Servants of the Swift Sword (A Kalamar campaign)

[wsclark]

Hey Wicht,

Yeah, I'm definitely enjoying it. It seems that we also game on the same night, that being Thursdays. My sessions generally run for about 3 hours each week. We average meeting every 3 out of 4 weeks.

I've got a couple of questions about your campaign, if you don't mind.

How long are your sessions and how often do you see the characters advancing in level? Do you have a preferred advancement rate (could be number of sessions, hours played, whatever)?

Do you handle experience by the default method or some other (I use a modified version of the default method)?

How do the players like the campaign setting? How about you? I know that I'm really enjoying it as it leaves so much flexibility in my hands to run almost any type of campaign.

That's it for now, looking forward to an update soon (note to self, update your own story hour soon!!!)

 

[Wicht]

Chapter 7 – Dragon Isle
The traveled about a quarter of a mile back into the woods before they stopped and listened. There was no sound of pursuit.
“Why are we not being followed?” asked Alairic.
“They must have heard us,” said Niccolo, “We made enough noise back there at that pond.”
As they caught their breath, wondering at the lack of pursuit, a reptillian head poked through the undergrowth about fifteen feet away and stared at them. It was one of the crested bipedal lizards they had already seen with some frequency. It sniffed the air and eyed them thoughtfully. They could see its sharp teeth as it clacked its jaws.
“Flesh-eaters,” said Alairic, “and I bet that little guy has a pack just waiting to gang up on us.”
“Lizards do often hunt in packs,” agreed Niccolo.
Another reptillian head appeared about ten feet away from the first.
“Great,” muttered Alairic.
“Let us be brave,” chided Tilliana, “and then why don’t we climb some trees in order to rest.”
The others saw the sense of this and soon all four were scaling the trees around them. Some of the trees were very large and apparently very old. They made their way up with little difficulty. Even Alairic in his heavy armor easily scaled high into the branches. As they climbed a swarm of the reptilian creatures flocked around the base of the trees. In particular they sniffed at the tree that Niccolo had climbed and growled up at the half-elf.
“They smell blood,” said the half-elf, “Probably my blood.”
They passed an uncomfortable night in the trees. Though they were not bothered or attacked they heard many strange noises in the night. There was scuttling movement at the base of the trees and the sound of things landing in the branches high overhead. They even heard, deep into the night, a roar in the air from far above them and they shivered as they recalled the fact that a very old and powerful dragon was reputed to be making his home on the island.
Morning came and with it healing. Tilliana’s divine spells once more proved useful as she mended the badly injured Niccolo. Soon the whole party was energized and ready to move on again. They decided to head back towards the camp they had seen and find out why they had not been pursued. Following this strategy they began working their way once more through the woods.
It was not long before Niccolo put up a warning hand.
“I hear something,” said Niccolo.
“Someone’s coming,” said Tilliana who had heard it too.
They each drew out their weapons and began cautiously moving forward. As they strained their ears they were aware of other voices through the trees. Apparently whomever they had heard had heard them as well. The two groups saw each other at a distance of fifty feet. The other group was comprised of five men, all of them rather unsavory looking.
Their leader, a man with flame red hair barked out an order, “Get them!” Then putting words to action he pulled back on the short bow he carried and let loose an arrow. It flew straight into Niccolo. The half-elf grunted from the impact.
“That does it,” growled the infuriated half-elf, “stupid pirates.” He pulled back on his bow and fired back at the red-headed bowman. The arrow flew straight and swift. It lodged deep in the man who shouted in pain.
Things began happening fast. Tilliana was praying, filling herself and her allies with divine energy. Alairic was running through the trees towards the five men. The other attackers were firing crossbows. One of the bolts struck Niccolo. The red-headed man, pain clouding his vision, still managed to fire. The arrow flew at Tilliana and grazed her. Heidon let loose an arrow but his normally sure aim was off and it flew high.
The battle shifted in tone as Alairic plowed into the group of pirates, forcing them into melee. Alairic swung wildly and missed but his greatsword certainly gained their attention. Two of the men were abandoning their crossbows and drawing out rapiers. Seeing that his men outnumbered the Paladin four to one, the red-headed leader, to the left of the melee, fired one more shot. It struck Tilliana as she ran through the trees to join Alairic.
“Aha!” cried the red-head triumphantly, but his cry was cut short as another arrow placed itself in his chest and he fell to the ground.
“Aha!” said Niccolo.
Undeterred by the arrow wound, Tilliana continued forward, coming into the melee to the right of Alairic, her heavy sword cleaving into one of the men. With hardly a sound the man crumbled to the ground. Another of the men raised his rapier to strike at Tilliana but as he did so an arrow appeared like magic between his shoulder blades. It had been fired by Heidon. Surprised, the man grasped momentarily at the arrow and then fell to his knees, finally collapsing on his side, unmoving.
Niccolo tried to draw a bead on one of the two remaining pirates, but deciding that he could not, because of the cleric and the paladin being in the way, he pulled out his greatax and charged forward. He needn’t have bothered. Tilliana swung at one of the men, cutting him open. Heidon, firing with precision, finished the man off with a single arrow. Meanwhile, the remaining pirate, seeing all four of his comrades down on the ground, made a clumsy strike at Alairic and then turned to run. Alairic cleaved him open even as he turned.
The paladin contemplated his attack for a moment and then agonized, “I hope that was not striking him in the back.”
“Search the bodies,” directed Tilliana taking charge, “Let’s see if we can find out who they are.”
“I would say they were from that ship anchored south of the island,” said Niccolo.
“Didn’t the captain say it could hold fifty men?” asked Alairic, trying to do the math in his head, “That would mean there are forty-five left.”
Though they found no information, they did find some coins, gold coins. There was also a surplus of weapons. Niccolo examined the rapiers. The red-headed leader had possessed the best equipment. Heidon, admiring the armor the man was wearing, a fashionable studded leather outfit, decided to see if it fit. Niccolo grabbed the man’s rapier, a quality bit of work. Alairic and Tilliana were more interested in the two potions the man had worn on his belt. They each took one.
“I wonder what they do?” mused Tilliana. Both potions appeared to be identical.
“The only way to know for sure is to sip them,” said the paladin.
“I will sip mine,” said both Tilliana and Alairic at the same time.
“I will do it,” said Tilliana and she took a sip. As she tasted it, her eyes brightened and she swiftly chugged down the whole flask. Her wounds began closing immediately.
“A potion of healing,” she observed.
Niccolo cleared his throat at the paladin. Alairic did not seem to hear him.
“You know,” said Niccolo, “I’m over here bleeding from arrow wounds.”
Reluctantly, Alairic handed the magical drink to the half-elf who quaffed it down.
“Much better,” said Niccolo with a smile. Then grabbing one of the crossbows from one of the men, along with a supply of bolts, the half-elf indicated he was ready to go. Heidon also grabbed some bolts and a crossbow and made to leave. Alairic and Tilliana followed. As they walked away they heard a noise in the undergrowth behind them.
Turning around, they saw that it was one of the crested lizards. It sniffed at the bodies. “Let’s go,” said Alairic.
They soon reached the edge of the pond at which they had slain the three spined lizards. The great carcasses were already well picked over.
“Likely our little lizard friends,” said Alairic.
There were two other spined lizards, but they did not seem to like the smell of the carcasses and were well away from the party. Looking across the pond and through the trees they could make out three tents. Two were small, maybe holding up to five men. The other however was quite large.
“Sneak around there and see what you can see,” said Niccolo to Heidon. The young man complied and slipped quietly around the pond, disappearing into the foliage. Heidon moved around until he had crossed the small stream south of the pond and was about 75 yards away from the middle of the encampment. In the middle of the three tents was a small fire and two men were standing by it. Heidon could see no others.
“Is he going to give us a signal?” asked Niccolo softly.
“I can’t see him,” said Alairic.
“Let’s just move on after him,” suggested Tilliana and the three started their own quiet progression around the pond. They moved close enough to see the camp and were a bit startled to see Heidon walking boldly out of the woods and towards the two men. Men that were, Niccolo concluded, obviously pirates. It seemed as if Heidon wanted to talk with them.
Whatever Heidon’s plan had been, it did not work.
“Halt!” ordered the two men, raising their crossbows on the young archer.
“Who are you? Drop your Weapons!” they barked.
“Oops,” said Heidon, rolling his eyes and doing as he was told. He laid his longbow, his longsword and his ax on the ground.
“That was dumb,” muttered Alairic.
“Listen,” said Tilliana, “If we just take courage, Naemae will give us the victory. We cannot lose if we are brave and fight valiantly.”
