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<blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 4626353" data-attributes="member: 1210"><p>Exhausted and cold, Kifla doesn’t keep a very good watch. The first figure creeps up silently, sniffing at the ground. It holds its body low, moving slowly, its grey fur blending into the shadows. It observes for a moments, tasting the scents of our heroes. </p><p></p><p>Kifla stares up into the stars.</p><p></p><p>After a few moments, the lupine shadow slinks away. Once it is forty feet from the camp, it picks up speed, loping up the side of the hill overlooking the party’s camp. Silently, it returns to its master.</p><p></p><p>Kifla continues to stare into the distance, though her gaze has fallen onto the side of the hill opposite their resting place. She is glum; her friends are dying left and right, and she isn’t even sure that it’s worth it to continue adventuring. She glances at the snoring form of Barouk: her only remaining friend from Alathion. </p><p></p><p>Alathion... </p><p></p><p>It seems so far away, so long ago. All the dangers that she has faced on her way to this point have forced her to stretch her limits, over and over again, and have helped her powers of illusion grow and swell. She is far more powerful now than she was just a few months ago. She has faced down the Mouth of Bleak, fought bandits and goblins, escaped a burning maze in the Deadgrass Lands, defeated the Ashen Palace of Bleak... she is nearly a legend. She-</p><p></p><p>Kifla’s musings are interrupted as a figure abruptly steps into her field of view. </p><p></p><p>Kifla yelps, startled. Barouk snorts and keeps snoring. “Hi,” the figure says, “I am Corbin the Conjurer!” </p><p></p><p>“Uh, uh, who are you?” Kifla squeaks, trying to overcome her surprise.</p><p></p><p>The figure pauses, and then repeats, “I am Corbin the Conjurer! Ahem, as I said.”</p><p></p><p>“Oh, oh, all right.” The man doesn’t seem to be hostile, Kifla realizes. He is a middle-aged human, very brown. His clothes, his pack, his staff, his hair- he is brown all over. Belatedly, Kifla adds, “I am Kifla the Illusionist, Master of Light!”</p><p></p><p>“Nice to meet you,” Corbin says. A walk stalks by behind him, and Kifla is immediately distracted.</p><p></p><p>“Is that your dog?”</p><p></p><p>“No,” Corbin says quickly. “He’s a wolf. Be careful around him, he’s not a pet.”</p><p></p><p>“Oh, okay.” Kifla sounds crestfallen. She frowns, as she realizes that meeting a man and a wolf in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night is a little odd. “Hey, what are you doing out here anyway?”</p><p></p><p>“I could ask you the same thing,” Corbin replies dryly. “But I’m looking for... a lich.” His voice takes on an oddly sad intonation when he says that. “He must be stopped.”</p><p></p><p>“A lich!” the gnome exclaims. “That doesn’t sound nice!”</p><p></p><p>“Would you shut up over there,” groans Barouk, rolling over and remaining asleep. </p><p></p><p>“Can you make a fire? I’m freezing!” Kifla asks.</p><p></p><p>“Sure, I have tindertwigs,” Corbin says. “Why don’t you have one already?”</p><p></p><p>“Oh, Barouk- that’s the grumpy dwarf over there- is afraid that we’ll be attacked by goblins.” She sighs. “Come to think of it, he has a point. I guess maybe we’re better off if we don’t have a fire after all.”</p><p></p><p>The two of them talk for a while, and Kifla relates the party’s tale so far to the newcomer. He, on the other hand, tells her that he is seeking out a lich. Kifla gets the sense that there is a connection between the brown man and the lich, but it is not quite clear what it is. </p><p></p><p>When Corbin offers to keep watch and let Kifla rest, she gladly accepts his offer.</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>Barouk awakens to a very pleasant warmth spreading throughout his body.</p><p></p><p>He opens his eyes. There is an unfamiliar form leaning over him, with a hand on his arm, and he can feel his body’s wounds knitting shut. Torn muscles are being mended, bruised ribs coaxed back to full health. </p><p></p><p>Behind the brown man, Kifla says, “Good morning, Barouk! This is Corbin the Conjurer. He’s a nice man! He healed you.”</p><p></p><p>She continues to chatter while Barouk warily introduces himself to Corbin. Within minutes, though, he has grown to trust the man, who says that he is both a druid and a wizard. Gorsh and Jorr are both there, too.