the Jester
Legend
The Stone
The child Caleb's high-pitched cry pierces the countryside, alerting hundreds of villagers as to the party's current location.
"We must subdue him!" cries Brother He. His ordered instincts detect a break in the balance of Caleb's psyche. It is affirmed when Airhead Ed and Captain Cave-Dwarf grab their heads in anguish and are nearly overcome by Caleb’s mental onslaught. He quickly visualizes a strike, palm-flattened, upon the back of Caleb's head and executes. The blow may have knocked out Caleb's true-self, but not the visitor controlling him from afar. The shrieks and struggling continue.
Captain Cave-Dwarf fights off several kicks and immediately wraps Caleb in a choke hold, applying steady pressure as everyone else keeps their young adversary pinned. Every second he continues to move is another second that the glassy-eyed villagers have to gain ground on them. Nearly a minute passes before Caleb collapses helplessly, his body exhausted from a gamely struggle. Thelonious looks at them from afar, having spent his last minute chasing down the two remaining children. Neither one will willingly go back into the Mines after escaping their goblin masters mere hours ago.
"The beautiful fey guardian will take care of you children while we are away," Thelonious tells them as he carries one under each arm. "We don't want to go back into the dark!" they both scream. "Take us back to our mommies, PLEASE!" Both eventually break free as the party nears the large hole that may lead them to safety. Federico is the first down the rope, followed by the Captain, Brother He, and Trinia. "Hurry," barks Federico, half way down the rope, "we must loose the villagers in the tunnels!" The Captain firmly holds Caleb’s limp body in his left arm.
"We won't leave without the children!", shout Airhead and Thelonious. The two manage to chase the children down once more with the help of Captain Cave-Dwarf and Trinia's wolves. When they drag them back to the hole, Thelonious looks down the 80 ft shaft and hears the villagers approaching in the distance, wrestles with the child under his arm, and surmises his chances for getting down alive. He and Airhead realize they won’t make it without the cooperation of the children. With punishing effectiveness, Thelonious strikes down the young boy under his left arm, dropping him unconscious.
Now its Airhead's turn to scream, as she sees the villagers crest the small hill a mere 100 ft away, and the young girl wrenches free from her grasp. She cries out for her to come back, but there is no changing the little girl's mind. Tears blur her vision and Airhead's hands are wet when she grabs the rope.
Much heroism courses through Airhead’s small body as she jumps down the hole, but strength of grip is not her forte. She flails outward as she falls and barely grasps Theo's backpack. In turn, he is pulled downward, and his grip on the rope is pushed to its limit. The rope bucks under their momentum and all struggle to hold on. Federico, howling with terror, leads the party downward. He is still 40 ft above their landing point. The Captain nearly loses hold of Caleb’s small body, barely grabbing his arm falling out of reach.
One head pops itself over the shaft's edge, and then another, and another, and another,... "They are here, they have caught us!", cries Thelonious. "Surrender to us or you will be destroyed," moans the growing mass of villagers, each holding a piece of sharp farming equipment. "You cannot defeat us."
"Yes we can!" replies the Captain. "You are not right in the head and we must free you!"
"Do not resist us. We will kill you if you do not surrender and give the children to us!" There are now several villagers crawling down the rope. By the time Federico, Brother He, and the Captain are off the rope three villagers lose their grip and fall to their doom. One nearly knocks Airhead free from Thelonious, and another nearly scares Federico into letting go as her dead body settles upon a neighboring stalagmite.
Brother He and Captain Cave-Dwarf do not hesitate as they dash for the lair of the fey-one. Federico pauses, loads his crossbow and fixes his aim on the highest rope. When Thelonious, arms melting from the climb, and Airhead, screaming her little lungs hoarse, arrive at the bottom, Federico gently pulls the trigger. His bolt flies true, a perfect shot that clips the rope 5 ft from the top. 14 villagers fall to their deaths, a pile of dead bodies quickly growing where they land. Federico smiles for but a second till he sees a multitude of villagers recklessly climbing down the sharply angled cliff face. They will not stop till we are dead, he thinks grimly. Not even a snarling dragon will stop them from coming...
