Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greppa of Tartwater" data-source="post: 986041" data-attributes="member: 10191">More Trouble in ParadiseThe credits roll revealing the new theme song "Holding Out For a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler The next morning, we were the guests of honor at a thrown together ceremony presided over by the Broken Knuckle chief and his chief advisor, Olgah. The tent was packed with spectators. Gruhaa was there, but we didn't see Ffutkuhg. Gruhaa's face was carefully devoid of real emotion. She laughed at the appropriate times when the chief made a joke, and responded with suitable fervor when he proclaimed the glory of his Bukenahk.He was making his final speech before releasing us to travel to the base of the mountain, when Ffutkuhg entered accompanied by the young shaman we met at the very first warband. He waited for the giant orc to finish listening to himself talk before gathering the group's attention."I have spoken with our honored travelers," he began "And they agreed to allow me to join them on their quest to speak with our ancestors."Whispers raced through the crowd and the chief laughed, "Ffutkuhg, you are not allowed to render help to them.""I am joining them not aiding them," Ffutkuhg replied picking his words carefully. "They said last night that I could."The chief looked at us. The tent was silent. Tension sluiced into the space."Is this true?" The chief asked. "Did you say that this old man could join your party?""Yes," I said evenly. Although I was very irritated with the chief's disrespect of the old shaman, I worked to keep it out of the voice."Really?" he said looking over my shoulders at Merideth and Bellos.They both said yes.The Chief's amused look dimmed, "If you want to throw your life away, then so be it Ffutkuhg."The old man nodded and strode over to us. Gruhaa stepped out of the crowd. The silence deepened. She got to me and pressed something into my hand and turned to the crowd, "This one was owed a great debt by me. I am repaying it now so that he would not perish with with my debt on his spirit."She turned to the chief, "This is not aid. It is a favor repaid"I looked at what she pressed into my hand. A medicine bag hung by a worn leather thong. Dangling by the bag was a metal charm shaped like the head of a wolf. I wrapped it around my wrist and she returned to the crowd. I spared a glance at Olgah, who had suddenly found the knuckles of her left hand very interesting.Something had happened here and I did not want to stick around to try to understand what.We exchanged empty pleasantries with the Chief, who mouthed some faux ritual words and sent us on our way. We left the village at a hustle, escorted by an honor guard,  acutely aware of the destructive force looming behind us. ************************************************************************************The guards left us when we got to the base of the mountain. We immediately started climbing, twinging involuntarily at the thought of imaginary spears sticking into our vulnerable backs. But we weren't assassinated and in a matter of hours we were above the tree line and scaling the increasingly steep and increasingly rocky face. In another few hours we were facing a nearly vertical face. Ffutkuhg guided us around the mountain and we came to a crevice right below the cloud layer. We crawled through it and upward into a rock chimney. When we reached the top of the chimney, we were above the clouds and could not see any land at all.The winds screamed and whistled as they scoured the surface of the mountain. The wind shear swept the rock clean of snow and pitted its surface. There were occasional large outcroppings and we planned stop there to rest but we had to get started.We tied ourselves to each other and begin to climb. The situation was complicated because I couldn't cast spells. The clouds marked a point where we passed into the elemental plane of air and my ability to access other planes was severely impaired. I could get some of my simplest spells off, but it took the effort equivalent to my most powerful effects. I was also terribly tired from the climb. Eventually I knew that I would start to hold everyone back.It happened sooner than I expected. I missed a hand hold and I fell. The rope broke and I plummeted 50 feet to a rocky ledge and wedged myself between two big rocks. Luckily Merideth's power was not affected by the plane shift and she was able to fix me up.I fell one more time so we tried a new pattern. I Dimension Door'd to the next ledge and tied off our back up rope. While the other's climbed up, I rested. It seemed like we had a good system and it kept us going for a few hours until we reached the next large rocky ledge. "We need to stop and rest," I said. Merideth and Bellos nodded assent."We can't," Ffutkuhg said, "We didn't bring enough food and water to take our time. If we rest too often eventually we will be too tired to continue and we will freeze."Merideth and Bellos looked at me."I'll be right back," I said.I walked away a ways and (after a whole bunch of tries) cast my newest spell Small Favors.The circle I traced lit up and Uripedas' face filled the frame."Fight?" he asked."No," I smiled. "I need your help. I need to borrow your wings."