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Message: <blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 1323314" data-attributes="member: 463">Leo's accountMountain SlaughterGods what a disaster! Leo blinked, making sure of reality. Yes, he was in the teleport chamber of the White Way Tower in Gaxmoor. Yes, the Shield Guardian was staring at him impassively. He lurched to the side of the room. He was hyperventilating. Every single bone and muscle in his body hurt abominably. He looked at himself and grimaced. He was a mess. His clothes were little more than tattered rags and he was covered in blood. His blood. It still oozed out of several massive cuts and gashes scattered throughout his body. Thank the gods they were beginning to clot. He stared briefly at one of the Bracers that had been revealed through the remnants of his shirtsleeve. It was a wondrous piece of craftsmanship, covered in sigils and runes. It was very expensive. It took a very long time to make during endless days of frustration, sleeplessness and agony. It had just saved his life. He closed his eyes briefly. He saw flashes of orcs, ogres, trolls and above all than damnable hill giant. The massive club struck him again and again. Leo was still reliving those blows. His shoulder and ribs were reliving those blows. Quickly he opened his eyes again.Suddenly the Shield Guardian tensed as the teleport circle in the chamber lit up. Barak and Sigurd appeared. Leo breathed a sigh or relief and then asked “Aos? Titania?” The other two shook their heads.  Leo cursed in a way he had rarely done before and then he got up and unsteadily made his way to his quarters and slumped on his cot. A few minutes later Dovistar burst into his room.“Leo! My gods man what happened? Look at you”.With that the old mage hurried out of the room. Things moved quickly after that. First a bath was brought into the room, filled with hot water. Leo carefully bathed. The water turned red. He was only allowed a brief period of privacy. New clothes were brought into his room. A priest was sent for. Food was brought Leo was finally beginning to feel a little more human. Some time later, Leo had bathed, drank and eaten. He received notice that a priest and some other people had come to the tower. Some more of the Heroes. “Praise the Gods” thought Leo. “Tarquin did what I thought he would”. As time went on, his cohort priest was turning out to be more and more reliable and powerful.    Looking refreshed Leo went to greet his other friends. He found Tarquin, Xiang and Saphie, together with Barak and Sigurd waiting for him. Dovistar and Laera were also in the room. Leo looked at everyone. “I presume everyone knows about Aos and Titania. I may have had my differences with the man but he didn’t lack courage and he was very effective at combat. He certainly didn’t deserve to die the way he did. Titania was a great help to the group. She knew things no one else did. She had very useful spells and her music lifted our spirits. I say we heal, rest, learn from our mistakes, review our tactics and then go up there to clear that place out for good. If we don’t, that miserable cambion and his oversized monstrosities will sweep through the lands of Gaxmoor laying waste to all before them in the winter. No one will survive. They will burn, pillage and enslave. And the goddess Hel shall rule the land.”Leo spoke calmly. He had come to the conclusion that this was Heracules’s last throw. It was also his most dangerous. Using the giants as shock troops and combining them with the remnants of his last army could spell the end of Kanor’s rule of the Borderlands. This would also be in combination with a winter campaign, something most soldiers dreaded. Laera chimed in at this point. “Leo, what happened?”“What happened? Too much and not enough. First, Cho decided to continue in her travels I think. To be honest I don’t know. When we were ready to go she was nowhere to be found. I did contact her with a Sending and she told me that she must follow another path right now. So be it, I wish her luck. We may or may not see her again. She knows where we are. Fortunately, the Margrave had managed to gain the services of Rhianne, a druid. I must confess I don’t know a great deal about druids. It is a mysterious branch of the spellcasting network but from what little I have heard I know they can be very powerful and useful. Especially outdoors. She was most welcome; and of course, you know Barak decided to join our little group. So, we gained some powerful allies even though we had lost Cho and Elros. Anyway, the Margrave invited us to the palace to discuss our problems. You know these of course. We have discussed some of them before. The Mongali are gathering. It is easy to see where they are going. It is impossible to know where they are going to stop. Luckily we did manage to get that Treaty with the Makyans. That could just turn them North. We will see. However, we were discussing more immediate problems, namely Heracules and his alliance with the Frost Giant Jarl. We now know he is named Gungir. Not only is he the Jarl but he is also a priest of Thrim, some giant deity. Kanor told us that Gysshk had been in touch with him. He claimed to know the location of Gugnir’s secret fortress. To cut a long story short, we discussed the situation to an extent and then Xiang, Aos and I went to get the hobgoblin. He lives in Carrisqui. We teleported there, had a quick discussion, handed over his fee and he agreed to come back with us. Once here, he gave us the location. It is a fortress in the Dosk Heights. Not in a desolate, icy wasteland, but in the more temperate accessible zone, lower down the mountains. There is a gorge with a stream running through it. It is quite picturesque if you like that kind of thing. On