gideonpepys
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
Session 109a - Redcoat
Leon's 'dream' had shifted in the disorienting way that time and space in the upper Dreaming were wont to do. Gone were the Rowan King's circle, and the glorious sunshine. All around them were ogres, bugbears and giants squatting around camp fires, sharpening their weapons, arguing and eating.
Surrounded by potential enemies, Ascodel provided the means for them to escape the army camp: he used his magical powers to make Leon invisible before taking to the air and flying high enough to go unnoticed against the broiling, bruised black sky.
Beneath him the camp unfolded in all directions save one, where a road through rough terrain led to a forest. He headed in that direction and Leon followed, tiptoeing past bugbears and ogres who were dividing up spoils and congratulating themselves in elvish. (Leon's command of the language was insufficient to make much sense of the snippets he overheard.)
They reached the edge the camp and took the road, though it was not empty: some distance from the clustered tents there was a pit. Nearby several bugbear scouts were throwing dice for a prize - some red cloth that two were now tugging and pulling at argumentatively. Not far from them, a dire wolf tore meat off a giant humanoid corpse. Other bugbears, uncomfortably squeezed into spiked plate - their thick fur poking out through every gap - were using long pikes to prod and torment a growling creature in the pit, egged on by a grotesque parody of a creature that took a second glance to fathom:
It looked very much like a centaur - a piebald centaur in fact - but where a human torso should have been there was a bugbear torso instead, wearing a bronze helmet and breastplate very similar to that of the Rowan King.
The creature in the pit turned out to be a large bear, chained to a twenty-foot high metal pole. When Leon drew closer he realised that the bear was swearing vociferously at his captors and that he had seen this creature before: It was Redcoat, a mercenary who had accompanied Dantes and his satyrs on their incursion into Llanjyr. Enraged and badly wounded, Redcoat was hurling filthy insults and tugging furiously at the immense chain. When he saw him, Leon felt the same sense of déjà vu that he had when he saw Ascodel.
Leon decided to act, and knocked one bugbear into the pit. At once, Ascodel descended and used lightning magic to yank more the bugbears into the pit too. With his enemies now in reach, Redcoat did not waste time worrying about who these newcomers were, he simply bit the helmeted head off one bugbear and threw his newly acquired and deadly weapon at a second, killing it too. Redcoat daubed himself in bugbear blood and declared, "Now I am wearing my red coat again!"
The grotesque 'centaur' cried for aid, drawing the bugbear scouts and the dire wolf into the fight. With a mere gesture, Ascodel threw the bugbears into the air like rag dolls, each one landing in a crippled heap many yards away. But the centaur and the dire wolf proved much more durable, and it took a while for Leon and his new allies to defeat them.
At length, when the fight was over, Leon teleported to the top of the metal pole and broke the chain holding Redcoat. At once, Redcoat leaped out of the pit and reclaimed his real red coat, which the bugbear scouts had been squabbling over. It was a magical gift from the Birch Queen and warded him from harm.
There was little time for lengthy explanations. Though he had been tricked by Leon and his friends in the past, and had spoken against them during their 'trial' before the River King, Redcoat was grateful to be freed and was concerned with much more serious matters. The smell of satyr blood was in the air, and the bear was worried for his friends: he had been tricked from their side by the promise of mead and woken up chained in this pit. When Leon said that he was looking for Dantes, Redcoat said that he could track him from here. But first, he scoured the bugbear corpses for booze and drank all that he could find for he had become hoarse with cursing.
While he did so Leon and Ascodel looked about them too. Ascodel was sorry to discover that the giant corpse the wolf had been feasting on was Eogan the firbolg. Leon saw that all of the creatures here - the wolf, the bugbears and the 'centaur' showed signs of mutation: discoloured flesh; vestigial appendages growing in the wrong place; weeping sores. Leon also confirmed that the centaur was wearing the Rowan King's armour, and possibly his hind quarters too.
By now Redcoat had finished his drink and he set off at a lope along a trail into the woods, with the others following as best they could.
