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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: 6194044" data-attributes="member: 6692807"><p>We did not need to Drudge to find the next beings we met in this benighted place. Flickering through the forest, dashing through the trees we saw a group of phantoms; they were of human shape and it was obvious that some of them were wearing the clothes of women and others of men; there were also noted differences between adults and children. The group moved as rapidly as the child ghosts were able; it looked as if the men surrounded the women while they in turn ushered the children. The whole picture showed a community in desperate danger, moving in its entirety and being pursued by a ruthless enemy.</p><p> </p><p>“The ghosts of the Taranesti,” whispered Felix. “Let’s follow them!”</p><p> </p><p>Moving as quietly as possible, which was not very, as I have stated numerous times before, we followed the phantoms. They became aware of us fairly quickly but did not seem to react for some time. Then several of the men halted and seemed to wait for us until we approached, watching us carefully. Something very odd happened then.</p><p> </p><p>They may have stared at us for a few moments or for a long time; it was a timeless moment as they looked into the very depths of our souls; or that was what it felt like to me. Then, there came a wave of approval, a sense of well being and a lifting of the gloom that was prevalent through this forest. Suddenly, the sense of oppression that I had felt since entering tree line was lifted and I felt that there was a chance that we would succeed in here after all. I glanced at the others and I saw the same effect on them; lines of worry that were present on their faces smoothed; signs of tension eased and a new purpose seemed to fill us. We were going fulfill our mission here and then leave to aid the Resistance.</p><p> </p><p>The phantoms stared at us for some time and I could have sworn that they nodded at us and then left at a much faster pace that we could match.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, that was interesting,” whispered Felix.</p><p>The whispering came naturally after such an experience..</p><p> </p><p>“We should still follow the trail,” added Drudge, also whispering.</p><p> </p><p>So we carried on again the then Drudge stopped us as usual. He looked ahead intently and then whispered:</p><p> </p><p>“More corpses on the floor. I can’t tell whose. Let’s be careful.”</p><p> </p><p>So we advanced, slowly and with great care. Soon, we were able to see the corpses but they did not stir or give any further intimation of being hostile. Closer examination revealed them to be elves, all of whom had been stabbed or slashed. A couple had died in different manner though; it seemed to be quite a recent occurrence as well. John, ever practical, managed to obtain several more pairs of high quality boots and then we carried on.</p><p> </p><p>As John was doing this, I walked over to Drudge and asked:</p><p> </p><p>“Any idea who they are?”</p><p> </p><p>“That is Shahalesti equipment; this is most likely a patrol that met something which didn’t like them; some of those wounds look as if they were made by an animal of some type; looks like the wounds a dog or wolf would make. The others were hit with slashing weapons though; and arrows.”</p><p> </p><p>As we marched through the undergrowth, again, we were stopped by Drudge, who whispered:</p><p> </p><p>“There’s an elven ambush just ahead.”</p><p> </p><p>Slowly and carefully who drew back. Then Longhelim asked:</p><p> </p><p>“How many?”</p><p> </p><p>Drudge answered:</p><p> </p><p>“I saw three but there’s bound to be more. Even the Shahalesti would not have such a small patrol in this place. I would say there’s going to be at least six, probably more than that.”</p><p> </p><p>“Do you think they saw us?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh yes; we are many things but we are not stealthy forest scouts. They know how many of us there are and exactly where we are.”</p><p> </p><p>“And they did not hail us; we don’t look like your average Ragesian patrol; this is very close to hostile intent.”</p><p> </p><p>I chimed in at this point:</p><p> </p><p>“I think that allowing the Shahalesti to know we are already here would be a grave mistake. It would negate any advantage Simeon has given us with his skill as a loremaster. Shalosha should not be here yet, but as soon as she realizes we are here, then she’ll be coming as fast as her priests can get her here.”</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim slowly said:</p><p> </p><p>“So be it. They did not hail us and their knowledge of our presence risks too much. We cannot allow them to attack us. They die. It is necessary.”