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Knightfall's World of Kulan: Tales of the Companions Story Hour (Final Update: Sep 20, 2014)
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<blockquote data-quote="Knightfall" data-source="post: 2818376" data-attributes="member: 2012"><p><span style="color: DarkOrange"><span style="font-size: 18px"><u>OGREBANE</u></span></span></p><p><span style="color: DarkOrange"><strong>PRELUDE: THE JOURNEY TO THE FALLENLANDS</strong></span></p><p></p><p><em><strong>The Library of Onaway:</strong></em></p><p>Connor began reading from the book, as the companions waited in anticipation.</p><p></p><p>“That night, Heward and I waited for the ogre onslaught, standing with the gathered army on the Wild Plains, watching as the ogre camps prepare for coming battle. Nothing had been going right for the city-states of the Wild Plains for over a decade. The continent wide war seemed to be lasting forever and now I understand how Samson’s story’s about the First Ogre War could be true.”</p><p></p><p>Connor paused. “Samson was my great, grandfather. He was born near the end of the First Ogre War.”</p><p></p><p>Dabuk rolled his eyes, in impatience, beckoning Connor to continue.</p><p></p><p>“The day dragged on into night, and the ogres shifted from the preparation for battle to beating war drums and howling at the moon. The gathered human soldiers, from a dozen city-states, shifted nervously as torches were passed throughout the camp. I had worried that they would break and run when the battle began, but they proved their valor and fought to the last man that night.</p><p></p><p>‘It will be a slaughter, you know.’ Tallinson had told me. ‘They don’t stand a chance against so many. A pity really.’</p><p></p><p>‘Don’t count them out yet, my friend’ I had replied. ‘We westerners are known for our endurance and stubbornness.’</p><p></p><p>I didn’t realize until after the battle that he had been trying to prepare me for the worst possible outcome. And while the outcome hadn’t been a slaughter, it had been worse than I could have ever imagined. I will never forget that day. The lives lost, the blood, and the screams of agony throughout the night. War was worse than death, and I don’t know how I will be able to forget.</p><p></p><p>‘We shall see, my friend.’ Heward had twisted his mouth into that sheepish smile that I’d grown to know so well. ‘Anything is possible I guess.’</p><p></p><p>We’d become as close as brothers, not just because of the war, but also because of our travels across the continent together, along with Sandra Firebrand and William Kellmar. (May their departed souls rest for all time.) Time seemed to be against us that night, however, and soon the ground began to vibrate with the force of hundreds of thousands of booted feet – humanoids, giants, monsters, all.</p><p></p><p>‘If only I had found it then there could be hope,’ I’d almost missed Heward’s words in the noise of heavy footsteps.</p><p></p><p>‘What do you mean?’ I knew he’d been keeping something to himself for some time. ‘You need to let whatever is bothering you go or you’ll hesitate on the battlefield.’</p><p></p><p>Heward had then given me a look I’d never seen before. He eyes were filled with failure. He’d always carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.</p><p></p><p>‘There is a legend that I heard some time ago from a friend,’ Heward’s words had been spoken in whispers, so that only I could hear. ‘This friend is from another continent east of the Karmine Sea, on the other side of Kulan.’</p><p></p><p>‘But I thought there were only the black storms to the east,’ I had never heard of such a place in all my studies.</p><p></p><p>‘Aye, that was taught to me in my youth, as well, but I saw the truth of the world from high in Kulanspace when I was the mage captain of the spelljammer, Leviathan’.”</p><p></p><p>“What in Hades’ Underrealm is a spelljammer?” Mesik interrupted.</p><p></p><p>“I don’t know,” Conner flipped the page and then back again. “It’s not mentioned anywhere else in the book. I think it’s some kind of air balloon. Such a vessel would need a mage as its captain to safely traverse the world.”</p><p></p><p>“Seems a bit far fetched to me,” Dabuk shook his head in disbelief. “Such balloons have very limited range.”</p><p></p><p>“Well, my father seemed to have proof. Listen.” Connor motioned to the book and continued.