Eccles
Ragged idiot in a trilby.
Miles' Journal
Part 5
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Uktar 27th - Early this morning as myself, Taeghan and Morgaine were on watch, the camp was attacked by those very same carnivores that we saw yesterday. Vicious bipeds, with sharp claws and teeth, and one large hooked claw on each foot. We made short work of them, dragging the bodies away some distance then into the undergrowth. We set off soon after, the fight having woken everyone up, and our wounds were not so severe as to stop us continuing our exploration of this strange land. the beach eventually sloped up onto a grassy plateau of sorts, which was dominated by a colossal insect hive, the large creatures buzzing about it. We did our best to skirt around the edge of the plateau, but nevertheless encountered a group of five giant hornets, which we handily disposed of.
A few hours later, we were unfortunate enough to cross paths with a much larger version of the bipedal predators that ambushed our campsite this morning. It was chasing some small porcine lizard creatures, but charged us upon sighting us, no doubt reckoning us as a better meal. It clawed up Rand pretty bad, but we soon surrounded and slew it. Tanus finishing it off with a graceful thrust of his rapier, straight to the monsters heart. We headed along a worn trail and after half an hour or so arrived in an area of plants laden with some form of fruit. What was important about this find was that the plants were arranged in rows. We then heard a deafening roar, and much screaming coming from close by and raced towards the source of the noise, running into a large clearing amidst the jungle where fortified wooden settlement was being terrorised by a giant bipedal carnivore more than twice the size of the one we had just fought!
We charged in, though not quickly enough to stop it from biting a couple villagers who were trying to fend it off with crude spears. It bit the head off one and chopped the other clean in two! We hit the thing with everything we had, Rand's lightning, Stedd's fists, my blades, Taeghan even charged the thing on horseback with his lance as Braddoc and Tanus shot it with arrows. I am immensely proud to say that I slew this monster, climbing up its left flank, stabbing deep into its flesh with my swords as I went, then back flipping off it as it collapsed under its own weight to the ground.
We were then mobbed by the villagers in gratitude of having slain this creature that had been plaguing them for some time. A feast was thrown in our honour. Rand cast a spell from a scroll allowing him to understand and speak their language for a short time. They called the creature I slew a Tyrannosaur. I assume this is one of the dragons of their world. We learned that this is the only settlement in this part of the world, other people living atop a very tall cliff some days away, which this tribe’s legends say they originally came from. We decided to stay here for a few days to heal up (both myself and Taeghan took grievous wounds from the Tyrannosaur's dagger-like teeth), identify some magic items we have been carrying for a while without knowing their properties and generally acclimatise a bit better to the sweltering heat of this place.
Uktar 28th to 30th - I have spent the past few days in the bed of a young lovely from the tribe, enjoying her hospitality. They think we are gods, who am I to deny myself some the pleasures that come from their delusion? It has been a while since I could relax and enjoy the pleasures of a woman anyway. I am happy that for my share of the party’s magical treasures I managed to procure a necklace of fireballs, and three potions. One each of healing, invisibility and thought detection. Not a bad haul at all, and I am sure to be able to put them to good use.
Feast of the Moon - We got ready to leave and had just finished packing our things when we heard screaming coming from the direction of the beach near to the village. We rushed forth to see what new terror was harassing these villagers who revere us as though we were gods. What we found was a large ship that was raiding the village fisher folk and taking captives. Slavers! I despise slavers with a passion. A ferocious melee broke out, Stedd using his jump ring to leap the forty feet to the prow of their ship and engaging the slaver pirates single-handed, as the rest of us launched arrows and lightning from the shoreline. Some of us (including me) made our way through the water (with varying degrees of success), to the ship and after a lengthy and difficult struggle we triumphed with no fatalities though both Stedd & Rand were on deaths door. I think we will be resting here a while longer to recover. I'm not complaining, I get to spend more time with that native woman.
Nightal 1st to 2nd - We spend two more days at the village, recovering from our new injuries. I spent some time training the locals in how to use the metal weapons we took from the pirates. I also procured myself a nice suit of leather armour made from the hide of one of the great lizards that roam this world. Apparently it is magical and should offer me better protection than my old studded leather does. It certainly looks more unique, and when we get back to Toril, who will know that it is not dragon hide!
Nightal 3rd to 5th - We finally bade goodbye to the natives and set off on the ship we captured from the pirates, with six of the natives helping us to sail it. They learn fast it seems, and are eager for adventure. We headed along the coastline, staying within sight of it at all times, sailing in the direction of the cliffs, in the hope that the people who live atop them might provide us with more answers in our search for a way home.
