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<blockquote data-quote="Steverooo" data-source="post: 978317" data-attributes="member: 9410">Adventurers Answer&quot;Hmmm!&quot; Rix mused, finally.&nbsp; &quot;The Warrior must be you, Drakhar.&quot;&nbsp; The Dwarf shook his head, but Rix continued.&nbsp; &quot;Although which three of us six must follow you, I don't know...&quot;&nbsp; He glanced around.&nbsp; &quot;There are six of us!&quot;&quot;That part I don't understand...&nbsp; The gentle healer sounds like Brieanna, the stealthy master of much art must be myself.&nbsp; I assume the arcane student is you, Celina... but who the Barbarian who'll meet us along the way is, I don'know...&nbsp; And all this stuff about King Skaad and Khazadal, and Mahal, I don't know.&nbsp; Some of us don't even seem to be mentioned.&quot;Finn bowed his head.&nbsp; He wasn't.&quot;Nope, the 'Warrior' isn't me.&nbsp; I would be the barbarous one from afar, self-dispatched to find the ancient halls of Good King Skaad.&nbsp; After my village was destroyed, I went through some times that calling 'Barbaric' would be kind...&nbsp; So the Warrior has to be somebody else...&nbsp; Anyway, King Skaad was an ancient King-Under-the-Mountain.&nbsp; His Kingdom was lost, long ago, although nobody seems to remember where it used to be...&nbsp; Mahal is the Maker, the creator of Dwarves, the Soul-Forger.&nbsp; Who or what Khazadal is, I dunno.&nbsp; The name could mean 'Dwarfson', but I think it's a proper name...&nbsp; Khazad-kin obviously means Dwarves.&nbsp; Mebbe the student of arcane lore is Gnorvald.&nbsp; What the rest of it means, I don't get.&nbsp; Seems like it's saying this was carved long ago, for a time of Goblin-troubles, and it's sayin' both this warrior, and Bri hafta lead...&quot;&quot;I think both, as well as I, at different times.&quot; Rix added.Finn stared at the runes.&nbsp; He couldn't read a rune of them, but he raised his head and stared at them, anyway...&nbsp; If Drakhar was the barbarous one, Rix, Gnorvald/Celina, and Brieanna mentioned, then... maybe HE could be the warrior, not trained for war?&nbsp; It didn't really seem to fit, but if everyone else was mentioned, maybe...?Rix glanced at Brieanna, with her bag of mice and basket containing a splint-winged eagle.&nbsp; Her spear was tipped in obsidian, and as thick as a lance.&quot;I take it you object to metals 'raped from Earth', Bri?&quot;&nbsp; She nooded, looking thoughtful.&nbsp; Finn cleared his throat.&quot;So, Bri...&nbsp; Any Goblin troubles, around here?&nbsp; And what's to the west of here, anyway?&quot;&quot;No, no Goblin-problems that I know of...&nbsp; Once you leave the Elven Forests, there're some plains, then the badlands, dusty hills, almost desert, and then the mountains.&nbsp; Not much of interest.&quot;&quot;Any volcanoes there?&quot; inquired Rix.&quot;None that I know of.&quot; Bri replied.&quot;Hmmm!&quot;&nbsp; Rix crossed his arms, stroking his chin with his hand.&nbsp; &quot;What's an Yrc?&quot;&quot;That I can answer!&quot; Celina smiled.&nbsp; &quot;Yrc is Sindarin for Orc.&nbsp; Oddly, though, it's singular.&nbsp; Yrch is plural.&quot;&quot;So who are the ones the Yrc did slay?&quot; wondered Rix.&nbsp; Celina shrugged.&quot;Few songs about Good King Skaad survive, I fear.&nbsp; He was a Dwarf who set out to found, and later rule, his own kingdom.&nbsp; He did well, for some time, before being wiped out.&nbsp; The only other thing I know for sure is that they were supposed to have forged weapons of surpassing quality... even for Dwarves.&quot;&quot;That's good steel!&quot; said Drakhar.&quot;Well,&quot; sighed Finn, &quot;'Not knowing what they're looking for' sure sounds like us.&nbsp; The rest of it, I don't like...&nbsp; Shadows from Wilderland with long, dark hands, Goblins, falling into darkness, where Goblins play, losing a friend in a bowl...