The new "They might be Heros" Story Hour

[Neverwinter Knight]

Greetings folks,

this thread will tell you the story of the campaign some friends from university and I played in Karlsruhe/Germany. It's going to be a little unusual, because I started recording our sessions only after about the 10th session . Still, I have written a rough summary - it's missing out a lot of details, but please bear with me through this process!

Also, I have to admit that there is no room for Dragonball in a classical fantasy RPG, but since our game was mostly about having fun, I chose to include some db stuff, all just for fun. It does not, however, interfere with plots 'n stuff, nor are the NPCs over-powerful. They just add to a fun and care-free gaming environment.
I hope I have not lost 100% of the potential atmosphere now...


BTW, all files can also be found at www.kohl-net.de/dnd_index.php


Hope you like...

 

[Neverwinter Knight]

[The following text is NOT as session review - it is a summary of all previous sessions made up to the point where I started making session reviews. Looking back, I really should have started to make reviews fromthe beginning, but that cannot be helped now.]


This is the story of a bunch of heros, who banded together to fight evil, have fun and explore the world…


Prelude

Sitting on his wagon and steering it towards Homlet, Ike looked over to his companions and tried to remember how it all started. Lying sick on his king-sized bed, was the slender half-elf woman Percifona, who, despite her small size, had a blood-lust that exceeded that of an Eye of Gruumsh. Watching over her was the fighting monk Kruskar, a half-orc like Ike himself, who had a big fable for law and order, but was otherwise OK. Sitting next to him were his two fellow Kord worshipers. Merlos, to his right, was not a typical Kord follower at all. The slim sorcerer had not much physical strength - his talents were of magical nature. But he disliked being called a mage, for he believed that his talents came from within himself; and then there were the dreams. At Ike's left side, was the very special Maria, a cleric of "the Brawler". She was honest to the point of rudeness and very pretty, but she could arm-wrestle with the strongest of them. She had tried to keep her secrets to herself, but eventually they had found out.

But how had it all started? They seemed to be friends forever, although they only knew each other for little over a year. They had all come to Papaya, the City of Magic, the eastern capital of the known world, all for their own reasons. He himself had come here, because his father had told him to go out into the world and learn what he could. Filthy Ike had been taught the art of "Wegebelagern", that is to relieve passing folk of some unnecessary stuff. He planned to gather a great loot, like his father and his men.

There was turmoil in Papaya. It seemed that important people were turned into hybrid forms of animals and humans, and there were rumours that the Academy had something to do with it. The headquarters of the Mage Guild were besieged by an angry mob of commoners. Walking past it, he noticed a young woman who was chased by the mob. He decided to help her, as did some other people. They barely managed to get inside the Academy, where the girl introduced herself as Bulma, daughter of Dr. Briefs, one of the Guild Heads. The people who did not know each other introduced themselves: Kruskar, Percifona and Ike were among them. The other was a dwarf named Darix; the blade he carried was almost as large as himself!

They were ushered into a laboratory and there thanked by Dr. Briefs for saving his daughter. It seemed that the Guild had nothing to do with the strange events and wanted to find the real guilty party. Dr. Briefs asked the four strangers to accompany his daughter on a trip to the southern continent, where Bulma would pay an oracle to reveal what information she could about the strange events, for the Guild's own divination magic was somehow blocked. After offering them a huge salary, all agreed.

They had to drug Darix in order to get him onto a ship. The long journey took them to Nulp (not to be confused with Nulb), a small coastal village. They rented a coach and set off to the oracle. The coach was ambushed by bandits, and it seemed that their leader was the wagon driver and renter, one Lareth the Beautiful. He took the 50.000 gold pieces that Bulma was carrying, and drove away with the coach, wishing them a good day. Having come so far, the group decided to continue to the oracle anyway. Maybe there was something that could be done. On their way, they met a small boy who carried a huge brown bear; he explained to them that it was his breakfast. They convinced him to accompany them. His name was Son-Goku.

At the oracle, it was actually a witch called Uranai Baba, they were told to either pay the money of 50.000 gold or they would have to defeat the witch's five chosen warriors. Without the money, they chose the fight. It went well, until they came upon the mummy. The last one standing was Son-Goku, and he defeated not only the mummy but also the man in the devil's garb.

Uranai Baba told them that a mage by the name of Dr. Gero was responsible for the transformation of the people in Papaya. With that information they had to return to Papaya. Also, they wanted to get the money from Lareth, since they thought they could keep it, now that they had their information. On their way back, Son-Goku found a sea turtle and carried it back to the sea. There he was met by a funny little man, who introduced himself as the Master of Turtles and rewarded the boy with a flying cloud. Son-Goku said good-bye to the group and took off. They should hear from him again.

The group attacked Lareth's headquarters, but only managed to get their butts kicked; they had to flee the host of the remaining bandits. Returning to Papaya, they delivered the information to the Guild Heads. Bulma decided to research some ancient relics called the "Dragonballs", but the group only had one motive: Take revenge on Lareth and get the money back! They equipped themselves and chartered a ship back to Nulp. On that journey they met Maria. Her family was from Nulp, but only her brother Otis was left now; he was a famous blacksmith. She had also heard that bandits were about in her home village and had decided to investigate. Since she was a cleric of Kord and the party liked her, they decided to team up.

In Nulp, they found that the coaching operation was now run by Junker, Lareth's lieutenant. They defeated him, but were able to extract the information that Lareth had bought himself a place in the mafia of the southern capital, Santhar. Santhar was a city run by knights of three different orders. However, they eventually found that corruption and evil existed in the knighthoods and from the evil spies, they learned that Lareth the Beautiful lived was in the organization behind it and where he lived. Together with Lord Dexter Fastblade from the order of St. Cuthbert, they managed to breach the defences of Lareth's mansion and kill his demon guardians. Lareth, however, managed to flee, though in disgrace. He would be hunted by the mafia, as well as the knights. During their time in Santhar, Percifona also managed to make contact with an assassin master called Tao Bai Bai. He promised to train her in the arts when she was ready.

After delivering a parcel to a mage in the Kron Hills for Fastblade, they learned that Lareth the Beautiful had taken refuge in the vicinity of Homlet, a small village with interesting history. It seemed that an evil temple had been built in the area a long time ago, but was destroyed in a united effort of the knights and the Mage Guild. Bandits, it seemed, had again begun to plague the area.
They found their nemesis beneath the remnants of an old temple outpost, but again, Lareth was able to flee in the last moment. Sadly, Darix, the dwarf, died an honourable death in the battle. Later on, a sorcerer with the name of Merlos joined with the group, though. The group decided to make the Moathouse their home - only bad thing about it was that the dungeon seemed to generate ghouls and other undead. Although they searched the place for a source, they found none.

From there, they turned their attention towards the ruins of the Temple of Elemental Evil. They killed the bandits at the Tower in a grand battle and found notes leading to a certain personality called Smigmal Redhand. During this fight, Maria showed her secret: She was a shape-changer, a werebear. Her family had carried that burden for centuries, but now only she and her brother were left. They also discovered that the first level of the temple ruins was not empty, but populated by undead and monsters like bugbears and ogres. By then, though, they really needed to train to increase their skills. Percifona went to Santhar, Kruskar stayed in the Homlet area and the rest had decided to return to Nulp and train at the temple of Kord. On their travels, they met a caravan that offered Ike some kord pants. They vendor told him they were 'Pants of Kord - once worn by the avatar of Kord himself'. As a true believer, Ike sold all he had to get them. Little did he know (as did the vendor), that that rumor was indeed true.
In Nulp they found that Otis had been murdered by an assassin that left a token showing a red hand and that a valuable Samurai sword he had crafted was missing. Enraged, they had finished their training and made their way back to Homlet.

"So is that really all we have experienced", Kruskar asked himself. The answer was of course: No, it wasn't. He could remember all of the little details that had forged the group into what it was: the best of friends. "Some day", he told himself, "I will have to write a book".

Let the real chronicles begin...