Still, the party has a small amount of time to make their second descent unimpeded. A mere 20ft this time, everyone eventually reaches the bottom without injury. All sprint towards their goal except Thelonious. He hands the young boy to Airhead and notches an arrow. A single tear drips down his check as his mark tumbles down the cliff face. My secret shame, he muses. A killer of my own kind, yet I will not let these mindless beings kill anymore of my family!
The party reaches the Stone-Dragon after an exhaustive sprint. Dull moans and the sound of slow footsteps follows them, punctuated by an occasional thud of falling body. The giant Stone Dragon looms over them and the party must ponder how to animate it. There is no room to get past it into the secret passage that leads to the dragon's corpse. "I'll pry the gem out of its eye!" yips Federico. "That will surely get it to move!"
"Aye, but be careful with the gem, me laddy!" states the Captain. "In fact, methinks you should drop it down to me once you free it!"
Federico, always full of personality, but weaker than almost everything on Cydra, can't make it up the Dragon's neck. Brother He centers himself, breathes out all possible thoughts of failure, and carefully reaches one small hand over the other. He reaches the top and unfastens a dagger around his belt. With perfect attention to the precise balance of force and touch, He pries away the gem... and the Dragon does indeed move. It swishes its tail, exposing its guarded passage, and abruptly raises onto its haunches. Federico zips with lightning fast speed into the passage only big enough for a kobold, ducking a blow from the tail before making it in. All manage to do the same as Federico except Brother He, who clings tightly to the Dragon’s stony neck.
"Come to us quickly!" shouts Thelonious at Brother He. Thelonious and his adopted sister, Airhead, are five feet away from the entrance. They look out at their new friend, bravely clinging to the Dragon's back. He resists one shake, then a second, but not a third. His small body is loosened from the Dragon's neck and he falls flat against the ground, shock waves pounding him into darkness.
"NOOOOOOOO!!!!" Airhead's shriek sways the Dragon's attention toward his once-guarded passage, and it plunges a claw into the opening. It moves quickly, too quickly to do anything that would make defense easier. Thelonious is raked across the chest, large wounds filling with blood and pain. He manages to remain conscious, alive but barely breathing. The world spins around him before Airhead snaps him into motion. He resists her tugging until the Dragon realizes it cannot get them and opts to seal them inside the passage, returning to its original pose. Despair washes over him and he struggles to catch up with the group.
The fatigue slowly rising in their small legs reminds everyone that it has been a very long morning. .. .
Velea greets them to her lair with a sly and seductive smile. Her cold, barren lair seems so much more inviting when she smiles at the party. "Have you made any progress in freeing me?" she purrs. "You know how lonely I am down here. Bring the dragon to me so that I can have him break my imprisonment."
"Aye, we shall," says Captain Cave-Dwarf. He and Airhead seem the least affected by her warm demeanor. "We have a favor to ask first, though. Can you watch after little Caleb here and his brother? The whole village is after us and we must keep them safe whilst we find a solution to this madness!"
"Alright, I will enjoy this very much." Velea widens her smile and all fall under her gaze but Airhead. They lock gazes and Airhead wonders if she sees a small drop of drool form on the side of the fey-one's mouth. Still, she reluctantly hand her ward over to Velea, who takes the two limp bodies into her hut.
Now Thelonious has returned and speaks of grim circumstances. “The villagers are coming! I could hear the Dragon speaking to them, and then give way to the marching villagers. He moved for them! We must press on.”
“Uh, beyond this is the Dragon’s corpse!”, yowls Federico. “I saw a goblin come out of its mouth! Maybe there is a passage way out from there.”
