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Zerubbabel Jangle's Journal (as of 25 April)
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<blockquote data-quote="Mark Chance" data-source="post: 1858103" data-attributes="member: 2795"><p><strong>The Foolishness of Certain Humans</strong></p><p></p><p>I don't understand humans. Well, at least some humans.</p><p> </p><p>First, some good news. Our company of adventurers continues to grow. Cord, a human archer, and Merik Moonlight, an elf cleric, joined our ranks. If this continues, we'll be an army, or, at the very least, have to hire camp followers to keep our baggage train in order.</p><p> </p><p>But back to why I don't understand humans. In Gyrax, a human prelate of Pelor named Anthony hired us to capture several thralls of Nerull. It seems that the Nerullites in the Pomarj have discovered a means by which they can completely dominate the wills of captives from the few mountain tribes in the area. These humans, under Nerullite control, are used for slave labor, sold in slave markets in Pomarj-controlled areas, and Garl knows what else. So, Anthony of Pelor asked us to capture some of these thralls so that Pelor's church in Gyrax can discover how the thralls are controlled and how they can freed from this control.</p><p> </p><p>All of this sounded fine and good, even noble, but then Anthony tells us we'll be accompanying a platoon of Gyraxian cavalry under the command of Captain Lorence. So, we took our letters of introduction to Lorence, and his greeting was less than friendly. In fact, he was downright rude. After dismissing us, he stormed to the temple of Pelor and had words with Anthony, which I overheard because I have good ears and quiet feet.</p><p> </p><p>Now, here's where the humans really start to stop making sense. Lorence and his sergeant are armed with wands of paralysis that are specially enchanted to be effective against the thralls. But, once the thralls are helpless, what does Lorence order his cavalry to do? That's right: He orders them to attack! These thralls, almost all of them humans from the mountain tribes, are nearly unarmored and armed only with clubs. They are held immobile by some kind of magic. What kind of people attack their own like this?</p><p> </p><p>But I get ahead of my story.</p><p> </p><p>We left Gyrax with Lorence's cavalry and traveled for a couple of days on this reprehensible search-and-kill mission. The morality of the situation is extremely questionable at best, but no one except Mupp and me voiced much concern, at least not that I heard. Still, there is a heavy pall over our group. These adventurers I travel with aren't paragons of virtue (or common sense, as Cord will prove), but we are decent enough. Garl knows we certainly do not attack helpless victims. We wove our way through the Drachensgrab foothills for three days before we came to a gang of thralls laboring on a road. It seems as if the lords of the Pomarj seek to increase their ability to move troops through their rocky home.</p><p> </p><p>We saw no sign of the thralls' masters, and wrongly assumed that the gang had been left to labor under only the supervision of whatever hellish enchantment binds their wills. While the cavalry line prepared for its charge, Lorence and his sergeants drew the wands. The magical energies from these devices paralyzed the entire gang of thralls! I think at this time I still could not believe that Lorence and his men would be so bloodthirsty as to actually attack helpless slaves, but I was wrong.</p><p> </p><p>As the cavalry charged, lances dropping for the kill, I noticed two things. First, Lorence stood back from the charge. This has become a common tactic among Gyraxian officers. No wonder they barely won the war against the Pomarj when their leaders are too afraid to draw blood but have no compunction about slaughtering the helpless. Are they any better than the orcs they war against? I failed to see much difference this day. Second, I noticed that I couldn't believe my eyes. Neither could Mupp or Shadra. We all just stood there, watching the dust rise, hearing the hooves thunder, recoiling as the cavalry slammed into the helpless thralls.</p><p> </p><p>I think Ebon was the first to move. Our silent monk rushed down the left side of the field of battle, avoiding the slaughter, ducking behind rocks and sparse mountain bushes. Ebon did not make the assumption as the rest of us, that the thralls were unsupervised. He instead assumed their masters were nearby but hidden, and he sought them out.