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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Capellan" data-source="post: 1222119" data-attributes="member: 6294">Kull's 8th Report - Part 4The ratmen outnumbered my forces, and were blessed with natural speed and agility, but if there is one thing that my experiences in the last year have taught me, it is that training and discipline are the key to success.  The ratmen lacked either, swarming in like street toughs, heavy-bladed knives in their hands.  A foul black and green sheen marked the blades of their 'king': poison of some kind.The fight started poorly: Shepherdson recklessly left our lines in an attempt to flank the enemy leader, and found the tables turned on him within seconds.  Moments later, he was dead on the ground.  Fortunately, Dragrim has a proper sense of military discipline, and together he and I met the enemy like a wall of steel, driving back the ratmen.I invoked our Lord's name, casting it as a challenge against the ratman chief, and he quailed back, his hands shaking with fear as he fumbled his blows, his knives bouncing harmlessly from Dargrim's shield.  That worthy servant of our church no more missed his opportunity than would I, and struck back with his axe, spraying blood across the room as the chieftain fell.The remainder of his pack lasted little longer than the chief: speed and agility might serve in a gutter brawl, but against trained warriors they avail you little.  Rat bodies tumbled to the ground beneath my flail and Dargrim's axe.  Even the wizard contributed as best he could, putting one of the beasts into a magical slumber.  He even worked up the 'courage' to approach the sleeping creature and attempt to cut its throat: the first and only time I have seen him attempt an act of physical combat.  Given the abject failure of his attempt - the ratman woke with barely a nick in its fur - it is not hard to see why.  If he is to be of more use to me, I shall have to ensure that he increases his store of magical knowledge.  It is quite evident that h will never be of any use when his magic runs out, which it currently does far too readily.I believe it is Hextor's Will that this flawed weapon should be placed in my hands, so that I can temper him into sturdy steel, or break him in the attempt.With the enemy defeated, I began the search for the source of the curse.  It was obvious to me that the frozen sword or the ice throne must play some part in the matter, but I did not yet have all the final pieces to determine how.  I found them in an antechamber to the laboratory.Four elves were manacled to the walls, covered in frost and apparently dead.  However, when I warmed one of the bodies to ease the search for information, the elf's eyes opened, and he offered his thanks for being rescued.Once I had made it clear to him that any 'rescue' was dependant on a satisfactory explanation of who he was and what his purpose there had been, the elf explained that he and his companions were the adventurers dispatched by the town of Torlynn, to slay the ratmen.  I informed him that his failure had led to two years of constant winter, but that the rats were now dead.The elf indicated his concern that such a curse might be powered by his own sword, a weapon of magical frost.  I made mention of the sword in the laboratory, and he claimed the blade as his own: then proved his claim by summoning it to him with a magical command.  I considered taking it from him by force - it would not be prudent to leave such a powerful item in the hands of one so weak as to be overcome by these rat creatures - but the moment the sword left it, the ice block began to change, reshaping itself into a foul ice demon of some kind, before lunging forward to do battle.If the creature was a true demon, it is now returned to its home plane.  If not, it is dead.  Whichever the case, it will never again so rashly challenge the might of Hextor.Of far more import than either the elves or the ice creature - though slaying the latter seemed to end the curse, as the ice around the room immediately began to melt - was the discovery in the laboratory of a second of the strange orbs, identical to the one in the lair of the newts.  This is further evidence that the spread of the marsh was the result of deliberate action, and may be reversible.Returning to Torlynn with the elves, who I had at length decided to leave in possession of the sword, I received the thanks of the burgomaster, and learnt of the progress of the war.  The fighting had gone badly, and most of the north was fallen, with the defences forced back to the mountains and the edge of the swamp.  These at least are natural strong-points, and should hold for some time, but the weakness of the realm is a sign of the weakness of its people, and its rule.  I can see that there will be much need of Hextor's strength in the coming months.In Hextor's Name,Kull Redfist</blockquote>

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