</p><p></p><p><em>We lived through the night,</em> Barouk realizes. </p><p></p><p>Corbin proves able to feed any of our heroes with but a single berry. His magic allows him to heal their wounds, and he offers them his aid. “Kifla told me of the threat to your town,” he begins.</p><p></p><p>“It isn’t our town,” Barouk harrumphs. “We’re just helping them out.”</p><p></p><p>“It’s my town,” Gorsh returns. </p><p></p><p>Jorr nods. “Not my town, but they’re my folk.”</p><p></p><p>“Either way, I don’t want to see <em>the</em> town destroyed,” Corbin continues evenly. “If the goblins are as much trouble as you say, perhaps I can help you help the town.”</p><p></p><p>“We could use all the help we can get.” Gorsh grins. “Welcome aboard- and thanks!”</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>They rest a day and another night, then debate attacking the hydra before deciding to return to Vraath Keep, determined to slay the manticore. They approach relatively stealthily, attaining an outbuilding with no sign of enemies. But when they investigate the outbuilding- really a rickety shack- it collapses, and Barouk takes a minor amount of damage from a falling timber. He tumbles out of the shack before it completely implodes. </p><p></p><p>As he does so, he sees the head of the manticore poke up from the main keep.</p><p></p><p>“We got trouble!” he cries.</p><p></p><p>Jorr chuckles. “<em>Something’s</em> got trouble, all right!” He starts shooting his bow at it immediately. He begins edging his way towards cover as he and the manticore start exchanging arrows and spikes.</p><p></p><p>Kifla moves up and hits the deck, presenting as small of a target as possible. She squirms into position and <em>hastes</em> Barouk, Jorr and herself. “Get it, guys!” she yells.</p><p></p><p>Barouk pulls out his crossbow and starts firing, but Jorr is clearly a better, quicker shot. The manticore screams a harsh challenge and keeps flinging spikes at the archer, sticking him with several. Jorr dives into cover. And things get a lot more complicated as a group of hobgoblins trots out from the keep, weapons naked in their hands. </p><p></p><p>Then a hippogriff appears out of nowhere, and attacks the manticore immediately. Corbin is beginning to show just why they call him the Conjurer. His wolf leaps at one of the hobgoblins and begins to tear at it. </p><p></p><p>Corbin starts to conjure something else, but the manticore snaps its tail and a volley of spikes shoots out, piercing Corbin in several places. With an anguished cry, he goes down in a puddle of blood. Is his quest for the lich over before it has even begun??</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, one of the keep’s towers proves to have a hobgoblin archer in it, and from his vantage point, he starts firing arrows at the party.</p><p></p><p>The wolf and the hippogriff rip into the hobgoblins while the manticore remains engaged with the hippogriff as well. As they struggle, Jorr darts in to Corbin’s side and pulls out a potion, preparing to bring his ally around- he hopes- and quickly administers the magical drink. Corbin blinks in surprise as he comes around with his wounds largely healed. </p><p></p><p>The hippogriff and the wolf tear at the manticore, and even though the hippogriff vanishes as the duration on its summoning expires, the manticore decides that it has had enough of this. It launches itself in the air, nearly collapsing as Gorsh and the wolf hit it with attacks of opportunity. But it escapes, flying up into the sky.</p><p></p><p>“No you don’t!” cries Jorr fiercely. He fires three arrows from his bow, and all three land solidly in the manticore’s body. The beast gives a cry of despair and then falls, spiraling, out of the sky.</p><p></p><p>But a minotaur and a bugbear arrive to replace it. The minotaur snorts, lowers his horns and charges the wolf, killing it in a single blow. Then it turns on the others. </p><p></p><p>Gorsh leaps over a pile of rubble, swinging his flail with all his might. It slips from his hands and flies across the room.* Gorsh gives a cry of despair and ducks back behind the rubble, as the hobgoblins start circling around after him. The bugbear shoots a <em>ray of enfeeblement</em> at him, and he ducks back behind the rocks and avoids it by a hair. </p><p></p><p>The minotaur comes in on one side of him, the hobgoblins on the other. He twists away from the worst of a sword cut, but the minotaur gores him savagely. He cries out. Meanwhile, Corbin is conjuring more animals, while Kifla <em>hastes</em> the rest of the party.