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The New Adventures of Thundina Seong! Completed May 4
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<blockquote data-quote="Ealli" data-source="post: 3427636" data-attributes="member: 804"><p><strong>Chapter 10: An Encounter Too Soon</strong></p><p></p><p>Thundina slept soundly after finding the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind. She sank into her bed relieved that it was time to rest. The dual poisons of Halas had left her weak and exhausted. In the morning Cyron had promised he’d have enough <em>Restoration</em> prepared to make her whole again.</p><p></p><p>After breakfast and after Thundina was twice being sprinkled with diamond dust, the party went to pay a visit to Sir Urik. He had a small house near the edge of town and when they arrived, he invited them in. He said that he’d need a couple minutes to get all his gear together, but he was essentially prepared having heard from Ismark the previous day about Ireena’s disappearance. The four then set off towards the main entrance of the castle.</p><p></p><p>When the castle loomed large and the trees were about to give way for the final approach, two rough figures stepped out of the woods to stand in the middle of the road. Thundina smiled to herself; these brigands had chosen about the worst possible place to take up their banditry. It would also be a very welcome change from the horrors of the castle. One was ugly with wrinkled skin, short bristly hair, and a pug nose while the other was dressed in hide armor and had kind of a feral look to him. If she could just get close enough to take them by surprise with her reach, maybe she could finish this without any hurt to her or her friends. Before she could slide close enough, Urik ruined her plan without seeming to realize what he was doing.</p><p></p><p>“Ho there travelers, who are you?” Urik called.</p><p></p><p>The feral one responded, “Can you feel the curse that consumes this land?”</p><p>“What is that supposed to mean?” Thundina asked somewhat confused.</p><p>“There is a curse in this land and it disrupts Nature for great distances all around. At its center is a creature called Strahd. Do you know anything of it?”</p><p>“You’re standing right outside his castle, maybe you could ask him about himself. He’s kidnapped a fair maiden from the village.” Thundina replied, thinking that they’d provide an excellent distraction to Strahd while Ireena was being rescued, “But as for disruptions to Nature, I know nothing.”</p><p></p><p>“This valley is filled by a strange mist and the trees scream,” the feral one said. “Listen to the trees.” </p><p>“Trees don’t scream, silly,” Thundina laughed. “Have you been eating bad mushrooms?”</p><p>“I eat many mushrooms.”</p><p></p><p>“Thundina, don’t you recognize what he is?” Cyron exclaimed, “that’s a druid. You can see the holly sprig. If he wishes to destroy Strahd, like we do, I think we may be able to make common cause.”</p><p></p><p>“All you want is for Strahd to be defeated and Nature’s Treasures restored, right?” Thundina asked the druid who then nodded, “Yes, excellent. Then let’s go do the Strahd slaying.”</p><p></p><p>The druid introduced himself as Ivo Milinkovic and the pug-nosed man as Talor. Thundina introduced herself and her brave companions. They set off across the bridge to the castle keeping careful watch of the arches overhead. They should have been watching their feet for one of the planks cracked and gave way beneath him. Romann was quickly by his side and pulled him back onto the bridge.</p><p></p><p>As the newly expanded party entered the castle, Talor turned and screeched. A giant bat flew to him, hovered a moment whipping the party with wind from its large wings. The bat then landed by Talor’s feet and crawled to him and Talor scratched its head. Thundina immediately reacted, “What the hell is that? Why are you consorting with a creature of the night? Are you in league with the vampire?”</p><p></p><p>Talor appeared somewhat shocked at the charge, “No, no, my bat has traveled with me across the continent. It’s a good bat.”</p><p></p><p>“Alright, but I’m still upset that it messed up my hair. Do you have any idea how long I spent this morning trying to get it right?”</p><p></p><p>Romann looked at Thundina, “Your hair looks like it always does.”</p><p></p><p>“I know,” Thundina said somewhat depressed, “I said trying, not succeeding.”</p><p></p><p>Upon reaching the first chamber, Thundina immediately veered left to take the stairs up to what she thought was either the study or the library. Too lifelike stone statues stood on the landing, but she could find nothing more unusual than the detailing. She led her party up the ten-foot wide stairs continuing up. A fine red carpet ran down the middle of the next room to the back of a high-backed throne facing the far wall at the far end of the room. As soon as she spotted the throne, Thundina realized that she didn’t want to be in that room at that time. She turned and tried to usher her friends back down the stairs and away.</p><p></p><p>A voice boomed out, “Do you seek an audience with the lord of the castle?”</p><p>Thundina called back over her shoulder, “No, not today, thank you. We’ll just be going.”