</p><p> </p><p>It was a harsh decision; that was something else I realised; not so long ago, we would have either attempted to talk to these elves or gone around them. However, in this case, we decided to initiate the combat. The stakes had changed; it wasn’t just us anymore. There was so much and so many people depending on our success now. We did not know where all those elves were. If one of them escaped and reported, the Shahalesti would be here in force. We had to try to do as much here as we could before Shalosha arrived with her entourage.</p><p> </p><p>Drudge moved up stealthily and let loose with a barrage at a patch in the undergrowth. I couldn’t see anyone myself but he obviously did as an elf stood up and began to fire back. That acted as a signal to others and more arrows began to fly towards Drudge; inwardly I smiled; they didn’t know it yet but in an archery duel, there would be only one winner. I quickly cast a little spell on Drudge that made his arrows more potent but apart from that, I saved my magic. I could barely see anyone, never mind find someone to target with a spell. Longhelim and Victor moved down the path, trying to distract some of the elves from firing back at Drudge; our archer had already skewered a couple of them but now that they were all moving around, I counted at least ten of them. Victor and Longhelim split and closed on several of the scouts, when one of them took something out of his belt and threw it at Victor. The warrior stopped momentarily, as if glued to the ground. This allowed another nearby elven warrior to slash at Victor while he was struggling in this manner. Then, with an angry grunt, he tore through whatever that was and then slashed the nearest elf in the chest. Longhelim had been attacked in the same way but he managed to dodge the missile thrown at him. It looked like a pouch or bag.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim began to fence with his opponent but again it wasn’t much of a contest. The elves may have been expert archers but they were certainly not expert swordsmen; as both the warriors were proving. One of them belatedly decided that he should try and escape but Drudge immediately saw the danger and with almost supernatural skill, shot the elf as he was running through the trees. The arrow flew with uncanny accuracy and literally pinned him to a tree. At this point, there were only about three left and these were quickly dispatched by the warriors. They were obviously scouts and not warriors.</p><p> </p><p>Quickly, we gathered the bodies and put them in the bushes. I suspected that it would not be long before the Haunted Wood of Ycengled would claim them in some manner.</p><p> </p><p>Despite Drudge’s abilities, he had still taken a few glancing gashes from arrows fired at him; Victor was wounded more seriously but when John stepped forward with his wand and tapped Victor, he stopped:</p><p> </p><p>“The wand seems to be functioning normally now. I don’t need to try to work through the mechanics of the spell any more. Felix, you try yours, see if you feel any different.”</p><p> </p><p>Rather dubiously, the cleric stepped forward and also tapped the warrior; his face lightened and he said:</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, you’re right; the wand seems to be working instinctively for me again. I wonder what has changed?”</p><p> </p><p>Thinking back to what had happened to us, I said, slowly:</p><p> </p><p>“Could it have been the phantoms? When they looked at me, I felt, well, better? As if this place wasn’t as oppressive anymore? Maybe it was the forest that was making it so difficult for you to cast healing spells. It is odd that it was only healing spells. It is as if this place was a focus for…I don’t know…..whatever the opposite of healing is.”</p><p> </p><p>Felix just frowned:</p><p> </p><p>“Well, you’re not using the most elegant terms I have ever heard but I think I know what you’re getting at. The terms you are looking for are positive energy and negative energy. Interesting idea; that this forest is a focus for negative energy or under the influence of one. If that is true, I wonder where the fulcrum is.</p><p> </p><p>Anyway, Faden, what you are suggesting is that we have somehow been favoured by the phantoms and they are protecting us from the effects of the negative energy present in this forest. You may well be right.”</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim stepped in at this point:</p><p> </p><p>“Gentlemen, we should be going.”</p><p> </p><p>Victor was healed and then we formed up again and set off, attempting to follow in the same direction as the phantoms. We hoped they would lead us to a settlement from where they had originated. We walked for quite some time, Drudge using his almost supernatural powers of observation but thankfully nothing stalked or attacked us.