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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Eccles" data-source="post: 863376" data-attributes="member: 5675">Yvgeny's fourth letter home:To His Eminence Pietr Orik,Temple of Ilmater,King’s Palace Square,Heliogabalus. Your Grace, I am writing this in the evening after the first day’s assault on the erstwhile Rudenheim clan’s stronghold. The Crusader’s were rebuffed, to say the least. Whilst we lick our wounds, Halbrinn has teleported back to Dagger Falls with the body of Khondar, who fell to the tree-sized club of a maddened Hill Giant. A good day’s rest will be required after Halbrinn returns with the resurrected Khondar, before we venture on again. By the Triad, this will be a battle of attrition! Let me bring you back in time to when we left Dagger Falls (Ilmater! My prose is becoming that of a romance writer! How Pavel would laugh at my prolix meanderings… There I go again!! Please, your eminence, have patience). I must return here to recount how we gained a mage to replace our trusty sorcerer. As I have previously described, Rand left for Clearwater with his new family and a retinue of Ilmataran knights, leaving us a man short. Halbrinn had certainly proved his usefulness, but his skills were firmly in the Illusion school of magic (barring the odd fireball of course!): We were likely to need someone who could back him up. Fortunately, we didn’t have to stoop to a mercenary (ugh! the very thought of employing a Thayan mage…), as someone dropped on us literally out of the blue. I’m not sure how he managed to get to Toril, but apparently he is a conjuror from the Prime Material sphere of ‘Earth.’ (No, I do not contradict myself; Earth isn’t only one of the inner planes. Apparently, the denizens of this area in the Prime declare it is a globe, like Abeir-Toril, made up of not only ‘Earth,’ but Air, Water and Fire too.) They don’t seem to be aware that their pet name is peculiarly odd, but as the ‘intelligent’ race populating this sphere is entirely made up of humans (a distinctly land-oriented group) I guess they are only conforming to type. Adamo (for such is the name of the mage) claimed to have somehow opened a planar rift (gate?) and had been sucked through, to appear in this vicinity. His story bore credence; I could detect none of the usual liar’s tics. However, the more I monitored him, the more I noticed a slightly distracted look. It was almost as if there was an invisible imp sitting on his shoulder and whispering in his ear. Then I remembered: He was a mage. There was a very good chance that there was an invisible imp, sitting on his shoulder and whispering in his ear! Still the niggle did not leave me, and later events would prove my senses worth listening to… Two days in, on the trip into the Desertsmouth Mountains and the Rudenheim clan stronghold, beasts beset us. I cannot be more specific, as neither my companions nor I could name them. All I can do is describe them: Ugly, with odd-shaped heads incorporating a large proboscis. They used this proboscis to spit acid, which hit several of the Crusaders before we could act. I was splashed with this slime, which did my monks’ toga no good at all. Fortunately, it took several seconds before it began burning into my skin in earnest: Enough time for me to scrape a good deal off (the benefits of my heritage helping here, I suppose). Anyway, before the beasts had a chance to press their advantage, Adamo had summoned what I first took to be some kind of fiendish octopus. Before I had a chance to think ‘Cursed demon-spawn sorcerer!’ the thing had laid into our assailants and merrily ripped them to shreds. We mopped up the remainder of our foes in short order, and then questioned Adamo closely on just what his affiliations were. He assured us that he did not summon creatures from the lower planes, but ‘from beyond.’ There was definitely a glint of mania as he discussed this, but I put this down to a mage dabbling in the outer fringes of what is good for him, not to an evil bent, per se. Still, I would think it remiss of me not to keep an eye on this character, for we barely know him. Further proof of the usefulness of our new mage came only a short while later when we blundered into the path of a foraging wyvern. Whilst the rest of us attempted to shoot the thing down with arrows, bolts and sling-stones, Adamo summoned a flying… thing. Apparently, he intended an owl, but the curse he is under (beyond my ken, this curse is otherworldly and I don’t comprehend it) brought what we saw. I will simply describe it as a wyvern-bane, for that was the result: The wyvern was torn