“Aye, laddy, I spied the same.” The Captain looks over the group. “We must distance ourselves from our foes, perhaps to only put our feet up for a bit.” He and Thelonious look the least tired of the party. Everyone else is looking out of breath. Despite the slowness of our adversaries, small legs must still move fast to stay ahead of long ones, let alone gain ground.
There is quick consensus that this is what must be done. Nobody is excited about the 30 ft climb down to the next tunnel. Cautiously, Federico leads them down. He is followed by Captain Cave-Dwarf, Airhead Ted, and Thelonious. Trinia stays ahead and the party stares in shocked surprise as she bravely unfastens the rope. Nimbly, cautiously, but hastily, she begins her final climb. A rock breaks from under her right foot and her left hand loosens its grip, and she falls.
The quiet rumble of hundreds of shuffling feat is the only sound that is heard once Trinia’s body hits the stone floor. “Our healer!”, bemoans Airhead. “We are so screwed!” Thelonious quickly checks for vital signs. They are dim, but available. He is once again behind the party, staying to bandage Trinia before scooping her under his arm and bolting towards the Dragon’s corpse.
The giant maw of a dead blue dragon silently awaits them in the large chamber. Goblin corpses and bones still litter the floor. Airhead Ted volunteers to snoop around outside while the others go down. “Dragons always have hidden exits from their lair, right!” her high voice echoing around them. “Let me go take a look!”
“And I will keep watch over you from the mouth,” proclaims Thelonious. “The rest of you hurry on.”
So they do, but not far. Within the gut of the dead beast is a chamber containing a stone unlike they’ve seen before. A weird blue crystal formation, it’s wavy-shaped and uneven; nor does it seem to move. A voice rips through their heads, pushing away all other thoughts. “You will fall before me! You cannot win. You will die!”
“I think its coming from the stone!” exclaims Federico. “That’s what controlling the villagers, that’s what behind all of this, and that is what we must destroy!” His crossbow is aimed and fired, but no damage is done.
“By the blessings of The Great Oak, I smite you abomination! Pray for your soul!” It is Captain Cave-Dwarf’s turn to pounce upon the glowing gem. He holds a glowing cudgel in his right hand and it is only his weapon that can damage the Gem’s hardened surface.
The Captain swings again and again, over and over, until he must catch his breath. To his horror, the gem is rapidly healing itself. There is no chance of me breaking this blasted stone, he thinks. We must take it to someone who can!
Federico assists Captain Cave-Dwarf in securing the gem inside his backpack. Suddenly, Airhead and Thelonious break into the chamber. “You guys, you guys,” Airhead states frantically, “I’ve found a hidden passage out. It leads to the outside. Let’s get out of here! We gotta go now!”
“Aye, but I canna break this Gem that I carry. Neither can anyone else here and we think its unearthly presence is what is causing this calamity. We must take it back to our fey-friend. She will destroy it, free herself, and solve all our troubles!”
“No, I don’t think we should give it to her,” says Airhead as she shakes her head back and forth. “I don’t trust her, and she should probably be kept down here!”
“Nay, she will help us! Let’s go!”
“Wait, I think we should... “ Airhead never completes her sentence. Pushed to the peak of mental and physical exhaustion, Captain Cave-Dwarf cannot stand her high pitched, misguided feelings. He snaps, throwing her down and punching her across the jaw. She slumps and the 2 remaining party members eye the Captain cautiously, afraid that he may hit them next.
“We be goin’ to Velea, and that be the end of it!”, shouts Captain Cave-Dwarf. They proceed out of the dragon’s maw, only to be confronted by nearly 20 villagers shuffling towards them. More are on the way. Many are bruised and battered from the long climb down and all hold their farming weapons in hand. “Stop or be destroyed”, they drone simultaneously. “Give us the Gem and surrender.” Tens more stream into the cavern, all eyes fixed on the party.
“Give us the Gem or be destroyed. Give us the Gem or die in pain to our Master.”
“Perhaps we be needin’ to take the tunnel out,” states Captain Cave-Dwarf flatly.
Next Time: Our heroes formulate a desperate plan!
