Cydra: the Early Years

[the Jester]

Rajah appeared- where?

There was no blast of flames, no chilling wave, no bolt of lightning. He looked warily about, but it was dark. He took on the senses of a tiger and scented the air, and it was not pleasant. He could smell an underlying stench of corruption and decay: the stench of the Hill of Skulls itself, crafted of the bones and brains of countless heads, the jelly of their decaying forms pressing down on each other until, like sedimentary rocks, they formed a stronger brick and mortar than hewn stone or nailed wood could ever hope to. Mixed with the foul odor was the stink of rats and vermin. But Rajah smelled no imminent trouble.

It was absolutely dark. Rajah rummaged in his pack until he found a torch and his flint and steel. In a few more moments, he had a small amount of light, and he surveyed the room he was in.

“Damn,” he said, or tried to. It was then that he realized that he was dumb, unable to speak. He scuffed the ground with his foot and found that he could hear; but however he shouted or cried out, he made no noise. His upper lip curled in a momentary sneer. His mind was fine, and that was all that he needed.

The reason for his exclamation was beneath and surrounding him. He stood in the center of a pentagram inscribed in the floor. It was easily 10’ in diameter, and it was the centerpiece of the room, which was a square 30’ on a side. A single passageway led out into the darkness from the room; in addition, two doors led out.

Rajah considered the doors briefly, but it seemed more likely to lead to trouble than the hallway did. He was alone; he didn’t want trouble. He decided that he would try the hallway first, and if need be, return to the doors. He extinguished his torch and padded down the hallway as quietly as he could, continuing to use the senses of a tiger. The hall led on for quite a while- a full hundred feet before there was an opening to the left. Yet the hallway itself continued. Rajah hurried on.

Finally, another 20’ past the leftward exit, the hallway spilled into another 30’ square room. Rajah drew back in horror.

The room was packed full of skeletons and zombies.

***

The rest of the party appeared in the midst of a guard room staffed by a quartet of grey-skinned, dour-looking dwarven warriors. Immediately, the dwarves in the party shouted their battle cries and attacked, for Jenner and Belmondo recognized them as duergar- that race of dwarves long ago driven deep underground for their evil natures. The battle lasted but a moment, for the duergar were novices compared to our heroes, and they numbered only four to our heroes’ considerably higher number. Between Jenner, Belmondo, Julio Titan, Criediki, Pandos the Mute and Dexter, the duergar didn’t stand a chance.

There were three passages out of the room that our heroes arrived in. Since they had continual light coins, they could see just fine. One of the exits from the room was covered by a curtain, so naturally the party decided to investigate that one. Julio pushed the curtain aside.

A great stone statue of a dwarf stood in the room. Julio gaped at it. And then, without moving its mouth, it spoke in a loud, grinding voice: “FRIEND OR FOE?”

“Uh, friend,” Julio answered.

“No, wait!” cried Belmondo.

“Oh crap!” Julio exclaimed, as the stone golem in the room animated and attacked. Our heroes fought it frantically, but at first none of their weapons could hurt it. But then Jenner struck it with Brainmasher, the flail that the party had recovered on their way to the Hill. The blow damaged it! A web of cracks appeared where the flail impacted the golem’s knee.

It was the only thing they had that could hurt it. The party backed Jenner up as best they could, with Dexter doing what he could to protect, and then heal, Jenner. Several of the other adventurers took mighty blows while distracting the stupid golem from the true threat. And Jenner did it- he smashed the golem to pieces.

Afterwards, the party took a moment to catch its breath. And as they did, another group of duergar marched in on them. Another brief battle left them defeated; but then, another group of people walked in on them- and these ones looked disturbingly more competent than the duergar.

Their leader- a man with dazzling charisma that simply radiated from him, dressed in the sort of finery a wealthy ambassador would wear, who was circled by a pair of metal spheres about the size of a fist- spoke up. “Dexter Nadly, I presume,” he said politely.

***

Rajah didn’t hesitate. He lept, using his muscles and his psionics together to tumble and spring through the skeletons and zombies while they fell over one another trying to hit him. He reached one of the exits from the room- and found himself facing another room full of undead! He whirled- behind him, dozens of skeletons and zombies were closing in! Before him, dozens more!

There was only one choice. He lept up and over them, across almost the entire room towards the far exit, and when he landed he sprinted for the exit.

Another room full of undead.

