Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="TheBard" data-source="post: 66369" data-attributes="member: 2821">Episode 17: Life Drains, No WaitingTime Elapsed: 7/18 - 8/05/495 A.I. SummaryThe group pressed on, down through the mountains and over the border into Zakarij’ kingdom. In a few days, it became apparent that the ruse of traveling merchants was best abandoned at this point. No one seemed to be falling for it, and the party were keeping to the side trails and off the main roads as much as possible at any rate. More than once, Ingolf spotted what could only be patrols led by skeletal centauroids in the distance, but the group were able to avoid these for the most part.Keeping to Lord Vihar’s advice, the company pressed mostly north and east as they came down out of the mountains, hoping to find the great Red Swamp and a clear passage down the Dan river to the sea. The mountains and foothills of Rolgulka did not always cooperate, however, and in a week or so the group realized they were lost. It took several more days of careful trailblazing and scouting to finally find a way down from the highlands to the swampy terrain below, and there a new challenge presented itself.The Red Swamp was so called because of the many red ferns that grew there, the pollen of which turned much of the water a sickly red color. The water was also home to a particularly nasty strain of the Red Ache, which most of the group came down with at once. Huge, red welts appeared on their skin and fever sapped their strength. Martaine was able, through his skills as a healer and his magic, to hold off the worst cases, but it soon became clear the entire group would be incapacitated in a week’s time or less if the river could not be found. Aoelif did her best to find a track through the taiga-like terrain, but she was clearly out of her element in the strange Rolgulkan back country.Early one morning, shortly after breaking camp the group were startled by the sudden appearance of a number of birds – not in the air, but on the ground. A dozen or more water fowl had suddenly plunged from overhead and dropped to the ground in varying degrees of paralysis. There was an almost pregnant moment of silence, and suddenly a huge group of deer burst across the trail in something of a stampede. Everyone felt a cold weight settle in their stomach as suddenly a large, black form swung into view overhead. Both Lord Vihar and his brother had mentioned the dragons of the Red Swamp, and one of them had just arrived.All of the group felt the dragon’s presence even after it flapped out of sight, still pursuing the deer. Several of the horses bolted at once, most throwing their riders – though Martaine managed to cling to the neck of his mule. In moments, the normally slow-moving animal carried the startled cleric down the trail and out of sight. Of the six members of the expedition, only Zaccara was able to master both his own fear and his beast. Ingolf was thrown from his horse but unhurt; he convinced Aoelif, who was busy trying to find a hiding place, to mount up on her oddly nonplused horse and with Zaccara they rode off quickly in pursuit of Martaine and the other panicked animals.Martaine, for his part, found his mule inexplicable running directly toward the dragon itself, either through sheer panic or some suicide wish he’d never suspected. He managed to get the animal under control before it actually plunged into the open area where the dragon had brought several deer to bay. So it was that Martaine was treated to the rare sight of a dragon feeding, something he would not soon forget, even if he did see it from s considerable distance. He cast the only protective spell he had available and hid as best he could, and after a while spotted the great black winged beast flying off. This may have been in pursuit of more deer or back to sleep off its meal – Martaine wasn’t interested in finding out. He headed back the way he’d come and soon ran into Ingolf, Zaccara and Aoelif, who were searching for him and the other horses as best they could.When all was said and done, the losses were slight, just a few bags of provisions that one of the horses had dropped in its flight. All of the animals were recovered, though this took most of the day to achieve. Every member of the company went to sleep that night with a muscle strain in the neck from scanning the sky for any signs of the dragon, but those fears were, for the time being at least, unrealized.Between the days spent wandering lost in the foothills and the difficulty of finding a path through the Red Swamp, the group soon realized that they had no idea exactly where they were. They may have been within the confines of Zakarij’ demesne, or beyond his kingdom entirely. No undead had been spotted in the swamp, but then little had been spotted aside from a few wild animals, some stinging midges and of course the dragon. How far it was to the river or to the great northern sea none knew. There was little