</p><p> </p><p>While Lorence and his sergeant watched the murder, the rest of us moved forward, hoping to capture at least five thralls before the cavalry killed them all. Lorence could not even be bothered to order that this minimal number be spared. The monster! I followed behind at some distance, ready to use my healing skills where needed. I also kept a close eye on my love, the elf fighter Zara. She is too brave, racing into the fray to rescue what thralls she could for transport to Anthony in Gyrax. Mupp stayed close to her as well, and the elf cleric Moonbeam was there also. Glyth and Cord kept their distance, bows at the ready. Shadra also stayed back some ways, at least at first. By this time, I'd lost sight of Ebon, who was on the opposite side of the killing field.</p><p> </p><p>Let's take a moment from describing the "battle" to reflect on Gyrax's stupidity. These thralls are victims of Nerull and the orcs. They are captured peoples who would otherwise oppose the evil rule of the Pomarj and its allies. But Gyrax, rather than free them from Nerull's bony clutches, instead kills them. Does this hurt the Nerullites or the Pomarj? No! These victims would be killed eventually by their wicked masters. Gyrax rests contented with butchering helpless thralls or strategically meaningless forays against orcish skirmishers in the frontier, and leaves the true, growing might of the Pomarj unchallenged. When the conquered people of the hills and the Wild Coast have been completely destroyed, will the Pomarj be any weaker? I fail to see how. Instead, Gyrax expends its strength, and weakens their spirit.</p><p> </p><p>The butchering of the thralls continued for several long seconds, and then the paralysis wore off. The true colors of the cavalry were revealed when the thralls were suddenly able to fight back because at that time Lorence ordered the cavalry to fall back! Shortly after this, the thralls masters made their appearance, and the impotence of Gryax's soldiers became even more apparent. This cavalry unit, with its horses and steel, was being routed by club-wielding, half-naked thralls, one ogre, one orc, and two human warriors.</p><p> </p><p>Now that the thralls were a threat, we were all forced to fight. Ebon engaged the leaders from their rear flank, attacking one of the human warriors. Glyth and Cord let their arrows fly. Zara and Mupp fought side-by-side, and how I envied my brother that honor! Moonstruck peeled off to the left and intercepted one of the human warriors. Shadra took mental control of the ogre, surely a good thing for our side, but we did not reckon with the orc, for it was a cleric of Nerull.</p><p> </p><p>The Nerullite cleric's first move was to somehow counter Shadra's psionic control of the ogre. What a horror to suddenly have that giant once more on the side of our enemy! As the cavalry fell farther back, it also became apparent that they weren't even a match for the thralls, at least now that the thralls could defend themselves. I saw armored soldiers pulled or knocked from horseback. I saw Zara and Mupp fighting against a couple of thralls, but Zara was no Gyraxian cavalryman. She defended herself ably and held her ground as the ogre and Nerullite cleric advanced toward her.</p><p> </p><p>Then that hateful cleric took another action that enveloped nearly a twenty-foot sphere in impenetrable blackness. Zara and Mupp vanished from sight within that inky ball, and I panicked for my love and my brother. As the cowardly Lorence and his incompetent soldiers retreated from the fight, we, the real warriors, took up the challenge.</p><p> </p><p>I checked the status of my visible allies. Ebon seemed to have the upperhand against the human warrior. Moonlight appeared evenly matched with the human warrior he fought. Glyth, Shadra, and Cord were busy keeping the thralls from turning the table entirely on Lorence's cavalry, although, Garl forgive me, I'd've just as soon seen all of those so-called soldiers dragged from their mounts and bludgeoned. I could make out the sounds of battle from within the darkness: the ogre's roar, some sort of dark-tongued chanting from the orc cleric, Mupp's and Zara's calls to each other. Then, suddenly, Zara's voice stopped mid-call, and I immediately feared the worst. I could hear Mupp call out to her, and then Mupp's voice also stopped short.</p><p> </p><p>By this time, there were several riderless steeds on the battlefield. Mupp and Zara were trapped in the sphere of darkness, either dead or dying for all I knew. As I wrote in an earlier entry, Uncle Zadok breeds fine ponies. Our older brother, Duruppa, is a member of the jarl's cavalry. I am not completely unfamiliar with riding. Seeing that the riderless horses were the only thing running around that were the size of the ogre, I grabbed some passing reins and climbed up them and saddle to the back of a warhorse. Turning the steed toward the sphere of darkness, I urged into a charge, hoping against hope that it would crash into the ogre.