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Message: <blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 2813844" data-attributes="member: 11">#76 (part 2 of 2)Session #76 (part 2 of 2)“We seek no quarrel with you or your kin,” Martin the Green said, coming forward with both hands raised in the air.  Dorn followed not too far behind him, loaded crossbow in hand and sweat dripping down his face.  “And we seek no challenge against your rule here.  We have only stopped when attacked or harassed by the fey, but we only seek to continue on and out of the forest to the east.  Let us pass and we will not trouble or your kind; that we do swear.”The giant was silent for a time, and when he spoke again he did not yell, though it was clear from his clenched jaw and fiery eyes that his anger had not abated.“Fine, mage,” he said. “You may go on, but if you tarry again you shall face our wrath.  The drow shall face it soon enough.”“Tell us of this drow…” Kazrack began, but the giant scowled and Martin turned on the dwarf.“We have no time to chat, we must be on our way,” he turned back to the giant.  “We hope not to trouble you again.”“You had better do more than hope,” the giant replied. “Know that you shall be watched.”The giant walked calmly towards his brethren and then both melted into the shadows.  The last lights of day died beyond the tree behind them.“We need to keep moving now,” Ratchis said when the giants were gone.“We’ve been marching all day,” Logan complained.  “How can we even be sure we’ll get out of this wood any time soon? And then, when the giants fall upon us we’ll be exhausted. Better we find a secluded place to camp, rest up and if the giants come upon us tomorrow we’ll be better prepared to fight them.”“Aw! Ickle wickle little man’s feetses hurts him!” Gunthar mocked. “He needs his momma’s teat to suck on.”Kazrack suggested Martin levitate up and check how far it was before there was too little light. The watch-mage agreed, but he soon returned shaking his head. “It is too dark already,” Martin reported. “I can see another river, perhaps three or four leagues away, and that may be edge of the forest, but I cannot tell.  There was also some kind of cleft or ravine in a barren hill, maybe two leagues northeast of here, that may provide shelter…”The watch-mage shrugged his shoulders and a light rain began to fall.“We should keep going and try our best to get as far as we can from the giants, the orc fort, the undead and anything else that might delay us,” said Ratchis.“I agree,” Martin said.  “Or at the very least make for the ravine.  It may not be part of the giants’ territory and it may be defensible if it is and they come for us… if not we can rest.”“I still think we should stay,” Logan said. “It is a common enough tactic to allow your foe to tire himself out.  The giants could be doing just that.”“I take them at their word and would rather not fight them,” said Ratchis.“I would never trust a giant’s word,” Kazrack grumbled.  “I, too, think we should stay, or at the very least make for the ravine.  Marching onward through the night seems like a fool’s choice.”“Are you saying I am a fool?” Ratchis growled.”No, D’nar,” Kazrack replied, abashed. “But you do not know the tales of the craftiness and evil of giant-kind that are told by my people. If you did, you might choose differently.”“Are they anything like the tales of my kin?” Ratchis asked.”You are an exception,” Kazrack said.  “And you cannot say that any orc we have met on our journeys have not reinforced that.”It was Ratchis’ turn to grumble.“And you Roland?” Martin turned to the panther. “Do you want to stay?”The panther bobbed its head up and down, but then growled and stalked over towards the northeast and jerked its head in that direction.”I think he wants to either stay or make for the ravine,” Martin said.  The panther bobbed its head again.“The pussy is right,” Gunthar said. “If we are going to have to fight them anyway, I say we stay here, but if we have to go, let’s go to the ravine, or else little man might cry if he has to walk all night.”Logan’s eyes narrowed.“Fine, let us make for the ravine, then,” said Kazrack, looking to Ratchis. “It is a reasonable compromise and we can make the distance in two hours.”------Two hours became nearly four in the darkness of the cold rainy night and through the tangled roots and many bushes of the old forest.The ravine was more of a huge barren cleft in a grassy hill.  Rains slid down in great torrents on one side, echoing against the opposite wall and making muddy puddles in the floor.  