“Right,” said Alairic. With a yell he took off towards the men, followed by Tilliana. Niccolo smiled and fired off an arrow. It flew wide. Alerted, the two men, who had been about to take the rest of Heidon's stuff from him shouted out and fired their crossbows at Alairic. One bolt struck the paladin, a slight wound that did not even slow Alairic down. Niccolo fired again and this time the shot was on the mark. It flew into one of the two pirates and he fell to the ground. Heidon, sensing a chance to do something, pulled out a dagger and plunged it towards the man next to him, the man twisted away and then just had the wit to move out of the way as Alairic’s sword plunged down at him. Dropping his crossbow and pulling out his rapier, the pirate barely managed to parry Tilliana’s swing as she too closed in on the man.
But he was not to be outnumbered for long. Two other men stepped out of the large tent and there was the obvious sound of movement in one of the smaller tents.
Heidon moved into a better position and stabbed with his dagger again at the surrounded pirate. He missed but the distraction was enough that Alairic got in a solid swing, badly wounding the man. The two pirates stepping out of the tent yelled loudly and rushed at Tilliana and Heidon. One of them cut into Tilliana with his thin blade and the other managed to get a slice of Heidon. It was then that Niccolo charged into battle. Wielding the greatax, which he had become so fond of, the half-elf headed straight at the pirate fighting with Tilliana and brought the ax blade down with a sickening crunch on the man’s skull. Tilliana, quickly adjusting to this turn of events, altered her swing in order to bring her blade around at the pirate attacking Heidon. She missed but she distracted the man away from Heidon who managed to plunge his dagger into the other pirate. As the pirate before him fell, stricken by Heidon’s dagger, Alairic charged at the remaining man and with a powerful swing of his sword cut him in two.
Four pirates lay dead.
But the four companions had no time to savor victory for the fight was not over. Four more men stepped out from one of the smaller tents. They were still making slight adjustments to their armor, but each held a rapier and each looked like they meant business.
Niccolo wasted no time on pleasantries but charged straight into his hated enemies. A single stroke of the heavy axe head and a pirate fell to the ground lifeless.
“I love this ax,” said Niccolo grinning.
Tilliana and Alairic both charged into the fight, Alairic’s greatsword felling another of the men. Heidon meanwhile was picking up the weapons he had tossed to the ground. Niccolo dodged the stroke of one of the rapiers and then with a powerful swing, cleaved the attacker in two. Tilliana took care of the last pirate, her sword cutting open his throat. He, like his companions, fell to the ground dying.
They heard no other sound. The fight, it appeared, was over. Now that they had the time, they surveyed the camp a little better. The clearing was not a natural one. Several trees had been cut down to make it. They also saw, on the cliff wall, a rope ladder stretching all the way to the top. As their eyes followed the ladder up, they saw as well, that there was a lift at the top of the cliff, held up with pulleys and rope.
“Shall we examine the bodies?” asked Niccolo, moving to do so.
“We check the tents first,” said Tilliana.
They looked first in the two smaller tents, but there was nothing in them but bedrolls. They went to look in the larger tent. As they walked in and their eyes adjusted, they were shocked. Kneeling on the ground in three rows, all of them tied, were thirty people, men and women alike. As these unfortunates took in the four companions and especially noted the outfits of Tilliana and Alairic, their countenance brightened.
“Are you here to rescue us? Did you kill the pirates? Who are you?” All of the people asked at once in a chorus of voices.
Tilliana looked over the group.
“Is Giovan here?”
“No he’s not here. Are you going to untie us now? Please!” Again all of them were talking at once. The four moved to begin untying the group of prisoners.
“Do you even know who Giovan is?” asked Tilliana
“Of course he is the priest from Taesoo, but he was not with us.”
“I’m so glad you have come.”
“They were going to feed us to the dragon they said.”
After a bit, one of the men in the group grabbed the lead.
“I am Tiolo,” he said, “We have all been captured and brought here. Each day they took two of us away, up the mountain. There are ten men in this camp, two of them are away at the moment, escorting two of our number up to feed the dragon they said.”
“Can you fight?” asked Niccolo.
Tiolo grinned, “Several of us can fight. Do you have weapons?”
“There are eight bodies outside,” said Tilliana
Without a further word, several of the men from the group went out and began arming themselves from the fallen pirates.
“Have you eaten?” asked Tilliana, giving thought to the physical needs of the rescuers.
“They have not been starving us.” Looking over the crowd, Tilliana saw that though many were bruised and had cuts, none were in bad shape. Nevertheless, seeing that there were supplies in the tent, she proceeded to make a meal for them.
As they ate, Alairic ran it over in his mind. “We killed five in the forest and eight here which is more then ten which means that at times there were more then ten in this camp.”
Meanwhile Tilliana and Niccolo discussed their plans. “I think we should proceed straight up the mountain now,” said Tilliana.
“Do we want to leave a group of pirates with their ship though?” asked Niccolo
“Straight up the mountian? Why?” said one woman who had been listening in, “Did you not come here for the purpose of saving us?”
“Well, we are glad we found you,” said Tilliana, “It was obviously Naemae’s will that we do so. But Naemae has other jobs for us as well and we must do them. For your part you should praise Naemae for letting you be saved.”
“If I may make a suggestion,” said Tiolo, “Even if you have to go up the mountain, I would suggest you take the ship first so you do not have pirates above and below you. We can help you with the ship. But I would also suggest that we first take care of the two that should be returning to this camp tonight. We do not want them to raise an alarm when they discover no-one in the camp.”
“That makes sense,” said Alairic.
“Why can’t we just take the ship and leave?” This from the woman who had originally intruded into the conversation.
“There is a temple up that mountain and we have to go up and find it,” said Niccolo.
“I have had a vision,” said Alairic proudly.
“But we can take the ship now,” said Niccolo.
There was some confusion as they prepared themselves to wait for the two pirates to return. It was agreed that two men, dressed in the armor of the dead pirates should stand by the fire while the others hid in the large tent. But the men could not decide which should stand the guard. Eventually Tilliana sorted them out.
“You and you, outside. They rest of you inside.”
The day passed slowly but eventually the sun began to lower. As it was setting, the group waiting in the tent heard the whispered voices of the guards, “They are coming.”
The four companions looked cautiously out of the tent flap. The lift was slowly being lowered down the face of the cliff. The waiting companions made no move however and waited to see how close the two on the lift would get. The lift reached the ground and the two men on it disembarked and started back towards the camp. Still the watchers waited.
When they were about a hundred feet away, the two men stopped. Something had evidently aroused their suspicion.
“Who’s on watch,” they called.
There was the sound of two crossbows being cocked and the two men by the fire whirled around and fired at the two pirates. With a cry Alairic was through the tent flap and running at the men. Tilliana smiled and followed. One of the crossbow bolts struck one of the pirates and the two pirates, afraid, turned to run back to the lift. Alairic and Tilliana gave chase. Heidon shot a harmless bolt after the two pirates and Niccolo holding his longbow, joined the chase. The pirates had reached the lift. One of them was turning a crank to lift the platform and the other was cocking a crossbow. He fired the crossbow at Alairic and the paladin spun from the impact as the bolt sank into him. Despite the pain of the bolt, Alairic once more ran at the lift and though it was now five feet into the air, he made a great leap and rolled onto the lift. The one with a crossbow, cocked it again and prepared to shoot Alairic point blank. He never had the chance for an arrow from Niccolo slammed into him. He twitched once and then fell still. Alairic rose to his feet, but the pirate who had been turning the crank lowered his shoulder and ran at the paladin, knocking him back and off the wooden lift. Then as crossbow bolts bounced off the cliff face behind him, the man tried once more to start turning the crank. Alairic once more leaped up and pulled himself onto the platform. Tilliana, short as she was and as heavily armored as she was, was also trying to pull herself on. Niccolo, seeing he had no clear shot pulled out his great ax and ran at the platform to join the fray.
Alairic pulled himself to his feet. But he had no chance to attack. The pirate had drawn his rapier and with a cry he lunged at Alairic, skewering him. The paladin collapsed, dying. Niccolo, pulling himself aboard, swung his ax, missing and causing the platform to begin to sway more than it already was. A bolt flew into the man. Heidon had finally had a clear shot and made good with it.
With a grunt the pirate lunged at Niccolo with his rapier, drawing blood. Tilliana, now finally on her feet on the swinging platform swung true and cleaved into the man. As the pirate stumbled backwards, another bolt found its mark and the man fell to the ground. Quickly Tilliana was at Alairic’s side. She uttered a swift prayer and though he was stil badly injured, the paladin regained consciousness. They turned the crank and lowered the platform back onto the ground and then Tilliana and Niccolo helped Alairic back to the tents.