 

[Neverwinter Knight]

Nulb

The party returned to Homlet on the night of Sunday. Percifona had taken ill during the ride, maybe a wound taken from their fight with the Ant-Men at the moor. It was clear that she would have to lay back a few days and rented a room to be close to the temple of St. Cuthbert, if she needed it.
The friends new companion, the Samurai, had to doublecheck with his master for the course of action to follow, now that the sword was stolen. He knew that it was priceless and had to be recovered at any cost, but it was his duty to inform his master of the events. Also, it had become clear that the thief had a base in the area, she would still be around when he returned.

Kruskar had stayed in Homlet to train with his master and had told his friends that he'd wait for them in town, but he was nowhere to be found.

Maria, in the meantime, wanted to make a go for the temple. Her desire for revenge had greatly changed the once hearty cleric of Kord. It was all that Ike and Merlos could do to make her rest for the night in the Moathouse and go to Nulb the next day.
They almost expected some ghuls to have risen in the Moathouse that was now their base, but none were to be found this time.

After a good night's rest, the party decided to venture into Nulb. It was a poor place, every building run-down and only four places worth taking note of: a low tavern and inn called the Waterside Hostel, an even lower place called the Boatman's Tavern, an herb shop and the smithy. They remembered that the smith was Elmo's elder brother Theleb and decided to start their search for Smigmal in there.
A rat-faced boy answered the door and introduced them to his master. Theleb himself was a powerful man, sweating from his work on the sword he had just been making.

"Hello strangers", he said. "Who are you and what do you want?" After the three worshipers of Kord had introduced themselves and mentioned that they knew Elmo he seemed a little friendlier.
"I want to find myself a female for the night, if you now what I mean." Ike always liked to speak out blankly. "I heard that there is a nice half-orc girl around, something like Redfoot, Redfinger or ... Redhand!" After that, Theleb told them to go to the Waterside Hostel for these kind of services and to leave, if they didn't have the intention of buying anything.

Disappointed, they did as they were told. Since it was around noon, they found the hostel almost empty: two men behind the bar and only two tables taken, one by a couple of peasants, the other by two toughlooking half-orcs and a human. Ike went to the bartender and repeated his request. Although trying not to show it, the bartender, who had introduced himself as Wat, had reacted to the name. "Interesting", thought Ike, "maybe we can have a private little interrogation later." It was then that Maria nodded to one of the half-orcs and asked her two friends to accompany her outside. After renting three rooms from the unfriendly hostler with the name Dick Rentch, they left the building.

"What's the matter?" Merlos did not have a clue as to what Maria had planned. "Just wait here, by the house", was her reply. "We are meeting someone!"


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The half-orcs and their human colleague had watched the three friends enter the Waterside Hostel. Grud, their sharp-eyed leader said "These are Kord scum. We should cut them down." "Easy, Grud", the other half-orc replied. "Dick Rentch won't want a fight in here." "I'm not afraid of that bastard! But you are right, this is the best place in this god-forsaken nest. Prost to that!" The three toasted to new exploits in the future and finished their beers.
After the Kord folk had left, the other half-orc got up. "Grud, I need to get something from the Market. I'll be back later." "Whatever..."


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Kruskar drew back his hood and went down the street. It was good to have seen his friends again, although he did not want to blow his cover. For the past two weeks, he had been in the company of Tolub and his river pirates. His master Roshi had given him the advice to go check on Nulb and hire on as a mercenary. And hire on he did. He had met Grud in the Boatman's Tavern. The half-orc had taken a liking to him immediately and he had been on-board since then. It was a good thing that he had chosen this under-cover approach, he had thought. Because the band of pirates was a large one: He estimated around sixty of them and they roamed the river on two small ships. Tolub, their leader, was a tough and brutal man. During these two weeks, two pirates had met their death by his hands because they had dared to complain. In Kruskar's eyes no big losses. He was glad, though, that there had not been a raid during his two weeks there.

But now his friends had returned. He could now tell them of all the things he had learned. A few times he had seen men in robes come to the ships and load cases and barells onto wagons and roll off down the High Road in the direction of the Temple of Elemental Evil. Sometimes these wagons would also stop by the hostel and pick up some goods there as well. Kruskar was a little concerned about Percifona, however. He had not seen the Thief with his friends and hoped she was well.

He saw them wave at him from behind a small house and went to meet them. "Greetings, my friends", he said. "Good to see you again, even in this low-down town." "Kruskar!" Merlos and Ike had only now recognized their fellow adventurer. "Yes, hello Kruskar." Maria seemed friendly, but did not smile. "I recognized you in there."

They exchanged their information quickly and both sides were surprised at the news from the other. "Have you heard anything about this Smigmal Redhand", Ike wanted to know. Kruskar had not, though. "Well, I can check the others and try to find out. Tolub's first mate Grud seems to know and talk alot!" "OK, then you go in there, and we will visit the rest of Nulb."

So Ike and Merlos went to the Boatman's Tavern to ask their usual question; Maria decided to tag along. This place was even more run-down than the hostel. They were told to leave since they did not want to buy anything and the were not able to find out more about Redhand. On their way out, a drunken villager pointed to their holy symbols and told them,"I'd hide these, if I were you. We do not like your kind in Nulb!" The friends thought about it and tucked their symbols under their cloaks. Altough they did not want to deny their god, they felt that they needed the advantage of being incognito. Their last stop before retiring to their rooms at the hostel was the herb shop.

All kinds of different smells greeted them as they entered, the mixture of which was a strong, but pleasent odor. Immediately feeling refreshed, they looked around the room and saw two incredibly old women at the back of the shop, who introduced themselves as Mother Screng and her daughter Hudra.
"Well look, daughter. It's the Kord Clerics", Mother Screng called out when she had taken a look at them. The party looked surprised: It had only taken an hour or so for their religion to have become public knowledge. Damn! "Well", continued the old woman, "there are worse." "Such as Llolth", said Merlos. "Yes", Mother Screng looked almost scared, "Llolth is worse."
After asking the Redhand-question (they did not find out anything, of course) they looked around the shop. "What do you have to offer?" Merlos was interested in anything magical, while Ike was of course always on the lookout for new things for his wagon. Mother Screng did not have much, but sold Merlos a vial, claiming it to be an old potion of healing that she had purchased from some cannoness Y'dey some while ago.


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Back at the hostel, Kruskar asked Grud about Smigmal Redhand. "Ah, Smigmal, now that's a pretty lass - but very dangerous! I only saw her two or three times, when she recruted some people, but I hear she's taken a set-back and that her force was destroyed. Well, I drink to that." "Really Grud, but I have heard some things about her and I was told that you can make some money there." "OK Kruskar, Tolub's ship is back due this evening. There will be some people that will pick up some goods, if you know what I mean. I could introduce you then. So come here tonight and we can do that. 'till then I have to get things ready for when Tolub comes back, it means that we leave town tomorrow."

Kruskar smiled. He was going to meet Redhand and find out more about the temple! Things were going well. He searched Nulb for his friends and told them to be a the hostel that evening as well. Maybe they could hire on as well or they might follow them and attack from behind, if Redhand herself was present.


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Later that evening the party sat in the main room of the hostel, all sipping on some beers. Maria seemed very tense. The others hoped she would be able to control her temper. Luckily Wat was not present this evening, although the hostel was full. The party was thankful for that, because he had spotted and recognized their holy symbols of Kord.

Some time later, Grud entered with three people, all cloaked in brown cloaks. Two of them were very large and they went to stand guard next to the door. The smaller figure drew back his hod to reveal a young and handsome face. Grud brought him over to where Kruskar was sitting and introduced the man as Hartsch.

"So, Kruskar, Grud here tells me you'd like to hire on with Smigmal Redhand. That so?" "Well, she has a good reputation and the pay's supposed to be good", Kruskar replied. He did not want to push his luck by bluffing too much. "Ah, no, my friend, you don't want to join that band of loosers. In fact, her whole troup was wiped out a couple of weeks ago! If you'd been with them, you'd be dead now." Hartsch let out an evil laugh that clearly showed he felt no sympathy for the dead brigands or their leader. "But the group I represent has much more power than Smigmal! From what Grud here tells me, you could be very useful to us. In fact we have suffered some losses recently, but these were stupid brutes with no brains. We could use a captain to coordinate them. AND, we pay more than Smigmal. What do you say?" "I say: How much!" The monk wanted to play the role of a greedy mercenary to the best of his ability. "Well", grinned Hartsch, "I could offer you 3 gold pieces per day. Your duties would be to protect our terretory and maybe some occasional raids." "3 gp per day ?? It's a deal."