in half, leaving us little to do except to clean ourselves up and continue. Our next foe was on a slightly different scale, however. Ilmater only knows what depraved magicks managed to infuse a 130’ (that’s one-hundred and thirty foot!) tall humanoid skeleton with false life, but that is what we were faced with. I reached for my holy symbol, but the emanations of negative energy told me that I could not hope to disrupt this thing’s contact with that plane: We would simply have to bring it down with weapons. Stedd helped by jumping to its pelvis (truly his ring of jumping has it’s uses!) and attacking the giant skeleton’s backbone at that point. Khondar, given enough space to swing his axe in massive arcs, just hewed at the things ankles (ankle-biter jokes may have been amusing: getting in the way of Khondar’s axe certainly wasn’t!) until it could stand no more. Finally, I hit the thing in the shinbone with an empowered fist, and a crack appeared… which spread up the bone to the knee. At this point, the negative energy fizzled, and I warned the rest to jump clear. On the instant, the remainder of the skeleton began to crack, and in a matter of seconds the whole thing collapsed. Fortunately, no one was buried. I dedicated the destruction with a short prayer to the Triad, but got no particular joy in my achievement. Such a skeleton could only have come from something as mighty as a race of long-lost super-Titans. What mighty personage deserved such a sacrilegious end, and who would perpetrate the crime of animating his remains? There would be answers… Anyway, those answers would have to wait, as we were still travelling through dangerous terrain, and focus had to be maintained. So it was that we were ready when a pair bulettes (land-sharks, if you will) thrust up through the ground whilst we were travelling the next day. This fight was short, bloody and inglorious, so I will leave the description to those with more lurid memoirs… The evening of this day brought us to within a few hours’ march of the stronghold, so we camped that evening under an escarpment that hid us from direct view of the stronghold, and made ourselves ready for the following day. Looking back on our first attempt at forcing entry to the stronghold, I can see that our previous successes had imbued us with a little arrogance. We should have questioned Khondar as to possible secret entrances, for the main gate was well defended. First, we had to navigate a narrow winding gorge, protected by crossbow-firing dwarven skeletons, well hidden behind arrow slits, and the ogre guards set to protect the approaches. These we dealt with in short order, the skeletons being weak enough to scatter with a well-timed thrust of my holy symbol. However, the aura generated seemed weak, being barely enough to turn the undead. This, with hindsight, was a warning: There would be death ahead; this was not the best way. Khondar was to find this out, to my shame. By the time we got to the main doors, they were barred against us. It took repeated should charges by Khondar to break open the doors (by the Triad, this is one strong dwarf!) but by that time, we were confronted by a chasm cleared of its rope bridge, with diverse enemies on the far side. The ogres launched javelins, mostly at the dwarf, whilst the giant did the same with several head-sized rocks. Halbrinn set up a distracting illusion to try to draw the enemies’ fire, whilst I formed up a spiritual fist of Ilmater, to try to dismantle the stack of rocks that the giant was using as ammunition. After various exchanges of magic and huge projectiles, Halbrinn enspelled Khondar so that he could fly, and he and Stedd jumped the chasm to take the battle directly to the enemy. They took down some of the ogres, but the battle turned when Khondar attacked the giant. It shook with rage and then promptly unfurled a huge club and swung it at Khondar as if to bang in a tent peg. Despite the stoutness of the dwarf, he lasted mere seconds under the onslaught, being bashed to the ground, and then bashed again for good measure. There was quite literally nothing the rest of us could do; Stedd was forced to jump back to prevent the ire of the giant being directed at him. As it was, he managed to finish the last ogre before he jumped, receiving a blow with a rock by the giant for his troubles. He managed to get back, the last vestiges of consciousness leaving him as he landed, and allowing me to stabilise his ebbing life force with a minor prayer. We were thus again obliged to use ranged weapons to kill the last giant. With a final concerted effort, the giant keeled over: As his rage left him, so the