for it except to continue to press on north and east.One night some time after the dragon had passed by, the party were camped on the highest piece of ground available, a sort of natural causeway through the swampy ground, when Ingolf heard the unmistakable sound of hoof beats coming fast and hard towards the group. He quickly roused his companions and the group took up a defensive position as quickly as they might, in the event the rider turned out to be hostile. In a moment the horse could be seen headed up the causeway, being ridden hard by a very terrified looking orc or half-orc rider, who kept glancing over is shoulder, presumably looking for his pursuer. Though he could, of course, see the group perfectly even in the pitch blackness, the half-orc almost rode past them without noticing the well-armed travelers, so great was his haste. Just after the past the group, he reigned his horse for a moment and shouted “Run! The wolves were hot on my tail, they will be here soon. Run!” Before he could take his own advice, however, Ingolf spotted the wolves in question – two huge dire beasts, the same sort of creatures that had nearly killed him months earlier when the group were tracking down the Necromancer’s forces. At least one of them had a rider, and Inglf thought he saw two other dark shapes drop from the wolf’s backs as they came around the last bend before reaching the camp. In a moment the creatures were upon them.Ingolf let fly an arrow at the lead wolf but his shot was hasty and went well wide. Everyone else drew up as best they might in a sort of line, and Theodorus provided some magical light so those of the group unable to see in the darkness could tell what was happening. The lead wolf did have a rider, a goblin who leapt from his mount directly at Aoelif just as she moved to engage him. Zaccara came up to support her, and Theodorus and Nicasia immediately began a barrage of spells.The two dark shapes Ingolf had seen earlier turned out to be a pair of wights, who came up through the woods in an attempt to flank the group. Martaine called on the power of Logos and set the two undead to flight – and provoked a very nasty reaction from the goblin at the same time, who scowled and hissed at the priest, revealing a pair of decidedly oversized canine teeth! The undead goblin lashed out at Aoelif and struck her a nasty blow, driving her backwards even as the two wolves, who on closer inspection looked to be more than half lizard, bore down on her.Zaccara leapt into the fray against the wolves and Aoelif regained her feet quickly and fought back as well. The mysterious half-orc dismounted and charged into the fray himself, and soon the vampire-goblin and his pets were sorely pressed. He made an attempt to withdraw but Aoelif’s flaming blade found the mark one last time and with a sigh the vampire dissolved into a foul-smelling cloud of vapor which drifted into the woods with gathering speed. The wights had long since fled and the wolves – or whatever they were – lay dead, but Aoelif and Ingolf both were in bad shape, suffering from the chill touch of the vampire and his wight companions. At long last, the group had encountered some of the fabled undead of Rolgulka, and though they prevailed, they were much the worse for the encounter.While Martaine tended to her wounds, both physical and spiritual, Aoelif asked the strange newcomer who he was and what, exactly, was going on. After a bit of prodding, he revealed that his name was Carijzan. The half-orc attempted at first to be somewhat evasive, but the group saw through his dissembling and in short order he became more forthcoming, particularly in light of Theodorus looming over him with clear intent to do harm.Carijzan, it developed, was a bodyguard from Zakarij’s kingdom, hired by some humans (!) to escort them north in much the same direction the group were currently headed, all the way to the Northern sea. There they had a great ship to take them then west and south back eventually to Iconium – certainly the longest possible route from the area back to the human empire. Although he was somewhat unclear on exactly what had happened, it was clear to everyone that these humans had done something — something involving dark magic — that had frightened the half-orc desperately. So much, in fact, that he had fled from Zakarij’s capitol rather than stay in their employ.Once Carijzan became convinced that the group truly meant him no harm — he seemed quite mystified by the erudite, well-spoken “Ogre” Theodorus — Carijzan revealed a bit more. Zakarij, it seemed, had a daughter, who had recently be given in “marriage” — to something the humans who’d hired him had summoned via their magic. Although he didn’t know any real details, Carijzan did say he’d heard the name Atavis used by some of the humans. At the mention of this name, Martaine, Nicasia and Theodorus all mumbled quick prayers and seemed exceedingly disturbed. It was time for Martaine to give a short lesson