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Correl: An Element of Origin
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<blockquote data-quote="MarauderX" data-source="post: 1772584" data-attributes="member: 9990"><p><u><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>Session 17: Homeward Bound</strong></span></u></p><p></p><p>Alex, Thovaas and the others breathed a sigh of relief at the top of the tower. Tired, Jerrin sank to his knees to check on the fallen dwarf Bratton, and Arashika kept her eye on the unmoving body of Golthar. Gathering themselves, each bandaged their wounds before descending to back into the tower. Bratton was lowered down, and the others gave weak congratulations and thanks for defeating Golthar. Setting up a watch, the group rested for the rest of the day and through the night.</p><p></p><p>During their rest, Stephan and his friends explained how they were captured over a month ago by hobgoblins on their way to the tower. The hobgoblins moved them to the goblin lair in the Stone Forest where they saw Rollof, and the two were overjoyed to see each other alive despite their predicament. Rollof was defiant towards the goblins which resulted in daily beatings. After a time, Stephan and the others were escorted south through the woods and across the plain by a large hobgoblin mounted on a pure white wolf. </p><p></p><p>Once they arrived at the tower they met Golthar, and behind his warm, gentle smile lay wicked manipulation as they were released from their bonds only to be paralyzed in green piles of goo. Time was frozen as they were woken only to be questioned or to have magic pry at their memories to see what they knew. In the meantime, each spent plenty of time staring at painting in front of them, a faded glory of ages past, depicting -headed humanoids looking regal with fine clothes and perfect posture. </p><p></p><p>Each resisted the questions that Golthar and his assistant Di'an asked, mostly in a dazed reflexive habit, still weakened by the paralyzing green goo. They asked about the other ruins that they had visited, what they found and questioned thoroughly about what they were after. It was during one of these sessions that they were interrupted by the party emerging from the door. </p><p></p><p>Stephan admits that he has been trying to study the ruins and the things he has found there to uncover more such places. Though they might have been picked through once already, much seems to have been left behind, and certain words of arcana call the powers forth from mundane devices. Stephan continues, saying that he was the one who had determined the tapestries at Sukyskin were ancient, and he was also looking for more to gain any knowledge of where other sites might be. </p><p></p><p>At the last site, Stephan admits that he found descriptions of a tower with a sunken town at the edge of the plateau, and deciphered a location from vague writings in the texts he found. Before setting out, he recruited the same three that had accompanied him before - Gregor, a dwarven fighter, Arashika, a fearsome female half-orc, and Myrrin, an elven rogue and sorcerer. Gregor and Arashika had earned Stephan's trust after guarding his brother Pyotr's horses when moving them to Kargam for sale, and Myrrin came recommended by the dwarf, which Stephan accepted based on the unusual recommendation.</p><p></p><p>In the meantime, Stephan had needed someone to fill his shoes and escort the horses to Kargam with his brother Pyotr. He talked to Rollof, a great contact in the city for finding talent, and he came up with a good group that could do the task and leave him free to find the tower and ruins. It was when they were headed towards Sukyskin that the group was ambushed. </p><p></p><p>Large spikes grew up from the earth, striking their horses, and a moment afterward arrows whistled from the trees to strike them. Disorganized, the group sundered as a large imposing figure, that of an Ogre, came forth from the trees. Trapped, the group fought against them as best they could but soon they fell one by one. </p><p></p><p>They were surprised to wake up alive the next day, though the wounds left painful marks of their defeat as they were marched and dragged to the goblin lair. </p><p></p><p>***** </p><p></p><p>The next morning Jerrin assisted with healing on some of those whose wounds had not mended. The party decided to leave the belongings they had found them in the chests, and didn't say anything to Stephan or the others about it. Gregor and Myrrin stayed close together, and hedged towards Stephan, while Alex and the others went to the stairs. Alex explored the stairwell thoroughly and found concealed doors on each side of the spiral staircase. Behind the doors was a corridor that wrapped around the room, and at each one of the locations for a picture Alex could see through it into the room. In it the two statues had turned back into jade and stood motionless in front of the battered door to the stairs. </p><p></p><p>The group ventured into the room and searched for anything else extraordinary. Alex climbed one of the columns in the room that supports a large slab of stone above. The stone curved downward in the middle, and Alex pulled himself up to the lip of the slab to see that it is concave and a pool of a blueish liquid acted like a mirror to reflect the ceiling another ten feet above. Alex balanced himself on the ledge easily, and dunked an empty flask into the blue water and climbed back down, holding the flask out tentatively as if asking for a volunteer. </p><p></p><p>Gazing around the room, each looked away in turn until Yaritza stepped forward. She cast a few incantations of detection on it, gave up, and downed a healthy mouthful. She replied gleefully that it made her tingle and healed her wounds. Alex went up again and filled his other empty flasks as well as two waterskins with the liquid before looking to move on. </p><p></p><p>The group headed