</p><p> </p><p>Just before plunging into darkness, I leapt from the saddle, hit the ground on my heels, and tucked and rolled. My bones were jarred a bit, but I was unhurt. I heard the horse gallop on, but could see nothing. Drawing my rapier, buckler raised against a blow I could not detect, I stood still and listened. I heard many sounds of battle, of course, but I also heard Ebon's "kiai!" The monk had entered the darkness as well, probably inspired by my brave charge. Then, I heard the orc start to chant, and so I lashed out. Amazingly, my rapier bit into the orc's flesh, ruining his spell. Then the ogre hit me.</p><p> </p><p>By Garl! What a blow that was! I nearly lost consciousness from a single strike from its massive club. I could also hear arrows whizzing through the darkness. Unknown to me at the time, that fool Cord was firing into the darkness. Whether he managed to hit the ogre or the cleric, I'm not sure, but I do know this: He managed to hit me and Zara! The damage was too much for me, and I blacked out.</p><p> </p><p>The next thing I knew, Mupp was standing over me. He had used some of his bardic magic to heal me. Zara lay nearby, nearly dead. The sphere of darkness was retreating. Cord and Glyth were firing arrow after arrow into it. About every third or fourth shot, I could hear the ogre bellow in pain. Both human warriors were dead, one killed by Ebon, the other by Moonglow and Glyth. The cavalry had all but left the field of battle, and stood off at a safe distance, watching us real soldiers work. Shadra appeared uninjured. Not too long after I revived, Ebon struck the killing blow to the ogre.</p><p> </p><p>All that was left now was too loot the dead. We managed to save five thralls as well, and transported them back to Gyrax for Anthony of Pelor. Lorence came over to us and begged that one of his men be saved. Moonbeam took care of that healing. Lorence and his men be hanged for all I care. Back in Gyrax, we sold our loot. I paid for Cole the alchemist to identify the potion we took off the Nerullite, finding it to be a potion of lesser restoration. Considering our next venture would be against a small temple of Nerull, this potion may be quite a find. I also bought Zara some perfume made from rose petals and cherry leaves. A heavenly fragrance for my elfish angel.</p><p> </p><p>Well, my journal, this is all for today. Tomorrow, we head back into the Pomarj to find and destroy the Nerullite temple. With luck, we'll also uncover intelligence about the Nerullites' activities.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mark Chance, post: 1858103, member: 2795"] [b]The Foolishness of Certain Humans[/b] I don't understand humans. Well, at least some humans. First, some good news. Our company of adventurers continues to grow. Cord, a human archer, and Merik Moonlight, an elf cleric, joined our ranks. If this continues, we'll be an army, or, at the very least, have to hire camp followers to keep our baggage train in order. But back to why I don't understand humans. In Gyrax, a human prelate of Pelor named Anthony hired us to capture several thralls of Nerull. It seems that the Nerullites in the Pomarj have discovered a means by which they can completely dominate the wills of captives from the few mountain tribes in the area. These humans, under Nerullite control, are used for slave labor, sold in slave markets in Pomarj-controlled areas, and Garl knows what else. So, Anthony of Pelor asked us to capture some of these thralls so that Pelor's church in Gyrax can discover how the thralls are controlled and how they can freed from this control. All of this sounded fine and good, even noble, but then Anthony tells us we'll be accompanying a platoon of Gyraxian cavalry under the command of Captain Lorence. So, we took our letters of introduction to Lorence, and his greeting was less than friendly. In fact, he was downright rude. After dismissing us, he stormed to the temple of Pelor and had words with Anthony, which I overheard because I have good ears and quiet feet. Now, here's where the humans really start to stop making sense. Lorence and his sergeant are armed with wands of paralysis that are specially enchanted to be effective against the thralls. But, once the thralls are helpless, what does Lorence order his cavalry to do? That's right: He orders them to attack! These thralls, almost all of them humans from the mountain tribes, are nearly unarmored and armed only with clubs. They are held immobile by some kind of magic. What kind of people attack their own like this? But I get ahead of my story. We left Gyrax with Lorence's cavalry and traveled for a couple of days on this reprehensible search-and-kill