Twisted gray vines lined the ravine’s walls, and a jumble of roots atop a rocky outcropping made a natural shelter large enough for most of the group and the llama as long as two stood outside on watch.However, before making camp the others grumbled in the constant rain as Ratchis hurried about searching for tracks and looking down the narrow crack that ran down the rear wall.The half-orc returned shaking his head.“The ground here looks swept or combed,” he said. “Like someone covered tracks, or perhaps this is the entrance to something’s home and they keep it clean.  There are no bird’s nests and no droppings or bones around.  We can’t stay here.”Logan groaned.“This place looks perfectly natural to me,” Martin replied, his long brown hair plastered to his face, his eyes were sunken and dark rings had begun to settle about them over the last few days.  The light of one of the medallions Kazrack had made cast long shadows in the gloom.“If something dangerous lives here as I suspect and the giants come we will be doubly endangered,” Ratchis replied.“Maybe if something dangerous lives here the giants won’t come,” Logan speculated.“That doesn’t seem like a good argument for staying, if whatever is here frightens giants we had best be scared of it too,” Ratchis said.“Maaaaw,” said Fearless and shook his soaked coat.“Meowrrr,” Roland cried angrily and his form shifted to that of a tiny cat again, and he leapt under the blankets rolled up atop the llama’s back.“Face it Little Man, it is Snuffles’ way or no way,” Gunthar said, wagging his eyebrows, as he patted the llama’s neck to keep it calm.  “He loves to tell people what to do. You’re lucky he isn’t like most pig-f*ckers or else you’d be taking the place of his woman every night.”“Kind of like how you use that llama to take the place of your woman?” Logan sneered.“Well, if it was between the llama and your momma for a girlfriend, I’d be hard-pressed to choose, I mean the llama is hairier, but at least it doesn’t smell half as bad as your rotten momma does,” Gunthar replied calmly.  “Probably a better lay than your momma, too. Then again, whores get lots of practice.”Logan sprang at Gunthar, his long sword suddenly in hand.  The Neergaardian was barely able to leap back in time to save himself.  As it was, the blade hacked his knee, and Gunthar stumbled backwards and onto the ground.Fearless let out a frightened “Maaaaaaw!”Gunthar climbed to his feet and drew his own sword, as Logan was upon him again.  His face was pale with sweat, and blood was still running down his calf.  He hobbled back and the two blades rang.  Gunthar’s defense was barely adequate and he was beaten back before he could get a good footing, his face an ugly grimace of pain as he forced his injured leg to hold him up.“Enough!” Ratchis roared, leaping between them.  Kazrack pulled Gunthar away.“Come on! Let me give it to him like I gave it to his momma,” Gunthar yelled.  “I promise it will only be half as bloody!”“We should have let him kill you,” Kazrack swore.“Nice, Stumpy,” Gunthar said, grimacing.  He dropped back to the ground and ripped open his pants leg to clean out the nasty wound Logan has dealt him.  “I guess little men have to stick together.”“I told you not to mention my mother again,” Logan said, his expression cold as ice.“Oh shut up, ya little ninny,” Gunthar said. “You are lucky they broke it up because I would have killed you. Don’t think this is done.  I don’t friggin’ take someone trying to kill me lightly.  I will put you in the ground!”Logan tensed again.“I said, enough!” Ratchis roared again. “When this is all done you can have at it with swords as much as you like, but until then stay away from one another.””He just tried to kill one of your companions and that’s the best you have to offer?” Gunthar complained. “And you call yourselves virtuous men? Virtuous pig-f*ckers?  You are the worst kind of hypocrites!”  The Neergaardian stood and Kazrack healed him.“If what you said is true I would not have healed you,” Kazrack said.  “But Rivkanal teaches compassion.”“Whatever you need to believe to feel better about yourself, Stumpy,” Gunthar stood, and picking up his sword, sheathed it.  He threw Logan a look that might have killed.Roland let out an amused mew, while Dorn and Martin stood watching the exchange in shock.“Logan,” Kazrack said, drawing the Herman-lander away. “If you cannot hold your steel you will have to leave.  I want to teach him a lesson as much as you do, but our quest is too important.  Kill him later if you must.” “Perhaps I will leave and rejoin you later,” Logan replied, quietly.“I wish you would stay,” Kazrack said. “As I said, you can kill him when we are done. It will be all the sweeter for withholding it for so long.”“I’ll think on it.”“I’ve often wanted to kill him, too,” Kazrack offered.