&nbsp; It's all very depressing.&quot;&quot;Bah!&quot; spat Gnorvald.&nbsp; &quot;Am I the only one who has problems with this Prophecy business?&nbsp; Now Drakhar being interested, I can see...&nbsp; After all, he's a Dwarf...&nbsp; But the rest of you?&nbsp; What makes you think any of this applies to you?&nbsp; Let's get back on the road!&nbsp; Daylight's wasting!&quot;&quot;A gentle healer from the wood,Striving for all creatures' good,Hating metal raped from Earth,&quot; quoted Bri, stroking Thrindor.&quot;A stealthy master of much art,Helps take obstacles apart,And is the key that ope's the way,To the ones the Yrc did slay.&quot; rhymed Rix.&quot;A student of the arcane art,Also must join and be part,To find the path by leap of faith,Or float about, in form of Wraith.&quot; mused Celina.&nbsp; &quot;I don't know Wraithform, or Gaseous Cloud...&nbsp; You, Gnorvald?&quot;&quot;No!&quot;&quot;A son of Mahal, unattached,To find the old King, self-dispatched,From barbarous lands has come afar,Seeks where Skaad and Khazadal are...&nbsp; That'd be me, even though I'm a Fighter, too, like all Dwarves.&quot;&quot;So who is this Old Man of the Wood?&nbsp; Bri?&quot;&nbsp; Finn looked at her, hoping she had some answers.&quot;I have never heard a Human called that,&quot; Bri answered, &quot;and if it is a Nature Spirit, or Fey, I have neither met it, nor heard it called that.&quot;&quot;Mysterious Warriors!&nbsp; Old Men in the Woods!&nbsp; Boogies that go bump in the night!&quot;&nbsp; Gnorvald smiled, and made faces.&nbsp; &quot;Yah, yah!&nbsp; Well, your silly prophecy doesn't mention me, or Celina, or Finn, apparently.&nbsp; So that leaves three of you to follow this mystery Warrior, when he shows up!&quot;&quot;Well... that might be me...&quot; Finn said, uncertainly.&nbsp; &quot;After all, I am from a town...&nbsp; Not searching for any blade to mow foes down, however...&quot;&quot;See?&quot; said the Gnome.&nbsp; &quot;Not you.&nbsp; So now it's the Mystery-Man, Old-Man, Drakhar, Bri, and maybe Rix.&nbsp; The rest of us, at least, should go on!&nbsp; Let's go rob a tomb, or something!&quot;&quot;Hmmmph!&nbsp; Well, I'M going west,&quot; said Drakhar, &quot;and if the rest of you want to run away like little girls, then I guess here our roads shall part!&quot; swore the Dwarf.&nbsp; &quot;I'm going to see King Skaad's halls, and bury his bones, if I can.&nbsp; The rest of you do what you want!&quot;&nbsp; The Dwarf stumped over to look at the arch more closely.&quot;And since 'ope' is poetic for 'open',&quot; added Rix, &quot;I'm with you!&quot;&nbsp; He moved to follow the Dwarf.&quot;And where poetics are mentioned, ever the Bard must go!&quot; added Celina, following the duo.&quot;And, I suppose, I must seek the Second Birth!&quot; said Brieanna, stepping aside with them.&quot;And our causes are linked, as we saw yesterday.&quot; said Finn, following the Centaur, Sedge following along with him.&quot;Well I'M not going!&quot; said Gnorvald, crossing his arms over his chest.&nbsp; As usual, no one noticed him.&nbsp; &quot;I SAID, I'M NOT GOING!&quot; he yelled.&nbsp; Bri looked back at him, then spoke quietly to Rix.&quot;Go ahead!&nbsp; Leave me here, all alone, then!&nbsp; Break up the party!&nbsp; Abandon me, a helpless Gnome, all alone in the wilderness!&nbsp; Go ahead, leave!&quot; Gnorvald cried, knowing that they never did what he told them to...&quot;If you insist!&quot; replied Rix, and proceeded to ignore the fuming Gnome.Drakhar was looking at the archway, and the rune, there.&nbsp; He spoke quietly to Rix, who moved closer, and carefully examined the stone, there.&nbsp; Interested despite his anger, Gnorvald moved closer.Rix and Drakhar had apparently found a trap.&nbsp; Rix pulled out some tools and began to work.&nbsp; There was a loud &quot;click&quot;, then he put his hands on the stone, and felt around, for a long time.