mission. The morality of the situation is extremely questionable at best, but no one except Mupp and me voiced much concern, at least not that I heard. Still, there is a heavy pall over our group. These adventurers I travel with aren't paragons of virtue (or common sense, as Cord will prove), but we are decent enough. Garl knows we certainly do not attack helpless victims. We wove our way through the Drachensgrab foothills for three days before we came to a gang of thralls laboring on a road. It seems as if the lords of the Pomarj seek to increase their ability to move troops through their rocky home. We saw no sign of the thralls' masters, and wrongly assumed that the gang had been left to labor under only the supervision of whatever hellish enchantment binds their wills. While the cavalry line prepared for its charge, Lorence and his sergeants drew the wands. The magical energies from these devices paralyzed the entire gang of thralls! I think at this time I still could not believe that Lorence and his men would be so bloodthirsty as to actually attack helpless slaves, but I was wrong. As the cavalry charged, lances dropping for the kill, I noticed two things. First, Lorence stood back from the charge. This has become a common tactic among Gyraxian officers. No wonder they barely won the war against the Pomarj when their leaders are too afraid to draw blood but have no compunction about slaughtering the helpless. Are they any better than the orcs they war against? I failed to see much difference this day. Second, I noticed that I couldn't believe my eyes. Neither could Mupp or Shadra. We all just stood there, watching the dust rise, hearing the hooves thunder, recoiling as the cavalry slammed into the helpless thralls. I think Ebon was the first to move. Our silent monk rushed down the left side of the field of battle, avoiding the slaughter, ducking behind rocks and sparse mountain bushes. Ebon did not make the assumption as the rest of us, that the thralls were unsupervised. He instead assumed their masters were nearby but hidden, and he sought them out. While Lorence and his sergeant watched the murder, the rest of us moved forward, hoping to capture at least five thralls before the cavalry killed them all. Lorence could not even be bothered to order that this minimal number be spared. The monster! I followed behind at some distance, ready to use my healing skills where needed. I also kept a close eye on my love, the elf fighter Zara. She is too brave, racing into the fray to rescue what thralls she could for transport to Anthony in Gyrax. Mupp stayed close to her as well, and the elf cleric Moonbeam was there also. Glyth and Cord kept their distance, bows at the ready. Shadra also stayed back some ways, at least at first. By this time, I'd lost sight of Ebon, who was on the opposite side of the killing field. Let's take a moment from describing the "battle" to reflect on Gyrax's stupidity. These thralls are victims of Nerull and the orcs. They are captured peoples who would otherwise oppose the evil rule of the Pomarj and its allies. But Gyrax, rather than free them from Nerull's bony clutches, instead kills them. Does this hurt the Nerullites or the Pomarj? No! These victims would be killed eventually by their wicked masters. Gyrax rests contented with butchering helpless thralls or strategically meaningless forays against orcish skirmishers in the frontier, and leaves the true, growing might of the Pomarj unchallenged. When the conquered people of the hills and the Wild Coast have been completely destroyed, will the Pomarj be any weaker? I fail to see how. Instead, Gyrax expends its strength, and weakens their spirit. The butchering of the thralls continued for several long seconds, and then the paralysis wore off. The true colors of the cavalry were revealed when the thralls were suddenly able to fight back because at that time Lorence ordered the cavalry to fall back! Shortly after this, the thralls masters made their appearance, and the impotence of Gryax's soldiers became even more apparent. This cavalry unit, with its horses and steel, was being routed by club-wielding, half-naked thralls, one ogre, one orc, and two human warriors. Now that the thralls were a threat, we were all forced to fight. Ebon engaged the leaders from their rear flank, attacking one of the human warriors. Glyth and Cord let their arrows fly. Zara and Mupp fought side-by-side, and how I envied my brother that honor! Moonstruck peeled off to the left and intercepted one of the human warriors. Shadra took mental control of the ogre, surely a good thing for our side, but we did not reckon with the orc, for it was a cleric of Nerull. The Nerullite cleric's first move was to somehow counter Shadra's psionic