one side there was an entrance which has been artificially worked. Gysshk was familiar with the layout but he believed that the giants had done quite a large amount of enlarging and digging. So, he gave us a good description of the place. Good enough that Tarquin could locate it with magical means.”Dovistar and Laera looked at Tarquin. Whilst they couldn’t cast the spell to which Leo referred, they knew of its existence and they also knew the level of seniority needed to use it. It was quite possible that he was now the most senior priest of Urnus Gregaria. He certainly was in Gaxmoor. It was fortunate that this God was a remote, travelling deity who did not believe in interfering with the lives of mortals. It made the religion much quieter. “So, to continue the story. We decided the travel there on phantom steeds. It was very taxing on my daily spell learning but it was worth it for the distance we traveled in just a couple of the days. Little of note happened. We ran into some large boars, you know, the enormous ones; we also found out that Rhianne could change into an eagle shape. Useful ability although she couldn’t keep up with our speed. She could also talk to animals. One morning we found a gigantic bear eating the boars we killed and she just talked to it so instead of it trying to have us for desert we just went around it. Anyway, so we get to the area. Rhianne flies around and finds the entrance; it is an archway with a ledge in front of it. Vast amounts of rubbish have been thrown over the slope. She also saw an orc, which confirmed it was the place we were looking for. Having had to cast nine spells on that day already and with the possibility of facing Heracules, his entourage, a spell casting Frost Giant and at least a further dozen Frost Giants never mind what else was in there, I really felt that I should replenish my magic. Barak then bravely volunteered to see if he could scout the entrance part of the cave.”Leo smiled at his former teacher.“Barak always did have more courage than most of the wizards I know. Anyway, we cast some effects on him. He could now fly and he was also invisible. Then we settled down to wait.”Leo looked at Dovistar to see the old mage was frowning. “We arrived there in the morning; we had to use some time before we cast the Rope Tricks and climbed in them to sleep. So Barak went scouting. He came back a little time later, very agitated. He found a large antechamber, with a guard consisting of an ettin, a Frost Giant, a Hill Giant and a troll. Unfortunately, they also spotted him and he had to get out fast. We surmised that they are likely to send out a scouting party to find out what was going on. Rhianne volunteered to go and oversee the entrance. Unfortunately, that is the last we heard from her. I have a horrible feeling about that. Tomorrow I am going to try to cast a Sending to her. I must confess I am not very hopeful of the result. So, in spite of Rhianne, suddenly about a dozen orcs appeared from the wilderness around us. They are quite tough for orcs but by the time Xiang, Aos, Sigurd and Barak finished with them, they are wiped out to a man. We had an argument then. A part of the group wanted to follow up our “advantage”. Twelve orcs. Considering what came later that’s some advantage.So, after the discussion we rode out on the Phantom Steeds for several hours.  The next day, we came back at dusk, ready to cast the Rope Tricks to learn our spells for the coming battle.We cast the spells and went to sleep. Somehow or other that misbegotten, miserable, unnatural demonspawn found them. His demon mother must have shown them to him or something. Dovistar, you know how hard it is to find a Rope Trick. Anyway, the next thing I know, a Hill Giant is in front of me, having squeezed through the window. He lays into me. Soon he is joined by a troll and then two orcs. At this stage of course I am screaming for the others to wake up. Anyway, all of these monsters beat the living daylights out of me as you saw but at the last moment I managed to dismiss the Rope Tricks and then just get the hells out of there, trusting that Tarquin will get the other two out. Obviously he did. Thank the gods. Just before I left, I spotted several more frost giants, together with many more orcs, and ogres. I didn’t really bother counting.”He turns to Barak. “What happened in your Trick?”Barak answered: “Pretty much the same. Except that we had Heracules climb into ours. He and his mates did for Titania and Aos.”Leo groaned inwardly. That meant that the chances of recovering the remains of their two comrades were non existent.He turned to the others and said. “Saphie, would you be so kind as to inform your brother of the latest happenings. This has been a disaster. We cannot avoid that description of events. Recently we have lost Elros, Aos, Titania, and Cho has left us. That is too many comrades. However, it could have been worse. Under the circumstances we could all have died. We must send word to the druids that one of theirs has fallen and who was responsible. Looking for a positive side, we now have a much clearer idea of what we face. I think it is also likely that when we return Heracules will still be there. Why should he leave? He beat us with ease this time. He probably can’t wait to meet us again while he drinks out of Aos’s skull.If you please, I am now very tired and I need to rest. I hurt all over.”Leo then stood up and made to leave the room. In the doorway, he turned around and pointed to Sigurd. “Oh Dovistar, before I forget, please meet the new King of Trafalgis. He is very well disposed to both the White Way and the Temple of Urnus Gregaria. At some point we must talk about that.”With that, Leo left the room.</blockquote>

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