&nbsp; After a bunch of that, he went back to work with the tools.&nbsp; Sometime later, he opened a secret door.&nbsp; Gnorvald gasped.&nbsp; He'd missed it, in the dark!&nbsp; He stood up from where he'd been sitting, and went to the now-crowded doorway.Rix and Drakhar were inside a small room, the rest standing outside, weapons ready.&nbsp; There was no tomb, and no stairway down, but then Roland was a Human, and this place was Dwarvish, so Gnorvald didn't really expect it.&nbsp; This seemed to be a small storage chamber.&nbsp; Weapons of Dwarf-make lined the walls...&quot;I'll see if any are magic!&quot; volunteered the Gnome.&nbsp; &quot;Nope!&quot; he lied, eyeing the big, two-handed blade that was.&nbsp; The rest were normal battle gear: Ugroshes, Waraxes, swords and spears, many handaxes, etc.&nbsp; Appraising the equipment with a practiced eye, Rix evaluated their quality and worth.&quot;Drakhar, this waraxe looks better than yours.&nbsp; Why don't you trade yours in on a newer model?&quot;&quot;Trade it in, nothin'!&nbsp; I've borne this-here axe for over farty years, I don't plan to leave it here to get pawed-over by Gobblers!... but I'll take me a few of these, anyway.&quot;&nbsp; So saying, he took a handaxe, the waraxe Rix proffered, and an Ugrosh, carefully wrapping his older weapons and stowing them in his nearly-empty pack.&quot;These swords look good...&quot; began Celina.&quot;You won't find better, unless they're made by Master-Elves,&quot; Drakhar interrupted, &quot;and I've seen your blade.&nbsp; Here, take this one.&quot;&nbsp; Celina accepted the blade.&quot;Hey!&nbsp; Hand me the big two-hander!&quot; Gnorvald piped, grinning impishly.&nbsp; Drakhar grimaced at him, but reached for it...His hand passed through it.&quot;Huh?&quot;&nbsp; He tried again; with the same result.&nbsp; He glared at Gnorvald.&nbsp; &quot;I thought you said this thang weren't magic?&nbsp; Celina!&quot;&quot;I'm sorry, Drakhar, I don't have that song memorized, for today.&quot;Rix tried to grasp the sword, but he couldn't touch it, either.&nbsp; Then Celina.&nbsp; Then Gnorvald.&nbsp; Then Bri.&nbsp; Finally, Finn lifted it from where it hung.&nbsp; Glances were silently exchanged.&quot;I guess this means I hafta lead West, huh?&quot; he asked gloomily.&nbsp; &quot;If any of the rest of you want some of these weapons, grab'em now...&quot;&nbsp; Wondering who the two who must die were, and whether his lack of Leadership and battle-skills would cause their deaths, he sadly buckled the massive sword's belt around his skinny waist, and stepped outside.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Steverooo, post: 978317, member: 9410"] [b]Adventurers Answer[/b] "Hmmm!" Rix mused, finally. "The Warrior must be you, Drakhar." The Dwarf shook his head, but Rix continued. "Although which three of us six must follow you, I don't know..." He glanced around. "There are six of us!" "That part I don't understand... The gentle healer sounds like Brieanna, the stealthy master of much art must be myself. I assume the arcane student is you, Celina... but who the Barbarian who'll meet us along the way is, I don'know... And all this stuff about King Skaad and Khazadal, and Mahal, I don't know. Some of us don't even seem to be mentioned." Finn bowed his head. He wasn't. "Nope, the 'Warrior' isn't me. I would be the barbarous one from afar, self-dispatched to find the ancient halls of Good King Skaad. After my village was destroyed, I went through some times that calling 'Barbaric' would be kind... So the Warrior has to be somebody else... Anyway, King Skaad was an ancient King-Under-the-Mountain. His Kingdom was lost, long ago, although nobody seems to remember where it used to be... Mahal is the Maker, the creator of Dwarves, the Soul-Forger. Who or what Khazadal is, I dunno. The name could mean 'Dwarfson', but I think it's a proper name... Khazad-kin obviously means Dwarves. Mebbe