Leon's 'dream' had shifted in the disorienting way that time and space in the upper Dreaming were wont to do. Gone were the Rowan King's circle, and the glorious sunshine. All around them were ogres, bugbears and giants squatting around camp fires, sharpening their weapons, arguing and eating.
Surrounded by potential enemies, Ascodel provided the means for them to escape the army camp: he used his magical powers to make Leon invisible before taking to the air and flying high enough to go unnoticed against the broiling, bruised black sky.
Beneath him the camp unfolded in all directions save one, where a road through rough terrain led to a forest. He headed in that direction and Leon followed, tiptoeing past bugbears and ogres who were dividing up spoils and congratulating themselves in elvish. (Leon's command of the language was insufficient to make much sense of the snippets he overheard.)
They reached the edge the camp and took the road, though it was not empty: some distance from the clustered tents there was a pit. Nearby several bugbear scouts were throwing dice for a prize - some red cloth that two were now tugging and pulling at argumentatively. Not far from them, a dire wolf tore meat off a giant humanoid corpse. Other bugbears, uncomfortably squeezed into spiked plate - their thick fur poking out through every gap - were using long pikes to prod and torment a growling creature in the pit, egged on by a grotesque parody of a creature that took a second glance to fathom:
It looked very much like a centaur - a piebald centaur in fact - but where a human torso should have been there was a bugbear torso instead, wearing a bronze helmet and breastplate very similar to that of the Rowan King.
The creature in the pit turned out to be a large bear, chained to a twenty-foot high metal pole. When Leon drew closer he realised that the bear was swearing vociferously at his captors and that he had seen this creature before: It was Redcoat, a mercenary who had accompanied Dantes and his satyrs on their incursion into Llanjyr. Enraged and badly wounded, Redcoat was hurling filthy insults and tugging furiously at the immense chain. When he saw him, Leon felt the same sense of déjà vu that he had when he saw Ascodel.
Leon decided to act, and knocked one bugbear into the pit. At once, Ascodel descended and used lightning magic to yank more the bugbears into the pit too. With his enemies now in reach, Redcoat did not waste time worrying about who these newcomers were, he simply bit the helmeted head off one bugbear and threw his newly acquired and deadly weapon at a second, killing it too. Redcoat daubed himself in bugbear blood and declared, "Now I am wearing my red coat again!"
The grotesque 'centaur' cried for aid, drawing the bugbear scouts and the dire wolf into the fight. With a mere gesture, Ascodel threw the bugbears into the air like rag dolls, each one landing in a crippled heap many yards away. But the centaur and the dire wolf proved much more durable, and it took a while for Leon and his new allies to defeat them.
At length, when the fight was over, Leon teleported to the top of the metal pole and broke the chain holding Redcoat. At once, Redcoat leaped out of the pit and reclaimed his real red coat, which the bugbear scouts had been squabbling over. It was a magical gift from the Birch Queen and warded him from harm.
There was little time for lengthy explanations. Though he had been tricked by Leon and his friends in the past, and had spoken against them during their 'trial' before the River King, Redcoat was grateful to be freed and was concerned with much more serious matters. The smell of satyr blood was in the air, and the bear was worried for his friends: he had been tricked from their side by the promise of mead and woken up chained in this pit. When Leon said that he was looking for Dantes, Redcoat said that he could track him from here. But first, he scoured the bugbear corpses for booze and drank all that he could find for he had become hoarse with cursing.
While he did so Leon and Ascodel looked about them too. Ascodel was sorry to discover that the giant corpse the wolf had been feasting on was Eogan the firbolg. Leon saw that all of the creatures here - the wolf, the bugbears and the 'centaur' showed signs of mutation: discoloured flesh; vestigial appendages growing in the wrong place; weeping sores. Leon also confirmed that the centaur was wearing the Rowan King's armour, and possibly his hind quarters too.
By now Redcoat had finished his drink and he set off at a lope along a trail into the woods, with the others following as best they could.
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