Hartsch looked around the room. When he saw the rest of the group, he stopped and looked at them. He got an idea. "Hey, you." He pointed at Merlos. "What can you do? You a mage?" "Well, actually, ... No, it's OK. Yes. I, Merlos, am a mage, altough I do prefer the term Sorcerer!" Merlos was proud of his class! "Excellent! How about you come with me, and I take you to my master. He is looking to employ a mage like yourself and would pay very well for your services. And who are these? Your bodyguards?" Hartsch pointed at Ike and Maria. "Me Ike. Me smash things." Playing the dumb brute was not difficult for a man with Ike's looks. Maria just nodded. "Well then, Merlos, would you accompany me?" Hartsch seemed excited.

They left Nulb with a wagon full of goods in the direction of the temple. A group of six Gnolls had waited for them just outside Nulb and were accompanying them. The heros were pleased. Things had been easy thus far. Too easy.

The wagon really did go to the Temple of Elemental Evil. Hartsch did not speak much on the way but looked intently at the group, especially at Merlos and Kruskar. They entered the Temple Area through one of the small side doors and proceeded down to the first underground level via the left staircase. Then they turned north for some time, passing many passages that went off to the left and right. Before they came to the end of the passage, Hartch warned them. "Watch this. There is a trapdoor in front of this door." He went around the trap and knocked on the door. A shutter opened and Hartsch said, "Praise to the Elder Elemental Eye." The door was opened and they entered a room with some 20 guards inside. The guards bowed to Hartsch and opened another door for him. This one also had a similar trap door on the other side. Bypassing that they continued down a passage until they came to a door. Hartsch knocked. Again, a shutter opened and he repeated, "Praise to the Elder Elemental Eye." They entered a small room with four guards. "Please wait here. I'll inform the master." With these words, Hartsch left the room through a door to the north.


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A soft knock on the door disturbed him from his thoughts. That damn fire temple. He had to do something about their raids. Enraged he shouted, "What is it?" A familiar voice answered through the door. "Master Romag, it is me, your servant Hartsch. May I enter? I have important tidings to bring you." "Come in, then." Hartsch entered the room with an excited look on his face. "Master, I was able to recruit new people. One fighter was recommended to me by Grud of the river pirates and one of the others is a mage!" "A mage? This sounds good. Have you screened them, Hartsch?" "Yes, my master. Neither the fighter nor the mage are good-aligned. The mage also has one bodyguard and a female companion, but I deemed them not important." Romag looked pleased. "You have done well, my young apprentice. With their help we may finally stop the raids of the damned fire temple and maybe even have the power to overthrow them. Take me to them, NOW!"


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Hartsch returned to the smaller room with his master. "Master Romag, this is Kruskar. He is the one Grud recommended." "Yes, I see. Kruskar, we need a man to handle a troup of Ogres, Bug Bears and Gnolls. These stupid brutes were destroyed by a rival faction some weeks ago. We need more intelligence in that area, especially since this area is the entrance to this temple level. They might not exept your authority right away. Is that going to be a problem." Kruskar smiled. "Leave them to me." "Are you pre-occupied with a religion, Kruskar?" "No, my lord, but Hartsch tells me you are a powerful group. AND pay well." "Yes we are powerful. We are the special Elite group that may worship the Aspect of the Earth, the favoured element of the Elder Elemental Eye. You will see the power when you participate in our rituals. As for the pay, I think Hartsch has increased your salery to ten times your salery of your river pirate occupation. Is that not enough for you?" The tone of his voice told Kruskar that trying to strike another deal would not be a good option. "No, this is generous", was his reply.

"Well, then", Romag continued. "You must be the magician, Merlos." Merlos simply nodded, although he hated being referred to as a mage. "We have great use here for one such as you. What is your speciality? Can you summon demons? What about torture? We have some prisoners here that we could use skilled help with!" "No, sir, but I am very effective in direct combat." "A battle mage, eh", Romag seemed almost happy, "that is great as well. With your help we can finally fight back the forces of fire! What about your companions?" He turned to Ike and Maria. "Woman, do you have faith? If yes, in who?" Maria just shook her head and looked to the floor. Her hands were trembling, she was just a the brink of loosing her control. But Romag turned to the half-orc. "You, do you share your brethen's belief in Gruumsh One-Eyed, because if that is so, you have no place here. You should instead worship the Elder Elemental Eye." "Ike managed to say "Me strong." He pointed to his muscles. "Me smite things!"
Romag was pleased. He was just about to give praise to his apprentice, when he felt something vibrating at his side. He took Nightbringer, his mace imbued with the powers of Evil Earth, in his hand. "Look at him", it called out. "Don't you see it?" The weapon granted him the vision of auras. As he looked around, he barely noticed the aura of good around the woman. What shook him was the aura of the stupid half-orc in front of him.

Never in his life had he felt such an aura of the purest good. The half-orc seemed to glow in bright, white light. And were these wings protruding from his back. In a vision that was like a daydream he saw the wizard shooting lightnings at him and his new captain of the guard Kruskar hitting him in the back. It was all he could do to shake of these visions and the aura sight. He called out, "GUARDS, GUARDS, HELP ME, KILL THEM !!!" And then things went very quickly.

Ike was incredibly fast. He with super speed he jumped, drew his sword and slashed at Romag. Had his blow landed right, he might have killed the master of the Earth Temple where he stood, but Romag wore good armor. Maria also jumped at the cleric, while Kruskar started to work on the guards. As more guards came from the northern room, Merlos blocked their way with a flaming sphere.
Romag and Hartsch managed a few spells, but they lasted only rounds against the incredible fighting force of Ike and Maria, who had cast Bull's Strength on herself before with maximum effect. As Romag went down, the guards fled to the room in the north.

By that time, Ike's Barbarian Rage was over and he had to recover. They took some time there and went on. After listening on the door, Merlos overheard some people talking. They opened nevertheless and were surprised by a powder keg rolling towards them. It exploded with a big band and the group took heavy damage. Ike pressed on and picked a fight with eight people in the next room. With help from the others, they made short work of the remaining guards.
Three surrendered and were spared - for the moment. Kruskar, judge of the party, judged them guilty of being in the evil temple. That would be good enough for him to take their life. These guards, however, revealed to them that the prisoners were in the north-west of the complex and warned them from venturing too far to the south-east, where undead had killed some of their unfortunate colleagues.

All rooms were searched and the front door locked. With several options at hand, the four friends contemplated their next course of action.

to be continued...

 

[Neverwinter Knight]

The Aftermaw

Percifona looked up at the sky. Although it was a beautiful day and she was feeling better, her heart was troubled. It was not that it was for concern for her friends, far from it, she was sad because the others were probably out there slaying monsters and evil men. AND SHE WANTED TO JOIN THEM! SNEACK ATTACK! But still, she had been very ill and had it not been for Brother Calmert and his medicine, she would still be in bed with fever.

As she stood out there in front of the Inn of the Welcome Wench, two armor-clad men approached her. "Hey, you there! Aren't you Sephyra? You are, are you not?" one asked. "No you idiot" replied the other. "She is Percifona. Ah, no you're right, she's Daphne. Then they looked at each other, then at Percifona and then shouted together "Well, who are you?" Percifona sighed, she could not get used to Burne's Badgers as they called themselves. Burne supposedly recruited these men as prisoners from the battle of Emridy Meadows. Since then these chaotic fighters served him loyally, although they were known to play strange pranks on people. "I", she emphasized, "am Percifona. You'd better remember this!" "Oh great joy", they both replied. "Then we can take you with us back to the tower. Lord Burne wants to see you."