in theology to Ingolf and Aoelif, as they were both lost.Atavis, it seemed, was the name the human church gave to Logos’ counterpart or opponent. In short, the Devil. Ingolf seemed to think that this was some sort of Unseelie counterpart to Logos, like Loki or Hel, but Martaine insisted that Atavis was purely evil, a force of chaos, corruption and destruction where Logos represented creation and purity. Martaine seemed completely horrified at Ingolf’s suggestion that these humans had summoned Atavis himself, and put forth the opinion that it was dfar more likely they’d simply called up one of his servants – a troubling enough supposition in itself.Nicasia asked Carijzan if he knew the humans who’d hired him personally, but he did not. Carijzan had been born and lived most of his life in Lord Vihar’s realm, and was not familiar with humans in general aside from knowing a bit of their language. He did say that he heard one of them address the other by the name tolus — which Nicasia recognized as Ptolos, the family responsible for the royal stables! Things grew worse and worse by the moment — not only, it seemed, was a cult of Atavis active in Iconium, but it had close ties to the imperial family itself!All of the humans in the group were visibly alarmed and upset by this, although Zaccara seemed the least worried of the group, probably feeling that he had problems enough of his own. Martaine above all felt the need to report this information to his superiors in the church — though rather they would take him seriously or not was another issue. As the group were literally a thousand or so miles from the human empire at this point, there seemed to be little to do but press on with the issue at hand — finding and restoring Ingolf’s brother. Carijzan reported that he’d passed a river some hours earlier, before his pursuers had fallen upon him, and thought he could guide the group towards it. The decision was made to depart as soon as it was light — an hour or so away yet, and to trust the half-orc as a guide — for the moment. Theodorus and Aoelif, at least, seemed to be keeping a wary eye on him.Carijzan proved true to his word, and before sunset had guided them to a wide, slowly flowing river that could only be one of the tributaries of the Dan. Somewhere far to the south and east of Vihar’s kingdom was its source, but the group had found it far down its length, much closer to the sea than they’d expected. Zaccara, the most experienced sailor of the group, believed that the mouth of the river might lie within a few days of their current location. Some thought was given to using the folding boat from this point on, but most of the group were still a bit reluctant to part with their faithful beasts of burden, and the terrain seemed easy enough for the time being. Hence the rode on along the banks of the river, headed towards the great northern sea.The group were well north of Iconium by this point, and the summer sun lasted well into the evening, so they elected to press on and leave the Red Swamp behind them. After a few hours travel, they came across a strange hut perched over the river itself, built on long pilings. A narrow footbridge connected it with the shore. Beneath the building, Ingolf spotted two cages, almost like gibbets – and they were clearly occupied by something. There was some debate as to rather or not to approach the structure, with the majority preferring to simply pass it by. But Carijzan noticed the mark of Baba Yaga — an orcish deity — on the hut’s exterior. The worship of any god but Nyag was forbidden in Zakarij’ realm, and so Carijzan reasoned that whoever lived in the hut might be unfriendly to Zakarij and thus a possible ally. Ingolf also argued in favor of investigating. He doubted not that whoever was in residence would have seen the group by this point, and so at the very least he wanted to know if they were likely to pass this information on to others. He also held out hope that, if friendly, the inhabitant might be persuaded to tend to the group’s animals until their return, which would make the trip back to Iconium that much easier. Finally it was agreed that Carijzan, Martaine and Ingolf would approach the house while the rest of the group kept a careful watch from the river bank, with weapons and spells at the ready in the event of treachery.The inhabitant greeted them while they were still on the footbridge – or rather, her voice did, demanding to know what they sought. Carijzan replied that they’d come seeking after wisdom, and a wizened paw appeared at the door, motioning the three to enter. The inside of the house was a treasure-trove of garbage. Fishing nets, rags, bits and pieces of every imaginable type of gear were stashed in heaps all around the interior. The owner proved to be an amazingly ancient crone of a woman, whose ugliness was exceeded only by her stench. Still, Carijzan addressed her with respect, calling her Grandmother and generally behaving politely, as did