down the next stairs to the last floor left in the tower and Alex opened and pushed it into the room to see what was there. The room was full of desks and tables, and on any flat surface piles of books and loose parchement were stacked precariously. Five older sages in robes stood towards the back, wide-eyed, while four human guards stood between them and the spiral stair. Cautiously eyeing one another with weapons drawn, each side waited for the other to move, and finally Alex spoke up to ask who they were. </p><p></p><p>One of the sages explained that they were there to assist Golthar in translating texts that he had recovered, and since Golthar was a rich benefactor, the sages came to Chautauqua at his request. The party explained that Golthar was not who he seemed and was now dead, and they dragged the body of the fallen creature to prove it. Finally believing them, the sages thought that they would accompany the group back to Kargam, and would accept the party's company. </p><p></p><p>The group made off that day, loading up Thovaas's steed with chests, tapestries and other items. As they left Chautauqua, the party realized they were being followed. In the distance they recognized the outlines of more hobgoblins on their trail across the plain. As night came, they reached the edge of the woods. The party was looking to use the woods for cover, but the sages and others refused to stay there in case the hobgoblins attacked. So they made a bonfire and set up a line of sticks hidden in the waist-high grasses near the forest. With the bonfire still going all night, the older sages slept closest to the woods so they could make it to cover quickly. Alex and several of the others hid in the darkness just outside of the light of the fire during the watches. </p><p></p><p>At about three in the morning, Alex heard the unmistakeable sound of hobgoblins. He rose and alerted Gregor and soon the others were woken up. The group stayed behind the line of picketed sticks, and after a few minutes they heard a shout. With the large group silhoetted by the bonfire, the hobgoblins stood from their hiding in the grasses to take aim and fire. They reloaded and fired again before charging into melee. </p><p></p><p>The large group of warriors met them on the other side of the stick picket, and a large ogre led the way, swinging a huge club with both hands at Thovaas. The hobgoblins clashed with the rest of the party and sage's bodyguards. The fight ensued with everyone eventually joining in, and the ogre was finally defeated, sending the remaining hobgoblins running into the darkness. As they returned and checked on the rest of the camp, they went to wake up the sages, who had apparently slept through the entire fight. However, two of the sages were already awake from the sounds of battle; the others had been murdered in their sleep. </p><p></p><p>Each person began to account for their location, and finally the elf Myrrin came back, blood still fresh on his scimitar. By the firelight no one could tell whether the blood was human or hobgoblin. Staring, Thovaas and the others looked Myrrin over for signs of betrayal while Gregor the dwarf stood by him.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MarauderX, post: 1772584, member: 9990"] [U][SIZE=4][B]Session 17: Homeward Bound[/B][/SIZE][/U] Alex, Thovaas and the others breathed a sigh of relief at the top of the tower. Tired, Jerrin sank to his knees to check on the fallen dwarf Bratton, and Arashika kept her eye on the unmoving body of Golthar. Gathering themselves, each bandaged their wounds before descending to back into the tower. Bratton was lowered down, and the others gave weak congratulations and thanks for defeating Golthar. Setting up a watch, the group rested for the rest of the day and through the night. During their rest, Stephan and his friends explained how they were captured over a month ago by hobgoblins on their way to the tower. The hobgoblins moved them to the goblin lair in the Stone Forest where they saw Rollof, and the two were overjoyed to see each other alive despite their predicament. Rollof was defiant towards the goblins which resulted in daily beatings. After a time, Stephan and the others were escorted south through the woods and across the plain by a large hobgoblin mounted on a pure white wolf. Once they arrived at the tower they met Golthar, and behind his warm, gentle smile lay wicked manipulation as they were released from their bonds only to be paralyzed in green piles of goo. Time was frozen as they were woken only to be questioned or to have magic pry at their memories to see what they knew. In the meantime, each spent plenty of time staring at painting in front of them, a faded glory of ages past, depicting -headed humanoids looking regal with fine clothes and perfect posture. Each resisted the questions that Golthar and his assistant Di'an asked, mostly in a dazed reflexive habit, still weakened by the paralyzing green goo. They asked about the other ruins that they had visited, what they found and questioned thoroughly about what they were after. It was during one of these sessions that they were interrupted by the party emerging from the door. Stephan admits that he has been trying to study the ruins and the things he has found there to uncover more such places. Though they might have been picked through once already, much seems to have been left behind, and certain words of arcana call the powers forth from mundane devices. Stephan continues, saying that he was the one who had determined the tapestries at Sukyskin were ancient, and he was also looking for more to gain any knowledge of where other sites might be. At the last site, Stephan admits that he found descriptions of a tower with a sunken town at the edge of the plateau, and deciphered a location from vague writings in the texts he found. Before setting out, he recruited the same three that had accompanied him before - Gregor, a dwarven