The wizard looked worn out, as though he had been drinking heavily the past night, she thought. On her way to the castle, the two guards had only stopped once to egg one of the villagers. She would never understand why a man of Burne's status had such servants. "You wanted to see me, Lord Burne?" "Ah, Percifona", the wizard managed a mild smile. "Good thing you are here. I want to show you something." He led her to a little room with a circular table. In the middle there was a small ball of dull white crystal. "Look into this crystal ball and tell me what you see." Percifona looked and, to her surprise, she saw Ike standing in a nicely furnished room, looking over the remains of a battle. There was blood everywhere. "I have kept watch over your friends for the last hour or so. They could use your help." Percifona was eager to join her friends. So they had been battling away without her. Not fair. "OK, I'll be on my way then." Burne smiled. "I think I can get you there very quickly. Stand aside." With a few words and gestures of magic he conjured up a door. "If you step through this door, you will find yourself with your friends. I will try to watch over you once in a while, but my, ah, let's say reception in this place is very bad. And that is even though I'm tuned in onto something one of your friends has. Oh, and by the way, if things go badly for you, take reinforcements with you. I think Elmo's brother Theleb used to be a sword for hire and might come with you, for a price." Percifona thanked Burne and stepped through the gate.


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Ike turned around and was surprised to see a glowing portal in the northern wall. He readied his greatsword and almost cut down his friend Percifona as she stepped into the room. "Perce', how'd you get here ?" Percifona greeted her friends and told them what had occurred. "Hmm, so Burne is watching us, is he." Ike looked like a little child. He had an idea.


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In his scrying room Burne shook his head. No, he thought, this band of adventurers lacked any sort of discipline and the seriousness necessary to complete difficult quests. He got up and left the room, feeling the need for a warm meal and a mug ale. In the room, the crystal ball was still glowing. And there were people in there moving, no, rather standing in the room moving their hands. They were waving.


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Kruskar and Merlos brought their friend up to date. Then they decided to take on of the captured guards with them to the prisoners. He should lead the way. The other two were tied up and locked in Romag's quarters.

They approached the door and Kruskar knocked. A peephole opened, and a human face looked through. "Hello, sir, what is the password?", he asked. "I am Kruskar, and I am your new commander and left hand of Romag", Kruskar answered the man. "Open this door at once." To his right, the guard they had taken with them waved and made gestures. Percifona closed in and put her sword in at his back. The man stopped.
"What is the password, sir", the guard demanded. "I am Kruskar and I'm new here. So just open the door." But his bluff was not very good and the guard was on alert. He closed the peephole and shouted "Guards, to me." Through the door, Kruskar could hear all kinds of movements and a horn.
"I tried to warn you", their prisoner said. "You have to say the password right away." "Really, or were you rather trying to warn your friends. Maybe I should just kill you now." Percifona looked like she meant it. That was enough, something in the guard snapped and he ran away, screaming. He did not get far, however, and stopped just after two yards and looked disbelievingly at Percifona's short sword that was protruding from his chest. Then he fell dead.

They took a while to prepare for combat, then Ike decided to run in the door. He forgot about the floor trap and fell into the pit. It was not deep, but as he was about to climb out, some of the bones on the bottom started to move. A skeleton got up and advanced on Ike.
Just then they heared noises from a path to the south. Sounds of men and a horn was blown again. Maria looked around a corner and was almost blasted with arrows. They were coming. At that moment the door in front of them opened.

They faced several archers, protected by warriors. Their enemies started to close in from the other side. Ike had quickly destroyed the skeleton and climbed out of the pit. As he entered the room he was attacked by a warrior in jet-black platemail armor. He dealt Ike a powerful wound. Maria sealed off their southern flank with a wall made of wind; she had become quite powerful. The others one by one jumped the pit and entered the combat in the other room. A cleric had joined in as well, casting spells and aiding the dark warrior. As the weaker guards fell, they left the room through a door in the north. The weakened party regrouped and also went through the door in the north after hearing noise from the south.

Continuing, they went through a complex network of tunnels and hallways, amazed of the size of the dungeon. Then they came by a set of stairs, leading down. From there they heard whipping sounds and screams. When they explored the area, they found a torture chamber with a mad human wielding a cat o' nine tails and a gnoll operating a winch. They were actively torturing a human male and utterly surprised when they were attacked by the party. They fell dead in a few rounds.
In the room they discovered four prisoners, two human girls and two orcs. The pretty one of the girls asked the party to search for her younger brother, who had been captured as well, but she declined Ike's request that she marry him. The orcs asked for weapons to revenge themselves on their captors.
The party took them all with them and explored some more, finding more prisoner cells. The mostly held zombies, though, but in one they found a gnomish warrior, who introduced himself with Gwunnilon. He also told them the rest of his name, but it was too long to remember for a non-gnome.

The friends explored some more, still, and encountered the cleric and the dark warrior, who fled before them. But they decided not to push their luck any further. After all, they were badly wounded and out of spells. They needed rest. So they chose to leave the dungeon and come back another time.

Their way out was a close call, though. The guards had laid ambushes in many of the passage ways and had obviously recruited the help of undead creatures. Finally they managed to escape the dungeon. The orcs they had freed had perished, though. Still, they had won a big battle and went back to their Moathouse with their heads held high.

to be continued...

 

[Neverwinter Knight]

Twists of Fate

The party had left the dungeons of the Temple of Elemental Evil in a hurry. Once outside, they were no longer persued. Since they were still missing their mounts, they decided to camp in the area and search for their mounts the next day. During Ike's night watch, he heard a sound that seemed to come from a tree near him. "Pst, hey, you there." a high-pitched voice whispered to him. "Come here. Hey, pst." "Who's there?" Ike called into the night. "Hey big fellow" was his reply. "Come here, hey." Ike slowly moved towards the voice. As he moved past Kruskar, he kicked him softly. The monk awoke. "Hey, what happend?" Kruskar saw Ike just pointing to the tree in front of them. But the voice was gone and did not come back for the rest of the shift.

In the morning Ike told his friends what had happened. Then they spread out in three different groups to find their mounts. They tried their luck to the north of the temple area. After 2 hours of searching they decided to abbandon their search and return to the moathouse. Gwunnilon - the gnome they had rescued from the temple dungeons - decided to explore the upper moathouse ruins, while Ike wanted to drive to Homlet with the tortured sailor and the two girls. The others, being Merlos, Percifona and Kruskar, went downstairs to kill the occasional ghoul.

Ike was glad to have another two additional horses and his wagon. His father had been right: You could never have enough stuff. What if something was lost or stolen. He placed the hurt man on the bed on top of the wagon and told the girls to watch the sailor. Maria sat up front with him.
It was a beautiful day. Here, far enough away from the temple, nature was green, yet also full of other colors. He was watching the road ahead, when something made him shiver. It was like the ghost of a scream the seemed to echo in his mind. Iiiike! He had a bad feeling about this. Without knowing how he knew he turned the wagon around. He had only left the moathouse 5 minutes ago. But he knew...


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Kruskar led his two friends through the lower level of the moathouse. He was beginning to hate always having to search around for stray ghouls. Where are those creatures coming from, he thought to himself. They had just descended the stairs and looked into the two store rooms. No ghouls there. Then they walked past the cells and stepped into the torture chamber.
Just before he was attacked, Kruskar noticed the smell of decaying flesh that seemed to be more heavy this time. From behind the entrance came a hideously bloated purple face to meet him, or rather what was left of it. He also noticed a "Lifeforce" from the other side, but decided to take his chances with this creature, behind which, he could see another ghoul.
Both the ghast in front of him and the ghoul flanking Kruskar attacked with both claws and their bite, taking him by surprise. They ripped into his flesh and Kruskar could feel the poison of them, although he could resist.

Percifona attacked the ghoul with her sword and landed a blow through its heart that would have killed a normal man. But this undead creature's heart had not been beating for a long time, so this great hit was almost wasted. As Merlos attacked the same ghoul with a flaming sphere, Kruskar went to get his revenge on the ghast in front off him. "Die, and stay down", he shouted at the beast as he made his attacks. But the monster was still standing. He sank both claws and his fangs into the brave half-orc. And Kruskar stood still. Too much of the ghoul's poison had entered his veins, he felt so terribly cold. The ghoul in his back grunted with delight as he could make an attack against his helpless opponent. He wouldn't have lasted long, but on her turn, Percifona grabbed the monk and though him back through the entrance. One ghoul went past her and, avoiding the flaming sphere attacked Merlos. When Percifona turned around, she saw that the ghast had turned her way.