</p><p> </p><p>We were almost thinking that we would have to return to the river as we had not found anything when a huge animal of some sort padded from the undergrowth, sat in the middle of the trail and looked at us calmly with large, yellow eyes.</p><p> </p><p>We all stopped and Drudge whispered:</p><p> </p><p>“That’s a fox but it’s a very, very big one!”</p><p> </p><p>Indeed, it was the size of a wolf. It opened its mouth and I saw rows of very sharp teeth, including four large canines and suddenly my mind went back to the dead Shahalesti patrol we had found some distance back, several of whom looked as if they had been savaged by a large animal. I wondered if we had found our animal; or it had found us to be more exact.</p><p> </p><p>This staring contest carried on for a few moments although the fox looked a little bored. Then, just behind it, another figure stepped out, soundlessly and seemingly without disturbing any of the undergrowth; it was another elf, but very different from the Shahalesti; her face was much stronger, without the supercilious air that seemed to be such a common denominator with the Shahalesti. Her hair was the same russet colour as that of the fox and she had the same golden eyes, which were watching us just as keenly. I could see a bow over her shoulder and a large curved blade in her hand; it looked like an oversized sickle. Then she spoke in a pleasant contralto. Unfortunately, not one of us could understand her.</p><p> </p><p>John quickly drew a helmet out of his bag and then muttered:</p><p> </p><p>“Damn! I can’t put this on! I’m already wearing a headband. The helmet won’t work! Anyone not wearing anything magical on their heads?”</p><p> </p><p>In a way it was a ridiculous situation; Longhelim took a step towards John when the same contralto said the following in the common tongue but with a heavy accent:</p><p> </p><p>“I said it is obvious that you are no friends of the Shahalesti.”</p><p> </p><p>For convenience, I will narrate her conversation as if she spoke without the accent. It is to be noted that the lady was extremely patient with us when we had to ask to repeat something that we did not understand due to her peculiar diction. This worked both ways of course, as there were several times when she had to ask us to repeat ourselves slowly.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim, as usual, using his magical voice, began the conversation:</p><p> </p><p>“Greetings, lady! We had heard that the Taranesti were no more than legend. May we know your name? And what you are doing here, in this part of the forest?”</p><p> </p><p>The elf looked at him expressionlessly for a few moments and then replied:</p><p> </p><p>“Very well; I am Fayne and I was curious about you. You’re obviously not Ragesians nor are you Shahalesti; from your actions, you are their enemies; we, the Taranesti, despise them. I would know who you are and what you are doing here?”</p><p> </p><p>This was it; possibly our whole mission depended on winning the confidence of the Taranesti elves; I think that it would be almost impossible for us to attempt to carry on further without their help.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim took us off the trail and we sat down with our rations; we did not need to eat after Felix’s spell of this morning but we offered her rations and it would have been rude for us not to partake as well. The fox curled itself near Fayne and ate anything anyone cared to give it. Then Longhelim took out his pipe only for Drudge to gently take it away from him:</p><p> </p><p>“The smell”, he said, in a low voice.</p><p> </p><p>Fayne looked at this by-play and then nodded as if confirming something to herself.</p><p> </p><p>“I hunt the Shahalesti,” she told us. “Our paths may coincide but before I say anything else, please tell me what you do here.”</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim put his unlit pipe in his mouth anyway and then replied:</p><p> </p><p>“We are members of the Resistance and we are from the Free City of Gate Pass. Not long ago, we were invaded by the Ragesians…….”</p><p> </p><p>After that, he gave her a brief outline of what had happened. She looked at him, without expression but when she heard that Coaltongue was dead her eyes widened. When she was told that the Shahalesti were seeking an alliance with the Resistance, she didn’t say anything but she smiled when she was told that a large part of the Shahalesti fleet had been lost at sea. Then she was told that the Torch was missing and that possibly the drow were responsible. She whispered to herself:</p><p> </p><p>“So much; so much has happened. That’s why the Ragesians are here! They look for the Torch.”</p><p> </p><p>Then, fiercely, she said:”They’ll never find it!”