Rajah, the Tiger Prince, groaned. Was he in some sort of dimension full of undead? He cast a glance behind him. The undead were staying in their respective rooms. Grimacing, he sprang forward once again. He smashed a skeleton that got in his way and dodged several zombie attacks on the way; and then he ran clear of the room.

He skidded to a halt. This room was different. It was larger than he could perceive, and it was full of rocks and rubble. The smell of burning was obvious.

Oh dear, thought Rajah.

Next Time: Trouble everywhere!

 

[Knightfall]

You know, I'd just caught up on this thread and then you post another one. Excellent stuff, as usual, J.

 

[the Jester]

You know, I'd just caught up on this thread and then you post another one. Excellent stuff, as usual, J.

Wow, someone's reading this one!

I'm kind of surprised, given how randomly I tend to update it. There has to be room in my schedule on top of game prep and the regular SHs... which is rare.

But hey, right now I'm going strong!

 

[Knightfall]

Wow, someone's reading this one!

I'm kind of surprised, given how randomly I tend to update it. There has to be room in my schedule on top of game prep and the regular SHs... which is rare.

But hey, right now I'm going strong!

I came back to this one after you finished the Great Conflicts story arc. I haven't started reading your new one yet.

 

[Nightbreeze]

Just finished reading this now, Iand it sure is interesting

 

[the Jester]

So there I was, thinking I had time and inclination to work on an Early Years update, and I went to review where I was...

Oh, crap.

Now I remember- the reason I hadn't written another one is because I'm missing my picture and/or character sheets for the npc party! Which is important; they are major players in what happens next.

Now, I know those papers still exist... I just have to find them!

But rest assured, I'm still thinking about this SH, and it's not done by any means!

 

[the Jester]

Alas, after many fruitless hours of searching (and a change of residence!) I have proven unable to locate the elusive picture of the evil npc party in the Hill of Skulls. Nor are my notes complete enough to truly reassemble the sequence of events that followed.

So, much like I have throughout this story, I will endeavor to summarize and capture the flavor of the events as best I can. And boy, was that flavor a bitter one for our heroes.

***

It’s an old cliched villain trick: threaten babies. But that’s exactly what Augustus- the envoy at the head of the Strogassian party in the Hill of Skulls- meant to do.

He tried to persuade Dexter to surrender to him; but Dex wasn’t having any of that. With a massive party of adventurers backing him, Dexter did not grovel; he growled. The Dark Emperor had his eye on the Son of Light? Well, stare at the sun and you just might get blinded.

The two parties of adventurers had a first clash, ending with the villains withdrawing and the heroes declining to pursue, fearing a trap. They were right; but the villains escaped not to lead the party into a trap, but rather, to get the babies they needed in order to set the trap. Meanwhile, our heroes continued their cautious exploration of the Hill, hoping to find their friends- hoping to find the ancient texts that they had come for- hoping to find a way out.

***

Rajah, meanwhile, began to cautiously edge his way into the chamber that he was in. No zombies, he thought wryly. That’s something, at least. His nostrils flared. There was a reptillian scent... The Tiger Prince swallowed. The air was hot.

There was the sound of movement- a scratch of claws rasping along the rock-strewn floor of the place. Rajah moved into the shadows as best he could and tensed. And then a 20’ long lizard the color of fire came into view. It hissed, its tongue testing the air. Its beady reptile eyes swept over the rocks, looking for the prey it had scented.

Rajah leapt at it, using his gloves of the slug, and turned its flesh to mucus.

The fire lizard gave a loud howl as the Tiger Prince tore into it. The beast flailed about in agony as the hot environment immediately began to dry out its skin, and it roared in pain and fear.

It belched flames.

Rajah’s mastery over his body was complete. He adapted to the energy, blazing with light, and kept ripping at the monstrous lizard, his hands clenched into claws. He tore into its throat, and the great lizard choked and drew back. Rajah watched it drown in its own blood.

“I have got to get out of here,” he said aloud. He sighed. He could; his mind could get him out of the Hill of Skulls by teleporting him. But- what about his friends? What if they were inside? He might never find them again.

Rajah was not afraid, but the idea of being lost alone on Strogass was... daunting. For a moment, he wished he were back with his tiger clan, living a simple, free life on Dorhaus. But he knew that he could never return to that lifestyle- not with his uncle, Tovan, trying to kill him.