(Small Favors lets the caster borrow one supernatural ability from a magical creature. The caster gets the ability for several days, but they must agree to perform a task for the creature. The task must be done, think of it as a geas.)The golden sun eagle pondered, "Remember the lightning bird we fought outside of the northern city?""Yes," I replied."Well, I heard that there are a bunch of 'em who've figured out how to stay on the material plane permanently. I heard they are doing something bad. They need to be stopped. Will you do it?"That didn't sound too bad. Find some lightning elementals shaped like birds and put them down. Compared to this, it should be like finding wine at the Olympiad."Yes, I will do it.""When you get to the spot, summon me and we can fight them together!"The circle vanished and the area around me was illuminated by 14 foot brilliant wings protruding from my back. I also had a general idea of where Uripedas wanted me to go. I walked back to the others and jabbed a thumb at the wings, "Do you think these will help?"We started climbing and put the wings to good use.The winds were too strong to fly, but I could cover Merideth and Bellos with the them. I shielded them from the wind and kept them warm and they carried me between them. Ffutkuhg was surprisingly strong and he followed us, ready to anchor if someone fell. And eventually, we reached the summit.And then we found ourselves climbing down the mountain. We had vague recollections of what transpired at the home of the ancestors. Later, when resting on a ledge, we talked about it. The conversation left us shaken. Things were not good among the court of the ancestors. A Celestial was in their midst sewing mischief. Although the memory was fuzzy, the image was unmistakable, we'd seen it on too many temples. It was Xeras, the Queen of the Gods.However, not all of the ancestors were pleased with how their children were being led astray. They counseled with us and sent us down the mountain, bearers of gifts that would hopefully help us to save both of our people. The descent was fast partially because we were fully rested from our time with the Ancestors. I was also stronger than an ox. Not only could I climb by myself, but I wasn't getting tired. I could also freely support my weight only with my hands and could find purchase on any piece of wall my fingers could hold. It was miraculous. The others didn't comment and we approached the cloud layer in silence, except for the continual muttering of Ffutkuhg who seemed especially affected by the encounter.We stopped on a huge ledge surrounded by clouds and only then did I consider the ramifications of what we saw. Xeras, the ruler of the gods, was behind the orc exodus. She had taken a direct hand in the Broken Knuckle and forged them into things out of our own nightmares. We needed to get back to Chatham. We only had a day or so before he left. At this point we needed to get the old shaman home. "Ffutkuhg, what will happen when you get home?" I asked.He grinned wryly, "I don't know, I'm not going home. The ancestors said I need to go west."I answered his grin with a wan smile of my own, "Well, since we're headed that way do you want to come with us?""I'd be honored to," he replied.I half expected Bellos to object, but he just nodded his assent. Since the summit, he looked strange like he'd been cheated of something. Merideth, eyes far far off, nodded absently."We have to descend the mountain at night," Ffutkuhg said in rushed tones. "They will have the mountain surrounded waiting to welcome us. If we descend at night, we will have a better opportunity to slip past them."I considered it for several moments. "Why descend at all?" I began. "Once we get below the clouds, I can use magic and fly us to the edge of Broken Knuckle territory.""It wouldn't be fast enough," Bellos said. "You'd get tired eventually.""Maybe if I had to cast it for all of us, But I'd only need it for Merideth and Ffutkuhg. Also, we won't be relying on the spell's speed. With Uripedas' wings we can travel two to three times as fast because I can tow you."Bellos and Merideth looked skeptical, but when the sun started to go down we went down the chimney and waited in the mouth of the crevice until the sun went dark. While we waited, I cast Earth's skin and Earth's strength into the group. Then we fashioned the rope into a makeshift harness and tied the old shaman, and Merideth to me. A third tow line for Bellos to hold onto drifted behind my wings. With a few more minutes remaining, I recast Earth's strength on myself, hoping to get the maximum enhancement from the earth elemental within me. When the sky blackened, we emerged. Quickly, we determined where south was and I grabbed Merideth and Ffutkuhg by the arms and readied my self."Um, Greppa," Merideth interrupted,"I didn't see you cast Fly."I smiled at her."Well, aren't you going too?"My smile broadened into a feral grin. Merideth started cursing, cursing softly, but cursing, even deviating into orcish cursing."Well?" Bellos said. "We need to get going."I nodded, "Hold on."A single wing beat had us airborne. I was strong. Incredibly strong, and it wasn't the wings. I looked behind me to make sure Bellos was still with me and then I began to push into the flying equivalent of a hustle. For the first time since I set foot outside of Theralis, I didn't feel like an invalid. I was carrying my own weight...and Merideth's and Ffutkuhg's too and it wasn't slowing me down. More importantly, it wasn't going to go away. I said a small prayer of thanks to the ancestors and sped through the night sky.</blockquote>

Verification