</p><p> </p><p>She came out of her reverie and spoke to us in turn:</p><p> </p><p>“We had an alliance with the Shahalesti once; when we fought against the Empire of Morrus; and our greatest general was Shalaadel; we fought; oh, how we fought to rid ourselves of this Empire; and in the end we won; for Shalaadel had another alliance, you see; with the Ragesians. And Drakus Coaltongue found the Torch of the Burning Sky; with his ability to move armies at will, he was invincible; there were never as many of us as the Shahalesti but no matter; we did not care because we thought we were free; then Shalaadel grew jealous of Coaltongue, who was founding a mighty empire. The Shahalesti lord wanted his own Torch so he could found his own Empire; he became convinced that there was another one here and that we knew where it was. So he declared a crusade against us!”</p><p> </p><p>That sounded familiar; it seems as if Shalaadel had a habit of doing that. He had declared a crusade against the elves in the Forest of Innenotdar as well.</p><p> </p><p>Fayne continued:</p><p> </p><p>“We didn’t stand a chance. They outnumbered us by scores; almost all of us died; but still he didn’t get our last city; that is where he wanted to go! What he wanted to find more than anything else! The city of Phorros Irrendra; finally, he even took our children and staked them the trees of the forest; he ordered his crusaders to do this to every child they captured but still no one talked; for they knew; they knew that if Shalaadel found the city, the Taranesti would be no more.”</p><p> </p><p>I remembered the desiccated corpse of the child we had found in the clearing where we fought the trees and suddenly I was very glad we buried the little corpse; it was too little too late but at least we had made the gesture.</p><p> </p><p>She stopped talking and stared into the distance as if remembering the crusade. Longhelim looked at here and then gently said:</p><p> </p><p>“We cannot undo what has been done; nor can we go against the might of the Shahalesti; what we can do is make sure that the Resistance is aware of everything you have told us before they make any agreements to ally with them; we can try our utmost to make sure that if the Torch is in the vicinity, it will be given to the Resistance, not the Shahalesti; we will also use what little influence we have to ask the Resistance to contact the Taranesti; I realise it’s not much but we have little power; our parents are not kings or nobles; we do not have rich or powerful families; we do this because our city, like yours, is in danger and is being used by both the Shahalesti and the Ragesians as a battle ground. We want that to stop!”</p><p> </p><p>Fayne did not seem to hear those words at first but then she nodded to herself as if coming to a decision.</p><p> </p><p>“I will help you. You are the first I have seen for a long time in these woods, who are neither Ragesian nor Shahalesti; the Ghosts of the Forest did not attack you; you attacked a Shahalesti ambush; but……before I help you, you must help me.</p><p> </p><p>There is another Taranesti nearby; her name is Liat; she was captured is being held in the Shahalesti camp. You must rescue her. The camp is their main military headquarters in the area; it is their base against the Ragesian army, which is also nearby.</p><p> </p><p>There is one further task: about one half day’s travel away is a henge sacred to the Taranesti; our filthy cousins have set up a small camp there and their very presence profanes the henge; even worse, they perform rituals there which make the spirits groan in anger and humiliation; being Shahalesti, they are doing it to convert the henge to ‘the one true path’ as they term it.</p><p> </p><p>If you stop them from profaning the henge and rescue Liat, I will help you.”</p><p> </p><p>She was spitting out the words as she described her “cousins”; obviously, she found their presence as offensive as that of the Ragesians, if not more so. In fact, she was remarkably unforthcoming about the latter, which I found a little odd.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim looked at his unlit pipe and said:</p><p> </p><p>“Can you give us a few moments alone please?”</p><p> </p><p>Obligingly, she withdrew, taking her fox with her.</p><p> </p><p>The paladin then spoke:</p><p> </p><p>“Well, what does everyone think?”</p><p> </p><p>John replied:</p><p> </p><p>“It’s the best offer we’ve got.”</p><p> </p><p>Drudge muttered at that:</p><p> </p><p>“It’s the only offer we’ve got!”</p><p> </p><p>Victor then added:</p><p> </p><p>“It’s a test; the Ghosts have already proved to her that we mean no harm to the Tarenesti, I think; but she doesn’t know if we are good enough to help them much; we could be a bunch of incompetents; if we do manage to achieve these tasks for her, then it proves that we could be of some use; otherwise, if we get captured or killed or both, she hasn’t lost anything apart from we knowing of her presence in the forest, which I doubt is much of a secret. It’s good tactics.”