Reluctantly, Rajah kept exploring. If I can’t find a safe resting place, I’ll have to get out of here soon, he thought. I haven’t yet found a real defensible area.

***

Meanwhile, the others also continued their explorations for a couple of days and descended a level, encountering a tribe of bugbears. The party slew most of them, but Therighast the Prophet charmed two and brought them along as guides and muscle.

“We don’t really know all that much,” one of them rumbled in Strogassian (and Therighast translated for the rest of the party). “It’s not like all of the inhabitants of the Hill get together for dinner, you know. A lot of us fight and even eat each other.”

“Well, good,” replied Therighast. “Then since most of the creatures in here aren’t your friends, you won’t mind helping to defend us.”

“Oh, not at all,” beamed the friendly bugbear.

But it wasn’t too much longer before the party got in over their heads. What was that about babies, again?

***

At about the same time, Rajah finally used his psionics to escape the Hill of Skulls. Teleportation failed, but he proved able to dream travel. He encountered another adventurer above, Ilyara, a sly-looking Strogassian elf. They joined up, although each was wary of the others, and Rajah bleakly considered his options. I could teleport back inside, but that won’t help me find the others. If I can figure out which entry point the others took, maybe I can follow them. Then again, I have no way of knowing which way they went, and even if I figure the riddle out, I can’t know for sure that they did. They might have chosen wrong. He glanced sidelong at Ilyara. I hope she’s trustworthy. I could use some help right about now.

Rajah sighed. The best thing for me to do, he thought, might be to simply wait. Though the idea left a foul taste in his mouth, he realized that any other choice might be disastrous.

***

The enemy party appeared again, but this time was squalling infants in their arms. The threat was clear even before they made it: Dexter would give himself to them, and to their dark master, or the babies- innocent babies- would die. All of them.

Dexter was torn. Several members of the party wanted to attack the enemies and let Galador sort it out, but Dexter forbade it.

Pandos the Mute, Dexter’s Warden, watched with interest as Dexter wrestled with the situation. He still has not shown any sign of evil or Bleak worship, thought the paladin. Clearly, he once was- and equally clearly, he feels terrible guilt and regret over his past. Everything he does is to atone.

And what could Dexter do in this situation? Quested with a holy mission by Galador Himself, forced to choose between half a dozen innocent babies and his Lord’s commands, Dexter did the only thing he could: he prayed.

Galador, he prayed, please hear my plea. I want to do Your work, but that work is all about protecting the innocent- and here I am, torn between protecting innocent children by surrendering myself to Your enemies and giving up on my sacred mission, or fulfilling my mission at the cost of innocent babies. My Lord, I need Your Light to guide me. Please, show me the way! What is the right thing to do?

And, for one of the only two times in my campaign to date, Galador answered.*

Great radiant wings seemed to sweep over the scene. Augustus and his henchmen cried out, and when their eyes cleared, our heroes were simply gone.

Next Time: After a sojourn in Heaven, our heroes return to the Hill of Skulls!


*The other time was at the climactic battle of the Great War of Ethics, where Galador Himself came to fight on Cydra- only to be confronted by the god Vandreu manifest as well.

 

[the Jester]

Heaven was the most wonderful place imaginable.

Dexter was at peace for the first time in his life; perhaps the only time. To those that were true followers of Galador, especially Dex, Jenner, Belmondo, Therighast and Pandos, Heaven was pure bliss. They basked in the Divine Radiance.

To others it was less comfortable. Nydroth was on edge the entire time he was there; he was a despoiler of corpses, a practicioner of the Black Art, and he was only barely welcome, and only by virtue of being one of Dexter’s companions.

Inevitably, they would have to go back; but if they lived good lives and had faith in the Light in the face of all adversity, they could one day return to Heaven- and from that day forward, they would have eternal life near the Throne of Light.

***

I’ve waited too long, Rajah decided. It has been weeks and there’s no sign of my companions. Ilyara and I have solved the puzzle; it’s time to follow my friends. Hopefully they’ve left a trail of bodies and broken doors that I can follow, and the things they have slain have not simply been replaced. He took a deep breath and turned to Ilyara. “I think it’s time,” he said.

“Finally,” she replied.

They walked from their camp site down into the valley from which the Hill of Skulls rose like a great spider bite on the skin of the land itself. And, to Rajah’s amazement, for the first time since he had been teleported inside the Hill, he saw one of his friends.

“Hello!” bellowed Belmondo cheerfully.