The child Caleb's high-pitched cry pierces the countryside, alerting hundreds of villagers as to the party's current location.
"We must subdue him!" cries Brother He. His ordered instincts detect a break in the balance of Caleb's psyche. It is affirmed when Airhead Ed and Captain Cave-Dwarf grab their heads in anguish and are nearly overcome by Caleb’s mental onslaught. He quickly visualizes a strike, palm-flattened, upon the back of Caleb's head and executes. The blow may have knocked out Caleb's true-self, but not the visitor controlling him from afar. The shrieks and struggling continue.
Captain Cave-Dwarf fights off several kicks and immediately wraps Caleb in a choke hold, applying steady pressure as everyone else keeps their young adversary pinned. Every second he continues to move is another second that the glassy-eyed villagers have to gain ground on them. Nearly a minute passes before Caleb collapses helplessly, his body exhausted from a gamely struggle. Thelonious looks at them from afar, having spent his last minute chasing down the two remaining children. Neither one will willingly go back into the Mines after escaping their goblin masters mere hours ago.
"The beautiful fey guardian will take care of you children while we are away," Thelonious tells them as he carries one under each arm. "We don't want to go back into the dark!" they both scream. "Take us back to our mommies, PLEASE!" Both eventually break free as the party nears the large hole that may lead them to safety. Federico is the first down the rope, followed by the Captain, Brother He, and Trinia. "Hurry," barks Federico, half way down the rope, "we must loose the villagers in the tunnels!" The Captain firmly holds Caleb’s limp body in his left arm.
"We won't leave without the children!", shout Airhead and Thelonious. The two manage to chase the children down once more with the help of Captain Cave-Dwarf and Trinia's wolves. When they drag them back to the hole, Thelonious looks down the 80 ft shaft and hears the villagers approaching in the distance, wrestles with the child under his arm, and surmises his chances for getting down alive. He and Airhead realize they won’t make it without the cooperation of the children. With punishing effectiveness, Thelonious strikes down the young boy under his left arm, dropping him unconscious.
Now its Airhead's turn to scream, as she sees the villagers crest the small hill a mere 100 ft away, and the young girl wrenches free from her grasp. She cries out for her to come back, but there is no changing the little girl's mind. Tears blur her vision and Airhead's hands are wet when she grabs the rope.
Much heroism courses through Airhead’s small body as she jumps down the hole, but strength of grip is not her forte. She flails outward as she falls and barely grasps Theo's backpack. In turn, he is pulled downward, and his grip on the rope is pushed to its limit. The rope bucks under their momentum and all struggle to hold on. Federico, howling with terror, leads the party downward. He is still 40 ft above their landing point. The Captain nearly loses hold of Caleb’s small body, barely grabbing his arm falling out of reach.
One head pops itself over the shaft's edge, and then another, and another, and another,... "They are here, they have caught us!", cries Thelonious. "Surrender to us or you will be destroyed," moans the growing mass of villagers, each holding a piece of sharp farming equipment. "You cannot defeat us."
"Yes we can!" replies the Captain. "You are not right in the head and we must free you!"
"Do not resist us. We will kill you if you do not surrender and give the children to us!" There are now several villagers crawling down the rope. By the time Federico, Brother He, and the Captain are off the rope three villagers lose their grip and fall to their doom. One nearly knocks Airhead free from Thelonious, and another nearly scares Federico into letting go as her dead body settles upon a neighboring stalagmite.
Brother He and Captain Cave-Dwarf do not hesitate as they dash for the lair of the fey-one. Federico pauses, loads his crossbow and fixes his aim on the highest rope. When Thelonious, arms melting from the climb, and Airhead, screaming her little lungs hoarse, arrive at the bottom, Federico gently pulls the trigger. His bolt flies true, a perfect shot that clips the rope 5 ft from the top. 14 villagers fall to their deaths, a pile of dead bodies quickly growing where they land. Federico smiles for but a second till he sees a multitude of villagers recklessly climbing down the sharply angled cliff face. They will not stop till we are dead, he thinks grimly. Not even a snarling dragon will stop them from coming...