</p><p> </p><p>I added in at that point:</p><p> </p><p>“Whatever we decide, we must move fast; so far our presence here is unknown to the enemy but as soon as that changes, and it will, then Shalosha will be here as fast as she can be. She’ll be here soon anyway, and our presence here is bound to give her a strong indication that something important is happening in this region; especially, as Leska’s forces are already here.</p><p> </p><p>I say we help her; I’m beginning to like the Shahalesti even less than I did before; I have a thing against child killers.”</p><p> </p><p>A series of agreements came from the others and we then went to find Fayne, who looked at us with her golden eyes.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim simply said:</p><p> </p><p>“We agree.”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cafu, post: 6194044, member: 6692807"] We did not need to Drudge to find the next beings we met in this benighted place. Flickering through the forest, dashing through the trees we saw a group of phantoms; they were of human shape and it was obvious that some of them were wearing the clothes of women and others of men; there were also noted differences between adults and children. The group moved as rapidly as the child ghosts were able; it looked as if the men surrounded the women while they in turn ushered the children. The whole picture showed a community in desperate danger, moving in its entirety and being pursued by a ruthless enemy. “The ghosts of the Taranesti,” whispered Felix. “Let’s follow them!” Moving as quietly as possible, which was not very, as I have stated numerous times before, we followed the phantoms. They became aware of us fairly quickly but did not seem to react for some time. Then several of the men halted and seemed to wait for us until we approached, watching us carefully. Something very odd happened then. They may have stared at us for a few moments or for a long time; it was a timeless moment as they looked into the very depths of our souls; or that was what it felt like to me. Then, there came a wave of approval, a sense of well being and a lifting of the gloom that was prevalent through this forest. Suddenly, the sense of oppression that I had felt since entering tree line was lifted and I felt that there was a chance that we would succeed in here after all. I glanced at the others and I saw the same effect on them; lines of worry that were present on their faces smoothed; signs of tension eased and a new purpose seemed to fill us. We were going fulfill our mission here and then leave to aid the Resistance. The phantoms stared at us for some time and I could have sworn that they nodded at us and then left at a much faster pace that we could match. “Well, that was interesting,” whispered Felix. The whispering came naturally after such an experience.. “We should still follow the trail,” added Drudge, also whispering. So we carried on again the then Drudge stopped us as usual. He looked ahead intently and then whispered: “More corpses on the floor. I can’t tell whose. Let’s be careful.” So we advanced, slowly and with great care. Soon, we were able to see the corpses but they did not stir or give any further intimation of being hostile. Closer examination revealed them to be elves, all of whom had been stabbed or slashed. A couple had died in different manner though; it seemed to be quite a recent occurrence as well. John, ever practical, managed to obtain several more pairs of high quality boots and then we carried on. As John was doing this, I walked over to Drudge and asked: “Any idea who they are?” “That is Shahalesti equipment; this is most likely a patrol that met something which didn’t like them; some of those wounds look as if they were made by an animal of some type; looks like the wounds a dog or wolf would make. The others were hit with slashing weapons though; and arrows.” As we marched through the undergrowth, again, we were stopped by Drudge, who whispered: “There’s an elven ambush just ahead.” Slowly and carefully who drew back. Then Longhelim asked: “How many?” Drudge answered: “I saw three but there’s bound to be more. Even the Shahalesti would not have such a small patrol in this place. I would say there’s going to be at least six, probably more than that.” “Do you think they saw us?” “Oh yes; we are many things but we are not stealthy forest scouts. They know how many of us there are and exactly where we are.” “And they did not hail us; we don’t look like your average Ragesian patrol; this is very close to hostile intent.” I chimed in at this point: “I think that allowing the Shahalesti to know we are already here would be a grave mistake. It would negate any advantage Simeon has given us with his skill as a loremaster. Shalosha should not be here yet, but as soon as she realizes we are here, then she’ll be coming as