“Belmondo!” exclaimed Rajah. “Where are the others? What happened?”

Belmondo sighed. “The others are still in Heaven. We were lifted there to escape the worst the Hill had to offer. Belmondo was sent back to find you. To join you as you re-enter the Hill of Skulls, so that we will all hopefully be reunited soon..”

“Why not send everyone back at once?” asked Rajah.*

“The Light works in mysterious ways,” Belmondo answered.

“Have you seen any sign of Drelvin?” Rajah and Belmondo said at the same time.

***

Back inside again. The Hill of Skulls was a daunting challenge. The three of them fought another handful of duergar, and then Ilyara’s keen elven eyes spotted a secret door. That led the group to a maze patrolled by a halberd-wielding minotaur. Rajah broke his neck and Ilyara found another secret door- this one leading to a chamber with a staircase leading down.

“This seems to be a good sign,” Rajah said.

“Or a bad one,” Ilyara retorted.

***

The others followed not long after. Galactus and Criediki stumbled upon Rajah, Belmondo and Ilyara, and then the entire group rejoined- less Drelvin, of course.

“I hope he is still alive,” Dexter murmured.

Me too, signed Pandos the Mute.

***

Down the stairs, the party found a tribe of bugbears in service to the Dark Empire. Jenner shouted in joy as Brainmasher slew goblinoid after goblinoid. Therighast charmed one, and it led the party to their chief, who they engaged and defeated, gaining an ominous-looking map. Therighast studied it, along with Nydroth and the dwarves, easily discerning that it seemed to represent the level they were on.

“Look here,” pointed Nydroth. “This arrow points upwards, and it seems to be in the chamber we entered from. I would bet that marks a set of stairs... and that this arrow over here, pointing downward, marks the way into the deeper levels of the Hill of Skulls.”

“And these markings seem to indicated danger, here, here and here,” Jenner rumbled from behind his whiskers. “But I don’t know if I’d trust a map we got from bugbears.”

“Maybe,” Dexter hesitated.

“The stairs,” said Ilyara, “sound like what we’re after.”

But when the party approached the stairs on the map and Ilyara checked for traps, she halted them. “Those aren’t stairs at all,” she reported. “It’s some kind of illuson covering a trap.”

“I guess the bugbear map isn’t exactly reliable, then,” Nydroth said, disappointed.

“Told you,” Jenner grunted.

They looked at the map again. “Maybe they were trying to hide their treasure with these danger signs,” suggested Ilyara. “I say we check them out.”

The party moved to the door to one of the indicated high-danger areas and threw it open.

Standing hip-deep in a pool of molten lava was a fire giant.

With a harpoon.

Dexter said, “Oh sh-“

Next Time: Everything goes wrong!

*On a metagame level, there were only a few pcs present at that session.

 

[the Jester]

The giant hurled its harpoon at the party. It swooped gracefully through the air straight towards Dexter.

“Dex! No!” cried Julio Titan, and hurled himself in the way. The harpoon speared him in the shoulder, sinking deep and catching him with its barbs. He screamed.

The fire giant gave a loud guffaw and shouted something gleeful-sounding in its own tongue (which nobody but the giant itself understood).

Its intent was clear, though, as it prepared to pull Julio into the bubbling pit of lava that it was wading in. The party unleashed a flurry of attacks at both the giant and the chain that the harpoon was hooked to- but neither fell. And then it yanked, hard, and Julio Titan screamed as he was pulled into the molten rock, dying in seconds.

“Oh my god,” choked Ilyara.

“Not good,” confirmed Therighast.

The giant gave out a great belly laugh as it re-coiled its chain. “It’s going to try to get us all that way!” shouted Proctor. There was a scurrying panic as the party retreated through another door. Dexter led the way, sight linked with Pandos so that he could see- and stumbled to a halt.

”The book,” he breathed.

Indeed- what appeared to be an ancient, brittle book so thick that it had to be a Galadron stood on a pedastal in the middle of the room. Without hesitation, Dexter sprang for it.

And fell right through it into a deep pit, landing at the bottom with a cry of pain.

“Hello,” a deep voice purred. Disoriented and blind, Dexter reeled as a heavy blow landed upon his shoulder. He cried out again.

To the others, it had seemed as though Dexter had sprung for the book and fallen through the floor. “It’s an illusion of some kind!” cried Criediki.

Dexter screamed again from below the “pedastal”, and Pandos the Mute leapt after him. So did Rajah.