“Then why not?”“We need his sword, and yours as well,” Kazrack said. “Our mission is greater than any of our desires.  I want to find a wife, raise a family, forge swords…” The dwarf looked off into the darkness wistfully.“What? No axes?” Logan said, finally smiling.“Well, axes, too…”“I was about to say that would be undwarfly of you.”“You would not be the first to say so.”“As if it were so bad if your momma was a whore,” Gunthar grumbled, hobbling along as the Keepers of the Gate continued their forced march through the night a few minutes later. “After my dad stopped sending money, me own Ma took eight or twelve cocks a night and was well-paid for it.  And we needed the coin.”Isilem, the 9nd of Keent – 565 H.E.Morning found them encumbered by sleeplessness. Step after step they plodded on and twice Ratchis had to double back to whisper in the llama’s ear and soothe it into cooperating.  Otherwise it sat and brayed, spitting whenever its rope was pulled on.“Will this forest ever end?” Logan complained. “At least a road with a roadside tavern. It would be a nice change.”“Where are you from?” asked Dorn, falling in beside him.“Teamsburg,” Logan replied.“Uh-huh, I been there once before,” Dorn mumbled sleepily.“It has probably changed a lot since your last visit,” Logan smirked.  “Half of it burned and the other half rioted.  It was beautiful.”“Eh, at least you got out,” Dorn replied. “And didn’t have to go to war.  The first I got whiff of that conscription I came adventuring in Derome-Delem.  I figured if I could not be counted I could not be missed.”“I wouldn’t have had to go to the war.  They have a way of losing track of an influential watch-mage’s son’s conscription papers.  I mean, my father would have insisted I go, it being ‘fair” and all, but I made sure it was never an issue,” Logan laughed. “Fighting somebody else’s war is sh*te and all, but to run away from war right into certain death? Does that make sense?”“I could be safely back in Cutter Jack’s and living of the gold Flora and Bones and I found in that old fortress, but Nephthys saved me for a reason, so I mean to help Ratchis as much as possible,” Dorn replied.  “But I’m not suicidal either, I still haven’t decided if I am going into Hurgun’s Maze. By all accounts, that place will be no joke.”“You are going in the wrong direction!” cried a high-pitched voice from up in a tree.“Yeah!” concurred two more.  The three pixies appeared, bending down to look at them with furrowed brows and arms folded across their chests; their wings buzzed angrily.”“You are going deeper into the forest and will anger the giants and they will smash you!” said the red-headed pixie.  “Can’t say you wouldn’t deserve it.”Everyone stopped and Ratchis took a quick look around and then frowned.“They are lying,” whispered Martin to the half-orc. “I am certain we are going the right way.  I got a decent view when I checked last night.”Ratchis nodded.  He checked the wind and looked up at the sun three times. It burned dully from behind a thin cover of gray that stretched from horizon to horizon.  He was certain they still traveled due east.“Okay, okay! You figured out our trick!  We admit it, but still are going to miss talking to Old Man Tree and Mister Rock Man, and they can tell you all about the captured elf-lord that needs your help.”“Shut up!  You said too much!” one of the dark haired pixies smacked the red-headed one in the back of the head and the third one laughed.“Mister Rock Man is liable to ground them up into little colored pebbles, anyway,” said the red-headed pixie, rubbing his head as he sulked.“Mister Rock Man?  Old Man Tree? Sounds like a fairy tale gone awry,” Logan said.“Whaddya want? We’re faeries!” the dark-haired pixie on the left squealed angrily.“Maybe we should go talk to these men,” Martin suggested. “They may have some lore we need.”“It is likely to be another of their tricks,” Kazrack frowned.  “Ignore them.”“Trick or not, we don’t have time,” Ratchis added.The tiny kitten on the llama leapt to the ground, its form growing nearly liquid for a moment as it turned into Roland. He was aghast.“A friar of Nephthys is going to ignore the good possibility of someone is being held captive against their will somewhere in this wood and just go along his merry way?”“I pray for Nephthys to forgive me,” Ratchis rasped in reply. “I would like nothing better than to look into this and free a captive if it needs to be done, but we have no time. We must be there when the light shines at dawn on that day or else we cannot hope to figure out how to get in Hurgun’s Maze, and if we cannot do that and someone else figures out a way to do so, all of Derome-Delem would be at risk.  