The next thing she new, two different sensations came to her, the first was that of red hot pain, coming from the wounds that the ghast had inflicted upon her with his claws and the next one was icy cold, as the monster's poison started to work on her as well. She wanted to yell for help, wanted to tell Merlos to save her, but she could not command her mouth to speak. And to her horror, instead of turning to attack Merlos, the ghast remained focused on her, being able to precisely aim his next attacks.

Merlos saw that his friend was in trouble. He had to dispose of the ghoul attacking him very quickly. From the corner of his eyes he saw that Kruskar was still lieing helpless on the floor. He focused his thoughts and directed the flaming sphere onto the ghoul. But, ah, this monster was fast. He missed it. Damn.
He looked to Percifona and watched in horror that the ghast bent over her and took a big bite of her neck. Blut came gushing out of the wound. Merlos' felt an incredible anger build up inside of him. Anger at not being able to do anything for his friends, anger that he didn't have the fighting capability of other Kord believers. And then he knew. He knew how to express his anger, how to channel his energy. And everything went up in a ball of fire.


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When Ike steered the wagon back into the moathouse, he saw a badly burned Merlos, being supported by Gwunnilon. Next to them he noticed Kruskar sitting in a corner, mourning over another body: Percifona. Ike ran to them and checked the body, she was dead, for sure. But it was no surprise, somehow he had known.

They talked about what to do next. At least the undead had been destroyed by the fireball as well. Kruskar's survival had been a close call. Finally they got up and drove to homlet. They went to the church of St. Cuthbert right away. Brother Calmert told them that he could not make her live again. Only Cannonness Y'dey could do that. But as she was away, they would have to wait.
"Is there nothing else you can do", Ike asked. "Well, I could preserve her body and even talk to her soul, even though it's on its way to the other world." "Well then, do that." Brother Calmert kneeled before Percifona and called on St. Cuthbert to reach her soul. He acted as a medium between the group and her. Percifona, it seemed wanted to return. If they did not hear from Cannonness Y'dey, they should seek out her master in the southern capital.


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They left the church and visited the Inn of the Welcome Wench. Not surprisingly, they found Elmo in his favourite seat. "Hello, my friends, I have already heard about the tragedy. Please accept my condolences." "Thank you Elmo." Ike shook his hand. "Let us drink to our fallen friend Percifona and that she will soon join us again in the world of the living. Well, as soon as that St. Cuthbert chick comes back." Elmo looked interested. "Well, I wouldn't wait for the Cannonness. She hasn't been here in a long time. I can see why they from that church didn't tell you, but there is another possibility for our friend. There are many folks still in Homlet that are of the Old Faith. And we go to the druid for help of that kind."


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They stepped into the grove of Jaroo Ashstaff. The old druid was still the kind but powerful man they remembered him to be. Quickly, they explained their plight and the druid offered help. "I could bring her back to life. But - there are risks." It seemed that he could bring back their friend in another body. And he only had limited control over what kind that would be. "But the body's still fresh. That raises the chances of keeping race and gender." The party was not that convinced. "And ", the druid paused, "did I mention that it's free?"

So it was settled. The friends brought the body from Calmert - who was obviously displeased - and the druid performed the ritual. Percifona's body glowed and then a beautiful young elven maiden stepped from the grove to greet them. "Hello my friends, and thank you for bringing me back. This is Percifona", she pointed to the dead body on the floor, "and she is dead. I will be...Artemida."

And so the heros were reunited and celebrated that night in the inn.


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The next day, they went to Lord Burne. In the tavern they had heard that the Great Competition was soon to be held and they needed airborne transportation to Tenkaichi's island. They had also learned that the Red Ribbon Army in the north had been defeated - supposedly by a little boy. Ike couldn't help but to think of his little friend, who had left the party on his little flying cloud.
After an enoying encounter with Burne's Badgers, the mage revealed to them that he was a passive member of the Blue Griffon Company, a community formed around his and Rufus' old adventuring group. From them he could rent a few griffons to take them to the competition.

That settled, the company set off to retrieve their mounts. After another search, Maria spotted a trail to a familiar-looking clearing in the forest. This was the place where the tunnel from the tower had led them. And there was smoke coming out of the chimney. As they approached the house from two sides, they were attacked by archers with poisoned arrows. Ike's strength was drained but they quickly killed the gnolls guarding that house.
Great was Ike's grief, when he saw that the beasts had slaughtered his favoured horse: Big Bertha. She had become the gnoll's dinner.

Wanting revenge on the temple, Ike led the group onto the area where they found the small side doors repaired. After smashing them open, they found the upper level as empty as they remembered it. Or so they thought.
The party was attacked by two enormous brutes, the likes of which they had never seen before. They seemed to heal much of the damage dealt to them. Still, the party was winning, until one grabbed Kruskar with both arms, pinned him and sank his sharp teeth into him. One more attack by the troll and Kruskar would have been dead. Just then they heard an evil laughter. Gwunnilon was still laughing as he sank his sword into the helpless Kruskar. The monk's lights went out. Confused the troll dropped the body and went to attack Maria.

By then the battle was almost over. The two monsters were almost beaten and Merlos made sure they didn't regenerate too much with fire magic. Finally they killed them. Ike advanced on Gwunnilon, who was kneeling beside Krusar's body with a potion in his hand. "You traitor, you killed him", Ike shouted. "No, Ike, I just pretended to to save his life." The gnome made Kruskar swallow the potion - and Kruskar began to move again. His eyes flew open. "What... what happened? Gwunnilon, no..." "Relax, big fellow", the gnome reassured him. "If he had hit you again, you would really be dead now. I just tricked the brute to save your life, as you have saved mine. I'd say we're even."

The were victorious again, but badly beaten. They decided to return to Homlet and wait for their Griffons to arrive.

to be continued...

 

[Hammerhead]

Good story. I like the writing style.

However, to quote Dave from KotSQ "Is papaya a kind of gemstone or what?"

 

[Neverwinter Knight]

Actually, it's a fruit!

 

[Neverwinter Knight]

The Great Tournament

Back in Homlet, Gwunnilon the Gnome said good-bye to the group. "Well, you saved my life, and I'm very grateful for that, but I think we're even now. What do you say Kruskar?" The monk nodded. If it hadn't been for the quick thinking of the young gnome, he would have been killed by the troll. "If you're ever in Verbobonc, just ask around for me. I can show you around town and will invite you to a nice dinner. I can also tell you my plans for rearranging some of the buildings, I had a lot of time in that prison cell, you know..." Yes, they knew. They also knew that he talked too much. The friends promised to come and visit some time and then said good-bye. Gnomes were strange folk.

They had healed themselves and spent some time with Elmo in the Inn of Welcome Wench, when they heard screams from the road: "Run, hide the horses." "They are after my ponies." "Help, Griffons!"
Ah, so Burne's contacts were on time. They stepped outside and saw a company of four griffons flying down from the sky and landing near Burne's tower. Ike was glad to have given his horses and wagon to the carpenter for safe-keeping. He didn't like the idea of some monsters eating his horses. After all, his favorite, Big Bertha, had just been eaten by a couple of Gnolls.

As they approached, they saw one of the four Griffon Riders enter Burne's tower. After a Ike threatened the Burne's Badger guards with a nightly visit, they were let in and walked up to the mage's study. Inside they found him talking to the Griffon Rider, a handsome elf. Burne rose to greet the party. "Ah, my friends. Come in and meet Sir Hemlin, a high-ranking member of the Blue Griffin company." The elf turned to greet them, "Nice to meet you, Lord Burne here has spoken highly of you." Artemida moved closer to him, flapping her eyelashes. "Hello good Sir. Would you be so kind as to take me with you on your Griffon." It seemed Sir Hemlin was very pleased with the idea - hey who would pass up a beautiful elven female for a chance to take along a sweating half-orc?