It was a long fall- 50’ down. Rajah fell like a cat, and was barely discomfited by it. Pandos hit like a stone, but quickly laid hands on himself. Rajah hit the ground, rolled, and came up fighting a heavy-set figure in a purple and gold vest. He looked like a man, but he didn’t smell like a man. He smelled like earth and stone mixed with incesnse and spice. Like sand and loam all at once.

And he can turn invisible, Rajah thought as the figure faded from view, only to reappear again a moment later when it struck him. Rajah lashed back at it, and Dexter unleashed sunmotes at the creature.

The others up above were starting to prepare a safe descent, when suddenly the room’s door opened and things got much, much worse.

Augustus, the envoy who led the Strogassian party, and his allies, entered the room. “There will be no miracle to whisk you away to Heaven this time, Dexter!” Grumpy Stiggins, the dark halfling in the evil party, taunted.

One of the new adversaries was a she-troll. Rajah was about to call for fire when she did something that caught all of the beleagured heroes off guard.

She cast a spell, and burst into flames.

That’s a fire shield, realized Therighast. “She’s warded herself against fire!” the prophet of Galador shouted.

The villains pressed in against the heroes. One of them, a champion of Bleak, slew Proctor Mansack after a brief engagement, while Nydroth contemplated whether it might be best to simply switch sides.

Alas, I think not, he thought. If I did, my current companions would stop at nothing to destroy me. And even if I turned on them, I have no assurance that these ruthless Strogassians would accept me. No, I must remain on Dexter’s side, at least for now.

Jenner and Therighast started clambering down the walls of the pit. It wasn’t that hard of a climb, but it was long; it would take some time.

Time that Dexter, Pandos and Rajah were sorely lacking at the bottom of the pit.

“This is some kind of earth creature!” Rajah cried, smacking it hard with a clawed hand. It fell back a foot or two with a grunt, then smiled and waded in on Rajah, pummeling him over and over with mighty blows.

It’s a dao- an earth genie, realized Dexter. He could hear his friends screaming in the room above, as Augustus, Sprukarth (the troll), Grumpy and their companions waded into them with mighty force.

It might be our only chance to get out of here. Instantly, Dexter contacted Rajah and Pandos, then mindlinked with both of them. Pandos, Rajah, we’ve got to take that thing alive! It might be able to get us out of here!

Rajah thought back, I’ll do what I can.

Together, Rajah and Pandos pressed a furious attack. They rained blow after blow on the dao, while Dexter initiated some of his most crippling psionics.

Mindwipe.

A single, psychically-searing dose of it to the badly wounded dao is enough; it cried, “I yield! Please, do not take my life! I will grant you three wishes!”

Listening to the clash of blades, the roar of trolls, the explosive whoomp of fireballs, Dexter grabbed the cowering dao by throat. “Good,” he growled. “Here’s the first one. I wish that the oldest copy of the Galadron in the Hill of Skulls would appear here, now, before me!”

Nothing happened.

“Where is it?” roared Dexter.

“I have fulfilled your wish,” the dao cried. “If nothing happened, it is because your wish was not properly phrased!”

We’re too late, Dexter thought. And there is no more time to waste. Aloud, he said, “I wish that my soul was no longer bound to Bleak!”

Nothing happened.

“Surely,” the dao replied, “you do not think that I, a mere humble genie, have the power to override a god?”

Dexter gnashed his teeth. “All right, you bastard. I wish that myself and all of my companions would be teleported instantly out of the Hill of Skulls to a safe location!”

***

The party vanished, and Augustus- leader of the Strogassian band of villains- yelled out in surprise. “Where did they go? We had them!!”

Sprukarth, the troll evoker, rumbled, “They have escaped, somehow.”

“Treacherous dao!” the envoy spat. “You will pay for allowing them to escape! The Dark Emperor forgives nothing!”

“Including you, my lord,” the dao replied with equanimity.

***

The ragged, beaten group of heroes appeared in the mountains. Several of them had been slain; Drelvin was a statue, destined to rest in the gardens of Var for nearly a century before he could be restored.

Dexter wept without tears, without eyes. He had failed in his most holy mission. Pandos, his warden, clapped him on the back and signed, We must escape Strogass.

Dexter nodded, and the party began their long journey home.

Next Time: Dexter meets with Spadron, and the hunt for Pandos the Mute’s mount begins!