Nightal 6th - We arrived at the watery base of the massive cliffs in the early morning. We are a short distance from their mainland, a couple miles at most. As we looked up at the awesome cliffs, ten gigantic pale pink tentacles erupted from the water to either side of the ship. After a very short fight, the tentacles wrapped around Tanus and dragged him to a watery grave. The rest of us were then faced with the problem of our ship sinking as whatever the creature was, it had holed us beneath the waterline. We hurriedly threw our stuff into the bag of holding, and everyone headed overboard, swimming towards the cliffs through the inky waters. While I made it without incident (it would seem that my new armour assists me in the water, I certainly felt lighter than I should have been), Rand and Taeghan were less fortunate. Rand swallowed too much water and nearly drowned, saved only by Morgaine. Taeghan took too long to make the crossing to the safety of a ledge that the rest of us hauled ourselves onto, and his paddling attracted the creature back (a giant squid no less), which wrapped its tentacles about him. He put up a fierce struggle as we threw rocks down from the ledge, but to no avail as he too was dragged to his death below the surface, though Braddoc did manage an astounding throw which slew the squid, too late though to save our priest. Devastated, Morgaine began swimming back towards the natives’ mainland, taking with her Taeghan's body. Women! Now we are without any priests.
Though it took us a while to achieve it, we eventually ascended the cliff to a large flat grassy plain which gradually slopes up in the distance to wooded hills that seems to surround a truly colossal mountain. Since this is the only landmark in sight, we have decided to head towards it and we set off through the waist high grass. Night came quickly and we cut down an area of the grass to make camp in. There was a small altercation in the night with a strange green crystalline scorpion thing, but we eventually got the better of it. It killed one of the natives, five remain with us now. A shame the squid did not eat them instead of Taeghan and Tanus; they are far less useful than our fallen comrades.
Nightal 7th - After several hours of trekking we were surprised when a figure appeared out of nowhere a little distance away and then turned invisible before our eyes. Stedd gave chase, and then stopped, running back towards us as a hydra reared up out of the grass and surged after him. We swiftly dealt with the seven-headed beast, Rand blasting it to oblivion with a brace of lightning bolts. At this point the wizard who had turned himself invisible introduced himself as Pharaxes of Chessenta, another traveller stranded here from our world. We requested permission to join our group and we agreed, needing all the help we can get. Towards evening as we entered the hills we were surrounded by tiger-like cat people who bade us go with them. We travelled down to their campsite and they put us in a stockade as night came down.
Part 5
----------
Uktar 27th - Early this morning as myself, Taeghan and Morgaine were on watch, the camp was attacked by those very same carnivores that we saw yesterday. Vicious bipeds, with sharp claws and teeth, and one large hooked claw on each foot. We made short work of them, dragging the bodies away some distance then into the undergrowth. We set off soon after, the fight having woken everyone up, and our wounds were not so severe as to stop us continuing our exploration of this strange land. the beach eventually sloped up onto a grassy plateau of sorts, which was dominated by a colossal insect hive, the large creatures buzzing about it. We did our best to skirt around the edge of the plateau, but nevertheless encountered a group of five giant hornets, which we handily disposed of.
A few hours later, we were unfortunate enough to cross paths with a much larger version of the bipedal predators that ambushed our campsite this morning. It was chasing some small porcine lizard creatures, but charged us upon sighting us, no doubt reckoning us as a better meal. It clawed up Rand pretty bad, but we soon surrounded and slew it. Tanus finishing it off with a graceful thrust of his rapier, straight to the monsters heart. We headed along a worn trail and after half an hour or so arrived in an area of plants laden with some form of fruit. What was important about this find was that the plants were arranged in rows. We then heard a deafening roar, and much screaming coming from close by and raced towards the source of the noise, running into a large clearing amidst the jungle where fortified wooden settlement was being terrorised by a giant bipedal carnivore more than twice the size of the one we had just fought!
We charged in, though not quickly enough to stop it from biting a couple villagers who were trying to fend it off with crude spears. It bit the head off one and chopped the other clean in two! We hit the thing with everything we had, Rand's lightning, Stedd's fists, my blades, Taeghan even charged the thing on horseback with his lance as Braddoc and Tanus shot it with arrows. I am immensely proud to say that I slew this monster, climbing up its left flank, stabbing deep into its flesh with my swords as I went, then back flipping off it as it collapsed under its own weight to the ground.
We were then mobbed by the villagers in gratitude of having slain this creature that had been plaguing them for some time. A feast was thrown in our honour. Rand cast a spell from a scroll allowing him to understand and speak their language for a short time. They called the creature I slew a Tyrannosaur. I assume this is one of the dragons of their world. We learned that this is the only settlement in this part of the world, other people living atop a very tall cliff some days away, which this tribe’s legends say they originally came from. We decided to stay here for a few days to heal up (both myself and Taeghan took grievous wounds from the Tyrannosaur's dagger-like teeth), identify some magic items we have been carrying for a while without knowing their properties and generally acclimatise a bit better to the sweltering heat of this place.