</p><p></p><p>“I hadn’t believed Heward’s tales about flying machines and other lands beyond Harqual, at first, not until I had seen the great flying mechanical beast myself. After that I knew anything was possible, from a magical point of view.</p><p></p><p>‘So you visited this other realm and met this friend of yours? You’ve never mentioned him before?’ I had always wanted to see the world like Heward had. Perhaps after the war ended I might still have the chance.</p><p></p><p>‘Ha, Zepp is not someone you mention in casual conversation.’ Heward’s mood lightened a bit when he mentioned the name.</p><p></p><p>‘A bit of an oddball, is he?’ I had asked. The ground stopped shaking at that very moment. The ogre hordes had then waited until dusk before launching their final assault.</p><p></p><p>‘That’s an understatement,’ Heward had shifted his focus back towards the hordes, his mood more somber. ‘Zepp told me that war once consumed his continent, known as the Fallenlands, more than a thousand years ago. Evil demon-like fire genies related to the efreet conquered and laid waste to the continent for an entire Age. These genie-demons were banished from Kulan using a powerful magical artifact, which roughly translated from Zepp’s language as Ogrebane. The legend said it had the power to kill evil, intelligent creatures, especially those with giant blood, and that could slay an ogre mage with one hit.’</p><p></p><p>‘Now I see.’ I wonder how long Heward had looked for it. ‘And you never found it?’</p><p></p><p>‘No I did not and it was partially due to Zepp’s insistence that I not seek it out. Zepp convinced me the thing would be more trouble for the world than it was worth. I did look for it, but not very hard. I did not know how much we’d need it now.’</p><p></p><p>‘What’s done is done, my friend.’ I’d felt his pain. Such a powerful weapon would have saved many lives that night. ‘You can’t change the decisions you made. Life has to move forward, such as it is. This army needs you here and now. One more magical artifact won’t decide this war even if it helped decide another. That conflict was unique, as is this one. I’m sure there were many other factors that led to victory.’</p><p></p><p>‘I know,’ Heward’s words had seemed unconvincing, but he’d stood with me during the battle that night and we’d won, if you can call such a bloody travesty winning. A week later he teleported back to the Eastern Shores and I never saw him again. I pray that he lives still, but so many have died that I have lost hope for the future.”</p><p></p><p>* * *</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Knightfall, post: 2818376, member: 2012"] [COLOR=DarkOrange][SIZE=5][U]OGREBANE[/U][/SIZE][/COLOR] [COLOR=DarkOrange][B]PRELUDE: THE JOURNEY TO THE FALLENLANDS[/B][/COLOR] [I][B]The Library of Onaway:[/B][/I] Connor began reading from the book, as the companions waited in anticipation. “That night, Heward and I waited for the ogre onslaught, standing with the gathered army on the Wild Plains, watching as the ogre camps prepare for coming battle. Nothing had been going right for the city-states of the Wild Plains for over a decade. The continent wide war seemed to be lasting forever and now I understand how Samson’s story’s about the First Ogre War could be true.” Connor paused. “Samson was my great, grandfather. He was born near the end of the First Ogre War.” Dabuk rolled his eyes, in impatience, beckoning Connor to continue. “The day dragged on into night, and the ogres shifted from the preparation for battle to beating war drums and howling at the moon. The gathered human soldiers, from a dozen city-states, shifted nervously as torches were passed throughout the camp. I had worried that they would break and run when the battle began, but they proved their valor and fought to the last man that night. ‘It will be a slaughter, you know.’ Tallinson had told me. ‘They don’t stand a chance against so many. A pity really.’ ‘Don’t count them out yet, my friend’ I had replied. ‘We westerners are known for our endurance and stubbornness.’ I didn’t realize until after the battle that he had been trying to prepare me for the worst possible outcome. And while the outcome hadn’t been a slaughter, it had been worse than I could have ever imagined. I will never forget that day. The lives lost, the blood, and the screams of agony throughout the night. War was worse than death, and I don’t know how I will be able to forget. ‘We shall see, my friend.’ Heward had twisted his mouth into that sheepish smile that I’d grown to know so well. ‘Anything is possible I guess.’ We’d become as close as brothers, not just because of the war, but also because of our travels across the continent together, along with Sandra Firebrand and William Kellmar. (May their departed souls rest for all time.) Time seemed to be against us that night, however, and soon the ground began to vibrate with the force of hundreds of thousands of booted feet – humanoids, giants, monsters, all. ‘If only I had found it then there could be hope,’ I’d almost missed Heward’s words in the noise of heavy footsteps. ‘What do you mean?’ I knew he’d been keeping something to himself for some time. ‘You need to let whatever is bothering you go or you’ll hesitate on the battlefield.’ Heward had then given me a look I’d never seen before. He eyes were filled with failure. He’d always carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. ‘There is a legend that I heard some time ago from a friend,’ Heward’s words had been spoken in whispers, so that only I could hear. ‘This friend is from another continent east of the Karmine Sea, on the other side of Kulan.’ ‘But I thought there were only the black storms to the east,’ I had never heard of such a place in all my studies. ‘Aye, that was taught to me in my youth, as well, but I saw the truth of the world from high in Kulanspace when I was the mage captain of the spelljammer, Leviathan’.” “What in Hades’ Underrealm is a spelljammer?” Mesik interrupted. “I don’t know,” Conner flipped the page and then back again. “It’s not mentioned anywhere else in the book. I think it’s some kind of air balloon. Such a vessel would need a mage as its captain to safely traverse the world.” “Seems a bit far fetched to me,” Dabuk shook his head in disbelief. “Such balloons have very limited range.” “Well, my father seemed to have proof. Listen.” Connor motioned to the book and continued. “I hadn’t believed Heward’s tales about flying machines and other lands beyond Harqual, at first, not until I had seen the great flying mechanical beast myself. After that I knew anything was possible, from a magical point of view. ‘So you visited this other realm and met this friend of yours? You’ve never mentioned him before?’ I had always wanted to see the world like Heward had. Perhaps after the war ended I might still have the chance. ‘Ha, Zepp is not someone you mention in casual conversation.’ Heward’s mood lightened a bit when he mentioned the name. ‘A bit of an oddball, is he?’ I had asked. The ground stopped shaking at that very moment. The ogre hordes had then waited until dusk before launching their final assault. ‘That’s an understatement,’ Heward had shifted his focus back towards the hordes, his mood more somber. ‘Zepp told me that war once consumed his continent, known as the Fallenlands, more than a thousand years ago. Evil demon-like fire genies related to the efreet conquered and laid waste to the continent for an entire Age. These genie-demons were banished from Kulan using a powerful magical artifact, which roughly translated from Zepp’s language as Ogrebane. The legend said it had the power to kill evil, intelligent creatures, especially those with giant blood, and that could slay an ogre mage with one hit.’ ‘Now I see.’ I wonder how long Heward had looked for it. ‘And you never found it?’ ‘No I did not and it was partially due to Zepp’s insistence that I not seek it out. Zepp convinced me the thing would be more trouble for the world than it was worth. I did look for it, but not very hard. I did not know how much we’d need it now.’ ‘What’s done is done, my friend.’ I’d felt his pain. Such a powerful weapon would have saved many lives that night. ‘You can’t change the decisions you made. Life has to move forward, such as it is. This army needs you here and now. One more magical artifact won’t decide this war even if it helped decide another. That conflict was unique, as is this one. I’m sure there were many other factors that led to victory.’ ‘I know,’ Heward’s words had seemed unconvincing, but he’d stood with me during the battle that night and we’d won, if you can call such a bloody travesty winning. A week later he teleported back to the Eastern Shores and I never saw him again. I pray that he lives still, but so many have died that I have lost hope for the future.” * * * [/QUOTE]
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