fast as her priests can get her here.” Longhelim slowly said: “So be it. They did not hail us and their knowledge of our presence risks too much. We cannot allow them to attack us. They die. It is necessary.” It was a harsh decision; that was something else I realised; not so long ago, we would have either attempted to talk to these elves or gone around them. However, in this case, we decided to initiate the combat. The stakes had changed; it wasn’t just us anymore. There was so much and so many people depending on our success now. We did not know where all those elves were. If one of them escaped and reported, the Shahalesti would be here in force. We had to try to do as much here as we could before Shalosha arrived with her entourage. Drudge moved up stealthily and let loose with a barrage at a patch in the undergrowth. I couldn’t see anyone myself but he obviously did as an elf stood up and began to fire back. That acted as a signal to others and more arrows began to fly towards Drudge; inwardly I smiled; they didn’t know it yet but in an archery duel, there would be only one winner. I quickly cast a little spell on Drudge that made his arrows more potent but apart from that, I saved my magic. I could barely see anyone, never mind find someone to target with a spell. Longhelim and Victor moved down the path, trying to distract some of the elves from firing back at Drudge; our archer had already skewered a couple of them but now that they were all moving around, I counted at least ten of them. Victor and Longhelim split and closed on several of the scouts, when one of them took something out of his belt and threw it at Victor. The warrior stopped momentarily, as if glued to the ground. This allowed another nearby elven warrior to slash at Victor while he was struggling in this manner. Then, with an angry grunt, he tore through whatever that was and then slashed the nearest elf in the chest. Longhelim had been attacked in the same way but he managed to dodge the missile thrown at him. It looked like a pouch or bag. Longhelim began to fence with his opponent but again it wasn’t much of a contest. The elves may have been expert archers but they were certainly not expert swordsmen; as both the warriors were proving. One of them belatedly decided that he should try and escape but Drudge immediately saw the danger and with almost supernatural skill, shot the elf as he was running through the trees. The arrow flew with uncanny accuracy and literally pinned him to a tree. At this point, there were only about three left and these were quickly dispatched by the warriors. They were obviously scouts and not warriors. Quickly, we gathered the bodies and put them in the bushes. I suspected that it would not be long before the Haunted Wood of Ycengled would claim them in some manner. Despite Drudge’s abilities, he had still taken a few glancing gashes from arrows fired at him; Victor was wounded more seriously but when John stepped forward with his wand and tapped Victor, he stopped: “The wand seems to be functioning normally now. I don’t need to try to work through the mechanics of the spell any more. Felix, you try yours, see if you feel any different.” Rather dubiously, the cleric stepped forward and also tapped the warrior; his face lightened and he said: “Yes, you’re right; the wand seems to be working instinctively for me again. I wonder what has changed?” Thinking back to what had happened to us, I said, slowly: “Could it have been the phantoms? When they looked at me, I felt, well, better? As if this place wasn’t as oppressive anymore? Maybe it was the forest that was making it so difficult for you to cast healing spells. It is odd that it was only healing spells. It is as if this place was a focus for…I don’t know…..whatever the opposite of healing is.” Felix just frowned: “Well, you’re not using the most elegant terms I have ever heard but I think I know what you’re getting at. The terms you are looking for are positive energy and negative energy. Interesting idea; that this forest is a focus for negative energy or under the influence of one. If that is true, I wonder where the fulcrum is. Anyway, Faden, what you are suggesting is that we have somehow been favoured by the phantoms and they are protecting us from the effects of the negative energy present in this forest. You may well be right.” Longhelim stepped in at this point: “Gentlemen, we should be going.” Victor was healed and then we formed up again and set off, attempting to follow in the same direction as the phantoms. We hoped they would lead us to a settlement from where they had originated. We walked for quite some time, Drudge using his almost supernatural powers of observation but thankfully nothing stalked or attacked us. We were almost thinking that we would have to return to the river as we had not found anything when a huge animal of