</p><p></p><p>A terrific battle evolves, with the party desperately pulling out every trick they’ve got. Barouk uses his tanglefoot bag, but the minotaur tears free. The bugbear keeps targeting the gnome with spells, but Kifla somehow manages to keep resisting. Jorr keeps shooting arrows at everyone, but tries to focus on the minotaur. </p><p></p><p>Then, tragedy strikes. The hobgoblin archer in the tower shoots Gorsh in the heart, instantly killing him.**</p><p></p><p>“Noooooo!” Kifla cries.***</p><p></p><p>Jorr immediately switches targets, focusing on the hobgoblin archer in the tower. “Get that minotaur!” he shouts. “If we let him stick around, he’s gonna be the end of us!”</p><p></p><p>Barouk leaps up into the minotaur’s face, smashing his nunchaku into the beast’s head in a flurry of blows. </p><p></p><p>And the minotaur falls. </p><p></p><p>The bugbear gives an angry ejaculation, and fires a <em>lightning bolt</em> at Jorr and Barouk. The monk evades the blast, but Jorr takes it in the face. Blood sprays from his nose as the force of the electric bolt breaks it. </p><p></p><p>Corbin rushes up and heals him. “Here!” he cries. Jorr glares at the bugbear, but another arrow zips down from the tower. With a grimace he keeps up his return fire. Finally, the hobgoblin in the tower gives a wail and tumbles out of the window, falling to the base of the tower to lie in a ruined and broken heap.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Barouk rushes the bugbear, and in seconds he has landed a series of blows on the spellcasting goblinoid. The bugbear growls and strikes back with magic. Another <em>lightning bolt</em> blasts out and catches Barouk off-guard, leaving his hair smoking and standing on end. He gives a yelp, but keeps fighting, and now Jorr is able to turn his attention to it as well. </p><p></p><p>The bugbear’s eyes flash defiance. It <em>charms</em> Kifla, but it’s too little and too late. Barouk, <em>hasted</em>, brings the battle to a rapid close with his nunchaku. </p><p></p><p>There’s nobody left to fight, but it takes a few minutes for our heroes to realize that. When they do, as they survey the carnage, they realize that they have lost another friend.</p><p></p><p>But, as they will discover shortly, they have gained a keep- and insight into a problem that is much, much larger than they had believed.</p><p></p><p><em><strong>Next Time:</strong></em> Our heroes realize the scope of the goblin problem!</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>*Fumble. Oooh, that’s a bad one!</p><p></p><p>**Crit. Oooh, a longbow’s x3- that’s a bad one!</p><p></p><p>***Pretty much all my groups really play up the obligatory Hollywood “Noooo!” whenever someone dies.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="the Jester, post: 4626353, member: 1210"] Exhausted and cold, Kifla doesn’t keep a very good watch. The first figure creeps up silently, sniffing at the ground. It holds its body low, moving slowly, its grey fur blending into the shadows. It observes for a moments, tasting the scents of our heroes. Kifla stares up into the stars. After a few moments, the lupine shadow slinks away. Once it is forty feet from the camp, it picks up speed, loping up the side of the hill overlooking the party’s camp. Silently, it returns to its master. Kifla continues to stare into the distance, though her gaze has fallen onto the side of the hill opposite their resting place. She is glum; her friends are dying left and right, and she isn’t even sure that it’s worth it to continue adventuring. She glances at the snoring form of Barouk: her only remaining friend from Alathion. Alathion... It seems so far away, so long ago. All the dangers that she has faced on her way to this point have forced her to stretch her limits, over and over again, and have helped her powers of illusion grow and swell. She is far more powerful now than she was just a few months ago. She has faced down the Mouth of Bleak, fought bandits and goblins, escaped a burning maze in the Deadgrass Lands, defeated the Ashen Palace of Bleak... she is nearly a legend. She- Kifla’s musings are interrupted as a figure abruptly steps into her field of view. Kifla yelps, startled. Barouk snorts and keeps snoring. “Hi,” the figure says, “I am Corbin the Conjurer!” “Uh, uh, who are you?” Kifla squeaks, trying to overcome her surprise. The figure pauses, and then repeats, “I am Corbin the Conjurer! Ahem, as I