</p><p></p><p>The voice boomed out again, “Karavashta!” Strahd stood up from his throne and began walking down the red carpet towards the party. He looked different from how he had appeared before. He looked hairy and he was hunched over. He flicked a thin long tongue out a grotesque mouth. Thundina could hardly believe this was the same vampire she had seen so composed standing in the light a few days prior. She lost sight of him as he neared the end of the room.</p><p></p><p>“He’s trying to cut us off by going down the other stairs, move it!” Thundina shouted at her party. When they wouldn’t move back down, she pushed her way past them to encounter the two statues having come to life. They were attacking Talor’s bat and looking likely to cut off the escape route. Thundina engaged the statues distracting one off the bat.</p><p></p><p>“Why am I not surprised? That’s it, I’m smashing every statue in this castle from here on out.”</p><p></p><p>Strahd reappeared on the stairs above the party. Urik and Romann formed the front line but Strahd’s attacks quickly left them weak. Ivo summoned a dire wolverine behind Strahd and directed it to grab on to the vampire. The wolverine latched on and pulled Strahd down momentarily before the vampire turned himself gaseous and drifted back towards his throne. With vampire distracted, and the statues destroyed, it was time to retreat.</p><p></p><p>Strahd struggled with the wolverine but sensed that he had repelled Thundina and her party. He shouted, “Thundina, I gave you your life once before. Take it now and leave.”</p><p></p><p>Thundina while directing her friends down the stairs shouted back, “Release Ireena, you fiend!”</p><p></p><p>Strahd chuckled menacingly, “I will never release my bride.”</p><p></p><p>Thundina made it out of the castle. The last little distance, Thundina needed to direct some of her friends who had been hugging the walls trying due to a lack of light. Outside, Thundina counted up the survivors. Ivo was missing and no one seemed to know what happened. Thundina asked, “Was he really a brigand all along, working for Strahd to lure us to our deaths?” No one seemed to believe it of him, but still he didn’t come out. After waiting a minute, the party decided they needed to put more distance between the castle and themselves.</p><p></p><p>Within the castle, Ivo realized that at the beginning of the combat he had dropped his everburning torch. As he ran back up the stairs, Strahd finished dispatching the summoned wolverine and growled, “I told you to leave.” He swept down the stairs to loom over Ivo. Ivo had snatched his torch and tried to flee, but Strahd grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. Strahd slammed Ivo into the wall and lifted him off his feet. Ivo struggled against Strahd’s grip, but couldn’t free himself. The vampire sank his fangs into Ivo’s neck and drank deep.</p><p></p><p>The survivors regrouped in town. Even though the day was still early, they huddled in the inn. Romann and Sir Urik were both pale from the touch of Strahd. The party asked Sir Urik to remind them of what he knew of the castle. He sketched out the rooms he had seen. Though there was some worry that the back stairs would take them too close to the throne room, the party ultimately decided that was the only way to reach the very top of the castle.</p><p></p><p>The next morning, Cyron used <em>Restoration</em> on both Romann and Sir Urik to dispel the vampire’s draining touch. The party snuck back into the castle and snuck up the back stairs. With the clear ideal of reaching the peak, the party bypassed each landing and quickly passed out of Sir Urik’s zone of previous experience. Facing the stairs at the next landing was a painting of a noblewoman – a striking but cruel looking woman. Thundina could see a similarity to Ireena in the painting. More important than the painting on the wall was a statue in the corner.</p><p></p><p>As soon as Thundina had stepped on the landing and reached for her pick-axe, the painting shrieked. The piercing shriek caused Thundina to freeze up. Sir Urik pushed past her looking for a threat and several arrows whipped past from Talor to stick in the painting with no noticeable effect. The statue animated into a whirling mass of chains and advanced to Urik. The whirling chains shredded his flesh and Urik cried out in pain. More arrows flew past striking the statue beneath the whirling chains. The chains moved closer to Thundina. She could see how to dodge and protect herself, but she was still rooted in place.</p><p></p><p>Thundina struggled to move. The first contact with the whirling chains had drawn lots of blood and she wasn’t certain if she could survive a second contact. From the corner of her eye, she could see the desperate attempts to destroy the statue. Romann had broken free of the magical compulsion which had rooted him and a single blow from his greatsword sheared through the whirling chains and shattered the underlying statue. Romann then tried to slash the painting apart, but it resisted his efforts. Sir Urik stepped up to the painting, took it off the wall, threw it to the ground, and stomped on it for good measure. Behind the painting was a small safe set into the wall.</p><p></p><p>The spell holding Thundina in place had dissipated and she stepped up to the safe in the wall. She quickly popped the safe open and pulled out a selection of royal finery. Holding the jewelry, Thundina asked Cyron, “Is it magical?”