some sort padded from the undergrowth, sat in the middle of the trail and looked at us calmly with large, yellow eyes. We all stopped and Drudge whispered: “That’s a fox but it’s a very, very big one!” Indeed, it was the size of a wolf. It opened its mouth and I saw rows of very sharp teeth, including four large canines and suddenly my mind went back to the dead Shahalesti patrol we had found some distance back, several of whom looked as if they had been savaged by a large animal. I wondered if we had found our animal; or it had found us to be more exact. This staring contest carried on for a few moments although the fox looked a little bored. Then, just behind it, another figure stepped out, soundlessly and seemingly without disturbing any of the undergrowth; it was another elf, but very different from the Shahalesti; her face was much stronger, without the supercilious air that seemed to be such a common denominator with the Shahalesti. Her hair was the same russet colour as that of the fox and she had the same golden eyes, which were watching us just as keenly. I could see a bow over her shoulder and a large curved blade in her hand; it looked like an oversized sickle. Then she spoke in a pleasant contralto. Unfortunately, not one of us could understand her. John quickly drew a helmet out of his bag and then muttered: “Damn! I can’t put this on! I’m already wearing a headband. The helmet won’t work! Anyone not wearing anything magical on their heads?” In a way it was a ridiculous situation; Longhelim took a step towards John when the same contralto said the following in the common tongue but with a heavy accent: “I said it is obvious that you are no friends of the Shahalesti.” For convenience, I will narrate her conversation as if she spoke without the accent. It is to be noted that the lady was extremely patient with us when we had to ask to repeat something that we did not understand due to her peculiar diction. This worked both ways of course, as there were several times when she had to ask us to repeat ourselves slowly. Longhelim, as usual, using his magical voice, began the conversation: “Greetings, lady! We had heard that the Taranesti were no more than legend. May we know your name? And what you are doing here, in this part of the forest?” The elf looked at him expressionlessly for a few moments and then replied: “Very well; I am Fayne and I was curious about you. You’re obviously not Ragesians nor are you Shahalesti; from your actions, you are their enemies; we, the Taranesti, despise them. I would know who you are and what you are doing here?” This was it; possibly our whole mission depended on winning the confidence of the Taranesti elves; I think that it would be almost impossible for us to attempt to carry on further without their help. Longhelim took us off the trail and we sat down with our rations; we did not need to eat after Felix’s spell of this morning but we offered her rations and it would have been rude for us not to partake as well. The fox curled itself near Fayne and ate anything anyone cared to give it. Then Longhelim took out his pipe only for Drudge to gently take it away from him: “The smell”, he said, in a low voice. Fayne looked at this by-play and then nodded as if confirming something to herself. “I hunt the Shahalesti,” she told us. “Our paths may coincide but before I say anything else, please tell me what you do here.” Longhelim put his unlit pipe in his mouth anyway and then replied: “We are members of the Resistance and we are from the Free City of Gate Pass. Not long ago, we were invaded by the Ragesians…….” After that, he gave her a brief outline of what had happened. She looked at him, without expression but when she heard that Coaltongue was dead her eyes widened. When she was told that the Shahalesti were seeking an alliance with the Resistance, she didn’t say anything but she smiled when she was told that a large part of the Shahalesti fleet had been lost at sea. Then she was told that the Torch was missing and that possibly the drow were responsible. She whispered to herself: “So much; so much has happened. That’s why the Ragesians are here! They look for the Torch.” Then, fiercely, she said:”They’ll never find it!” She came out of her reverie and spoke to us in turn: “We had an alliance with the Shahalesti once; when we fought against the Empire of Morrus; and our greatest general was Shalaadel; we fought; oh, how we fought to rid ourselves of this Empire; and in the end we won; for Shalaadel had another alliance, you see; with the Ragesians. And Drakus Coaltongue found the Torch of the Burning Sky; with his ability to move armies at will, he was invincible; there were never as many of us as the Shahalesti but no matter; we did not care because we thought we were free; then Shalaadel grew jealous of Coaltongue, who was founding a mighty empire. The