the Jester
Legend
Deep in the Aquan Pyramid
Battle was joined brutally, with no quarter to be offered or given.
A tall, imposing man with a human skull at his belt, Dreadsum grinned at our heroes. His teeth were filed to points.
From a bag at his side he drew forth a handful of sticks. He whispered something to them, then casts them down to the ground- and a handful of snakes started slithering towards our heroes.
Lyr recognized the symbol on his chest. She bore it as well. She must oppose a member of her own faith! But the idea did not disturb her- not at all. Hefting her harpoon, she hurled it at him. Survival of the fit, after all. Malford slipped back around the corner to hide for a backstab while Rajah and Haart leapt forward.
The enemy were not idle.
Urmads, a disheveled-looking man with unkempt hair, cast a shield before him. A metal orb was already orbiting him protectively. Colgurd sprand forward to engage the charging party members and singlehandedly brought them to a screeching halt. Steel rings off steel as he dueled Haart while Rajah nimbly dodged aside.
Then the last of the four, a half-elf named Galor, unleashed a lightning bolt, which careened through the party, blasting several of our heroes badly, but none fatally.
Colgurd staggered as a single mighty blow to the chest almost killed him.* Then he dropped as Rajah leaped on top of him like a tiger, clawing and tearing at him. Rising from his defeated foe, Rajah turned to Galor- who was the sudden victim of Malford’s backstab! “Aargh!” the half-elf screamed, staggering.
The snakes were swarming forward, but Chanti cleaved through them like they were paper. Galliger slashed forward with his axe, crying, “Oh, yeah, I’m afraid of your stupid religion. Yeah, let me show you just how afraid you make me. Here you go.” With that he hacked into Dreadsum. The two of them smashed at each other, Lyr moving in to snap at him as well with her whip. Finally, with a sneer, Galliger managed to drop him.
Dexter exercised his mental powers to try to confuse and disable Galor, who had brought a series of mirror images into being around himself. A blast of magic missiles from Urmads only succeeded in attracting Rajah’s attention, and moving like a tiger, the man struck out. In mere moments, the wild mage had gone down.
Now the odds were better: even elite, the two remaining guardians were only two. And indeed, in a few more moments, our heroes prevailed.
“Damn,” Malford crowed, “that was good! Those guys were tough- I wonder if they have any magic stuff?” With that, he happily cast detect magic. With a whoop of delight, the captain of the band of ruffians we’re referring to as our heroes scooped up the skull from Dreadsum’s belt, the orb that had orbited Urmads, a dagger from Galor and three potions. “We’ll divide the loot later,” he declared, stuffing everything into a bag for the time being.
Haart gurgled inexplicably.
Back to the stairs and down, then; our heroes descended cheerily but warily. (Chanti was already composing another sea chantey in her head.) But they descended into an abrupt and total blackness, despite their light sources.
Galliger, as a cleric of Bleak, could see in such darkness- even when caused by magic.** In fact, he was quite comfortable there, and he briefly considered attacking Lyr while she was at a disadvantage, but he decided against it. After all, he was pretty wounded after that fight. He scowled. The only thing that Galador’s clerics had that he wished for himself was... the ability to heal.
Well, to the Abyss with them. He could heal over time, or with the aid of some fool that he tricked. Like when he and Dexter had tricked that one cleric of the Light... He scowled again. Dexter was a sore spot for him. My first convert, and he turns to the Light! How dare he! I’ll sacrifice him for that, cut out his stinking heart!
Galliger, as we can see, was full of darkness and hate. Such is a priest of Bleak.
His reverie was interrupted when he notices shadows flitting towards the group. He tittered and shouted, “Oh no- undead! It would be a shame if they were drawn to followers of the Light!” And he pointed exaggeratedly at Dex in the darkness.
The shadows, alas, were drawn to life. They attacked everyone in a terrible swarm.