Still, the party has a small amount of time to make their second descent unimpeded. A mere 20ft this time, everyone eventually reaches the bottom without injury. All sprint towards their goal except Thelonious. He hands the young boy to Airhead and notches an arrow. A single tear drips down his check as his mark tumbles down the cliff face. My secret shame, he muses. A killer of my own kind, yet I will not let these mindless beings kill anymore of my family!
The party reaches the Stone-Dragon after an exhaustive sprint. Dull moans and the sound of slow footsteps follows them, punctuated by an occasional thud of falling body. The giant Stone Dragon looms over them and the party must ponder how to animate it. There is no room to get past it into the secret passage that leads to the dragon's corpse. "I'll pry the gem out of its eye!" yips Federico. "That will surely get it to move!"
"Aye, but be careful with the gem, me laddy!" states the Captain. "In fact, methinks you should drop it down to me once you free it!"
Federico, always full of personality, but weaker than almost everything on Cydra, can't make it up the Dragon's neck. Brother He centers himself, breathes out all possible thoughts of failure, and carefully reaches one small hand over the other. He reaches the top and unfastens a dagger around his belt. With perfect attention to the precise balance of force and touch, He pries away the gem... and the Dragon does indeed move. It swishes its tail, exposing its guarded passage, and abruptly raises onto its haunches. Federico zips with lightning fast speed into the passage only big enough for a kobold, ducking a blow from the tail before making it in. All manage to do the same as Federico except Brother He, who clings tightly to the Dragon’s stony neck.
"Come to us quickly!" shouts Thelonious at Brother He. Thelonious and his adopted sister, Airhead, are five feet away from the entrance. They look out at their new friend, bravely clinging to the Dragon's back. He resists one shake, then a second, but not a third. His small body is loosened from the Dragon's neck and he falls flat against the ground, shock waves pounding him into darkness.
"NOOOOOOOO!!!!" Airhead's shriek sways the Dragon's attention toward his once-guarded passage, and it plunges a claw into the opening. It moves quickly, too quickly to do anything that would make defense easier. Thelonious is raked across the chest, large wounds filling with blood and pain. He manages to remain conscious, alive but barely breathing. The world spins around him before Airhead snaps him into motion. He resists her tugging until the Dragon realizes it cannot get them and opts to seal them inside the passage, returning to its original pose. Despair washes over him and he struggles to catch up with the group.
The fatigue slowly rising in their small legs reminds everyone that it has been a very long morning. .. .
Velea greets them to her lair with a sly and seductive smile. Her cold, barren lair seems so much more inviting when she smiles at the party. "Have you made any progress in freeing me?" she purrs. "You know how lonely I am down here. Bring the dragon to me so that I can have him break my imprisonment."
"Aye, we shall," says Captain Cave-Dwarf. He and Airhead seem the least affected by her warm demeanor. "We have a favor to ask first, though. Can you watch after little Caleb here and his brother? The whole village is after us and we must keep them safe whilst we find a solution to this madness!"
"Alright, I will enjoy this very much." Velea widens her smile and all fall under her gaze but Airhead. They lock gazes and Airhead wonders if she sees a small drop of drool form on the side of the fey-one's mouth. Still, she reluctantly hand her ward over to Velea, who takes the two limp bodies into her hut.
Now Thelonious has returned and speaks of grim circumstances. “The villagers are coming! I could hear the Dragon speaking to them, and then give way to the marching villagers. He moved for them! We must press on.”
“Uh, beyond this is the Dragon’s corpse!”, yowls Federico. “I saw a goblin come out of its mouth! Maybe there is a passage way out from there.”
“Aye, laddy, I spied the same.” The Captain looks over the group. “We must distance ourselves from our foes, perhaps to only put our feet up for a bit.” He and Thelonious look the least tired of the party. Everyone else is looking out of breath. Despite the slowness of our adversaries, small legs must still move fast to stay ahead of long ones, let alone gain ground.