said.” “Oh, oh, all right.” The man doesn’t seem to be hostile, Kifla realizes. He is a middle-aged human, very brown. His clothes, his pack, his staff, his hair- he is brown all over. Belatedly, Kifla adds, “I am Kifla the Illusionist, Master of Light!” “Nice to meet you,” Corbin says. A walk stalks by behind him, and Kifla is immediately distracted. “Is that your dog?” “No,” Corbin says quickly. “He’s a wolf. Be careful around him, he’s not a pet.” “Oh, okay.” Kifla sounds crestfallen. She frowns, as she realizes that meeting a man and a wolf in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night is a little odd. “Hey, what are you doing out here anyway?” “I could ask you the same thing,” Corbin replies dryly. “But I’m looking for... a lich.” His voice takes on an oddly sad intonation when he says that. “He must be stopped.” “A lich!” the gnome exclaims. “That doesn’t sound nice!” “Would you shut up over there,” groans Barouk, rolling over and remaining asleep. “Can you make a fire? I’m freezing!” Kifla asks. “Sure, I have tindertwigs,” Corbin says. “Why don’t you have one already?” “Oh, Barouk- that’s the grumpy dwarf over there- is afraid that we’ll be attacked by goblins.” She sighs. “Come to think of it, he has a point. I guess maybe we’re better off if we don’t have a fire after all.” The two of them talk for a while, and Kifla relates the party’s tale so far to the newcomer. He, on the other hand, tells her that he is seeking out a lich. Kifla gets the sense that there is a connection between the brown man and the lich, but it is not quite clear what it is. When Corbin offers to keep watch and let Kifla rest, she gladly accepts his offer. *** Barouk awakens to a very pleasant warmth spreading throughout his body. He opens his eyes. There is an unfamiliar form leaning over him, with a hand on his arm, and he can feel his body’s wounds knitting shut. Torn muscles are being mended, bruised ribs coaxed back to full health. Behind the brown man, Kifla says, “Good morning, Barouk! This is Corbin the Conjurer. He’s a nice man! He healed you.” She continues to chatter while Barouk warily introduces himself to Corbin. Within minutes, though, he has grown to trust the man, who says that he is both a druid and a wizard. Gorsh and Jorr are both there, too. [i]We lived through the night,[/i] Barouk realizes. Corbin proves able to feed any of our heroes with but a single berry. His magic allows him to heal their wounds, and he offers them his aid. “Kifla told me of the threat to your town,” he begins. “It isn’t our town,” Barouk harrumphs. “We’re just helping them out.” “It’s my town,” Gorsh returns. Jorr nods. “Not my town, but they’re my folk.” “Either way, I don’t want to see [i]the[/i] town destroyed,” Corbin continues evenly. “If the goblins are as much trouble as you say, perhaps I can help you help the town.” “We could use all the help we can get.” Gorsh grins. “Welcome aboard- and thanks!” *** They rest a day and another night, then debate attacking the hydra before deciding to return to Vraath Keep, determined to slay the manticore. They approach relatively stealthily, attaining an outbuilding with no sign of enemies. But when they investigate the outbuilding- really a rickety shack- it collapses, and Barouk takes a minor amount of damage from a falling timber. He tumbles out of the shack before it completely implodes. As he does so, he sees the head of the manticore poke up from the main keep. “We got trouble!” he cries. Jorr chuckles. “[i]Something’s[/i] got trouble, all right!” He starts shooting his bow at it immediately. He begins edging his way towards cover as he and the manticore start exchanging arrows and spikes. Kifla moves up and hits the deck, presenting as small of a target as possible. She squirms into position and [i]hastes[/i] Barouk, Jorr and herself. “Get it, guys!” she yells. Barouk pulls out his crossbow and starts firing, but Jorr is clearly a better, quicker shot. The manticore screams a harsh challenge and keeps flinging spikes at the archer, sticking him with several. Jorr dives into cover. And things get a lot more complicated as a group of hobgoblins trots out from the keep, weapons naked in their hands. Then a hippogriff appears out of nowhere, and attacks the manticore immediately. Corbin is beginning to show just why they call him the Conjurer. His wolf leaps at one of the hobgoblins and begins to tear at it. Corbin starts to conjure something else, but the manticore snaps its tail