A choice needs to be made and I have made it.”“For all of us, it seems,” Roland replied.“You are free to do as you please,” Ratchis said.  “You chose to come along with us.”“Forgive me, Ratchis.  I should not presume to tell you how to honor your goddess,” Roland looked right into Ratchis’ eyes, and then looked down demurely. “I am tired. We have not slept or ate in too long.”“Ooh! That cat’s got a silver tongue,” said the red-headed pixie.“Is Old Man Tree a pixie? Is he your leader?” Martin asked.“No!” all three pixies replied together.“I’m the leader! said the red-headed one.“No! I’m the leader,” said the dark-haired one on the right.“No way! I’m oldest and wisest,” said the third.“Wisdom is overrated,” said the second.“Wait. Which of you is the leader?  I think from now on we’re only going to talk to the leader,” Martin said.The pixies fell to arguing among themselves about who was leader once again, and then it devolved into invisible fisticuffs.“I guess I am not the only one around here with a silver tongue,” Roland winked at Martin.“Ew! I’ve seen where he puts his tongue, Marty.  I don’t think that’s a compliment,” Gunthar snorted when he laughed at his own joke. ”You’d do it too if you could reach,” Roland quipped.“Heh. You’ll try anything at sea,” Gunthar replied with a grin.“Enough.  Let’s keep going,” Kazrack said.“To the Old Man Tree?” Two of the pixies were still fighting, but one of the dark-haired ones had extricated himself.  “Be careful,” he placed his cupped hand to his mouth and whispered. “The goatfoats are near there and they don’t like men or cats.”“What is he talking about?” Logan said with a look of skepticism.“Satyrs. Half-man, part-goat.  They like to have sex and hit people with sticks,” Martin replied.“Ha! You might get some after all!” Gunthar laughed, and Logan shot him a glare.The party was about to begin their march again. When the pixies called to Kazrack.  “Lots of kafka mushrooms grow near there.” (1)The dwarf’s eyes widened, but then he frowned.  “That means there’s a cave near there. Another trick.  Unless you’d be willing to go and bring us some.”“Or Moonless Midnight Mushrooms,” said one of the other pixies, he was sitting atop the head of the red-headed pixie who lay across the thick branch of a tree huffing and puffing.“What are those?” Kazrack asked.“Delicious, hallucinogenic and deadly,” Martin answered.  “Where can we find those?” He asked the pixies.“Go see Mister Rock Man,” replied the red-headed pixie.“Why do you want those?” Kazrack asked.“They are very rare and are reputed to have magical properties,” Martin replied.Logan frowned and looked to Ratchis who snorted his disapproval.“Is this elf-lord a captive of the witch?” Roland asked the pixies.“Maybe so,” they replied coyly.“I say we go free the elf and piss off the witch,” Logan suggested.“And her guardian,” one of the dark-haired pixies added and then covered his mouth.“Is Mister Rock Man the guardian?” Roland asked.“No, it’s the Black Beast,” the red-headed pixie said.“This gets worse all the time,” Logan said. “Forget the whole thing.  Ratchis is right.  Let’s go.”The pixies began to whine and complain.“They’re leaving the elf-lord to die,” one of the pixies cried.Kazrack stopped and sighed and looked at Ratchis who had also stopped, and then the dwarf turned to look at the pixies opened his mouth and then closed it again.  He scratched at his beard and finally said, “We will go seek out the captured elf-lord if you make an oath to not hinder or harm us along the way.”The pixies each imitated the dwarf’s mannerisms and finally the dark haired one on the right asked, “Would telling the Goatfeet you were coming count as ‘hindering’?”Kazrack looked to Martin. “Satyrs,” was all the watch-mage said.Kazrack turned back to the pixies, “Yes.”“Yeah, we can’t promise that,” replied the first.“Nope. No we can’t,” agreed the second.”We promise!” said the third, nodding his head vigorously.“Yes! Yes! We promise!” the first two said, now nodding as well.Kazrack sighed again, and Ratchis grunted.Logan grumbled and Gunthar and Roland laughed. Martin only smiled.“We are leaving,” said Kazrack.The Keepers of the Gate marched until Ra’s Glory had reached its zenith and then collapsed. The forest was only a shadow behind them.------------------------------Hours later at Ratchis’ urging they picked up and moved camp a few leagues to the east, where a steep hill gave way to an even steeper drop on the other side.  The Keepers of the Gate made their way to the top and took in the view.In the far distant, beneath the creeping gloom of evening there was a dull red glow that covered the earth.  