Ingolf, though the latter was having a hard time determining if the ancient woman was a human, Alfar or some other race entirely.They asked her many questions. Had she seen any humans pass this way, headed north? No, came the reply, though someone or something had passed by in the other direction, toward the swamp, apparently seeking something. Carijzan squirmed a bit at this. Who had passed by, the asked, orcs? Or some of Zakarij’ undead minions? She cackled at that. Not only his undead minions were prowling, but one of the dragons of the swamp was on the wing as well, seeking something. Or someone. Carijzan squirmed some more, and Ingolf began to get a very bad feeling about the entire affair. Then the crone asked them questions in turn, wanting to know who they were, where they were bound, and most importantly, how the two hobgoblins (for so Ingolf and Martaine still appeared) had fallen in with the half-orc Carijzan. Lord Zakarij, it seemed, was very eager to find a half-orc that had fled his capitol some days earlier with something he’d stolen. A large reward of gold coins had been offered for this half-orc thief, and the crone seemed to think Carijzan bore a strong resemblance to the one Zakarij was seeking. Whoever he was, she reasoned, he must have stolen something of great value, or done something to greatly anger the lord. The crone insinuated that the half-orc in question had stolen something from Zakarij’s guests.“It was her undergarments” Carijzan said suddenly, with a bit of a guilty look on his face. “I thought they might be valuable.” Ingolf and Martaine looked at their new companion with a mixture of anger and confusion, and in Ingolf’s case, hidden new-found respect. “Well, well, well,” intoned the crone. “You came seeking wisdom, so let me offer you some – walk out of my house and leave this thief with me. I have want of Zakarij’ gold and this orc is no concern of yours.”Though he felt a bit deceived (and rightly so) by Carijzan’s sudden revelation, Ingolf was no betrayer. He answered firmly in the negative, and the crone said “Leave him here if you want to live out the day! Now begone!” To which Ingolf replied “Oh, we’re leaving — all of us, together. Let us go if you know what’s good for you — or my friends outside will burn this dungheap of yours down to the waterline!” The old woman smiled an evil smile at that — and vanished.All three made a mad dash for the door at this turn of events, with Ingolf yelling for Theodorus to do just as he’d said — burn the hag’s house down. A moment later, the woman reappeared on the landing wielding a cruel looking knife, with which she slashed at Martaine before vanishing once more. Ingolf and Carijzan attempted to navigate the narrow bridge as quickly as they might; Martaine for his part simply dove into the water near the house. When he turned back towards the hovel, he noticed that the cages underneath had been ripped open, and he recognized the sallow beings inside as a number of wights – four in all, and all of which were wading towards him through the muddy water.Ingolf sprinted towards the shore, and Aoelif sprinted towards the house; the two passed one another near the riverbank. Zaccara had his longbow in hand looking for any sign of the old woman, and Ingolf was shouting to Theodorus to burn the whole place to the ground. Carijzan, still on the narrow walkway outside the hut, heard the sound of someone intoning a spell and turned towards it just in time to have the ancient woman deliver an icy, bone-numbing blow to him with her fist. He drew his blade and attempted to retaliate, but the old woman was gone in a few seconds, invisible yet again. Just about then, Aoelif arrived at the door to the hut – but not before Theodorus’ fireball did. A huge explosion shook the structure and immediately set fire to the detritus inside. Aoelif and Carijzan stood shoulder to shoulder just outside the door, looking for any sign of the hag. From the shore, Theodorus cast a spell to fill the inside of the building with a magic web, which immediately caught fire and further fueled the blaze.Below them, in the river, Martaine once more called on Logos to drive off the forces of the undead, with mixed results – two of the wights turned and fled but the other two kept coming. Martaine backed away from them in the waist-deep water and put forth the power of god once more – and the other two fled as well, swimming towards the middle of the river. On the catwalk above, Aoelif saw something in the old woman’s hut suddenly begin to move – it was her stove, which rocked back and forth a time or two, then crashed through the floor and fell into the river below. Aoelif and Carijzan stepped back out of the house, which by this time was truly beginning to burn, and leapt from the walkway into the river. The others all kept watch, looking for any sign of the hag, but none was forthcoming – until she intoned another spell. Theodorus watched in obvious panic as a huge, ethereal club