DoctorB's Legacy of Alexander Story Hour

[DoctorB]

The Flight

Arin could not be sure of Liana’s disposition towards him since she had discovered what he was. He tried to spend time with her when she wanted him to and leave her alone when she needed to think. Finally, he decided to ask her.

“Would you like to… uh… go flying sometime?”

Her face lit up. “Yes!” she exclaimed.

Soon afterwards, the two of them walked along one of the smaller paths away from the dwarven trading town. It would not do to panic people with a view of a flying dragon. When they thought themselves out of sight of anyone behind them, Arin changed back to his native form. His gray-blue scales gleamed in the early winter sun.

Liana still seemed a little unnerved at his transformation, but the prospect of flying overwhelmed her concern.

“Just put your legs under the base of my wings to hold on,” he suggested though he had never carried anyone before.

When she seemed safely in place, he leapt into the air, his wings beating to gain altitude. Finally, he could soar alongside the mountains and slowly rise until the entire world seemed to be laid out below them.

Flying transformed Liana. She remained so quiet and still at first that Arin feared she might not like it after all. As they soared on the currents of air, she seemed to gain strength and perspective from the wondrous view. Her self-doubt and fear vanished in the joy of the moment and she became completely the kind and generous Liana he loved. Perhaps, he hoped, she could love him even as a dragon.

Sharing the experience with her, Arin rediscovered the exhilaration of soaring on currents of air and the panorama of land below them. His gaze swept along the mountains that slowly gave way to forest to the east. A mist seemed to rise from the distant horizon. No, he realized suddenly, not a mist.

Liana had seen it to, and leaned over his neck to get a better look at the distant woods. Great plumes of smoke rose in the distance. Massive fires must rage below to create such a huge cloud. They both knew what lands those forests occupied. Tolna and Streda fought eternally for control of the great forest below. Evidently, the war had escalated.

Reawakened to harsh reality by the spectacle, Arin turned for home.

 

[DoctorB]

Under the Trees

Again, Arin’s silver-gray wings rode the wind over the Dwarvenrealm, but now he and Liana were not on a joyride. Instead, both watched the east with concern and interest. The Champions had been grim at the news of fires in the great forest, but they needed to know more before going down to Streda and Tolna.

As they flew closer, the fires stood out as giant conflagrations sometimes miles across, but seemingly all of the flames moved in one direction. The Stredans had dug great pits and erected great mounds behind the fires which forced the flames to seek south into Tolna for fuel. Several sets of trenches stood side by side along the border. As Arin swooped in closer Liana could make out figures fighting at the edges of the flames. Rumors of a slacking in the eternal war between the Tolnan wood elves and the Stredan rangers appeared to be false.

The two returned to tell what they had seen. Naturally, Cobbe and Joy wanted to go down into the area immediately. After all, the Champions required objects from both countries before they could recall Lord Horus. Aside from the highway leading back to Sazon, two main roads led away from the Dwarvenrealm. The north road led into Dures while the east road ran through the great forest. The walk out of the mountains went smoothly. The number of trees slowly grew as the mountains and then hills diminished. Just as the Champions wondered if they had entered Streda, they saw a border guard along the dwarven trading road.

The Stredan guards would only say that the war with Tolna continued and went well, but they took a small toll from the party and allowed them to pass, cautioning them not to approach the war zone. Of course, that was exactly what the Champions intended.

 

[DoctorB]

The Stredan camp buzzed with activity. Thousands of soldiers had that expectant impatience that indicated they would be going into battle soon. A larger tent stood formed the center of the maelstrom and it was inside that tent the Champions found themselves. They had passed a keep packed with young soldiers receiving their training for war. This was the primary camp on the warfront, the headquarters of General Balzar, who every Stredan soldier the Champions talked to praised as the architect of their nation’s recent success against the Tolnan elves.

Inside the tent, Cobbe parried and feinted with the general himself while the other watched. No weapons had been drawn. The two engaged in an intricate war of words with Cobbe trying to discover everything he could about the young general, and the Stredan seemingly amused by the entire situation.

Liana spent most of the time practicing her new abilities as a shadowdancer. Knowing the Stredans would see her as a wood elf, she remained hidden even while wearing a large hat she hoped would hide her eyes and ears if someone should spot her. General Balzar’s tent held a large campaign table in the center, with a detailed map of the border zone. Various other objects decorated the space, but a fancy bowcase drew her eyes sitting in the corner. What was the name of that legendary bow the Stredan hero had used?

Toiva remembered the name of the bow: Heart Render and Irena Capov, its Stredan wielder.
“Earth-Friend flew above the battle, standard-bearer for Alexander and the forces of the Free Kingdoms. Heart-Render took life after life as the Warlord sent his dragons against the bright banner of his foe.”
He returned his concentration to the conversation at hand. Balzar had allowed Cobbe’s not so subtle questions about his character, and continued to exude confidence.