 

[Wicht]

How long are your sessions and how often do you see the characters advancing in level? Do you have a preferred advancement rate (could be number of sessions, hours played, whatever)?

Do you handle experience by the default method or some other (I use a modified version of the default method)?

Our sessions have been running about four hours, though this last one was shorter, being about two and a half hours long. Besides my wife the other players are Tom, Naomi and Justin. Naomi, who plays Niccolo, and my wife are both into stamps and last night they had a stamping class that cut into our session (thus only one chapter this week).

As for experience, I use the default method as I actually enjoy the PCs leveling as I get to throw harder challenges at them without feeling guilty. After four sessions, they are all at third level and I look to them to advance about a level every other session, from here on out (more or less). I will post the character updates this evening.

We will be changing our scheduling a bit after this week to compensate for a change in Tom's work habits and will thus be gaming again this monday, so look for another couple updates on tuesday and wednsday.

As to the other question, I like Kalamar personally, and I have not had any complaints yet from the players, though three of them have never played in any other setting (This is Naomi and Justins first rpg experience and my wife only started playing last year).

 

[Wicht]

And now the promised character update, but first, since I already mentioned the names of my players let me put player with character.

Tilliana is being played by Sandra, my wife. This is her second real DnD experience.

Alairic is being played by Tom. This is his first time playing 3e.

Niccolo is being played by Naomi, Tom's wife. This is her first roleplaying experience. The fact that Naomi is female and Niccolo is male has caused me to occassionally refer to Niccolo as a her in the text. If you caught this, this is the reason why.

Heidon is being played by Justin, Naomi's son. This is also his first roleplaying experience.

Almost 95% of the dialog in the story is taken directly from game play, though sometimes I am guilty of using OOC comments for my own amusement and for purposes of enhancing the story.

For hit point advancement I have allowed the players to roll once and then decide if they want to reroll. They must keep the second roll. This can be good or bad. Niccolo ended up with a 1 hit point advancement at 3rd level due to a bad reroll, but thems the breaks.

It might also be noted that the characters are relatively poor for 3rd level. This is not my fault. They have so far burnt 13,000+gp worth of loot

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Alairic, Male Human Pal3: CR 3; Size M (5 ft. tall); hp 20; Init +5; Spd 20 ft; AC 18; Atk +6 melee (2d6+3 Greatsword); SV Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +4; Ali LG; Str 15, Dex 13, Con 11, Int 7, Wis 16, Cha 16.
Skills and Feats: Ride +5, Diplomacy +4, Knowledge (religion) +3; Improved Initiative, Blind Fighting, Weapon Focus (Greatsword).
Weapons and armor: Greatsword, dagger, half-plate.

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Tilliana, Female Human Cle3: CR 3; Size M (4 ft. 8 inches tall); hp 24; Init +5; Spd 20 ft; AC 15; Atk +5 melee (2d6+1 Masterwork Greatsword); SV Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +6; Ali LG; Str 13, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 14, Wis 17, Cha 16.
Skills and Feats: Knowledge (religion) +8, Knowledge (Art of War) +8, Diplomacy +6, Spellcraft +6, Concentration +6, Craft (Armor smithing) +6, Spellcraft +5, Craft (Calligraphy) +5; Combat Casting, Scribe Scroll, Weapon Focus (Greatsword), Improved Initiative.
Domains: War and Nobility
Weapons and Armor: masterwork Greatsword, Scale mail.

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Niccolo, Male Half-elven Ran3: CR 3; Size M (5 ft. 3 inches tall); hp 16; Init +2; Spd 30 ft; AC 14; Atk +7 melee (1d8+3 Longsword) or +6 melee (1d12+4 Greataxe), +5 ranged (1d8+3 Mighty Composite Longbow); SV Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +3; Ali LG; Str 17, Dex 14, Con 11, Int 10, Wis 15, Cha 12.
Skills and Feats: Ride +6, Move Silently +6, Heal +5, Craft (weapon smithing) +4, Wilderness Lore +7, handle Animal +5; Track, Weapon Focus (longsword), Power Attack.
Favored enemies: Primary - Pirates
Weapons and Armor: Longsword, Dagger, Mighty Composite Longbow (+4 str), Greataxe, Halberd, Masterwork Rapier and Leather Armor.

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Heidon, Male Human Rog1/Ftr2: CR 3; Size M (5 ft. 2 inches tall); hp 28; Init +7; Spd 30 ft; AC 16; Atk +3 melee (1d8+1 Longsword), +5 ranged (1d8+1 Mighty Composite Longbow); SA Sneak Attack +1d6; SV Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +1; Ali CG; Str 13, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 15, Wis 12, Cha 11.
Skills and Feats: Swim +7, Craft (Bowery) +8, Climb +7, Jump +7, Hide +6, Spot +5, Search +6, Use Rope +6, Bluff +4, Intuit Direction +4, Pick Pockets +6, Open Locks +7, Move Silently +7; Improved Initiative, Point Blank shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Dodge.
Weapons and Armor: mighty Composite Longbow (+2 str), Daggers, Longsword, Rapier, and Masterwork Studded Leather Armor.