Burne wished them luck and they left for the Griffons. When they were outside, Maria told them that she was not going. "The loss of my brother is too great for me to go to the Great Tournament. I will stay in the area and try to find out what I can about this evil place. I hope you do well." Ike then looked over the Griffons and their riders. Sir Hemlin he had already met. He wore expensive clothes and armor and carried a longsword. Two of the other pilots were wearing leather armor and long grey cloaks and the last one was clad in a beautiful white cloak. Ike, who hadn't washed himself in days, made his choice. He went to the white rider and told him "Ike rides with you." If the mage was not pleased, he didn't show it. Suddenly he pointed to the sky. "What's this?" The half-orc looked and thus did not see the fine gestures the mage was making in his direction. When he didn't see anything, Ike turned back to the mage. "I don't see anything." "No matter, let us leave for the Tournament." Ike's smile faded when he noticed the shine of his armor and clothes. He had never been this clean in his entire life. His half-orc manliness had gone. Merlos and Kruskar each took a seat behind the rangers and they took off.


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Ike found that his new cleanliness continued for the whole trip. He didn't even break a sweat and when he spilled some ale over his cloak, the stain was gone the next time he looked at the spot. Other than that, the trip to the Isle Papaya was a quiet one.


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Once on the isle, they could see that why they called it the Great Tournament: The crowd was huge. It took hours just to get to the tournament premisis. The first thing they did was to sign in their names. Artemida registered herself for the archery and lock-picking contest, Kruskar wanted to fight in both armed and unarmed contests, and Ike chose to enter armed and unarmed combat as well as archery. He also wanted to enter mounted combat, but he had no horse here and could not find someone to sell him one. As a bonus, the two half-orcs also entered the armwrestling competition.
They were also told the rules of the competition. There were three ways to loose a match:


Touching the floor outside the ring
Giving up by saying so
Being knocked unconcious or being unable to give up

Also, killing an opponent would result in disqualification from the tournament for life. Religious or ethical differences were set aside during the time of the Great Tournament and were actually forbidden.

First up were the preliminary fights for the unarmed combat. Someone pulled on Ike's shirt and the half-orc recognized him as: Son-Goku. He had grown a little bit, but otherwise he seemed the same. He introduced his friend Krilin, a small bald monk and told them they had been training very hard for this tournament. They also noticed a huge Half-Dragon by the name of Mondragore. He was very powerful and cruel.

Ike didn't do well. With his Great Sword, he felt he could have cut down his competition easily, but without it, he was prone to unarmed attacks of experienced fighters and monks. After winning through his first fight, he was knocked out by his second opponent. Kruskar was doing much better. His unarmed expertise was supperior to that of his first four opponents. His last opponent was thougher, however.

Artemida gasped. She recognized the fighter Kruskar was going to fight next. The referee introduced him as Shin, but she only knew him from sight. She had never forgotten him, when she had briefly met him in the dungeons under the moat house, when he had come with a message for Lareth the Beautiful. Now he was there, with his beautiful dragon tatoo that started on his shaved head and ran down the left side of his body. And he proved to be a capable fighter. But he was no match for Kruskar. Using a clever tactic of tripping and direct hits, he knocked his opponent out in the 9th round. With that victory, Kruskar had entered the quarter finals. Artemida was asked out by an old man who introduced himself as Jackie Chun, but she politely declined.

Now it was the archers turn. Ike and Artemida both forgot to bring a bow, but the elven maiden used her charm to borrow one. She didn't do as well as her competition, however. Ike did a little better, but didn't make it past round two. Frustrated, he waited for the armed combat to begin. The archery competition was won by a drow with the name of Shnitzt' Holtz Blitzt.

Ike didn't have to wait long. When he went into the ring, he had to be careful not to kill his opponents, so powerful was he. Kruskar, however faced Shin again in his first match, but this time Shin was armed with a black Katana that seemed to suck in the light. Three rounds later Kruskar lay bleeding on the floor & Shin had not even taken one hit. He had come very close, though, to killing the monk. He would have killed him anywhere else, but here, he had had his revenge. Ike, however had won through to the quarter finals.


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The friends rented a big suite for the night and celebrated their victories. Later that night the two half-orcs went to the arm-wrestling tournament, but they were both defeated. They had fought too much already. The next day started with the lock-picking contest. Artemida had to make her way through a maze of traps and locked doors & chests. Even though she succumbed to a poisoned chest in the end, she got farther into the artificial dungeon than anybody else and reached the final rounds. In the final rounds, only time mattered. First, she beat a halfling named Dekker by only three rounds to the finish.
In the finals, she was set against another elven woman with the mysterious name of Hummingbird. Although she first didn't do too well with the doors, she made such good speed in the last phase, that she finished 8 rounds ahead of her opponent. Artemida had won her tournament.


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Ike found the tournament finals full of celeberties. The quarter finals and their contenders were: Mondragore vs. the Black Knight, Ike vs. Jettok, Paladinlord Dexter Fastblade vs. Sir Douglas Varenquos and Shin vs. Hemlin. Lord Dexter came to greet Ike and wish him luck. He had won the tournament the last time, but Douglas had won it before him. The first fight went very fast. The drow who called himself the Black Knight defeated Mondragore in 4 rounds, cutting off one of his wings.
Ike prepared himself for the fight, but found that he could not hit his dwarven opponent: Jettoks armor was too though for him to pierce. Still, it was a close call, because Ike was the better fighter, but in the end, Jettok's AC brought him the victory.
The fight between Lord Dexter and Sir Douglas took more than 20 minutes. These two great fighters were evenly matched. However, the luck belonged to Sir Douglas on that day, and he knocked his opponent out cold. Shin made short work of Sir Hemlin.

The semi-finals went very quick. The Black Knight and Sir Douglas both outmatched their opponenents, and they faced each other in the finals. Although Sir Douglas' fighting style was perfect and his strength was amazing, the Black Knight defeated him in 15 rounds. Wearing a kind of armor noone else had seen before, which seemed flexible but had to be as hard as rock, and swinging his graceful swings at Sir Douglas, he was never in any real danger of loosing. Even though he had lost to a drow, Sir Douglas got up and shook the drow's hand.


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Kruskar's tournament was no less competitive. The quarter finals would be Krilin vs. Jackie Chun, Mondragore vs. Kruskar, Chatherine vs. Nam and Son-Goku vs. Bakterion.
Krilin seemed very sure of himself to win this fight, and was thus very surprised to find out that his opponent was alot faster and stronger than him. Within a few rounds, Krilin was thrown out of the ring.
Kruskar the monk found himself up against the Half-Dragon. Although the brute was strong, his chances were not bad. But his luck had left him. He only hit his opponent once, and that did not even scratch him. When Mondragore finished with him, Kruskar was in very bad shape.
Catherine, a female rouge, tried to keep the indian style monk Nam at bay by pretending to be a weak woman and then sneak attack him, but he was still too strong and didn't fall for that tactic for long.
Son-Goku was faced with a big, ugly fellow, who smelled terribly and used that as a weapon. With one kick, he ended the battle and the stench.

The first semi-final fight was a quick one. Without being hit once, Jackie Chun reduced Mondragore to a big piece of meat.
The battle between Nam and Son-Goku was somewhat tougher. In the end, Son-Goku used an energy beam to propel Nam out of the ring.
Nam was very sad at this, since he had been sent by his village to raise money for water and seeds. The village had been suffering from a tough draught and they needed these things. When Jackie Chun heard this, he gave Nam two capsules, one with seeds and another one that would make rain several times. Very grateful, Nam left the tournament.

The final was great. Both Jackie Chun and Son-Goku showed unnatural power and just as Son-Goku seemed to lose, he transformed into a gigantic ape and started to destroy the ring. With not many options left, Jackie Chun correctly guessed that the early-risen moon was the source for the transformation and destroyed it with a Kame-hame-ha. Son-Goku returned to his true form and they continued fighting. In the end, both lay unconscious on the floor and the first one to get up was Jackie Chun. He was declared winner of the Great Unarmed Tournament.


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There was much celebrating and all of the finalists were given
prizes. Artemida, as a winner, had to choose a random item and received a powerful rod of thunder and lightning. Ike was given a special Great Sword and Kruskar got Cords of Dexterity.