A stiff warm wind blew across the top of the ridge, and the sky above the glow was black and roiling, at times tongues of what could only be flames shot way up into the air and then shattered into thousands of dying fireflies.“How far away is that?” Kazrack asked.“That’s Greenreed Valley, “ Martin replied, solemnly.   Ratchis nodded.There was a long silence.“Looks like a forest fire,” the half-orc finally said.“War,” said Logan. “Soldiers burn and pillage.”“Could it be the neighboring kingdom… the Setites, what is it called?” asked Roland, transforming to his human shape once again.“Menovia,” answered Ratchis.“More likely they went to war with the gnomes,” Kazrack said.“It could be the influence of the Maze.  There is a plane of fire,” Martin said. “It is one of the greater Otherworlds…muh-made entirely of fire and molten rock. It could be leaking through to our world. Remember the great many-headed snail we encountered.” (2)Again there was a long silence as they watched the glow brighten, as the surrounding sky grew dark.  “Was not the temple of Bast in Gothanius right on the border to Greenreed Valley?” Roland asked, already knowing the answer.  “We must go there first.”“We are not going anywhere near there,” said Ratchis.“What?” Roland’s face looked as if someone had just passed noxious gas.“We need to find where the beam of light will hit on the ridge and then reflect to show us the entrance to Hurgun’s Maze,” Ratchis replied. “We do not know how long it will take to find the proper spot, and others may be looking for it.  We must be careful and let no one know we are back.  The temple of Bast is too close to Summit.  Someone might see us.”“It is nearly three weeks before the proper alignment of the sun will occur,” Roland said. “Unless you told me wrong back at Mercy’s house.”“We don’t know how long it will take to find,” Ratchis said very slowly. “And we cannot afford to meet any distractions along the way. And if the Gothanians have attacked the gnomes I would rather not know, for it would be difficult to ignore that to insure we get into the Maze.”Roland’s jaw dropped open. “Are you joking, Ratchis?”“He never jokes,” said Gunthar, laughing. The Bastite ignored him and continued. “That is a slippery slope you tread on, Ratchis,” he said. “You cannot fool the gods or your own conscience by remaining willfully ignorant.”Ratchis shrugged his shoulders.“I am afraid I must insist we go to the temple of my goddess,” Roland continued. “It is my duty to see the place and see what harm has come to it, and it might be a place we can hide and rest until the time comes to enter the Maze.”“We cannot risk it,” Kazrack said, agreeing with his long-time companion.Roland’s mouth opened again and he let out a confused sigh that turned into a growl.  He looked to Martin the Green, but the watch-mage simply looked down as his own feet silently.“If it were a dwarven temple threatened by a malevolent force, what then?” Roland asked the dwarf, his voice rising in pitch, as he grew angrier.“I would still ignore it,” the dwarf replied, solemnly.  “The fate of Derome-Delem is more important than a single temple.”“I may have to go on my own then,” Roland replied, letting the steam out of his demeanor.“You promised to help us!” Now it was Kazrack’s turn to be angry.“Enough,” Ratchis sighed. “He must do what his heart tells him, and so must we all, fighting now solves nothing.  I see a trail down this ridge that we should be able to use even in this light, and then we’ll make camp.”The half-orc began the descent, and the others followed, except for Roland who transformed into his panther form and stalked off into the darkness.  He did not return to camp until dawn, carrying three small rabbits in his jaws.  He ate one raw and whole, and Ratchis undercooked the other two, but the party ate them anyway.Teflem, the 13th of Keent – 565 H.E.The next few days they crossed many streams, and many smaller woods of younger trees. The nights were growing colder, but the glow from Greenreed Valley was growing brighter and closer.  Less than three days from the valley, ashy breezes would sweep across them every few hours, making their eyes burn and tossing up the dry earth.  The trees and plants were all covered in a thin film of gray and everything seemed sickly and dying.Ratchis and Logan took off to scout ahead, and the others eventually caught up to them where they had found the charred corpses of several gnolls at the base of a scorched tree. Several spots looked like they had been burning for quite some time.“What could have done this?” Logan asked.“The dragon?” speculated Kazrack.”I don’t think so,” Martin replied.  Roland crept up, still in his panther form, and sniffed the bodies and then moved quickly away.  “Though it certainly looks like a flash fire of some sort.” “They have spear wounds in addition to their burns,” Ratchis said.  “And I found some kind of large bird tracks. Most were ruined by the falling ash and winds, but it was some kind of large bird, maybe five feet tall, long legs, probably flightless.”Martin the Green shrugged his shoulders. He knew of no creatures that matched that description.  Suddenly, he noticed a translucent orb floating near Kazrack, and he knew no one else could see it. (3)”We are being watched,” Martin hissed.“Point me towards the foul orb,” Kazrack said, grabbing hold his pouch of runestones, and Martin pointed. “Natan-ahb, I call on you to cast the shadow of the First Mountain across this wicked arcane eye so that it may obscure the vision of our vile foes.”“Very good,” said Martin when he saw the orb disappear. Kazrack laughed and reaching up clapped Martin on the back.“Do you think it was Richard?” Kazrack asked.“Probably.”“Or Rindalith,” added Ratchis.That night they camped under some thorny trees that had resisted the various fires they now found signs of every few miles.  They did not dare make a fire of their own.Anulem, the 14th of Keent – 565 H.E.The next morning they were in a thick wood again, but here the ash was an even thicker blanket on everything, and in places trees still smoked and smoldered, but a consistent rain kept any threat of flames spreading at bay.The tall ridge wall of Greenreed Valley was visible whenever the clouds parted to let the sunlight through for a moment before sealing it away again.  The forest floor banked slightly upwards towards the valley as they approached just slightly south of west.  Ratchis noticed there was no sound of birds or other small animals or insects.  There was only the ‘splut’ of fat raindrops in the ash, covering everything in a disgusting black and brackish paste. Just after noon they walked through an open field marked with low barren trees and an occasional coniferous bush that looked like great motionless gray balls of dust.  In some place the trees and bushes were clumped closely together, causing the party to go wide around them, but mostly they were spread fairly widely apart.  Much of the landscape was burned here as well.Ratchis led, as usual, with Logan close behind him.  The half-orc stopped and pointed.  Logan could see small puffs of smoke appearing from up head on the banked ground.  Something approached from the direction of the valley, something moving fairly quickly, but that was low to the ground.“Stop! Something is coming,” Ratchis raised his hand.Now they could all see shapes moving through the trees and bushes.  At first only a head would be visible for a moment, and then a spearhead hopping up and down for several dozen yards, before disappearing behind a tree or bush.  Puffs of smoke and flashes of fire accompanied the quickly arriving creatures. “We need to hide!” Martin cried.“Too late,” Kazrack gasped.  At least a score of creatures came bursting through the trees charging in their direction.  Short squat dull gray reptilian men armored in chainmail were coming.  They wore half-helms fitted to their heads with a long folded ridge that protruded from the bottom to protect their snouts.  Smoke rose from their nostrils as they snorted and hissed.   Many held spears, but also had fierce looking battle-axes hanging on the flanks of their mounts, which they urged on.  The mounts were strange beasts, five foot at the shoulder; they had two clawed legs with bird-like taloned feet that carried their awkward bodies forward with great strides.  The creatures were covered in fine scales and had long necks that held their misshapen heads low to the ground.  They had large eyes with cowl-like ridged lids.  Their mouths were like a beak of tortoise shell, and when they squawked small gouts of fire shout out from them. The strange warriors fell into a two phalanx formations.  One group brought the spears down and charged right towards the Keepers of the Gate, while the second turned off to approach from the south, sliding their spears away and drawing their battle axes.“Form a line! Form a line!” Kazrack cried.  Gunthar cursed and dragged the llama into some thick brush, hoping it might be safe there for a time.End of Session #76 ----------------------------------Notes:(1) Kafka is a coffee like beverage made from steeped subterranean mushrooms. It is common to dwarves and gnomes.(2) The dire flaming flail snail. (see session #18)(3) DM’s Note: At this point Martin was casting Detect Scrying (which lasts 24 hours) everyday at noon.</blockquote>

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