 

[Wicht]

Chapter 8

As the sun rose on the 17th of Sowing, the companions stirred and awoke. The night had passed uneventfully and they had slept well, the freed villagers standing guard. Alairic laid hands on himself and healed a portion of his wounds. The pain alleviated, he noticed that his stomach was growling and so arising, he set about making sure there would be a breakfast. Tilliana, her divine spells renewed, swiftly healed the rest of the party’s wounds. Then she too joined them at breakfast and as they ate, they talked.
They had already decided the night before to try and take the pirates ship. The main question was how. Alairic thought it would be wise to have someone scout out the situation first and nominated Niccolo and Heidon. Tiolo and several of the other men were listening in with interest.
“Are you going to help us?” Tilliana asked them.
“We will do our part to get off this accursed Island,” said Tiolo, “of that you can be sure.”
“Good,” said Tilliana.
Meanwhile Niccolo was agreeing with Alairic that the situation should be scouted first.
“I think we should take five of the men here with us,” said Niccolo
“Why not 10?” said Heidon.
Niccolo ignored him, “We have no idea what is on the ship and we don’t want to be taken by surprise.”
“That’s a good idea,” agreed Tilliana, “but what if you get caught?”
“Oh well,” said Alairic with a grin.
“Thanks a lot,” put in Niccolo.
They had no problem finding five volunteers and soon the seven scouts were heading south towards the beach. There was a distinct path laid down through the forest and they followed this. They moved fairly stealthily. Niccolo and Heidon had their longbows out and ready to fire. The villagers each had a crossbow taken from the fallen pirates. They too were loaded and ready to fire. The forest passed swiftly and soon the small group was exiting the trees.
There was a small camp on the beach with two longboats pulled ashore. There was also five men in the camp. They were standing in a line, each with a loaded crossbow pointed at the seven men exiting the trees.
“Fire!” shouted one of the pirates and as one the five crossbows discharged. One of the quarrels flew past Niccolo. Another grazed the scalp of one of the villagers. Yet another buried itself in the chest of one of the men with Niccolo and Heidon and gasping, he fell to the ground. The scouting expedition stood as if stunned. Wild thoughts flashed through the mind of the half-elf, They knew we were coming, we must have a traitor.
“Reload and fire,” shouted the same pirate who had barked the earlier order. Swiftly they reloaded and swiftly another group of bolts flew at the small group. Another one of the villagers went down, two bolts protruding from him. Finally the surprise wore off the embattled scouting expedition and they remembered the weapons in their hand. Niccolo fired wild, but Heidon drew blood and one of the men from the villages, a half-hobgoblin named Kinshag killed one of the pirates outright. The pirates fired for the third time and another of the men was hit. Niccolo, calming his nerves, pulled back a second arrow and, taking careful aim, let it fly. It hit the man who had been shouting the orders in the eye. He was dead before his body hit the ground. Kinshag killed a second pirate. Heidon fired, dropping one of the pirates. The remaining pirate, firing at Heidon drew blood. With a snarl the young man took aim and fired his third shot. Like the first two it struck true and the fight was over. There were eight bodies: five pirates, three villagers. The ship, they saw, was about a quarter of a mile offshore, a fifteen minute row in one of the longboats.
As they waited for the rest of the group to arrive from the cliffside camp, the remaining four members of the scouting party searched the camp. The tents held nothing but bedrolls. There was some gold on the bodies of the pirates, and their weapons of course, but nothing else of note. Tilliana and Alairic soon arrived leading the other 25 villagers. Tilliana took in the scene.
“We need to bury these bodies,” she said, indicating the three villagers. “It is only right that they have a proper burial.”
Alairic looked for shovels but there were none in any of the tents. As Niccolo led a group of villagers in digging in the sand as best as they could, Tilliana examined Kinshag. He had been hit by one of the pirate’s crossbows and was bleeding heavily. Offering up a prayer, Tilliana closed the krangi’s wounds. He was not much to look at, but his heart seemed to be in the right place. Finally they had three shallow graves dug in the sand. They placed the bodies of their fallen comrades in the holes and Tilliana held a brief service on the beach. The villagers were all touched and more determined than ever to win their freedom from the island. They just needed the ship.
The Longboats looked to hold about twenty each, so there was more than enough room for all of them to fit in. Shoving the boats into the water they set out towards the ship. Alairic took the helm of the boat he was in, with Niccolo sitting just behind him. Tilliana took charge of the other.
“Row!,” shouted Alairic at the men holding the oars. “If you want off this island then row!” They complied and soon Alairic’s boat was pulling ahead of Tilliana’s.
There were definitely men on the deck of the ship. About three quarters of the way to the ship, a little over three hundred feet out, they could start to see clearly what the men on the ship were doing. They were getting ready to fire a ballista.
The first bolt was off the mark, flying a couple of feet over Alairic’s head. It hit the water behind the boat and skipped off the water twice before going under. The second bold was also off mark, skimming across the water to the left of the lead boat. But the third bolt found a target, it flew just past Alairic and into the woman sitting behind Niccolo. She died almost instantly. Niccolo judged the distance to the boat and decided to risk a shot with his bow. Firing in a high arc, he watched the arrow sail through the air, landing in one of the men on the ship. With a loud cry the man stumbled backwards and then collapsed.
“Shall we fire?” asked one of the men sitting near Niccolo.
“Sure!” said the half-elf and then watching the men load their crossbows, he instructed them to aim and then yelled “fire”. A volley of bolts sailed onto the ship. A couple of the pirates were struck. Some of the men in the other boat, followed Niccolo’s lead and a second volley of bolts sailed over the water. The pirates answered in turn. A couple bolts bounced harmlessly off of Alairic’s armor, but two of the villagers weren’t so lucky. One was wounded and another was killed.
The two boats sent off a second volley and then the ballista fired again. Again the bolt just missed Alairic, instead hitting the man just behind him and to the side of Niccolo. They were close enough now to see some of the faces of the men. There appeared to be only four left alive. Six at least had fallen to fire from the two long boats. Two of the men one the ship were operating the ballista. But it was the man to their left that most interested Niccolo. The keen eyes of the half-elf could make out his features clearly. He had red hair and looked to be the same man that Niccolo had killed in the woods the day before, the man who had shot at and injured the half-elf. Niccolo aimed his bow and fired an arrow at this red headed man. The arrow struck. Meanwhile the bolts from the villager’s crossbows killed two more of the other pirates. As the two long boats drew closer, they watched as the red headed man pulled the arrow out and then, removing something from his side, he took a drink. Niccolo, guessing it was a healing potion of some sort, growled in frustration. Having taken his drink, the red headed pirate slipped backwards, off the prow, and out of sight. A final volley of bolts killed the last of the pirates on the prow of the ship.
They pulled close to the ship. As they looked for a way up, they saw the red-headed pirate climbing the center mast. He was deliberately climbing on the side away from them, giving them little to target.
“He looks like the pirate from the woods yesterday,” observed Alairic, “a twin.”
“Might be,” said Tilliana as the other boat pulled up alongside.
There was no way up the side of the ship.
“I can climb it,” said Heidon.
“It’s too slick,” said Niccolo.
“There’s the anchor chain,” said Alairic.
“I’ll take it,’ said Heidon. He directed the rowers to bring their boat around the side of the ship, looking for the anchor. As the boat holding Tilliana and Heidon pulled around, an arrow flew from high above, striking Alairic.
“Ouch,” said the Paladin. He looked up. The redhead had reached the crow’s nest at the top of the center mast. Niccolo returned fire, but his arrow struck the crow’s nest itself, sinking into the wood. The men behind Niccolo fared no better. The pirate had too much cover.