control of the ogre. What a horror to suddenly have that giant once more on the side of our enemy! As the cavalry fell farther back, it also became apparent that they weren't even a match for the thralls, at least now that the thralls could defend themselves. I saw armored soldiers pulled or knocked from horseback. I saw Zara and Mupp fighting against a couple of thralls, but Zara was no Gyraxian cavalryman. She defended herself ably and held her ground as the ogre and Nerullite cleric advanced toward her. Then that hateful cleric took another action that enveloped nearly a twenty-foot sphere in impenetrable blackness. Zara and Mupp vanished from sight within that inky ball, and I panicked for my love and my brother. As the cowardly Lorence and his incompetent soldiers retreated from the fight, we, the real warriors, took up the challenge. I checked the status of my visible allies. Ebon seemed to have the upperhand against the human warrior. Moonlight appeared evenly matched with the human warrior he fought. Glyth, Shadra, and Cord were busy keeping the thralls from turning the table entirely on Lorence's cavalry, although, Garl forgive me, I'd've just as soon seen all of those so-called soldiers dragged from their mounts and bludgeoned. I could make out the sounds of battle from within the darkness: the ogre's roar, some sort of dark-tongued chanting from the orc cleric, Mupp's and Zara's calls to each other. Then, suddenly, Zara's voice stopped mid-call, and I immediately feared the worst. I could hear Mupp call out to her, and then Mupp's voice also stopped short. By this time, there were several riderless steeds on the battlefield. Mupp and Zara were trapped in the sphere of darkness, either dead or dying for all I knew. As I wrote in an earlier entry, Uncle Zadok breeds fine ponies. Our older brother, Duruppa, is a member of the jarl's cavalry. I am not completely unfamiliar with riding. Seeing that the riderless horses were the only thing running around that were the size of the ogre, I grabbed some passing reins and climbed up them and saddle to the back of a warhorse. Turning the steed toward the sphere of darkness, I urged into a charge, hoping against hope that it would crash into the ogre. Just before plunging into darkness, I leapt from the saddle, hit the ground on my heels, and tucked and rolled. My bones were jarred a bit, but I was unhurt. I heard the horse gallop on, but could see nothing. Drawing my rapier, buckler raised against a blow I could not detect, I stood still and listened. I heard many sounds of battle, of course, but I also heard Ebon's "kiai!" The monk had entered the darkness as well, probably inspired by my brave charge. Then, I heard the orc start to chant, and so I lashed out. Amazingly, my rapier bit into the orc's flesh, ruining his spell. Then the ogre hit me. By Garl! What a blow that was! I nearly lost consciousness from a single strike from its massive club. I could also hear arrows whizzing through the darkness. Unknown to me at the time, that fool Cord was firing into the darkness. Whether he managed to hit the ogre or the cleric, I'm not sure, but I do know this: He managed to hit me and Zara! The damage was too much for me, and I blacked out. The next thing I knew, Mupp was standing over me. He had used some of his bardic magic to heal me. Zara lay nearby, nearly dead. The sphere of darkness was retreating. Cord and Glyth were firing arrow after arrow into it. About every third or fourth shot, I could hear the ogre bellow in pain. Both human warriors were dead, one killed by Ebon, the other by Moonglow and Glyth. The cavalry had all but left the field of battle, and stood off at a safe distance, watching us real soldiers work. Shadra appeared uninjured. Not too long after I revived, Ebon struck the killing blow to the ogre. All that was left now was too loot the dead. We managed to save five thralls as well, and transported them back to Gyrax for Anthony of Pelor. Lorence came over to us and begged that one of his men be saved. Moonbeam took care of that healing. Lorence and his men be hanged for all I care. Back in Gyrax, we sold our loot. I paid for Cole the alchemist to identify the potion we took off the Nerullite, finding it to be a potion of lesser restoration. Considering our next venture would be against a small temple of Nerull, this potion may be quite a find. I also bought Zara some perfume made from rose petals and cherry leaves. A heavenly fragrance for my elfish angel. Well, my journal, this is all for today. Tomorrow, we head back into the Pomarj to find and destroy the Nerullite temple. With luck, we'll also uncover intelligence about the Nerullites' activities. [/QUOTE]
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