the student of arcane lore is Gnorvald. What the rest of it means, I don't get. Seems like it's saying this was carved long ago, for a time of Goblin-troubles, and it's sayin' both this warrior, and Bri hafta lead..." "I think both, as well as I, at different times." Rix added. Finn stared at the runes. He couldn't read a rune of them, but he raised his head and stared at them, anyway... If Drakhar was the barbarous one, Rix, Gnorvald/Celina, and Brieanna mentioned, then... maybe HE could be the warrior, not trained for war? It didn't really seem to fit, but if everyone else was mentioned, maybe...? Rix glanced at Brieanna, with her bag of mice and basket containing a splint-winged eagle. Her spear was tipped in obsidian, and as thick as a lance. "I take it you object to metals 'raped from Earth', Bri?" She nooded, looking thoughtful. Finn cleared his throat. "So, Bri... Any Goblin troubles, around here? And what's to the west of here, anyway?" "No, no Goblin-problems that I know of... Once you leave the Elven Forests, there're some plains, then the badlands, dusty hills, almost desert, and then the mountains. Not much of interest." "Any volcanoes there?" inquired Rix. "None that I know of." Bri replied. "Hmmm!" Rix crossed his arms, stroking his chin with his hand. "What's an Yrc?" "That I can answer!" Celina smiled. "Yrc is Sindarin for Orc. Oddly, though, it's singular. Yrch is plural." "So who are the ones the Yrc did slay?" wondered Rix. Celina shrugged. "Few songs about Good King Skaad survive, I fear. He was a Dwarf who set out to found, and later rule, his own kingdom. He did well, for some time, before being wiped out. The only other thing I know for sure is that they were supposed to have forged weapons of surpassing quality... even for Dwarves." "That's good steel!" said Drakhar. "Well," sighed Finn, "'Not knowing what they're looking for' sure sounds like us. The rest of it, I don't like... Shadows from Wilderland with long, dark hands, Goblins, falling into darkness, where Goblins play, losing a friend in a bowl... It's all very depressing." "Bah!" spat Gnorvald. "Am I the only one who has problems with this Prophecy business? Now Drakhar being interested, I can see... After all, he's a Dwarf... But the rest of you? What makes you think any of this applies to you? Let's get back on the road! Daylight's wasting!" "A gentle healer from the wood, Striving for all creatures' good, Hating metal raped from Earth," quoted Bri, stroking Thrindor. "A stealthy master of much art, Helps take obstacles apart, And is the key that ope's the way, To the ones the Yrc did slay." rhymed Rix. "A student of the arcane art, Also must join and be part, To find the path by leap of faith, Or float about, in form of Wraith." mused Celina. "I don't know Wraithform, or Gaseous Cloud... You, Gnorvald?" "No!" "A son of Mahal, unattached, To find the old King, self-dispatched, From barbarous lands has come afar, Seeks where Skaad and Khazadal are... That'd be me, even though I'm a Fighter, too, like all Dwarves." "So who is this Old Man of the Wood? Bri?" Finn looked at her, hoping she had some answers. "I have never heard a Human called that," Bri answered, "and if it is a Nature Spirit, or Fey, I have neither met it, nor heard it called that." "Mysterious Warriors! Old Men in the Woods! Boogies that go bump in the night!" Gnorvald smiled, and made faces. "Yah, yah! Well, your silly prophecy doesn't mention me, or Celina, or Finn, apparently. So that leaves three of you to follow this mystery Warrior, when he shows up!" "Well... that [I] might[/I] be me..." Finn said, uncertainly. "After all, I am from a town... Not searching for any blade to mow foes down, however..." "See?" said the Gnome. "Not you. So now it's the Mystery-Man, Old-Man, Drakhar, Bri, and [I]maybe[/I] Rix. The rest of us, at least, should go on! Let's go rob a tomb, or something!" "Hmmmph! Well, I'M