As the pirate fired again at Alairic, missing this time, Niccolo tried again. Again the half-elf struck the wood, not the man. Again the crossbowmen failed to find their mark. The pirate fired at Niccolo now. The arrow hit, a slight wound. Niccolo again missed. Another arrow scratched the half-elf and then a third grazed him. Each time Niccolo failed to find his mark as he tried to return fire.
Tilliana’s boat had reached the anchor line and Heidon swiftly scaled up to the ship. Behind him, Tilliana, wary of falling started slowly up. Heidon soon reached the prow and pulled himself over. The bodies of pirates lay everywhere both on the prow and on the deck below. Each had been pierced with an arrow or a bolt. Overhead Heidon saw the red headed pirate observing him and briefly Heidon considered trying to reason with the man. Then his eyes drifted to the deck below and his breath stopped. Wandering the deck, looking very upset, was a spined lizard. It snorted angrily, it’s tail swishing, its spines fully erect. At the far end of the deck, near the door to the crew’s quarter’s, Heidon spotted a large iron cage. The cage was both open and empty.
Heidon’s keen eyes spotted a rope ladder near where Alairic’s boat was. Not stopping to plan, Heidon raced across the prow and jumped the short distance to the deck. He narrowly avoided tripping over a body. Stumbling only momentarily, he managed to make it to where the rope ladder was.
An arrow flew past Heidon’s head. It buried itself with some force in the deck. Heidon looked up at the pirate who had fired at hime and then over to where the spine lizard was. It was charging him. It barreled at him and the agile young man barely had enough time to roll out of the way. The long lizard skidded to a stop and Heidon changed his plan. He ran to the center mast, away from the dangerous beast. He started to climb.
Alairic, below, Not seeing the lizard but seeing Heidon run up to the edge and then run away, shouted up, “What about a rope?”
“I have a rope,” said Niccolo, remembering the silk line stored in his pack.
As Heidon climbed the mast, the pirate above fired down. The arrow grazed the young man, drawing a thin line of blood. Another arrow flew down, but this time, Heidon managed to twist aside and it flew harmlessly past him, ricocheting off the deck.
Niccolo was tying a quick lasso and as soon as it was done the half-elf threw it up. Miraculously it caught a hold of something and Alairic, testing it, found it secure. The paladin started climbing, followed closely by Niccolo.
Another arrow narrowly missed Heidon and the young thief, looking up, realized he was almost to the crow’s nest. Meanwhile Alairic had almost reached the edge of the deck. As he pulled himself up and his face cleared the deck, he found himself staring eye to eye with a very large and very angry lizard. Niccolo, forced to stop behind the paladin, felt his hands slip on the thin rope. With a cry he fell down. Fortunately there were several arms waiting to catch him. Frustrated, he started up again.
Heidon pulled himself up to the crow’s nest and as he tried to enter the small wooden nest, the red-headed pirate stabbed him with a rapier. The blade bit deep but Heidon ignored the pain and heaved himself aboard, reaching for his dagger as he did so. Alairic watched the lizard closely and then as it turned to strike at him with its tail he pulled himself over and rolled over the attack.
Tilliana, having taken her time, had just pulled herself up to the prow. She took a moment to take in the scene before her.
“There’s a lizard,” she called to the men climbing behind her and then drawing her sword she started to charge forward. She tripped over a body and fell ungracefully on her face. Snarling she pushed herself up and started forward again. Overhead, Heidon stabbed the pirate with his dagger and then as the pirate tried to push him off of the crow’s nest, Heidon stabbed him again. The paladin was stabbing at the lizard but getting no results as he at the same time tried to avoid both the club-like tail and the many dangerous spines. Niccolo, almost at the top of the rope, felt the ship move and once more his fingers slipped and he fell down. Again he was caught, but this time there was a crack as his boot slammed into someone below him. The boat rocked and two of the people in the boat were thrown out.
“Do you want me to try it for you,” snapped one of the men holding Niccolo. The half-elf angrily grabbed the rope and pulled himself up one more time. On the other side of the boat, two of the men, one of them being Kinshag the krangi, were climbing up the anchor line. And in the crow’s nest both men struggled in the confined area to strike the other. The pirate got lucky and his rapier slashed into Heidon, drawing blood.
Alairic dodged another attack of the lizard’s powerful tail but as he swung his sword, two of the spines ripped into him and he missed. Tilliana charged into the front of the lizard, but it dodged aside, her blow missed and she too was pierced by the long spines on the back of the lizard. The lizard swung its tail again and finally managed to land a blow on Alairic. The powerful tail caught the paladin up alongside the head and knocked him senseless. He fell to the ground just as Niccolo finally reached the deck of the ship. Pulling himself aboard, the half-elf immediately pushed the ladder over the edge to the men waiting below.
“No one else should have to go through all that,” growled the half-elf.
Above, Heidon lunged at the pirate. The blow missed and the pirate, sensing an opening, moved closer and plunged his blade into Heidon’s chest. Heidon stared down in disbelief as everything started to go black. With a satisfied smile the pirate wrenched his blade back out.
The spine lizard, spinning around, struck at Tilliana with its tail, catching the priestess a glancing blow. Backing away from the beast for a moment and catching her breath, Tilliana prayed for strength. Niccolo meanwhile, had pulled out his greatax and with a heave he brought it down on the creatures back, nimbly avoiding the threatening spines.
At that moment Heidon’s body hit the deck. The pirate had tossed him the fifty feet from the crow’s nest to the deck below. Heidon landed with a sickening crack of both wood and bone and as he lay there, his neck twisted, it was clear he was dead.
Tilliana, determined to focus on the immediate problem, charged once more at the Lizard, divine energy filling her in answer to her prayer. Her sword struck home as she ignored the spines that pierced into her. Niccolo also swung once more at the beast, gaining only a scratch as his axe head once more drew blood. As the two companions moved quickly back from the threatening spines, there was a shout from the other side of the boat and the twang of strings. Three bolts buried themselves deep in the lizard and it heaved one final roar and then collapsed on the deck. Kinshag and two of the other villagers had lined up their shots carefully.
An arrow buried itself in the deck besides Niccolo. The spine lizard was dead but there was yet another threat. Ignoring the threat, Niccolo chose to instead tend to the paladin who lay unconscious on the deck. Another arrow narrowly missed the half-elf as he worked to bind the paladin’s wound. Tilliana considered the pirate for a moment and then holding aloft her divine focus and murmuring a prayer, she conjured up a glowing greatsword. It flew from her, through the air, and up to the crow’s nest. The pirate dodged the blade and fired once more. This time, his arrow found its mark, striking Niccolo. Tilliana motioned and the glowing sword slashed through the air, this time striking the pirate and cutting him just as a real sword would have. He screamed and clutched his side. Niccolo, having seen to the paladin, reached for an arrow and drawing his bow, he nocked it and let fly. At last his aim was true and it pierced the chest of the pirate. He fell and landed on the deck besides Heidon.
Satisfied that the paladin would live to fight another day, Niccolo went and examined the pirate’s body. The armor he had worn was identical to the armor Heidon had been wearing, armor taken from the body of the identical pirate the day before. The rapier at the pirate’s side was also identical to the rapier Niccolo now carried. And as Niccolo was hoping, there was a second flask at the pirates side. It contained a golden liquid. By some quirk of fate, it had not broken from the fall. Niccolo took the potion to the paladin and forced him to drink it. It was, as the half-elf had hoped, a potion of healing and the tremendous wound on the side of the paladin’s head partially healed. It was enough so that Alairic could walk and talk again. They stripped the bodies and piled the pirates in the middle of the deck next to the spine-lizard. Tilliana offered up a prayer over the body of Heidon, who though he had joined them unwillingly, had proven himself a great asset and almost a friend.
Then as she rose and considered the deck she reasoned, “We only lost one. Not too bad actually.”