</p><p></p><p>He meditated over it a moment before replying that it was not.</p><p></p><p>“Well, that’s a shame,” Thundina said. “It’s very pretty and should still be worth a tidy sum anyway.” Thundina smiled broadly; finally she was being so justly rewarded.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ealli, post: 3427636, member: 804"] [b]Chapter 10: An Encounter Too Soon[/b] Thundina slept soundly after finding the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind. She sank into her bed relieved that it was time to rest. The dual poisons of Halas had left her weak and exhausted. In the morning Cyron had promised he’d have enough [I]Restoration[/I] prepared to make her whole again. After breakfast and after Thundina was twice being sprinkled with diamond dust, the party went to pay a visit to Sir Urik. He had a small house near the edge of town and when they arrived, he invited them in. He said that he’d need a couple minutes to get all his gear together, but he was essentially prepared having heard from Ismark the previous day about Ireena’s disappearance. The four then set off towards the main entrance of the castle. When the castle loomed large and the trees were about to give way for the final approach, two rough figures stepped out of the woods to stand in the middle of the road. Thundina smiled to herself; these brigands had chosen about the worst possible place to take up their banditry. It would also be a very welcome change from the horrors of the castle. One was ugly with wrinkled skin, short bristly hair, and a pug nose while the other was dressed in hide armor and had kind of a feral look to him. If she could just get close enough to take them by surprise with her reach, maybe she could finish this without any hurt to her or her friends. Before she could slide close enough, Urik ruined her plan without seeming to realize what he was doing. “Ho there travelers, who are you?” Urik called. The feral one responded, “Can you feel the curse that consumes this land?” “What is that supposed to mean?” Thundina asked somewhat confused. “There is a curse in this land and it disrupts Nature for great distances all around. At its center is a creature called Strahd. Do you know anything of it?” “You’re standing right outside his castle, maybe you could ask him about himself. He’s kidnapped a fair maiden from the village.” Thundina replied, thinking that they’d provide an excellent distraction to Strahd while Ireena was being rescued, “But as for disruptions to Nature, I know nothing.” “This valley is filled by a strange mist and the trees scream,” the feral one said. “Listen to the trees.” “Trees don’t scream, silly,” Thundina laughed. “Have you been eating bad mushrooms?” “I eat many mushrooms.” “Thundina, don’t you recognize what he is?” Cyron exclaimed, “that’s a druid. You can see the holly sprig. If he wishes to destroy Strahd, like we do, I think we may be able to make common cause.” “All you want is for Strahd to be defeated and Nature’s Treasures restored, right?” Thundina asked the druid who then nodded, “Yes, excellent. Then let’s go do the Strahd slaying.” The druid introduced himself as Ivo Milinkovic and the pug-nosed man as Talor. Thundina introduced herself and her brave companions. They set off across the bridge to the castle keeping careful watch of the arches overhead. They should have been watching their feet for one of the planks cracked and gave way beneath him. Romann was quickly by his side and pulled him back onto the bridge. As the newly expanded party entered the castle, Talor turned and screeched. A giant bat flew to him, hovered a moment whipping the party with wind from its large wings. The bat then landed by Talor’s feet and crawled to him and Talor scratched its head. Thundina immediately reacted, “What the hell is that? Why are you consorting with a creature of the night? Are you in league with the vampire?” Talor appeared somewhat shocked at the charge, “No, no, my bat has traveled with me across the continent. It’s a good bat.” “Alright, but I’m still upset that it messed up my hair. Do you have any idea how long I spent this morning trying to get it right?” Romann looked at Thundina, “Your hair looks like it always does.” “I know,” Thundina said somewhat depressed, “I said trying, not succeeding.” Upon reaching the first chamber, Thundina immediately veered left to take the stairs up to what she thought was either the study or the library. Too lifelike stone statues stood on the landing, but she could find nothing more unusual than the detailing. She led her party up the ten-foot wide stairs continuing up. A fine red carpet ran down the middle of the next room to the back of a high-backed throne facing the far wall at the far end of the room. As soon as she spotted the throne, Thundina realized that she didn’t want to be in that room at that time. She turned and tried to usher her friends back down the stairs and away. A voice boomed out, “Do you seek an audience with the lord of the castle?” Thundina called back over her shoulder, “No, not today, thank you. We’ll just be going.” The voice boomed out again, “Karavashta!” Strahd stood up from his throne and began walking down the red carpet towards the party. He looked different from how he had appeared before. He looked hairy and he was hunched over. He flicked