There is quick consensus that this is what must be done. Nobody is excited about the 30 ft climb down to the next tunnel. Cautiously, Federico leads them down. He is followed by Captain Cave-Dwarf, Airhead Ted, and Thelonious. Trinia stays ahead and the party stares in shocked surprise as she bravely unfastens the rope. Nimbly, cautiously, but hastily, she begins her final climb. A rock breaks from under her right foot and her left hand loosens its grip, and she falls.
The quiet rumble of hundreds of shuffling feat is the only sound that is heard once Trinia’s body hits the stone floor. “Our healer!”, bemoans Airhead. “We are so screwed!” Thelonious quickly checks for vital signs. They are dim, but available. He is once again behind the party, staying to bandage Trinia before scooping her under his arm and bolting towards the Dragon’s corpse.
The giant maw of a dead blue dragon silently awaits them in the large chamber. Goblin corpses and bones still litter the floor. Airhead Ted volunteers to snoop around outside while the others go down. “Dragons always have hidden exits from their lair, right!” her high voice echoing around them. “Let me go take a look!”
“And I will keep watch over you from the mouth,” proclaims Thelonious. “The rest of you hurry on.”
So they do, but not far. Within the gut of the dead beast is a chamber containing a stone unlike they’ve seen before. A weird blue crystal formation, it’s wavy-shaped and uneven; nor does it seem to move. A voice rips through their heads, pushing away all other thoughts. “You will fall before me! You cannot win. You will die!”
“I think its coming from the stone!” exclaims Federico. “That’s what controlling the villagers, that’s what behind all of this, and that is what we must destroy!” His crossbow is aimed and fired, but no damage is done.
“By the blessings of The Great Oak, I smite you abomination! Pray for your soul!” It is Captain Cave-Dwarf’s turn to pounce upon the glowing gem. He holds a glowing cudgel in his right hand and it is only his weapon that can damage the Gem’s hardened surface.
The Captain swings again and again, over and over, until he must catch his breath. To his horror, the gem is rapidly healing itself. There is no chance of me breaking this blasted stone, he thinks. We must take it to someone who can!
Federico assists Captain Cave-Dwarf in securing the gem inside his backpack. Suddenly, Airhead and Thelonious break into the chamber. “You guys, you guys,” Airhead states frantically, “I’ve found a hidden passage out. It leads to the outside. Let’s get out of here! We gotta go now!”
“Aye, but I canna break this Gem that I carry. Neither can anyone else here and we think its unearthly presence is what is causing this calamity. We must take it back to our fey-friend. She will destroy it, free herself, and solve all our troubles!”
“No, I don’t think we should give it to her,” says Airhead as she shakes her head back and forth. “I don’t trust her, and she should probably be kept down here!”
“Nay, she will help us! Let’s go!”
“Wait, I think we should... “ Airhead never completes her sentence. Pushed to the peak of mental and physical exhaustion, Captain Cave-Dwarf cannot stand her high pitched, misguided feelings. He snaps, throwing her down and punching her across the jaw. She slumps and the 2 remaining party members eye the Captain cautiously, afraid that he may hit them next.
“We be goin’ to Velea, and that be the end of it!”, shouts Captain Cave-Dwarf. They proceed out of the dragon’s maw, only to be confronted by nearly 20 villagers shuffling towards them. More are on the way. Many are bruised and battered from the long climb down and all hold their farming weapons in hand. “Stop or be destroyed”, they drone simultaneously. “Give us the Gem and surrender.” Tens more stream into the cavern, all eyes fixed on the party.
“Give us the Gem or be destroyed. Give us the Gem or die in pain to our Master.”
“Perhaps we be needin’ to take the tunnel out,” states Captain Cave-Dwarf flatly.
Next Time: Our heroes formulate a desperate plan!