 

[Buttercup]

NO! I don't want Heidon to die! What will his player do now?

 

[Wicht]

Chapter 9

The name of the ship was the Dead Squid. It was a three-masted cutter built for speed. A search of the ship revealed that the ten men they had killed had been the only crew aboard. The ship, as had been surmised, could carry a crew of fifty. Their search turned up three other things of interest. The first was a locked chest in the captains quarters.
“We don’t have a thief anymore,” said Tilliana.
“I can open the lock,” said Niccolo. Motioning for them to stand back, he hefted his greatax and then with a vicious swing, he brought it down with precision and force on the lock. It snapped right off. Opening the lid, they saw that inside, there were a number of coins and even a few gems.
The second thing they found was a nearly full cargo bay. An examination by the villagers with them determined that the cargo was actually stolen items looted from the villages. The villagers quickly moved in to determine what belonged to whom.
The third thing of interest was the captain’s log. The writing was cramped and sloppy, but the language was Reanaarian and the details of the ship’s recent activities were clearly detailed. The captain had entered into an agreement with a cleric of the Overlord, a man he had met in Zoa. The cleric was named Maerun. Maerun had confided in the captain, telling of buried treasure in an ancient temple on Dragon Isle. The cleric had further arranged a truce with the great green dragon atop the island, promising to feed it two people a day, and provide a share of any found treasure, in exchange for the freedom to move around the southern slopes of the mountain. From there it was simply a matter of raiding enough villages to gain enough captives to keep the dragon satisfied long enough to find the ancient temple and the treasure within. The last entry was dated the 12th, five days earlier.
“The dragon is going to want to be fed,” observed Niccolo, “I wonder if we can use the dead pirate bodies?”
“I think it will want live food,” said Alairic tersely.
That evening, Tilliana held a funeral service for Heidon and wrapping the body tightly and weighing it down, they gave him a proper burial at sea.
The next morning came swiftly.
“Do you know what day it is?” Alairic asked Tilliana.
“The 18th,” she replied and then it struck her, “Oh yeah, its been such a mess I forgot.”
The 18th of Sowing was also the spring equinox, a holy day to Naemae. After tending to the various wounds of herself and her companions, Tilliana gathered the villagers together on the deck and led them in a brief ceremony. She spoke extolling the virtues of bravery and the importance of politeness and courtesy. After this, the three companions prepared to return to the island. Kinshag, the half-hobgoblin, volunteered to go with them.
“For revenge,” he explained, and then with a glint in his yellow eyes, he added, “And maybe for buried treasure.”
The krangi had already proven to be useful the day before and so they agreed. He outfitted himself with some of the equipment Heidon had carried, it being the best quality they could provide for him. As he was getting himself ready, Tiolo took Tilliana aside.
“You won’t be sorry taking Kinshag with you. He has a heart of gold, though you can’t always tell it with that attitude of his and that mug. He has lived on the coast for years now and though we were all skeptical at first, he has proven himself to be trustworthy and honest. And don’t you worry about the ship, we’ll wait for you, a week at least, and if you are gone too long, we will send help back.”
As they climbed into the longboat, Tilliana and Alairic brought some of the weapons and armor from the dead pirates. They also brought the head of the spined lizard. When they reached the shore, they offered the items up in a fire to Naemae. This done, they set of north, into the forest towards the great cliff.
The cliff camp was just as they had left it, except that the pirate’s bodies had been well picked over by scavengers. Climbing onto the lift platform, they turned the wench and steadily began to ascend. The platform swayed slightly, but four heavy rocks tied to each corner helped keep it steady and they reached the top of the cliff without incident.
At the top, Niccolo searched for tracks. His search proved very successful.
“There are two sets of tracks, one is fairly recent and heads off to the northeast, while the other is a few days older and goes north.”
“The older tracks,” said Alairic.
“Yes,” agreed Niccolo, “The newer tracks must lead to the dragon, or wherever they took the people.”
Having decided this Niccolo took the lead, carefully following the nearly week old trail. After about half an hour of following the trail, Alairic and Tilliana noticed the wall. It was an old brick wall, standing only five feet tall and it was partially hidden by the forest growth, An examination showed that it was the sole remains of what must have been a large building.
As they went further north, up the mountain and through the trees, they saw more of these relics of a ruined settlement. Portions of walls rose here and there through the trees. And then Niccolo lost the trail. He carefully searched the area to see if he could find it again. They were close to the foot of another tall cliff, though this one was not as sheer as the first. Ivy grew along the face of the cliff and even a few small trees grew here and there up it. But ascending it would be difficult.
Niccolo did not find the trail he was looking for, instead he found something else, a newer trail made by small reptilian feet. He followed this trail and saw that it led first to a hole in the ground and then it turned and went towards the cliff. He motioned the others over to look in the hole.
It was nearly a square hole, two and a half feet wide at a side. A flat wall stretched down near the southern side of the hole and Niccolo could make out the floor about fifteen feet below.
“I bet you this is where the demon is buried,” said Niccolo.
“That seems a little too easy,” said Alairic skeptically.
Pulling his rope out of his pack, Niccolo tied it off to a tree and prepared to descend to get a better look at what was down there. The other three made no move to stop him. Shimmying down the rope, using the wall to prop his feet against, Niccolo noted that the wall was apparently very weathered brick. The half-elf was about halfway down the rope when he heard something move to the east of him.
“Something moved down here,” he said, but there was not enough light filtering through both the trees and the hole for him to make out what had moved.
“I’ll get a torch,” said Alairic. A torch was soon lit and thrown to the floor of the hole. Immediately Niccolo could see everything. It was a room, about twenty feet to a side, with bricked walls and an ancient wood roof, a cellar perhaps. Niccolo noted these details with a part of his mind, but what really grabbed his attention was the pile of bones and bodies against the eastern wall. Atop these sat a ten foot long, caterpillar, like monstrosity with tentacles waving out of its face and a cavernous maw for a mouth. Two antennae atop the thing’s head seemed to serve for eyes and these twitched as Niccolo dangled there.
Alairic stuck his head down the hole and saw it as well.
“Ugh,” he said.
“Kill it?” asked Niccolo.
“Yeah,” said the Paladin.
Tilliana began praying for a blessing upon their fight. Kinshag drew out his bow and Alaric started to climb down the rope above Niccolo. The half-elf, confidant in his abilities, dropped to the floor and reached for his sword. He never drew it. The creature rushed the half-elf as soon as Niccolo’s feet hit the floor. Its tentacles waved and two of the horrid appendages latched onto the half-elf. With hardly a cry, Niccolo’s muscles froze and the half-elf collapsed paralyzed to the ground. Hollering, Alairic dropped to the ground. The creature turned its attentions on him. Several of the tentacles hit the paladin, but he willed himself to move and brought his sword down on the monster’s back. It had no effect. The creature’s spongy skin absorbed the blow. An arrow ricocheted off of the floor as Kinshag tried to shoot around the paladin and then Tilliana, pushing Kinshag aside, dropped down into the hole. The monster again latched its tentacles onto Alairic, trying to bite him at the same time, Alairic easily avoided the mouth, and as he felt himself freezing from the touch of the tentacles he again tried to will himself to move. His effort were of no avail. He fell unmoving to the ground. Tilliana swung her sword, but she too found her swing too weak to penetrate the spongy hide of the worm-like beast. It turned on her with its tentacles and in seconds she too was paralyzed. She collapsed to the ground, unmoving.
