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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 3964019" data-attributes="member: 1210">“One wrong move and you’re dead!” the lead elf shouts immediately. “Put down your weapons, NOW!!”There are many elves out there. At least one hundred. Arrayed with staves, wands, bows, blades and other things. Immediately, Lord Cedric begins unbuckling his sword belt. Me follows suit instantly; the others, after only a few seconds of contemplation. Kyle realizes that the elf spoke in Kamendan. He glances over at the peasants; they clearly understood it, too. It must be some kind of translation magic, he realizes. So many secrets have been lost by our time... Otis, deaf, doesn’t realize what the elves want at first, but with the aid of the party, he is also relieved of his weaponry. The elves appear angry. “We’re here as friends,” Sheriff Jorgen says. “We’re trying to catch a criminal named Harth. We believe he came through here-““Indeed he did!” the elf barks.Our heroes are put into a large cell. “We don’t have time for this!” Goer protests. “We’ve got to stop Harth! You have to believe us!” The elf sneers at him. “We don’t ‘have to’ do anything, human. And we aren’t about to let more of your kind into our secret areas after your recent strike forces.”“You mean Harth! We are trying to stop him!”“Not just Harth. We aren’t fools.” Dahlia says, “Surely you can use your great powers to compel the truth from us, or to ferret out any lies we try to tell. Separate us and question us and compare our stories! Look at our equipment, and at how different it is from anything else of this time!”The elf’s head cocks. “This time?” he responds sarcastically.“Just ask your leaders to hear us out!”“Oh, we will hear your story,” the elf nods. “We’ll hear everything you have to say.” The way he says it makes it sound very unpleasant.***Left in their cell for hours, our heroes find themselves warring between depression- for the obvious reason that they are being delayed now, when they are so close- and elation, because not only are they very, very close to Harth, the sky is normal here. There is a sun in the early dawn time (now); there were stars and blackness earlier. After so much time under the maroon vastness overlaying the human island, our heroes are nearly ecstatic to see a healthy sky again- even from the confines of a cell.Finally, a troop of elven guards walk in and escorts our heroes to what is unmistakably a courthouse. There, the party is interrogated by elves, examined minutely with magic, and then turned back to their cells.For several more excruciating hours they wait; then, they are escorted from their cells to a comfortable sitting room, where a number of elves await them, including the one that had initially spoken with them. “Forgive us,” he says. “You must understand, the unreasoning humans of this time have caused us much trouble, as has your man Harth. We are justified in being cautious about you humans.”“Of courthe,” Lord Cedric nods.“Now then... this man and his beholder ally came in on the last Shadow Train several days ago. We weren’t expecting a single human to cause trouble, but with his ally, he certainly did. They stole a vehicle and forced the location of one of our great weapons foundries from one of our people. He is on his way there.”“How quickly could he get there?” asks Goer.The elf hesitates. “Well... if he went at full speed without stopping and did not encounter any obstacles, he could be there as soon as... now, really.”“We have to hurry,” Sir Colder insists. “We’re losing precious time.”“We can get you there quickly, maybe ahead of him if he has had any slow downs,” the elf replies. “We can teleport you close to the mountain. Not all the way- there are strange fields surrounding it which prevent it- but close enough-”“You have the power of teleportation?” Otis interrupts, amazed.“There’s no time for that,” Jorgen says. “We have to get moving as quickly as possible.” He looks at the elf. “I realize these are secrets, but anything that you could tell us that might illuminate what Harth’s goals are in this place- what weapons he hopes to find, or if there might be a way home for us- or even where this place is- you said a mountain-”“It is called Firestorm Peak,” the elf responds gravely. “What he might seek there, I cannot say.”“Right, state secrets,” Jorgen sighs. “Very well. Can you guide us, or at least give us papers to aid us in convincing others not to hinder us?” The elf nods. “Yes. If you can stop this Harth and his allies, we will aid you so far as we can.”***The teleportation effect twists the guts of our heroes, but they are suddenly somewhere else. By now it is full dark again, and the stars twinkle overhead. Firestorm Peak looms in the distance, about two miles away. Above it, hanging in the sky like a jewel, they can see a comet in the night sky. It hangs low in the sky, and looks as though it will be out of view in another day or two. From the mountain’s peak, a blazing shaft of multicolored flame shoots up into the sky, providing shadowy illumination for miles around.Sir Kyle cries, “There is a trail up the mountain, I can see it!” “Your eyeth are admirably tharp, Thir Kyle,” Lord Cedric beams at him. The party proceeds towards the trail and then begins following it up the mountain. For some reason, they all begin to feel a bit irritable.* Maybe it’s just because they are getting tired, but they all start to be a little snappish and petty. As they advance up the trail, they come upon an elven encampment. Clearly a defensive military camp, it holds about a score of elves, but nobody is manning any of the lookout towers or guarding the camp’s gate. Dahlia notes several elves in the camp, sitting about motionless. The party hails them; there is no response. Despite their misgivings, they move in for a closer look. When they do, they find that the elves are all completely catatonic, and they are all missing their eyes. “What... they’re still alive. This is horrible,” Dahlia groans. Me lets out a low, mournful hoot. The party passes on. Perhaps the elves will awaken, or someone will come upon them. But they have no time to deal with it; they must reach Harth. Despite their exhaustion- they have not slept in over a day now- they press on. Kyle, Otis and Adelle all think it is possible that the comet is linked to Harth’s plans somehow, since comets can often be used as the triggers for great magical rituals or powers. They reach and pass over a bridge across a ravine, and then encounter a group of foul, unnatural bird-things. Fortunately, the party sees them from far enough away that they don’t even have time to reach our heroes before they are destroyed by missile fire and magic. One of them escapes, but our heroes repeat their mantra: If it isn’t Harth, it’s a distraction.They keep moving, tired though they are. Cranky, too. Snapping at each other, Goer starting to make belligerent threats...Up, up the trail, passing along a series of switchback, through a small dwarven miner’s camp (it’s not Harth, it’s a distraction), up, up the mountain... almost there! Another long descent, another ascent, a bridge across a chasm- and they will be there! Are they ahead of Harth? Who knows? But they can’t be far behind, at worst! Up above, the comet is fading in the sky. Dahlia, Adelle and Otis look at it in concern. “It really won’t last much longer at all,” Adelle opines. “We’d best press on.”Kyle sighs a tired, resigned sigh. They are almost there.The continue up the slope, unaware of the malevolent eyes watching them from a short distance away, just off of the trail.Next Time: I can’t believe one of these would behir!*This is an effect of being too near Firestorm Peak, corruption of the mood. I encouraged the players to role-play this by giving bonus xp for roleplaying irritability. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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