Again, battle was joined; and again our heroes fought for their lives. There were as many shadows as there were members of the party; and with only Chanti’s magic sword and the newfound magic dagger able to hit them, our heroes looked to be in trouble at first.
But Chanticleer was not to be underestimated; her prowess with the sword was extraordinary. And Malford, Dex and Urick had their own magical abilities with which to combat the shadows. Though our heroes’ strength was drained a bit at a time, the shadows started to fall one by one. It is the party that emerged victorious; the last shadow falls before the first of the party. But the group, for the most part, could barely hold themselves upright with their loads.
“We’d better retreat for now,” groaned Malford.
The party slowly tromped up the stairs and through the second level of the pyramid. Back to the top, feet dragging. “Galador’s balls, this is a long climb,” groaned Galliger. Finally, they reached the Sea Hag. After going back aboard, the group unloaded themselves and started to settle in to rest.
“We’re going back to Shorult,” Malford announced. “We need a little time, and now that we’ve gotten a little loot, we should identify it and split it up. Plus, we could probably stand to take on some supplies, now that we have a decent idea of what kind of environment we’re going to be in.” He clambered laboriously back up on deck and started barking orders.
Good, thought Dexter. He’s burning in anger. I can’t stand this anymore. Galliger’s making me furious- he doesn’t understand, I did what I had to, I had no choice!
Just then, Galliger said, “Hey Dex.”
“What?” snapped Dexter.
Galliger smiled at him. “Just don’t forget that you gave your soul to Bleak already. Go ahead and worship Galador all you want. But just remember that Bleak owns you. And never forget, whenever you pray to the Light, exactly who gets you when you die.” He gave Dexter a huge toothy smile. “Good night.” And with that, he left to go to his quarters.
Dex, cold to his bones, thought, He’s right.
*39 hp in one shot. I believe this must have been a critical hit.
**Granted power of priests of Bleak. I had no generic clerics in 2e; everyone was a specialty priest.
Next Time: Betrayal! Which pc will attack which other pc???
Battle was joined brutally, with no quarter to be offered or given.
A tall, imposing man with a human skull at his belt, Dreadsum grinned at our heroes. His teeth were filed to points.
From a bag at his side he drew forth a handful of sticks. He whispered something to them, then casts them down to the ground- and a handful of snakes started slithering towards our heroes.
Lyr recognized the symbol on his chest. She bore it as well. She must oppose a member of her own faith! But the idea did not disturb her- not at all. Hefting her harpoon, she hurled it at him. Survival of the fit, after all. Malford slipped back around the corner to hide for a backstab while Rajah and Haart leapt forward.
The enemy were not idle.
Urmads, a disheveled-looking man with unkempt hair, cast a shield before him. A metal orb was already orbiting him protectively. Colgurd sprand forward to engage the charging party members and singlehandedly brought them to a screeching halt. Steel rings off steel as he dueled Haart while Rajah nimbly dodged aside.
Then the last of the four, a half-elf named Galor, unleashed a lightning bolt, which careened through the party, blasting several of our heroes badly, but none fatally.
Colgurd staggered as a single mighty blow to the chest almost killed him.* Then he dropped as Rajah leaped on top of him like a tiger, clawing and tearing at him. Rising from his defeated foe, Rajah turned to Galor- who was the sudden victim of Malford’s backstab! “Aargh!” the half-elf screamed, staggering.
The snakes were swarming forward, but Chanti cleaved through them like they were paper. Galliger slashed forward with his axe, crying, “Oh, yeah, I’m afraid of your stupid religion. Yeah, let me show you just how afraid you make me. Here you go.” With that he hacked into Dreadsum. The two of them smashed at each other, Lyr moving in to snap at him as well with her whip. Finally, with a sneer, Galliger managed to drop him.
Dexter exercised his mental powers to try to confuse and disable Galor, who had brought a series of mirror images into being around himself. A blast of magic missiles from Urmads only succeeded in attracting Rajah’s attention, and moving like a tiger, the man struck out. In mere moments, the wild mage had gone down.