Above, Kinshag was watching, an arrow at the ready. The creature paid him no mind. Instead it leisurely turned its attention back to the fallen paladin. With a sort of stupid determination, it started to chew on the paladin’s foot. Kinshag heard a crack as the toothed maw bit down on the boot. Steeling himself in case the creature should charge him, Kinshag stood resolutely at the top of the hole, drew back hard on his string and shot at the creature. He need not have worried. His arrow pierced straight through the creature’s head. It was dead with a single shot. The krangi smiled to himself, satisfied at a victory well won.
Tilliana moved first. Looking around, she saw that the monster was dead and that Kinshag was sitting at the top of the hole, patiently waiting. The priestess turned her attentions to the other two. Alairic’s foot was wounded, but it was not severe. There was nothing for her to do but wait for them to come around. Which they did a few minutes later.
Niccolo made a search of the cellar they were in. The skeletons were of many sorts, some of them were lizards. Some of them were small reptilian humanoids. A few of them were human. One body in particular drew Niccolo’s attention. It was a man, dressed in armor and the tattered remains of what looked to be the robe of a Defender of the Swift Sword. Niccolo examined it closer. The armor and clothing were badly damaged, they were almost melted and heavily corroded. Niccolo had never seen anything quite like it. There was a gold ring with a crest on the right hand and Niccolo pried that off. Looking at the sword strapped to the dead man’s back, Niccolo was surprised to see that it was unmarked and undamaged. It looked in fact to be almost new.
“Why don’t I carry those,” said Alairic, looking over the half-elf’s shoulder. With a shrug, Niccolo hand both the sword and the ring to the paladin.
“Is it Giovan?” asked Tilliana.
“I would say the body has been here for almost three years,” said Niccolo thoughtfully, “so no.”
The three climbed out of the hole and joined Kinshag at the top.
“One shot,” said Kinshag proudly, a wide grin on his face.
Niccolo started to follow the reptilian tracks again towards the cliff, but as they drew a bit closer they saw a curious altar sitting in a wide opening in the trees to their left. It was made of iron and appeared burnt. As they took this in, something on the altar moved. Niccolo immediately drew out his halberd. Alairic reached and drew out the new greatsword he had acquired. They stepped closer and now they saw that the ground around the altar appeared scorched as well.
There was a snake sitting on top of the altar watching them. It was about five or six feet long.
“Isn’t the demon supposed to be buried under an altar?” asked Niccolo.
Alairic thought, “I don’t remember ever hearing that.”
The four of them moved a little closer to the altar and the snake.
“Let’s kill it,” said Niccolo.
“Ok,” said Kinshag and he drew back on his bow and fired at it. The arrow hit the snake but bounced harmlessly off of its skin. Alairic and Tilliana began to charge, followed by Niccolo.
“Whoa! Stop!” said the snake.
They stopped
“What?” said Niccolo stunned.
“It said stop,” explained Alairic.
“I heard what it said! It talked! It’s a talking snake!”
“Who are you?” asked Tilliana
“I am the guardian of this temple, set here to protect what’s buried below, a demon, from ever being released. But now a group of men seek to find a way to let this demon loose and you must stop that from happening.”
“That’s what we are here for,” said Alairic.
“There is only one way for you to do this. You must go north from this altar, enter through the ivy and descend to the bottom of the stairs that never end. There, find the secret room. Listen well to the red-headed man who will guide you.”
“Wait…,” began Alairic.
The snake repeated itself, “Go north from the altar, enter through the ivy and descend the stairs that never end. Find the secret room and let the red-headed man guide you.”
“But…,” said Alairic, but it was no good. The snake simply vanished. Alairic, shaking his head in surprise still had the sense to try and detect evil. As he concentrated, he found that, where the snake had been, sitting atop the altar, there was a lingering sense of evil.
“It was evil, the snake was evil.” said the Paladin.
“Look!” shouted Tilliana.
“What?” asked the others.
“There, they ivy on the cliff, it moved, as if a wind had blown it aside.”
“Huh,” said Kinshag.
“That’s funny,” said Niccolo.
As the others talked, Alairic was thinking hard.
“Beware the snake that bites from the darkness and the vulture that feeds on lies. The tomb of the demon should remain sealed lest darkness grow stronger,” he whispered to himself softly
“I don’t want to follow that snake’s advice,” said Niccolo with some passion, “It said go through the ivy, and that’s where these tracks lead, I think we should go back and follow that other set of tracks from the cliff.”
“I thought we thought the other trail would lead to a big and powerful dragon,” said Alairic.
“I would rather face the dragon.”
“That snake is a liar,” postulated Tilliana. She went towards the altar and examined it more closely. Molded into the iron was the impossible symbol of the Creator of Strife.
Alairic turned and scanned the spot where the ivy had moved. There did seem to be an opening into the cliff besides the ivy. Alairic could sense no evil inherent in the opening however.
“It is possible,” said Niccolo, “that the snake was evil but had no evil intentions.”
“I was warned in my dream,” said Alairic, “Beware the snake that bites from the darkness and the vulture that feeds on lies”
“I say we follow the snake,” said Tilliana.
“Agreed,” said Alairic. Kinshag also shook his head in agreement.
As he was outvoted, Niccolo resigned himself.
Behind the ivy, there was indeed an opening in the cliff face, a ten foot by ten foot hand-carved hole with doors at the north end. The left door was shattered and lay broken on the ground. The right door swung on ancient hinges.
“Hold still,” said Tilliana to Niccolo and the cleric touched the ranger on the shoulder. Niccolo felt his muscles grow more powerful.
“The strength of Naemae,” explained Tilliana.
Alairic lit a torch and he and Niccolo led the way through the doors. They entered into a long hall with a single door at the far end. Cautiously they made their way down the hall. As they did, something curious happened. They each appeared to grow taller. At last, when they had swiftly reached the door at the north end of the hall, they all, with the exception of Tilliana, had to stoop to avoid bumping their heads off of the rock ceiling. And even Tilliana had only a few inches between the top of her head and the ceiling. They were much taller than the door. Niccolo stooped down and looked through the door.
“If I yell pull me back,” said the half-elf.
The torchlight lit up a broad room beyond the door. The room had a high ceiling. There was nothing dangerous that Niccolo could see and the half-elf scooted through the door. Standing he found himself in an enormous room, made all the bigger by the feeling that he himself had grown in stature. As the others filed into the room and the torch light better lit some of the recesses, they saw that there were walls to the left and right of them but that the room extended forward a long ways. There appeared to be a drop in the floor some feet in front of them and to the left and right of the drop stone stairs went down. High above the stairs, there were recesses in the wall. Alairic, carrying the torch walked forward to where the floor fell away. His sense of depth was off, thanks to the strange nature of the entrance hall, but the floor below was at least twice his height away. The floor he was standing on was almost a balcony to the chamber below. Gazing down he saw stone benches arranged around a raised altar of stone.
“Something moved,” said Niccolo
“I saw it too,” said Kinshag.
“Where?” asked Alairic.
“In the alcoves above the stairs.”
They looked and saw that there were reptiles crawling in the alcoves. They had wings and appeared like those they had seen in the trees near the beach. Each one was a foot to two feet in length. Tilliana moved to the head of the stairs to their left and looked for a way up into the recesses. Niccolo, thinking more fire might help, swiftly pulled a torch from Alairic’s pack and held it to the other torch to light it. Kinshag fired an arrow at one. It missed.