 

[the Jester]

The roll of those lost in the Hill of Skulls was long. It included the almost-legendary Hendrick the Witch-Hunter, who came to bring Dexter to justice and died to help save him. Pandos thought long and hard on the events of the last few months- the long arduous journey to Strogass that Dexter undertook for a cause that ultimately proved futile. The sacred texts that the party was seeking were surely lost forever now.

And yet the young man had not lost faith. Not his blinding, nor the trials that Bleak had forced him to endure, nor the bitter hunt for him by his old friends had caused him to lose faith. There was something amazing about him, the paladin reflected. Pandos had been chosen for his position because, being deaf and dumb, he was immune to any influence that the Voice of Galador as spoken by Dexter might have. If there was some falsehood behind his growing cult, surely Pandos would expose it.

There was nothing false about Dexter, thought Pandos, nothing at all. But there was still something very important that was necessary before he could be satisfied.

Dexter and the Church of the Light must reconcile.

***

The journey home was easier, since they knew the way. The seagate that had allowed them to transport themselves across thousands of miles again served to cut the distance of their journey nearly in half. Even so, it took weeks aboard ship to reach their destination: Forinthia.

Pandos had spoken to Dexter via the mindlink that the Son of Galador could create, and they had agreed about the urgency of making peace with High Priest Spadron as soon as possible. Especially with the death of Hendrick, both of them felt it was of the utmost importance to clear the air immediately.

The ship they were on sailed into port and they bought kocho, riding the vicious warbirds overland until they reached the city called the Halls of Light. Even from a distance it seemed to glow from the golden radiance that poured from so many continual lights.

High Priest Spadron received Pandos first. He was in an office in a high tower, the sun streaming through stained glass behind him. Idols of Galador flank him from the back corners of the room, each aglow with golden radiance. A page stands at his elbow.

“Warden,” nods the High Priest in greeting. “I understand that Dexter is with you.”

Yes, signs Pandos.*

“Please, your report.”

The page's presence is quickly explained. Spadron knows some of the basic signs that the church's warriors use, but the complex and intricate sign language that Pandos must use to give his report is beyond him. The page begins speaking, translating almost as quickly as Pandos can sign.

Dexter has shown no signs of anything but sincerity. He has been harried by agents of Bleak, he opposed the Dark Empire of Strogass at great cost, and he truly walks in the Light of Galador. He means only well, and Galador does speak through him. I have found that he carries out the Light's will as best he can interpret it, and since Galador has shown him special favor, we must pay attention to him, to his actions and to his understanding.

***

High Priest Spadron stood alone for a few moments before Dexter came before him. He clasped his hands in prayer, but- as had been the case all along, in reference to Dexter- Galador would say nothing to him.

A trial of faith. It could be nothing else.

Spadron sighed and checked the careful knotwork that tied his long beard into a belt around his waist. He straightened his holy symbol and stood carefully straight. Then he pulled the cord that would summon Dexter before him.

They were mutually humble- and by the end of the hour, the Church of the Light had reconciled with Dexter Nadly.

***

Naturally, there were edicts to be issued, proclamations to be proclaimed and doctrine to be revised. Dexter left all that to the church. He had more important things to think about, like people.

Pandos, meanwhile, spent a week in prayer and meditation, made offerings and supplications, and composed himself for the paladin's great quest: he was ready to seek his mount.**

The visions that he received were of a magnificent bird, obviously some kind of kin to the kocho but stronger, faster, perhaps even able to manage a kind of half-flight for a few short moments. And it was caged- caged by orcs. There was a landmark- a huge waterfall, split dramatically by a spur of rock into two large falls. Huge trees all around, which Pandos recognized as redwoods.

A little researched turned up a place called Split Falls in the midst of the Great Redwood Forest on Valonia.

Dexter agreed to accompany him on another long journey. They had visited the great redwoods before and been truly amazed at the size of them; they were the biggest trees that any of the heroes had ever seen. It was a soothing area. And besides...

Dexter sighed. There had been a time, with an elven woman- his only time so far- the happiest moment of his life... On one level he ached to see her again, though he hardly knew her. And he knew that those elves were nomadic, and that there was not much chance that he would ever see her again.

He did not know that she was to bear his child.

***

Before they left, a young scion of the church named Orion approached Pandos. “My lord,” he said, “I have studied sign so that I might converse with you more easily. I am but a young paladin, and I have much yet to learn; yet I am at the point where my new studies must be in the field. I would attach myself to you, learn from you and help ward you- and Dexter- against evil.”