“It was my idea to light the fires. It simply took this long to convince the Council to allow me to proceed. Now we are close to conquering the center of Tolnan power. With that we will be able finally to drive them out of the land they have stolen from us.”

I almost prefer Victor, Joy thought. At least he was more honest in his desire for power. This general was too smug. I would love to give him a piece of my mind, but Cobbe would yell at me if I did. Oh well, we will be away from here soon.

Talking with Balzar made it clear that he was a rising star in the Stredan military, and that he had powerful allies. It also seemed that his strategy was working. His army advanced into Tolnan territory and might capture this “center of power” whatever that was. Worse, the Champions had not found a single Stredan who did not want to crush the Tolnans. Rumors had held that the current Guardian of Streda favored peace in the seven-hundred year war. Balzar had not taken the old man’s place, but had made him irrelevant.

The party all felt discouraged as they took their leave of General Balzar, and debated whether they should go north to the capital of Streda and the shadowy druidic Council or plunge south into Tolna and see what was happening to the elves.

Just then, the sounds of battle erupted nearby. The Tolnans struck at the Stredan camp, and as soldiers organized themselves to fight off the raid, they heard a woman’s voice beside them though no one visible was there.

“If you want to hear a different perspective, visit my master. Go two days travel north-east and seek the trees with the red mark.”

As they prepared themselves to follow this strange advice, Cobbe suddenly turned to Arin.
“You could, uh, see her, couldn’t you with your… senses?”
“Yes.” Arin replied looking away, “but she didn’t want to be seen.”
The others laughed or rolled their eyes.
“Just tell us next time, okay?”

 

[DoctorB]

The man could have been Liana’s brother. Dark skin and golden eyes framed by black hair. Though his ears were slightly pointed he exhibited Stredan as well as Tolnan blood. He wore only a simple brown robe and carried nothing but the silver disk holy symbol around his neck.

“My name is Olemar,” he said. Welcome to the opposition.”

It was a very strange camp. Even the few semi-permanent buildings, like the wooden house the man led them to looked rapidly erected. Most people seemed to live in tents and lean-tos scattered around a central clearing. The strangeness came not from the settlement, but from its inhabitants. Swarthy human Stredans worked side by side with willowy Tolnan elves.

Leading them into his home, Olemar brought one of the wood elves with him, a young man with piercing eyes.
“This is Hevian,” he said. “Now, I am sure there is much you want to know about our little movement and I want to hear what you have seen on the warfront.”

They talked for some time. Hevian interjected sometimes with a frustrated comment about his people or the Stredans. Most of the time as the Champions told their story, he sat quietly, seemingly deep in thought. Olemar seemed interested in every detail. As a priest of the River, he desired balance between Tolnans and Stredans and the end of senseless destruction and warfare.

Hevian told the Champions that the Tolnans were weakened because of a strange corruption of the Heart Oak, a tree that strengthened and defended wood elves. The Champions looked at each other. Balzar had bragged about approaching the Tolnan ‘center of power.’ For a time he sat again, brow furrowed.

Finally, Hevian seemed to come to a decision and stood up.
“I will guide you into Tolna,” he said. “I know a way that should get you to the Heart Oak without being killed by my people. They see no victory in this conflict but are determined to go down fighting.”

After discussing it for a moment, the Champions resolved that they had to restore the Tolnans to their former strength before trying to overthrow the Stredan general.

As the party prepared to leave Olemar’s camp, a great tree seemed to separate itself from the woods and approach the priest. No, not a tree, but very tree-like. This must be one of the tree herders, the Treants. It towered over them, its mighty limbs moving easily through the forest. What a terrible enemy it would be.

“I cannot stay with you any longer, Olemar,” the echoing voice boomed. “The Stredans have slain too many of my flock and I will not stand for it any longer.”

“I am sorry to hear that, my friend,” the half-elf responded. “Return to us when you are again ready for peace.”

The Champions spent the night among the peace-party before starting into Tolna. Hevian would take them on a roundabout path away from the fighting in hopes of avoiding most patrols.
In the foggy morning, they started into the xenophobic kingdom

 

[Piratecat]

Yay! Writer's block gone?

How far backed up is the story hour now?

 

[DoctorB]

About two full sessions, not counting the one we have tomorrow. I hope to get more up before then.

 

[DoctorB]

A Tolnan Ritual

It was night when the Tolnan patrol caught them. For three days, Hevian had led the Champions around the battle lines and into Tolna. The brooding trees seemed to give up an arrow, which bounced off Joy’s armor. As the Champions prepared for battle, Hevian ran out to stop the fighting. He demanded to see the Aina, the wood elven queen. After several minutes of discussion, the patrol leader agreed to take them to the nearest of the Maragil, the clan of leaders.