Shahalesti lord wanted his own Torch so he could found his own Empire; he became convinced that there was another one here and that we knew where it was. So he declared a crusade against us!” That sounded familiar; it seems as if Shalaadel had a habit of doing that. He had declared a crusade against the elves in the Forest of Innenotdar as well. Fayne continued: “We didn’t stand a chance. They outnumbered us by scores; almost all of us died; but still he didn’t get our last city; that is where he wanted to go! What he wanted to find more than anything else! The city of Phorros Irrendra; finally, he even took our children and staked them the trees of the forest; he ordered his crusaders to do this to every child they captured but still no one talked; for they knew; they knew that if Shalaadel found the city, the Taranesti would be no more.” I remembered the desiccated corpse of the child we had found in the clearing where we fought the trees and suddenly I was very glad we buried the little corpse; it was too little too late but at least we had made the gesture. She stopped talking and stared into the distance as if remembering the crusade. Longhelim looked at here and then gently said: “We cannot undo what has been done; nor can we go against the might of the Shahalesti; what we can do is make sure that the Resistance is aware of everything you have told us before they make any agreements to ally with them; we can try our utmost to make sure that if the Torch is in the vicinity, it will be given to the Resistance, not the Shahalesti; we will also use what little influence we have to ask the Resistance to contact the Taranesti; I realise it’s not much but we have little power; our parents are not kings or nobles; we do not have rich or powerful families; we do this because our city, like yours, is in danger and is being used by both the Shahalesti and the Ragesians as a battle ground. We want that to stop!” Fayne did not seem to hear those words at first but then she nodded to herself as if coming to a decision. “I will help you. You are the first I have seen for a long time in these woods, who are neither Ragesian nor Shahalesti; the Ghosts of the Forest did not attack you; you attacked a Shahalesti ambush; but……before I help you, you must help me. There is another Taranesti nearby; her name is Liat; she was captured is being held in the Shahalesti camp. You must rescue her. The camp is their main military headquarters in the area; it is their base against the Ragesian army, which is also nearby. There is one further task: about one half day’s travel away is a henge sacred to the Taranesti; our filthy cousins have set up a small camp there and their very presence profanes the henge; even worse, they perform rituals there which make the spirits groan in anger and humiliation; being Shahalesti, they are doing it to convert the henge to ‘the one true path’ as they term it. If you stop them from profaning the henge and rescue Liat, I will help you.” She was spitting out the words as she described her “cousins”; obviously, she found their presence as offensive as that of the Ragesians, if not more so. In fact, she was remarkably unforthcoming about the latter, which I found a little odd. Longhelim looked at his unlit pipe and said: “Can you give us a few moments alone please?” Obligingly, she withdrew, taking her fox with her. The paladin then spoke: “Well, what does everyone think?” John replied: “It’s the best offer we’ve got.” Drudge muttered at that: “It’s the only offer we’ve got!” Victor then added: “It’s a test; the Ghosts have already proved to her that we mean no harm to the Tarenesti, I think; but she doesn’t know if we are good enough to help them much; we could be a bunch of incompetents; if we do manage to achieve these tasks for her, then it proves that we could be of some use; otherwise, if we get captured or killed or both, she hasn’t lost anything apart from we knowing of her presence in the forest, which I doubt is much of a secret. It’s good tactics.” I added in at that point: “Whatever we decide, we must move fast; so far our presence here is unknown to the enemy but as soon as that changes, and it will, then Shalosha will be here as fast as she can be. She’ll be here soon anyway, and our presence here is bound to give her a strong indication that something important is happening in this region; especially, as Leska’s forces are already here. I say we help her; I’m beginning to like the Shahalesti even less than I did before; I have a thing against child killers.” A series of agreements came from the others and we then went to find Fayne, who looked at us with her golden eyes. Longhelim simply said: “We agree.” [/QUOTE]
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The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign
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