Although he had mixed feelings about it, Pandos agreed.

***

Plunging into the depths of the Great Redwood Forest, the two of them- along with occasional allies garnered from tribes of elves- battled their way through a giant constrictor snake, cut down megalocentipedes, avoided a marsh filled with giant frogs. They pushed through thickets, forded shallow rivers and hacked down hangman trees.

Finally, they came to Split Falls.

It was beautiful- a waterfall easily 140' high that parted around a great wedge of granite that thrust over a deep gorge, where the water tumbled into a great pool before spilling out along two streams.

Between the streams was the orcish encampment- several crude buildings and a stockade. There were only a trio of orcs in evidence; there were probably more out hunting or something, reflected Pandos the Mute. He gestured for the others and they moved carefully along the edge of the cliff, trying to avoid being seen, until they found a place where they could descend. Soon enough they were at the bottom, and then they waded through one of the streams and darted to cover in some foliage not far from the camp.

And then, close enough that a rush would take them to the enemy, they attacked.

Two of the orcs fell readily enough, but the third drew a glowing two-handed sword and roared a challenge at Pandos.*** Orion rushed to meet him first- and the orc cut him down summarily.

Dexter rushed to lay a cure light wounds on him and the orc lunged forward, his blade clanging against Dexter's staff of combat over and over before finally driving into the priest-psion's hip. Dexter cried out, and Pandos rushed the orc, beating him back with his own attack for a moment.

But the orc was good. His swordplay was phenomenal; and soon it was all Pandos and Dexter could do, even flanking the orc, to hold their own. Relentlessly, the orc scored another hit on Dexter, then another. When Dex tried to heal himself, the orc took advantage of the moment to score a deep wound in Pandos.

But the heroes were not completely without luck in their fight. Dexter's staff crunched into the orc several times and Pandos managed to cut his ribs and shoulder with his blade.

Then the orc's wide swings caught Dexter in the chest, knocking him back and almost slaying him.

Pandos gasped silently, but he seized the moment. While the orc was still recovering from his swing, Pandos smote him hard across the face. His helm prevented the blow from being a fatal one, but Pandos' followup blow was stunning, and he managed to land a third attack.

The orc was still standing, though, and he delivered a lightning-quick series of attacks that Pandos was barely able to fend off. One got through, hammering his breastplate. He could feel blood pouring down his body, but he just gritted his teeth and swung again, his sword slicing into the orc's pelvis.

The orc roared in pain and staggered back. He draw a potion and drank it, and Pandos watched in dismay as the muscles of his arms began to bulge with incredible strength. The orc reversed his grip, thrusting down with all his might, and stabbed into Pandos' thigh. The paladin was knocked back and off of his feet, dazed and nearly slain. Yet the orc was tottering too...

With a sneer, the orc gestured for him to get up.

Pandos groaned silently, and rose to his knees. Then he laid hands upon himself.

The orc's eyes widened as Pandos' worst wounds knit themselves closed. With a roar, it rushed him, but Pandos was ready. He sprang to his feet and brought his sword up in an arc. Even as the orc's blow took him in the chest, carving him open, he disemboweled the orc. They fell together- but only Pandos rose.

Limping, he made his way to his friends, making sure their wounds were bandaged as best he could, then drawing them off to the orcs' crude shack. At least they would be under cover there...

Then he went to meet his mount.

Next Time: A new quest: the Holy Avenger!

*Since sign language is not a spoken language, tongues won't translate it.

**In case you didn't know, in 1e and 2e, a paladin could quest for a special mount at 6th level. Since there are no horses in Cydra (well, at the time there were a scant few- nowadays they are significantly more common), his mount would prove to be something a little more special.

***Here's this guy's stat block (hey, he's a 2e orc with levels!):

Plate mail, shield +1, 2H sword +1, longbow, 16 arrows +1, ring of protection from maiming (-1 die from crit severity, cannot be removed), potions of stone giant strength, healing, polymorph; 4 proficiency slots in 2H sword gives +2 to hit, +3 to damage; Str 18 (51), D 16, C 15; AC -1, THAC0 13, HP 79; level 8. Total with sword: +5 to hit, +7 damage; 5 attacks per 2 rounds.

Amazing how short a 2e stat block could be, even for a boss bad guy, eh?