After hours of walking into the deep night, the Champions found themselves in a clearing facing an elven woman wearing no armor, but with a star shaped earring. She called herself Iluve and insisted that she could speak for the Queen on the intruders. Hevian argued fervently for allowing the Champions in to try and heal the Heart Oak, but Iluve would hear nothing of it.

“They may leave in peace. I will grant them this much,” she said. “But if they stay, their lives will be forfeit. You are fortunate that elves do not harm their own, Hevian, for it was a foolish thing to bring them here.”

Hevian sighed as though he expected this outcome.

“Then I will undertake the Ritual of Adoption,” he declared.

“Nothing like this has been done in hundreds of turnings!” Iluve objected, but she seemed unable to refuse Hevian’s demand. Resigned, she subtly signaled with her hand and a score of wood elves appeared out of the forest. Even Liana had failed to notice that so many were close.

Iluve seated the Champions in a circle around Hevian, with the Tolnan rangers surrounding them. All of them carried bows on their backs and stone knives at their sides.

Hevian raised his voice to a chanting shout as he lifted his hands to the canopy of trees. The flowing elven words seemed rough as he spoke them.

“I take the otherness of these people onto myself,” he chanted. “Let my blood be their blood for one turning of the seasons.”

He then turned to Cobbe.

“I take your strangeness to myself. My blood is now your blood for one turning of the seasons.”

With each of the Champions he repeated the phrase, facing each in turn. When he had finished he cried out.

“Now my blood flows in their veins. No longer are they strangers, but of the People!”

As his words echoed through the clearing, the waiting Tolnan rangers rose as one, drawing their daggers. Rushing past the shocked party, they savagely stabbed Hevian to death. This was no cold ritual killing, but the death of a hated enemy. They stabbed him again and again, even when he was clearly already dead.

Joy hoped to save Hevian’s body so he could be raised, but finally Cobbe and the others helped burn him in the clearing. Numb with surprise at the death of their guide, they sat and waited.

Iluve calmly approached them.

“I will take you to the Aina,” she said.

 

[JoyHealinghand]

Of the People

In the 417th year after the triumph of Alexander, Tenebrea 17, 3rd Sagesday

We reached the main camp of the Tolnans today. Under normal circumstances this place would be beautiful and majestic. The tree are so old and the elves so graceful. Yet, being here—no, not being here, being “of the people”—makes me sick to my stomach. Why would anyone want to be part of a race that is so xenophobic they would kill one of their own, stupid ritual or no stupid ritual? Words didn’t make Hevian any less a Tolnan. I really don’t understand how they kill those who obviously only have their best interests at heart. Don’t they want to live? And the way they killed Hevian with such glee… By all that is holy, these elves have a blackness in their souls. It is only Hevian’s sacrifice and The Lady’s mission that keeps me here. Hmm, I wonder if they have always been this bloodthirsty. I will have to ask Olemar when we see him again. Maybe the corruption of the Heart Tree is affecting the elves too.

We have learned all we can from the Tolnans. The Aina spoke with us briefly and sent Galen to answer our questions. He told us: "We only did one divination and it was drawn from an item of power. We have no priests who can call upon such powers regularly.

The Orn (the druidic clan) can tell that the creatures now surrounding the Heart Oak are unnatural but not undead. We also see that every aspect of nature has been corrupted there. The Great Tree itself seems to have changed its essence from an embodiment of the natural world to a source of corruption.

The divination was: 'What is the source of the contagion to the Heart tree?'
The answer given was: 'The source is not here. The enemy is not at hand. None can reach the weapon that strikes you down.'

We believe the words of the stars and strike out at the enemy we can. I do not believe the Stredans are behind this. Others think simply that some of them have placed themselves beyond our reach. In either case, the People will not wait for death to take us.”

This seems to match what The Lady told me when I prayed to Her for guidance. When I asked Her, “How best may we, your champions, permanently remove the corruption of the Tolnan Heart Tree?” She replied, “Find the other place; source of the illness; discover the keeper; turn the key.”

I had been working on questions for the Commune I will pray for in the morning (we are not sure where to go from here), but I had to take a break, so I decided to write this. I think I have done as much as I can on my own; I had better go check with the others. I don’t want to miss any important questions.

May the blessing of The Lady be with us all, especially the Tolnans, and May Hevian’s Gods hold him in the high regard he deserves.