a thin long tongue out a grotesque mouth. Thundina could hardly believe this was the same vampire she had seen so composed standing in the light a few days prior. She lost sight of him as he neared the end of the room. “He’s trying to cut us off by going down the other stairs, move it!” Thundina shouted at her party. When they wouldn’t move back down, she pushed her way past them to encounter the two statues having come to life. They were attacking Talor’s bat and looking likely to cut off the escape route. Thundina engaged the statues distracting one off the bat. “Why am I not surprised? That’s it, I’m smashing every statue in this castle from here on out.” Strahd reappeared on the stairs above the party. Urik and Romann formed the front line but Strahd’s attacks quickly left them weak. Ivo summoned a dire wolverine behind Strahd and directed it to grab on to the vampire. The wolverine latched on and pulled Strahd down momentarily before the vampire turned himself gaseous and drifted back towards his throne. With vampire distracted, and the statues destroyed, it was time to retreat. Strahd struggled with the wolverine but sensed that he had repelled Thundina and her party. He shouted, “Thundina, I gave you your life once before. Take it now and leave.” Thundina while directing her friends down the stairs shouted back, “Release Ireena, you fiend!” Strahd chuckled menacingly, “I will never release my bride.” Thundina made it out of the castle. The last little distance, Thundina needed to direct some of her friends who had been hugging the walls trying due to a lack of light. Outside, Thundina counted up the survivors. Ivo was missing and no one seemed to know what happened. Thundina asked, “Was he really a brigand all along, working for Strahd to lure us to our deaths?” No one seemed to believe it of him, but still he didn’t come out. After waiting a minute, the party decided they needed to put more distance between the castle and themselves. Within the castle, Ivo realized that at the beginning of the combat he had dropped his everburning torch. As he ran back up the stairs, Strahd finished dispatching the summoned wolverine and growled, “I told you to leave.” He swept down the stairs to loom over Ivo. Ivo had snatched his torch and tried to flee, but Strahd grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. Strahd slammed Ivo into the wall and lifted him off his feet. Ivo struggled against Strahd’s grip, but couldn’t free himself. The vampire sank his fangs into Ivo’s neck and drank deep. The survivors regrouped in town. Even though the day was still early, they huddled in the inn. Romann and Sir Urik were both pale from the touch of Strahd. The party asked Sir Urik to remind them of what he knew of the castle. He sketched out the rooms he had seen. Though there was some worry that the back stairs would take them too close to the throne room, the party ultimately decided that was the only way to reach the very top of the castle. The next morning, Cyron used [I]Restoration[/I] on both Romann and Sir Urik to dispel the vampire’s draining touch. The party snuck back into the castle and snuck up the back stairs. With the clear ideal of reaching the peak, the party bypassed each landing and quickly passed out of Sir Urik’s zone of previous experience. Facing the stairs at the next landing was a painting of a noblewoman – a striking but cruel looking woman. Thundina could see a similarity to Ireena in the painting. More important than the painting on the wall was a statue in the corner. As soon as Thundina had stepped on the landing and reached for her pick-axe, the painting shrieked. The piercing shriek caused Thundina to freeze up. Sir Urik pushed past her looking for a threat and several arrows whipped past from Talor to stick in the painting with no noticeable effect. The statue animated into a whirling mass of chains and advanced to Urik. The whirling chains shredded his flesh and Urik cried out in pain. More arrows flew past striking the statue beneath the whirling chains. The chains moved closer to Thundina. She could see how to dodge and protect herself, but she was still rooted in place. Thundina struggled to move. The first contact with the whirling chains had drawn lots of blood and she wasn’t certain if she could survive a second contact. From the corner of her eye, she could see the desperate attempts to destroy the statue. Romann had broken free of the magical compulsion which had rooted him and a single blow from his greatsword sheared through the whirling chains and shattered the underlying statue. Romann then tried to slash the painting apart, but it resisted his efforts. Sir Urik stepped up to the painting, took it off the wall, threw it to the ground, and stomped on it for good measure. Behind the painting was a small safe set into the wall. The spell holding Thundina in place had dissipated and she stepped up to the safe in the wall. She quickly popped the safe open and pulled out a selection of royal finery. Holding the jewelry, Thundina asked Cyron, “Is it magical?” He meditated over it a moment before replying that it was not. “Well, that’s a shame,” Thundina said. “It’s very pretty and should still be worth a tidy sum anyway.” Thundina smiled broadly; finally she was being so justly rewarded. [/QUOTE]
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