Uktar 28th to 30th - I have spent the past few days in the bed of a young lovely from the tribe, enjoying her hospitality. They think we are gods, who am I to deny myself some the pleasures that come from their delusion? It has been a while since I could relax and enjoy the pleasures of a woman anyway. I am happy that for my share of the party’s magical treasures I managed to procure a necklace of fireballs, and three potions. One each of healing, invisibility and thought detection. Not a bad haul at all, and I am sure to be able to put them to good use.
Feast of the Moon - We got ready to leave and had just finished packing our things when we heard screaming coming from the direction of the beach near to the village. We rushed forth to see what new terror was harassing these villagers who revere us as though we were gods. What we found was a large ship that was raiding the village fisher folk and taking captives. Slavers! I despise slavers with a passion. A ferocious melee broke out, Stedd using his jump ring to leap the forty feet to the prow of their ship and engaging the slaver pirates single-handed, as the rest of us launched arrows and lightning from the shoreline. Some of us (including me) made our way through the water (with varying degrees of success), to the ship and after a lengthy and difficult struggle we triumphed with no fatalities though both Stedd & Rand were on deaths door. I think we will be resting here a while longer to recover. I'm not complaining, I get to spend more time with that native woman.
Nightal 1st to 2nd - We spend two more days at the village, recovering from our new injuries. I spent some time training the locals in how to use the metal weapons we took from the pirates. I also procured myself a nice suit of leather armour made from the hide of one of the great lizards that roam this world. Apparently it is magical and should offer me better protection than my old studded leather does. It certainly looks more unique, and when we get back to Toril, who will know that it is not dragon hide!
Nightal 3rd to 5th - We finally bade goodbye to the natives and set off on the ship we captured from the pirates, with six of the natives helping us to sail it. They learn fast it seems, and are eager for adventure. We headed along the coastline, staying within sight of it at all times, sailing in the direction of the cliffs, in the hope that the people who live atop them might provide us with more answers in our search for a way home.
Nightal 6th - We arrived at the watery base of the massive cliffs in the early morning. We are a short distance from their mainland, a couple miles at most. As we looked up at the awesome cliffs, ten gigantic pale pink tentacles erupted from the water to either side of the ship. After a very short fight, the tentacles wrapped around Tanus and dragged him to a watery grave. The rest of us were then faced with the problem of our ship sinking as whatever the creature was, it had holed us beneath the waterline. We hurriedly threw our stuff into the bag of holding, and everyone headed overboard, swimming towards the cliffs through the inky waters. While I made it without incident (it would seem that my new armour assists me in the water, I certainly felt lighter than I should have been), Rand and Taeghan were less fortunate. Rand swallowed too much water and nearly drowned, saved only by Morgaine. Taeghan took too long to make the crossing to the safety of a ledge that the rest of us hauled ourselves onto, and his paddling attracted the creature back (a giant squid no less), which wrapped its tentacles about him. He put up a fierce struggle as we threw rocks down from the ledge, but to no avail as he too was dragged to his death below the surface, though Braddoc did manage an astounding throw which slew the squid, too late though to save our priest. Devastated, Morgaine began swimming back towards the natives’ mainland, taking with her Taeghan's body. Women! Now we are without any priests.
Though it took us a while to achieve it, we eventually ascended the cliff to a large flat grassy plain which gradually slopes up in the distance to wooded hills that seems to surround a truly colossal mountain. Since this is the only landmark in sight, we have decided to head towards it and we set off through the waist high grass. Night came quickly and we cut down an area of the grass to make camp in. There was a small altercation in the night with a strange green crystalline scorpion thing, but we eventually got the better of it. It killed one of the natives, five remain with us now. A shame the squid did not eat them instead of Taeghan and Tanus; they are far less useful than our fallen comrades.
Nightal 7th - After several hours of trekking we were surprised when a figure appeared out of nowhere a little distance away and then turned invisible before our eyes. Stedd gave chase, and then stopped, running back towards us as a hydra reared up out of the grass and surged after him. We swiftly dealt with the seven-headed beast, Rand blasting it to oblivion with a brace of lightning bolts. At this point the wizard who had turned himself invisible introduced himself as Pharaxes of Chessenta, another traveller stranded here from our world. We requested permission to join our group and we agreed, needing all the help we can get. Towards evening as we entered the hills we were surrounded by tiger-like cat people who bade us go with them. We travelled down to their campsite and they put us in a stockade as night came down.