Now the odds were better: even elite, the two remaining guardians were only two. And indeed, in a few more moments, our heroes prevailed.
“Damn,” Malford crowed, “that was good! Those guys were tough- I wonder if they have any magic stuff?” With that, he happily cast detect magic. With a whoop of delight, the captain of the band of ruffians we’re referring to as our heroes scooped up the skull from Dreadsum’s belt, the orb that had orbited Urmads, a dagger from Galor and three potions. “We’ll divide the loot later,” he declared, stuffing everything into a bag for the time being.
Haart gurgled inexplicably.
Back to the stairs and down, then; our heroes descended cheerily but warily. (Chanti was already composing another sea chantey in her head.) But they descended into an abrupt and total blackness, despite their light sources.
Galliger, as a cleric of Bleak, could see in such darkness- even when caused by magic.** In fact, he was quite comfortable there, and he briefly considered attacking Lyr while she was at a disadvantage, but he decided against it. After all, he was pretty wounded after that fight. He scowled. The only thing that Galador’s clerics had that he wished for himself was... the ability to heal.
Well, to the Abyss with them. He could heal over time, or with the aid of some fool that he tricked. Like when he and Dexter had tricked that one cleric of the Light... He scowled again. Dexter was a sore spot for him. My first convert, and he turns to the Light! How dare he! I’ll sacrifice him for that, cut out his stinking heart!
Galliger, as we can see, was full of darkness and hate. Such is a priest of Bleak.
His reverie was interrupted when he notices shadows flitting towards the group. He tittered and shouted, “Oh no- undead! It would be a shame if they were drawn to followers of the Light!” And he pointed exaggeratedly at Dex in the darkness.
The shadows, alas, were drawn to life. They attacked everyone in a terrible swarm.
Again, battle was joined; and again our heroes fought for their lives. There were as many shadows as there were members of the party; and with only Chanti’s magic sword and the newfound magic dagger able to hit them, our heroes looked to be in trouble at first.
But Chanticleer was not to be underestimated; her prowess with the sword was extraordinary. And Malford, Dex and Urick had their own magical abilities with which to combat the shadows. Though our heroes’ strength was drained a bit at a time, the shadows started to fall one by one. It is the party that emerged victorious; the last shadow falls before the first of the party. But the group, for the most part, could barely hold themselves upright with their loads.
“We’d better retreat for now,” groaned Malford.
The party slowly tromped up the stairs and through the second level of the pyramid. Back to the top, feet dragging. “Galador’s balls, this is a long climb,” groaned Galliger. Finally, they reached the Sea Hag. After going back aboard, the group unloaded themselves and started to settle in to rest.
“We’re going back to Shorult,” Malford announced. “We need a little time, and now that we’ve gotten a little loot, we should identify it and split it up. Plus, we could probably stand to take on some supplies, now that we have a decent idea of what kind of environment we’re going to be in.” He clambered laboriously back up on deck and started barking orders.
Good, thought Dexter. He’s burning in anger. I can’t stand this anymore. Galliger’s making me furious- he doesn’t understand, I did what I had to, I had no choice!
Just then, Galliger said, “Hey Dex.”
“What?” snapped Dexter.
Galliger smiled at him. “Just don’t forget that you gave your soul to Bleak already. Go ahead and worship Galador all you want. But just remember that Bleak owns you. And never forget, whenever you pray to the Light, exactly who gets you when you die.” He gave Dexter a huge toothy smile. “Good night.” And with that, he left to go to his quarters.
Dex, cold to his bones, thought, He’s right.
*39 hp in one shot. I believe this must have been a critical hit.
**Granted power of priests of Bleak. I had no generic clerics in 2e; everyone was a specialty priest.
Next Time: Betrayal! Which pc will attack which other pc???