and a volley of spikes shoots out, piercing Corbin in several places. With an anguished cry, he goes down in a puddle of blood. Is his quest for the lich over before it has even begun?? Meanwhile, one of the keep’s towers proves to have a hobgoblin archer in it, and from his vantage point, he starts firing arrows at the party. The wolf and the hippogriff rip into the hobgoblins while the manticore remains engaged with the hippogriff as well. As they struggle, Jorr darts in to Corbin’s side and pulls out a potion, preparing to bring his ally around- he hopes- and quickly administers the magical drink. Corbin blinks in surprise as he comes around with his wounds largely healed. The hippogriff and the wolf tear at the manticore, and even though the hippogriff vanishes as the duration on its summoning expires, the manticore decides that it has had enough of this. It launches itself in the air, nearly collapsing as Gorsh and the wolf hit it with attacks of opportunity. But it escapes, flying up into the sky. “No you don’t!” cries Jorr fiercely. He fires three arrows from his bow, and all three land solidly in the manticore’s body. The beast gives a cry of despair and then falls, spiraling, out of the sky. But a minotaur and a bugbear arrive to replace it. The minotaur snorts, lowers his horns and charges the wolf, killing it in a single blow. Then it turns on the others. Gorsh leaps over a pile of rubble, swinging his flail with all his might. It slips from his hands and flies across the room.* Gorsh gives a cry of despair and ducks back behind the rubble, as the hobgoblins start circling around after him. The bugbear shoots a [i]ray of enfeeblement[/i] at him, and he ducks back behind the rocks and avoids it by a hair. The minotaur comes in on one side of him, the hobgoblins on the other. He twists away from the worst of a sword cut, but the minotaur gores him savagely. He cries out. Meanwhile, Corbin is conjuring more animals, while Kifla [i]hastes[/i] the rest of the party. A terrific battle evolves, with the party desperately pulling out every trick they’ve got. Barouk uses his tanglefoot bag, but the minotaur tears free. The bugbear keeps targeting the gnome with spells, but Kifla somehow manages to keep resisting. Jorr keeps shooting arrows at everyone, but tries to focus on the minotaur. Then, tragedy strikes. The hobgoblin archer in the tower shoots Gorsh in the heart, instantly killing him.** “Noooooo!” Kifla cries.*** Jorr immediately switches targets, focusing on the hobgoblin archer in the tower. “Get that minotaur!” he shouts. “If we let him stick around, he’s gonna be the end of us!” Barouk leaps up into the minotaur’s face, smashing his nunchaku into the beast’s head in a flurry of blows. And the minotaur falls. The bugbear gives an angry ejaculation, and fires a [i]lightning bolt[/i] at Jorr and Barouk. The monk evades the blast, but Jorr takes it in the face. Blood sprays from his nose as the force of the electric bolt breaks it. Corbin rushes up and heals him. “Here!” he cries. Jorr glares at the bugbear, but another arrow zips down from the tower. With a grimace he keeps up his return fire. Finally, the hobgoblin in the tower gives a wail and tumbles out of the window, falling to the base of the tower to lie in a ruined and broken heap. Meanwhile, Barouk rushes the bugbear, and in seconds he has landed a series of blows on the spellcasting goblinoid. The bugbear growls and strikes back with magic. Another [i]lightning bolt[/i] blasts out and catches Barouk off-guard, leaving his hair smoking and standing on end. He gives a yelp, but keeps fighting, and now Jorr is able to turn his attention to it as well. The bugbear’s eyes flash defiance. It [i]charms[/i] Kifla, but it’s too little and too late. Barouk, [i]hasted[/i], brings the battle to a rapid close with his nunchaku. There’s nobody left to fight, but it takes a few minutes for our heroes to realize that. When they do, as they survey the carnage, they realize that they have lost another friend. But, as they will discover shortly, they have gained a keep- and insight into a problem that is much, much larger than they had believed. [i][b]Next Time:[/b][/i][b][/b] Our heroes realize the scope of the goblin problem! *Fumble. Oooh, that’s a bad one! **Crit. Oooh, a longbow’s x3- that’s a bad one! ***Pretty much all my groups really play up the obligatory Hollywood “Noooo!” whenever someone dies. [/QUOTE]
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