giant slumped and died, leaving the entrance hall devoid of living foes. We took this opportunity to rescue Khondar’s body then retired, swiftest, to heal, before reinforcements could arrive. I could hardly argue, although I had received little in the way of injury. It was plain to see that a number of the Crusaders had suffered greatly, so I dealt out healing as we went. So this brings me to the current point in time. We have found a defensible position, the better to resist the search parties that will no-doubt be sent out to scout for us. Halbrinn has gone, using Khondar’s ring of teleportation (these were found on the bodies of the dark rogues encountered at Lord Morn’s mansion). He has taken Khondar’s body with him, with the idea of resurrecting him. The rest of us have completed work on the defences of our camp, and now rest (uneasily) with the expectation of discovery uppermost in our minds. Fortunately, no signs of pursuit have been discovered so far, which is fortuitous, as we now number only four with Halbrinn and Khondar not yet returned. One last thing. Before I put this scroll in our teleporting case, I got a night’s sleep. During this period of slumber, I experienced one of those unusual dreams I get periodically. This, like the ones before, was accompanied by visions of an ancient, dust-enshrouded city. However, this time I walked amongst it’s narrow streets, accompanied by the winged celestial I’ve mentioned previously. The city had strange geometric buildings, multi-storeyed in terrace-like fashion and when the people talked, their language, though foreign, seemed almost comprehensible to me. Finally, the celestial brought me before a temple, which had a white conical crown, a crook and a flail as the symbol of the God it represented. Here, the dream began to fade, leaving just the temple’s symbol in sharp focus, until that too disappeared, and I found myself awake with cold drizzle chilling my neck and arm. It appears Imater did not take my dreams as a sign of apostasy, however, for in morning prayers I felt invigorated. I was able to exceed the normal amount of Ilmater’s power I could accept into myself, so was able to prepare more spells than my usual allotment. Ilmater has blessed me with visions of my past, and with the ability to better shape my future! All-the-better to fight those forces occupying the dwarven stronghold of our friend Khondar, who has been returned to us hale and hearty, if a little lighter in gold! I will write more anon, your grace, with Ilmater’s will. For now, I will sign off. Yours,Yvgeny. P.S. Due to the rapid changes in membership, I thought it useful to list the new line-up of the Clearwater Crusaders. Stedd of the Old Order. The only original member of the Crusaders, and a useful friend. His monkish skills are greater than mine, but he appreciates my healing powers all the same. Raison d’etre: Returning his monastery to its former glory and clearing their name. Miles O’Kane. A professional killer, and probable enforcer in the employ of the government of Daggerdale. Has some small (but useful) skill in magic, scouting and fighting with two swords. The damage he can dish out, in the right circumstances, with these swords (each barely larger than a good-sized dagger) is appalling, but effective. Raison d’etre: The protection of Daggerdale and the destruction of the Zhents. Khondar Axewielder. A barbarian dwarf, with awesome ability to wield a greataxe. Never approach within five feet when he is in battle, as the flying blood and gore may make you fear for your own life. Raison d’etre: The recovery of his clan stronghold and discovery of more Rudenheim dwarves. Halbrinn. A gnomish technomancer, good with illusions and the odd fireball. Knows his technology, which should prove useful against traps and snares on our journey into the stronghold. Raison d’etre: The discovery of manuals of magical creation and mechanical engineering. Additionally, building his own ‘constructs.’ (?) Adamo. Conjurer extraordinaire. Don’t know where he summons his beasts from (and don’t want to!) but proved his usefulness in several fights already. Raison d’etre: Unknown. I must rectify this, as he is truly an unknown quantity, himself. Myself. Good at filling in all the gaps that my heroic friends don’t cover (namely: the ability to heal wounds and confound undead). Additionally, good with a stunning and empowered fist when a monster needs quieting quickly. Raison d’etre: Advancing the cause of Ilmater and Damara. Hope that leaves you suitable enlightened, your eminence? Ilmater save the King.</blockquote>

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