The last competition was the mounted combat, which was won by Lord Dexter. He was very pleased, since he had beaten Sir Douglas in the finals.

After this experience, the party lusted for some good, old adventure and prepared for their departure.

to be continued...

 

[Neverwinter Knight]

A Friend is Missing

The tournament was over. Many people were still celebrating, while the majority of the participants was preparing to leave. Hemlin, the commander of the griffon riders came to the four friends and told them they would be ready to leave within an hour.

"We should go and get our friend Shin!" Artemida was angry at not being recognized by Shin, who she'd had a crush on. It might however have something to do with her reincarnation. "I bet he can tell us where Lareth is. And if he doesn't want to, I'm sure I can convince him..." But the promise of Lareth was enough motivation for the party to go after Shin.

Eventually, they found the fighter at a shop in the market place. While the others watched, Artemida got close to the shop. "Hello Shin, you're still here?" He turned around, not surprised. "Hello, I still do not know you, but at least I now know who your friends are. You see, I know who filthy Ike and Kruskar are."

Artemida tried not to show that she was a little bit surprised. She thought of the stunt she had pulled off in Santhar. "You know, Shin, you really should tell me where Lareth is. He is my brother, after all!" Shin only smiled. "Oh really, I never knew we had such a big family. I really am his half-brother; you're just lying. What do you want?" "I don't know anything about this. I really am his sister - he even bought me clothes in Santhar."
"Boring, Artemida. What do you want?" "Tell me where Lareth is." "No, anything else?" "Pah, no, get lost." With that, Artemida walked away but snuck around a corner. She was intent on following him.

Eventually Shin was finished with his business and was quickly walking down to the harbor. The party followed him, but was spotted. But the fighter just turned around and waved, then he continued on his way. Keeping his pace, he walked aboard a small ship called "Lucky Lady". The others watched the ship and saw that only a few other people also entered the vessel. They noticed that there was a crew of four sturdy-looking ship-mates constantly patroling on the ship. Without further clues, Kruskar went to make inquiries about the "Lucky Lady".
There was not much to be found out about it, however. It seems that the crew never visited the harbor taverns and never mixed with other sailors, but they learned that the ship was scheduled to leave in one hour.

The ship looked ready to leave - what were they waiting for? Almost an hour later, they saw another passenger making his way toward the "Lucky Lady". It was none other than the winner of the Armed Combat Tournament: The Black Knight.
Artemida took all of her courage and went to intercept him. "Hello Mr. Drow, Sir, can I ask you a question?" The drow stopped and looked her over and seemed to recognize her. "Well, you're the one who won the thieving competition." "Actually, they were only tests of Dexterity, but, yes, I won." "What can I do for you." "Well", Artemida bluffed, "Shin wanted to tell me where I can find my brother Larteh and where this ship is going, but it seems that he left already." The Black Knight thought. "Well, not even this idiot would be so stupid as to tell you that. Do you really want to know where this ship is going?" "Yes, please." The drow smiled. "Hm, maybe I should take you with me then. Otherwise I would have to kill you, if I told you." Artemida was shocked. She did certainly not want to join the drow on this journey. "Don't worry little pale elven lady.", he said. "I will tell you this much: My ship is taking me home. The one you call Lareth is busy with an assignment I gave him, because he has failed me elsewhere. At the moment he is, ahem, out of your reach. Got it?" Artemida nodded. "Then fare well, little pale elven lady."
He went aboard and the ship took off immediately. When they where five houndred yards away, the fog grew around the ship and quickly swallowed it up. It was gone.

The party went back to Hemlin and the griffons. Ike complained. He was stricken again by increadible cleanness: all his sweat, his stains, his half-orc smell was gone. His clean clothes were alien to him, but what bothered him most, was the sweet smell of perfume, that seemed to linger about him.
Merlos saw that the wizard had worked an enchantment, and asked him about it, when they landed after an uneventful journey back in Homlet. He was given a scroll with the 2nd Level arcane spell Haldir's Unpreventable Cleansing.

Burne came to greet them. It seems he and most of the other village celeberties had watched the games at his tower. Somehow he had projected the images from his crystal ball onto a blank, white wall in his great hall. Even Cannonness Y'dey had been there and was currently still in Homlet.
"However, I am a little concerned about your friend Maria. A few days ago, Rufus told me he had seen her go off with some of the mercenaries the trader rents. Then yesterday, he told me that the mercenaries had returned. I tried to reach her, but she is nowhere to be found."

The trader! Ike new he had either sold him bad horses or had poisoned them after the deal. Without hesitation, the group went to confront him.
They found the halfling Ranos Davel as always in his shop. Artemida went up to him directly and confronted him with the story Burne had told them. "Where is our friend? What have you done to her?" "I don't know what you're talking about", the trader replied. Artemida tried to grapple him, just to intimidate him. The halfling lashed out with a dagger and defended himself with great skill and spoiled her attempt.

Kruskar moved in to prevent a fight from errupting. "Hold, you two. We...ARGH" Just then he felt a a knife sink into his back, missing his heart only by a few centimeters. Only a little bit to the left, and he would have been dead. He whirled around and saw the trader's partner Gremag behind him, holding the knife. He was grinning. If Artemida had seen the attack, she would have recognized Gremag's skill. The assassin was very good in what he did. Then everything happened very fast.

The trader shouted for help and defended himself against Artemida. Kruskar and Ike were attacking Gremag, while the assasin was concentrating on the monk. Merlos was helping Artemida against the halfling. Ike dropped Gremag with his greatsword, but could not prevent his opponent's last strike against Kruskar. The monk fell as well. The two town guards entered the room. Surveying the situation they decided that these people, although known heros around these parts, were trying to rob the local trader. They moved to attack the party. "Surrender, villains. You're under arrest." Merlos couldn't believe this. He wanted to affect them with his magic, but one of them resisted.
Then they heared Elmo's voice. "STOP! All of you, put down your weapons." He had such authority in his voice, that the fighting ceased almost immediately. Both sides pleaded their cases. "They just came in and killed my friend. They wanted all my money and valuables, Elmo", the trader told him.
"Come on, Elmo. You know us better than that. Besides, this other guy has killed our friend Kruskar." The others looked at Ike. It was true. Kruskar's body lay lifeless on the floor, still bleeding. His wounds had been too great. Artemida then told Elmo the Burne's story about Maria.

Elmo sided with the party. "Surrender, Ranos. All this needs to be cleared up and at the moment things speak against you." "See you all in hell!" With these words the trader gulped down a potion and vanished. Artemida hit the spot where the trader had just stood, but only hit thin air. "Guard the doors and windows", Elmo called. "This traitor must still be in here." Ike moved to the back door, his sword readied, while Merlos blocked the front door. Elmo thought things over, and then cast a spell. A bright flash of light leapt from his hands and when the party opened their eyes again, they saw Ranos Davel, the trader, with his dagger in his hands behind Merlos, casually aiming it at the sorcerer's throat.
That was it, Ike had had enough. Feeling the barbarian rage inside off him, he leapt across the room and cut the trader's head off in one terrible blow.

That done, they wondered what to do about poor Kruskar. Elmo advised against the druid, because maybe Cannonness Y'dey what still in town. They raced to the temple of St. Cuthbert. Calmer recognized them and quickly led them to a woman in her early fourties, clothed in white robes. Strangely enough, she looked a little familiar to the party.
After some explaination and the party agreeing to a high fee, she agreed to return the monk to the living.


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Kruskar was in a tunnel and saw a bright light at it's end. Only a little closer, and he would be able to see what it was all about. Then he heard a female voice calling his name. "Kruskar, you may still have to play some part in this world. Are you willing to return to the living and finish what you're here to do?"
Yes, Kruskar was willing. Even though he would never forget this light he saw for the rest of his life, he knew that he was needed back down there. So he returned.


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The friends were happy to be reunited again and set off to search the trading post. Besides many items (for Ike it was like a dream come true), they found a scroll from a person called Hedrack. It said that the party was to be killed in any way possible.

The party feared for their friend's wellbeing. Especially Ike was eager to know what happened to her. They questioned Gremag, but were unsure if he was telling the truth. They gave him to Lord Burne to be tried for murder, but he escaped from prison, by faking his own death and then killing the guard.