materialized out of thin air and flew directly toward him with obvious intent. The hag, revealed by her spellcasting, became the immediate target of every magic missile, arrow and other attack the group could muster. Nicasia watched with some annoyance as her spells seemed to dissipate just as they struck the crone, and most of the arrows and sling stones cast her way missed the mark completely. Once again, the hag vanished, this time with a splash as she dove below the surface of the water.The next few minutes were chaotic and punishing in the extreme. Theoodorus was beaten nearly into unconsciousness by the spiritual club, but there was nothing anyone could do about that. Zaccara discarded his bow and brought forth his spear, then waded into the water and – much to Carijzan’s surprise – assumed his far more menacing and disturbing form akin to a fomorian. He dove beneath the water’s surface as well, but even in his unseelie- enhanced state he could not see the old woman. In fact, no-one could, and the ancient bitch was free to appear at will, make her attack and then vanish once more before the group could properly retaliate.Finally Ingolf remembered that in his purse was the onyx form of Cu Dun – the magical watchdog he’d claimed as his share of Svear’s loot. He drew forth the statue and said the word of command, transforming it at once into a living hound – with the supernatural ability to see invisible creatures. Cu Dun dove beneath the waves and spotted the hag at once, whereupon Ingolf directed the entire group to surround her and attack. Once this tactic was employed, the hag saw that things would quickly go against her and attempted to flee. She could not reach the deeper water, however, without passing close by Ingolf and Aoelif, and so Cu Dun warned them when she made her move and both moved to intercept and attack her. Both struck true and wounded the hag horribly – or so they assumed from her cries of pain — but it was Carijzan who leapt to strike the most telling blow, and the finally visible and unconscious form of the crone appeared in the water — only to be met by one last volley of magic missiles from Nicasia – but this time, they had the expected effect, and slew the hag dead.Hardly a breath of relief had been drawn before Martaine heard panicked cries coming from within the blazing house. The priest quickly clambered onto the walkway once more and braved the flames inside the building to discover who was trapped within. To his surprise, what he found was not a captive – but a coffin. A coffin containing a weakened goblin vampire that looked very familiar, and very frightened. The pitiful creature begged for his life, promising to reveal the hag’s cache of gold if Martaine would save him. Finally he wailed that he’d never asked to be made into a vampire. “I was a slave! A helpless slave!”Rather or not Martaine was moved by this entreaty none of the others could say. All they know was that he pushed the weakened goblin bodily from the house into the last rays of the setting sun, where the creature died almost instantly. Ingolf might have seen Martaine mouth the words “May Logos have mercy on your soul” but the fire and smoke made it difficult to see anything clearly. Martaine leapt from the burning building to rejoin the others, the grim look on his face telling more of a story than any words could have.Moved still more by his companion's loyalty, Carijzan recapped his tale adding more details. He was hired in Vorst, Lord Zakarij's capitol, to act as a guard for some humans who were traveling to a small port where the ogre lord's land meets the cold sea. He asked around and the locals (via Zakarij's guard) told him that these humans summoned a bridegroom for Zakarij's daughter — her screams could be heard throughout his castle on their wedding night. Carijzan traveled with the humans for a few nights counting one woman and two other men that seemed important, at least rich. (Nobles?) Five other humans accompanied them, but seemed to be servants. Carijzan heard them intoning prayers to Atavis along the route.Carjizan knows something of magical lore and reasoned that garments taken from some of them could be used to scry their identity. One night he broke into the wagon of the woman and was looking for a scarf or somesuch when an ugly doll she had on her counter sprung to life -- it was some kind of homunculus! He grabbed the first thing at hand and made it to his horse, but was unable to make it out of Zakarij's lands. Carijzan's only hope was to try an elude the pursuers in the Red Swamp. Hence his headlong encounter with the troupe...NPCs Encountered Gavrila - a green hag cleric of Nyag, who, while invisible, stood six seconds too long in the same spot...Glimji - a goblin vampire spawn.?- Some black dragon that flew overhead and scared the be-logos out of Martaine, Nicasia and Aeolif. Gavrila claimed he was a friend of Lord ZakarijAssorted fiendish dire wolves and wights.</blockquote>

Verification