection of neatly laid out tents, brightly coloured with a myriad of flags and banners flying in the wind. Although we could not feel it, there was obviously a strong wind throughout this region. Strangely, although it was difficult to see from this distance, there was little activity in the military camp, which we all assumed was Ragesian. There were certainly figures around, but it didn’t look to be at high readiness; having said that, it was straddling the entrance to the valley and it would prohibit our progress into the town. Slowly, we withdrew. Longhelim lit up his pipe. “So, anyone have any thoughts?” Felix rubbed his chin: “Well, I still have another spell which allows people to walk on air. That would allow one person to just bypass the camp. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t stop the danger of a company of archers firing into the individual walking up there.” I had also been thinking how to help. “I’ve got a few spells left as well, including one invisibility spell; it won’t last that long but it should at least get someone over the Ragesians. I’m willing to go, but I just don’t move as fast as everyone else.” Longhelim stood up. “I’ll go.” He began to take off his armour. We all stared at him. “What? There’s no point in keeping my armour. I need to be able to move fast.” We waited until the paladin took off his armour and then Felix and I cast our spells on him. Then we waited. Since my spell didn’t last very long, we didn’t have to wait that much; after the appointed time, Longhelim appeared some distance away from us but fortunately, there were no shouts of alarm from below. He ran towards us and stopped, breathing hard; he had obviously been running for a while. “It’s all very curious,” he said, as he took a water bottle which I had handed to him. “The camp first: well, it’s the most unmilitary Ragesian camp I have ever seen; yes, there are men around; or figures at least; and they seem to be sitting around; a few of them are even holding weapons so far as I could tell from above but…..and this is where it gets very curious….. there are no sentries, no patrols, no men drilling or marching, in fact no military maneuvers whatsoever. Then it became even curioser as I left the camp behind to try to get above the town. The main gate through the wall is open! There are no guards on the wall or the gate; the town seems very quiet. I saw some movement which were probably people but no details; lots of banners and flags over the buildings though. The structures are built to complement the mountains around them and are quite impressive in many cases, but the dominant building is the monastery. It has been built into the side of the mountain, high up, overlooking the town and the valley; how it manages to stay up there is an architectural mystery but the whole effect is quite astonishing. It is a series of tall structures, with those odd curving roofs; again, many, many flags and banners. I am not sure if they actually mean something but if they do, unfortunately none of us are skilled in reading them.” I was becoming confused as Longhelim was describing this. “So let me get his correct,” I said, rubbing my head, “we have a besieging Ragesian camp, with a goodly amount of soldiers, an open gate, a town with obvious signs of habitation but seemingly unconcerned about being besieged, a monastery that’s perched up on a hillside by willpower alone, or magic or whatever. Tell me, Longhelim, did the Ragesians have enough men in their camp to take the town?” The paladin thought about this: “Yes, judging from what I saw, they would have no trouble in taking it; as for the rest, yes, that pretty much describes the situation.” John was looking thoughtful: “Could there have been a spell effect on the Ragesians, stopping them from taking the town? Was there magic around?” I remembered something I had heard from Simeon’s initial briefing: “It’s possible; when Simeon was telling us about the last message received from the members of the previous mission, he did say that they sounded curiously passive and unperturbed about the prospect of a Ragesian invasion. Weirdly calm – I believe were the words he used.” John frowned: “If that is the case, then, that is some magical effect.” Then he grinned: “If we could convince whoever did it to go to Gallo’s Fend and cast it on that Ragesian army that’s preparing to invade, we would get a Lordship out of that in no time!” Longhelim spoke up: “ In answer to your question John, no I did not see any overt magical effect apart from what I have already described; but, then again, I wouldn’t know what to look for; not my field of expertise. Your theory may well be right, but if so what can we do about it; mind you, just to be safe, I don’t think we particularly want to go down there, in case it affects us as well.” I looked towards the far end of the valley: “So, you’re thinking of bypassing the town as well as the camp and going straight to the monastery?” John said: “That’s a good plan. We were supposed to investigate both the monastery and the town, weren’t we? And when Three Weeping Ravens was here last, the leaders of the monastery talked to him; they told him to go away but at least they did speak to him. So, hopefully, they will speak with us.” Felix joined in at this point: “I could learn three of the spells that allow someone to walk on air. We could easily just walk up to the monastery from the top of these mountains without actually setting foot in the valley.” “And I could learn my spell which makes an area around the recipient invisible; that way, if things go wrong, we have at least some chance of getting away,” I chimed in. Longhelim took another drink and then said: “So, we have a plan; let’s sleep on it and do that.” We retired back to the site of our recent battle and settled down for a night’s sleep. [/QUOTE]
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The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign
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