Enraged, the party raced to the Temple of Elemental Evil. They ran through the known parts and Artemida found a shortcut through a secret door. They came to a wide corridor with dread tapestries and lit torches. To the north, triangles were set into the floor, leading to a curtain, and drums came from that direction.
After some more investigation, they drew back the curtain and saw a ritual being conducted in a vast hall. It's floor was earth and in its center was a great pyramid made of mud. On top of it stood a manlike thing with the head of a fish. A warrior in black platemail stood next to him. On the floor, five people were praying. Ike didn't waste time. He charged at the fish-headed cleric.

When he walked through the room, two huge heaps of earth rose and followed him. A huge fight ensued between the remaining force of the earth temple and the heros. The evil priest fell to Ike's sword while Merlos's Fireballs and Kruskar's fists finished off the ghouls and the earth elementals.
Artemida was mad because she found that she could not place a critical hit on either of these foes, so she used her new mace to attack the black fighter and struck him down.

But they had prevailed. The forces they had found in the earth temple were defeated.

to be continued...

 

[Neverwinter Knight]

The Evil Below

Not taking time to celebrate their victory over the Earth Temple, the party gathered the items they had gained from their opponents. All of the mysterious fish-man's equipment carried a terrible stench, that was probably too much for all except, of course, Ike. Merlos pondered wether to counter the stench, but decided against it, since the spell given to him by the elven wizard was not permanent.
To the south they found three sets of doors. The middle one was a large metal portal just like the ones at the temple entrance, also enchanted in a like fashion. The other two led to small rooms, one filled with brown cloaks and cleric equipment, the other filled with rocks and earth. In the latter, they found a crumbled note saying "Romag, pay fealty to the water temple now. As water is the dominant element in the world, we are supreme in here. Pay fealty now, or be destroyed. Canon Belsornig" Several angry remarks in bad language had been made, probably by Romag.

They were not really seriously wounded and thus could continue. Hmm, to go downstairs or not to go downstairs? After some thinking they felt it was unwise to just leave potential enemies behind and went to search the north-eastern part of the temple. They encountered a door, but could not get it open, then they came to another door. It was a massive metal portal with some Runes inscribed. Merlos and Kruskar went to investigate, but the runes errupted into their faces with a blast of cold energy. This door also proved to be too much for Artemida's lock-picking skills.

Continuing southwards, they reached a small circular chamber with a broken altar ofblack marble. Behind it, they could see the beginning of another chamber with a sign saying "EXHAULTED CHAMBER OF HIGH AUGURY". Looking into that chamber, they saw that it was also circular with phosphorescent fungi providing bluish light from the chamber's top. In the middle they saw a circular depression in the floor, a small table and four small chairs therein. On the table, they saw a small, grey bag.
Very, very carefully they approached and made several tests for traps, before Artemida sat down and opened the bag. Inside she found several items like small chicken bones, dull stones, ect. and she had the feeling that these must be cast. "What should we do now", she formed a questionin her mind and cast these dice. It seemed that the items she had cast onto the table made sense to her. It was like hearing a voice in the back of her mind. "Beware of the northern grave." Artemida wasn't sure, if she heard it or not. She repeated her question, but this time the answer was a different one: "Be against the nearest stairway." Artemida gasped. What a great gift this oracle was. She asked her next question. "Where is Maria?" And again, she could interpret the dice easily. "Seek the western temple." The others had joined Artemida in the room and had some questions to ask the oracle.
Again they asked where Maria was. This time they were told "Find the room farthest away from this one."
Ike asked where they could find Smigmal Redhand and received the answer "Go down the secret stairway."

After these questions, the oracle's answer continued to be "ask later", so they decided to go to the south-west of the dungeon, to find the "room farthest away from this one" and thus Maria. Just before they left, Artemida noticed a secret door to the south, which they took. It led to another secret door, and this brought them to a large hexagonal room with a broken throne. The stench of rotting flesh faintly lingered throughout the area.
When the party moved through the room, they were attacked by eighteen giant mosquitos. They did not seem very dangerous at first, but two attached themselves to Kruskar and drained him alot of blood. The monk could not remember have been this weak before. Ike started killing the beasts that had attached themselves to his friends before they could drain blood and finally they managed to defeat them. Ike found that he could not cure Kruskar's weakness with the magic available to him now, but they wanted to explore the south-west before resting.

Moving through known territory now, they went to the westernmost part of the dungeon and cam e to two doors. After opening the southern door, they saw a room full of corpses. Merlos asked "Is anyone still alive in here" and was then told by the rest that this was not the case. Luckily, Maria's body was not among them.
Artemida opened the other door, only to be attacked by some ghouls. This led to a fight with several ghouls and their ghast masters, one of whom paralyzed Ike with his bite and wanted to finish him off. Ike was saved by Artemida, who destroyed the undead creature with her magical mace!

Further exploration of the area revealt nothing besides the living quarters of the undead. Exhausted, they decided to rest in Romag's former chamber, and Ike was able to cure most of Kruskar's weakness. The rest, he told his friend, would wear off over time.
With no more delays, the took the spiral staircase in the upper western part of the dungeon down to level two.

They descended and came into a dirty room that seemed to have been undisturbed a long time. It contained broken furniture, a dry fountain and large statue of a minotaur on a throne. Artemida started to search and was very much surprised by the minotaur, who started moving and was very much alive, though the resulting combat was very short.
They continued through the only door and the long passage to the south. Just before they wanted to open the only door to the east at the end of this passage, Artemida found a secret door in the southern wall. Pondering their options, they decided to continue south, where they found a passage east and a staircase downward. They took the stairs and entered the dungeon level three.
Merlos, Kruskar, Artemida and Ike came to a large, damp room full of huge fungi and mushrooms. They were just about to enter it, as a female voice called out "Hold, some of the fungi are dangerous. I know the path and will come to guide you." They saw a beautiful elven woman walking towards them. She extended her hand to the party. "Hello, my name is Vhan." Artemida and Kruskar shook it. Ike and Merlos eyed her suspiciously. "What are you doing here?" "Well, like my sisters of the forest, who are bound to their trees, I am bound to this room. And YOU are very impolite. I think you should punish him for that." The last sentence she spoke to Kruskar, pointing to Ike. Kruskar looked at her, feeling a slight tingling in his mind, but nothing happened. "What do you mean?", he asked her. "Well, you are my FRIEND, right, and he just insulted me. Please, my friend, punish him." That tingling was back again in Kruskar's mind, but although he had been drained a little of his mental strength, he was still strong enough to resist the magic.
But that was enough for Ike. Had Kruskar decided to attack him, he would have let him have it, but now he was gonna give it to the witch in front of him. As he attacked, the elven woman dropped her disguise and Vhan, the lamia, showed her true face.

The monster quickly conjured mirror images and the resulting battle was a close one, due to it's tough armor. Afterwards, Merlos cleared the room from fungi with a fireball.

They went to the next room to discover an interesting scene: They could see into a circular chamber, some 40 feet in diameter, lit from weird ligths near the ceiling. The light revealed nine monstrous statues, whose stoney visages were still sufficient to strike fear into the heart. Beyond a smallish blue dragon is a beholder; a fire giant, manticore and medusa seem to stand frozen in conversation; and off to one side are a mummy, an ogre mage, a wight and a rakshasa. The were items near these statues.

• The beholder seems to gaze fixedly upon a scroll tube lying before it.
• The blue dragon seems to be admiring a copper-bound box which is filled with gems.
• The mighty right hand of the fire giant bears a spear, held like a dart.
• The manticor appears to be poised over a crossbow.
• The medusa wears a velvety cloak of deep black.
• The mummy holds a staff in one hand and a ceramic bottle in the other.
• The ogre mage is adorned with a silver chain around its neck, from which depends a silver globe with the face, in bas relief, of the Man in the Moon.
• One of the stoney digits of the horrible rakshasa is circled by a golden ring.
• The wight crouches before a silver urn, perhaps some form of funeral vessel.

Ike and Artemida smell traps, but they could use items against the foes to come.

to be continued...