 

[DoctorB]

Joy's Commune

Joy’s Commune with The Lady – Tenebrea 18, 417

Questions about "the other place, source of the illness"
1 Can we, your champions (and our companions), using the skills, powers and artifacts we currently have in our possession-right now, reach "the other place, source of the illness" that you mentioned in my divination yesterday?
NO
2 Will it serve us in our goal to find "the other place, source of the illness" that you mentioned in my divination yesterday to begin by approaching the Tolnan Heart Tree?
YES
3 Can we learn the location of "the other place, source of the illness" that you mentioned in my divination yesterday from the creatures near the Tolnan Heart Tree?
NO
4 Is “the keeper” that you mentioned in my divination yesterday Stredan?
NO


Questions about "the keeper"
1 Is “the keeper” that you mentioned in my divination yesterday evil?
MOST DEFINITELY
2 Is “the keeper” that you mentioned in my divination yesterday regularly present in "the other place, source of the illness" that you mentioned in my divination yesterday?
YES
3 Would “the keeper” that you mentioned in my divination yesterday normally inhabit the area in which we will find it?
NOT NORMALLY, NO
4 Is “the keeper” that you mentioned in my divination yesterday what he/she/it appears to be?
THAT IS DIFFICULT TO SAY, BUT I WOULD HAVE TO REPLY, YES


Questions about "the key"
1 Is “the key” that you mentioned in my divination yesterday regularly in the possession of “the keeper” that you mentioned in my divination yesterday?
YES
2 Is “the key” that you mentioned in my divination yesterday an object?
YES
3 Is “the key” that you mentioned in my divination yesterday magical?
YES
4 Is “the key” that you mentioned in my divination yesterday most strongly made of divine magic?
YES


Bonus question: Does restoring the shrine at Merrowe require my attention within a certain amount of time?
YES

 

[DoctorB]

Under the Trees

“I should have known better,” Selmi Hewflank thought to himself as the Champions of the Lady marched into the deep Tolnan forest to take on a corrupted Heart Oak. A dwarven priest of the Mountain, Selmi had once done great deeds on his own in a group of adventurers who fought evil in Irmak. He had known Cobbe only as a very intelligent and interesting Innkeeper who also happened to be his friend.

He had become overconfident he now realized. The group’s success had blinded them to the growing power and organization of the evil forces in Irmak. They had not been prepared when a combined force of creatures had attacked their camp. He had been the only survivor. Despondent, he returned to Skiros alone. He had heard of the legend of the “Straw-Hat Knight” but he had not realized that his old friend was that hero.

Not trusting his own instincts anymore, Selmi resolved to place himself under the command of Cobbe and his Champions of the Lady. He respected the Lady and the other good human gods even while he practiced the hard priesthood of the Mountain. Selmi had met Cobbe again outside the Dwarvenrealm and had pledged himself to fight in the Champions’ cause.

Never did he imagine he would be marching into a dangerous forest to battle a tree. The head Druid of the wood elves, Galen, had left them at the edge of the corruption several hours walk from the Heart Oak. At first, the woods seemed supernaturally quiet, as though waiting for something. Slowly, the sounds of occasional small mammals and insects appeared nearby. Those sounds seemed to follow the party as they penetrated into the haunted looking forest. Only slowly did he and the others realize that increasing numbers of these small creatures followed their progress. Soon they saw a female figure ahead of them.

She would have been the most beautiful thing he had ever seen if half of her face and body had not seemed diseased and twisted. She introduced herself as Crea and tried to talk Cobbe and the others into leaving the forest. The Heart Tree had no personal grudge against them, she explained, but would have to destroy them if they continued. Even as she talked, the small creatures around them gathered. Naturally, after everything he had been through, he was not surprised when the squirrels attacked.

Well, it wasn’t only the squirrels but every kind of small forest mammals. Insects flew and crawled to that attack and every little creature seemed wrong somehow. Either their limbs did not curve as they should, or their fur remained only in patches. Though hundreds of creatures attacked them, Selmi realized that one intelligence governed their actions.

The many small enemies were more of an annoyance than a real problem, though the cumulative effect of dozens of tiny bites began to tell. More importantly, Selmi began to feel strange, as though his fortitude were being drained from him. Only when Joy yelled did he realize that some of their attackers had come from below. Worm-like creatures had burrowed into his skin and began attacking him from the inside while he had been distracted by the more obvious attacks.

As soon as he realized that these strange grubs were attacking them, Cobbe cured disease on Joy and Liana. Not waiting for his Lord to get to him, Selmi applied fire to his own wounds to destroy the creatures.

Meanwhile, Arin transformed into a silver-grey dragon to help the others fight or escape the attack. As soon as he did, Liana, wielding Huranel in battle, got a strange look and attacked him with the sword. It was almost as if her left hand sword tried to stop the right hand from attacking him. Selmi had heard the others talk about Huranel as an elven sword pledged to fight dragons, but it seemed the weapon had a mind of its own. Fortunately, Toiva was skilled in the art of disarming and Huranel spun out of Liana’s hand.

Soon the Champions had routed the remains of the furry mammal and insect army, at least for the moment. The Champions gingerly managed to get Huranel back into its scabbard at Liana’s side as Arin changed back to a human form. Selmi had the distinct feeling that the Tree merely tested them with the first attack.