going west," said Drakhar, "and if the rest of you want to run away like little girls, then I guess here our roads shall part!" swore the Dwarf. "I'm going to see King Skaad's halls, and bury his bones, if I can. The rest of you do what you want!" The Dwarf stumped over to look at the arch more closely. "And since 'ope' is poetic for 'open'," added Rix, "I'm with you!" He moved to follow the Dwarf. "And where poetics are mentioned, ever the Bard must go!" added Celina, following the duo. "And, I suppose, I must seek the Second Birth!" said Brieanna, stepping aside with them. "And our causes are linked, as we saw yesterday." said Finn, following the Centaur, Sedge following along with him. "Well I'M not going!" said Gnorvald, crossing his arms over his chest. As usual, no one noticed him. "I SAID, I'M NOT GOING!" he yelled. Bri looked back at him, then spoke quietly to Rix. "Go ahead! Leave me here, all alone, then! Break up the party! Abandon me, a helpless Gnome, all alone in the wilderness! Go ahead, leave!" Gnorvald cried, knowing that they never did what he told them to... "If you insist!" replied Rix, and proceeded to ignore the fuming Gnome. Drakhar was looking at the archway, and the rune, there. He spoke quietly to Rix, who moved closer, and carefully examined the stone, there. Interested despite his anger, Gnorvald moved closer. Rix and Drakhar had apparently found a trap. Rix pulled out some tools and began to work. There was a loud "click", then he put his hands on the stone, and felt around, for a long time. After a bunch of that, he went back to work with the tools. Sometime later, he opened a secret door. Gnorvald gasped. He'd missed it, in the dark! He stood up from where he'd been sitting, and went to the now-crowded doorway. Rix and Drakhar were inside a small room, the rest standing outside, weapons ready. There was no tomb, and no stairway down, but then Roland was a Human, and this place was Dwarvish, so Gnorvald didn't really expect it. This seemed to be a small storage chamber. Weapons of Dwarf-make lined the walls... "I'll see if any are magic!" volunteered the Gnome. "Nope!" he lied, eyeing the big, two-handed blade that was. The rest were normal battle gear: Ugroshes, Waraxes, swords and spears, many handaxes, etc. Appraising the equipment with a practiced eye, Rix evaluated their quality and worth. "Drakhar, this waraxe looks better than yours. Why don't you trade yours in on a newer model?" "Trade it in, nothin'! I've borne this-here axe for over farty years, I don't plan to leave it here to get pawed-over by Gobblers!... but I'll take me a few of these, anyway." So saying, he took a handaxe, the waraxe Rix proffered, and an Ugrosh, carefully wrapping his older weapons and stowing them in his nearly-empty pack. "These swords look good..." began Celina. "You won't find better, unless they're made by Master-Elves," Drakhar interrupted, "and I've seen your blade. Here, take this one." Celina accepted the blade. "Hey! Hand me the big two-hander!" Gnorvald piped, grinning impishly. Drakhar grimaced at him, but reached for it... His hand passed through it. "Huh?" He tried again; with the same result. He glared at Gnorvald. "I thought you said this thang weren't magic? Celina!" "I'm sorry, Drakhar, I don't have that song memorized, for today." Rix tried to grasp the sword, but he couldn't touch it, either. Then Celina. Then Gnorvald. Then Bri. Finally, Finn lifted it from where it hung. Glances were silently exchanged. "I guess this means I hafta lead West, huh?" he asked gloomily. "If any of the rest of you want some of these weapons, grab'em now..." Wondering who the two who must die were, and whether his lack of Leadership and battle-skills would cause their deaths, he sadly buckled the massive sword's belt around his skinny waist, and stepped outside. [/QUOTE]

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