fighter, Arashika, a fearsome female half-orc, and Myrrin, an elven rogue and sorcerer. Gregor and Arashika had earned Stephan's trust after guarding his brother Pyotr's horses when moving them to Kargam for sale, and Myrrin came recommended by the dwarf, which Stephan accepted based on the unusual recommendation. In the meantime, Stephan had needed someone to fill his shoes and escort the horses to Kargam with his brother Pyotr. He talked to Rollof, a great contact in the city for finding talent, and he came up with a good group that could do the task and leave him free to find the tower and ruins. It was when they were headed towards Sukyskin that the group was ambushed. Large spikes grew up from the earth, striking their horses, and a moment afterward arrows whistled from the trees to strike them. Disorganized, the group sundered as a large imposing figure, that of an Ogre, came forth from the trees. Trapped, the group fought against them as best they could but soon they fell one by one. They were surprised to wake up alive the next day, though the wounds left painful marks of their defeat as they were marched and dragged to the goblin lair. ***** The next morning Jerrin assisted with healing on some of those whose wounds had not mended. The party decided to leave the belongings they had found them in the chests, and didn't say anything to Stephan or the others about it. Gregor and Myrrin stayed close together, and hedged towards Stephan, while Alex and the others went to the stairs. Alex explored the stairwell thoroughly and found concealed doors on each side of the spiral staircase. Behind the doors was a corridor that wrapped around the room, and at each one of the locations for a picture Alex could see through it into the room. In it the two statues had turned back into jade and stood motionless in front of the battered door to the stairs. The group ventured into the room and searched for anything else extraordinary. Alex climbed one of the columns in the room that supports a large slab of stone above. The stone curved downward in the middle, and Alex pulled himself up to the lip of the slab to see that it is concave and a pool of a blueish liquid acted like a mirror to reflect the ceiling another ten feet above. Alex balanced himself on the ledge easily, and dunked an empty flask into the blue water and climbed back down, holding the flask out tentatively as if asking for a volunteer. Gazing around the room, each looked away in turn until Yaritza stepped forward. She cast a few incantations of detection on it, gave up, and downed a healthy mouthful. She replied gleefully that it made her tingle and healed her wounds. Alex went up again and filled his other empty flasks as well as two waterskins with the liquid before looking to move on. The group headed down the next stairs to the last floor left in the tower and Alex opened and pushed it into the room to see what was there. The room was full of desks and tables, and on any flat surface piles of books and loose parchement were stacked precariously. Five older sages in robes stood towards the back, wide-eyed, while four human guards stood between them and the spiral stair. Cautiously eyeing one another with weapons drawn, each side waited for the other to move, and finally Alex spoke up to ask who they were. One of the sages explained that they were there to assist Golthar in translating texts that he had recovered, and since Golthar was a rich benefactor, the sages came to Chautauqua at his request. The party explained that Golthar was not who he seemed and was now dead, and they dragged the body of the fallen creature to prove it. Finally believing them, the sages thought that they would accompany the group back to Kargam, and would accept the party's company. The group made off that day, loading up Thovaas's steed with chests, tapestries and other items. As they left Chautauqua, the party realized they were being followed. In the distance they recognized the outlines of more hobgoblins on their trail across the plain. As night came, they reached the edge of the woods. The party was looking to use the woods for cover, but the sages and others refused to stay there in case the hobgoblins attacked. So they made a bonfire and set up a line of sticks hidden in the waist-high grasses near the forest. With the bonfire still going all night, the older sages slept closest to the woods so they could make it to cover quickly. Alex and several of the others hid in the darkness just outside of the light of the fire during the watches. At about three in the morning, Alex heard the unmistakeable sound of hobgoblins. He rose and alerted Gregor and soon the others were woken up. The group stayed behind the line of picketed sticks, and after a few minutes they heard a shout. With the large group silhoetted by the bonfire, the hobgoblins stood from their hiding in the grasses to take aim and fire. They reloaded and fired again before charging into melee. The large group of warriors met them on the other side of the stick picket, and a large ogre led the way, swinging a huge club with both hands at Thovaas. The hobgoblins clashed with the rest of the party and sage's bodyguards. The fight ensued with everyone eventually joining in, and the ogre was finally defeated, sending the remaining hobgoblins running into the darkness. As they returned and checked on the rest of the camp, they went to wake up the sages, who had apparently slept through the entire fight. However, two of the sages were already awake from the sounds of battle; the others had been murdered in their sleep. Each person began to account for their location, and finally the elf Myrrin came back, blood still fresh on his scimitar. By the firelight no one could tell whether the blood was human or hobgoblin. Staring, Thovaas and the others looked Myrrin over for signs of betrayal while Gregor the dwarf stood by him. [/QUOTE]
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