With a screech, one of the lizards shot through the air. It flew past Tilliana, brushing her and then flew by and up to the recess at the other end of the room. Tilliana spun around from the contact and collapsed to the ground. The lizard had torn into her throat with sharp hooks on its scales as it had flown by. She lay on the ground, blood bubbling from her throat, barely on the edge of consciousness. Two more flew from the alcove to their left and three flew out of the alcove to their right. With precision the reptiles flew past their targets and then up and out of reach to the other side of the room. One of them grazed Kinshag. Another two savagely tore into Niccolo and the half-elf collapsed unconscious to the ground. Alairic took a moment to size up the situation, and then resolutely gripping his sword and lifing it over his shoulder he prepared himself for the next wave of attacks. Kinshag dropped his bow and drawing his own greatsword, he did the same. It took mere moments for the reptiles to realign themselves for a second attack. They flew swiftly, three each at the two standing warriors. Alairic swung as one approached him and catching it with his sword he sent it flying away from him across the room. He barely dodged in time as the other two soared past him. Kinshag also connected with one but another caught him with its hooks as it flew by and ripped him open. The krangi fell to the ground bleeding heavily.
Tilliana rose unsteadily to her feet. She had healed herself with prayer and though not fully recovered she moved over to where Niccolo lay and began offering a swift prayer on behalf of the half-elf. One of the reptiles flew past her and then another grazed her with its hooks, drawing blood. Alairic swung again and a third reptile was dead. This time however, one of them caught him with its hooks as it flew by and blood flowed freely from the wound. As Niccolo weakly opened his eyes, Tilliana drew out her sword and stood to face the creatures with Alairic. Kinshag, badly wounded was slowly crawling towards the door out of the temple. Niccolo chose to remain as he was, lying on the ground, noting that the lizards seemed to only be attacking those that stood.
Tilliana swung as a lizard flew by her, she missed, but her swing carried her out of the way and the reptile flew harmlessly past. Alairic swung and his sword connected with the biggest of the lizards as it flew at him, chopping it in half. A second flying reptile scratched his face as it sped by.
There were only two lizards still alive. The two reptiles landed in the alcove to the left of the two warrior-priests and turned around. They screeched and launched through the air. Tilliana timed her stroke better and swinging, she knocked one down, battering it in two with her sword. Alairic, his vision beginning to blur, blood running into his eye, missed and the lizard scratched the other side of his face. It flew past and landed on the alcove to the right. Swiftly, it turned around and screeched.
“What are you doing to my babies!?” cried out a voice. The voice was high pitched, yet rough and gravelly, and the words were in the merchant tongue, though spoken with a strange accent.
Looking, Alairic and Tilliana saw a grizzled old kobold. He was loping towards them, one hand on a great stone warhammer. The remaining lizard screeched and launched through the air at Alairic, its reptilian brain focused on killing the weakened paladin.
“I’ll show you,” said Tilliana to the kobold as she swung at the lizard flying at Alairic. Her stroke was true and the lizard fell to the floor dead.
The old kobold screamed in rage and hefting his warhammer he prepared to charge Alairic. An arrow flew into the small reptilian humanoid. Niccolo, from his position on the floor had shot him. The arrow sticking out of him did not even slow him down though and with an astonishing speed and a savage yelp the little kobold was bounding at Alairic.
Despite his weakened state, Alairic swung as the kobold charged and his sword cut into and through the kobold. It was a mighty cleave. The kobold stopped in its tracks, its warhammer poised. It looked at the wound on its chest.
“Alright, I give up,” it said, wincing in pain. It let its warhammer settle on the floor, “You guys look like decent enough folks,” said the kobold gruffly in its odd voice, “Probably against your code to kill an unarmed opponent huh, ouch.”
“Who are you?” asked Tilliana, “What are you doing here?”
“Well I live here, then, don’t I and I train these here…”
“Your babies,” put in Tilliana.
“Yeah that’s right,”
“Dangerous things,” said Niccolo,
“Well it’s your fault breaking in here and all!”
“We didn’t plan on being attacked,” complained Niccolo.
“I suppose,” said the kobold irritated, its voice getting a notch deeper and rougher, “You think you ought to just barge into someone’s home and take what you like?”
“Yeah that’s right”
The kobold eyed them thoughtfully. There was a wicked intelligence behind his small eyes. They darted over to where Kinshag had propped himself next to the door.
“Tell you what,” said the kobold, “I’ll make you a deal, I think there’s trouble brewing with you here and those others and old uppity britches. Old Reshk has been places, I don’t want any part of it. I’ll tell you all about old uppity britches and you guys can go kill him and cause trouble with the others and I promise I’ll leave and not tell anyone else you’re here.”
“Who’s uppity britches?” asked Tilliana, “What does he want?”
“Oh that one! He wants slaves of course and followers and the big things in life?”
“Who is he?’
“He’s a servant of the Slavelord isn’t he, always wanting slaves and a ship and then more slaves I suppose. I lived here a long time, just me and my pets, until he comes and takes over. Says he will let me stay, but you guys can take care of him.”
“Where is he?”
The old kobold eyed his wounds. He stared at Tilliana. “I’m bleeding pretty bad, I don’t suppose you can help?”
“No,” said Alairic.
“No,” said Tilliana, “sorry, I have no more spells or prayers.”
“Let me take a look,” said Niccolo limping over. The half-elf tore some bandages and bound the wound for the kobold.
“Now,” said Niccolo, “where is this guy?”
“Go to the end of this room and you can go left or right, doesn’t really matter because all the doors lead to the same places anyhow but left is quicker.”
“What does he look like?” asked Tilliana.
“He’s ugly,” said the kobold in his strange high voice, “You can’t miss him, big snout, ugly teeth, small beady eyes that you can’t trust.”
“Does he ever mention a demon?” asked Tilliana.
“Oh, just about every time he preaches its demons this and demons that. Demons eating you or whipping you or drowning you or dragging you off. His sermons are full of demons. Of course I sleep through most of them, but don’t tell him I said that.”
“Where does he preach?”
“Here. That was an altar for the Strifebringer, but he changed it to the Slavelord.”
“Did he ever mention a demon imprisoned below?”
“No, but he won’t go below. He’s afraid of the stairs, but he let those pink ones through, those other humans. Are you here after them? I knew there was going to be trouble! I kept my end of the deal, and told you. Now you keep your end of the deal.”
“Oh, no, you aren’t going anywhere,” said Tilliana, “You are coming with us.”
The kobold grew mad. “Reshk made a promise. I won’t break it.”
“I don’t trust you,” said Tilliana.
Alairic concentrated. The kobold was evil, though it was a mild sort of evil. He nodded, “We don’t know what he will do.”
“Well can I at least get some of my stuff?”
“No.”
“I really would like my blanket and stuff,” growled Reshk.
“Too bad,” said Niccolo, “come on.”
“We need a place to rest a bit,” observed Alairic as he led the kobold to the door leading out.
The kobold picked up his stone warhammer and grumpily allowed them to lead him out as they headed out of the temple. As they left through the strange entrance hall, they again seemed to grow smaller.
They decided to make camp in the cellar in which they had killed the tentacled beast. There they figured they would be safe from prying eyes. Not trusting the kobold they tied him up using Niccolo’s rope. He wasn’t too happy about it, but he put up no fight.
“Poor guy,” observed Kinshag with sincerity. He felt for the little guy. As the day grew later, they all settled in to rest, the kobold included.

 

[Wicht]

NO! I don't want Heidon to die! What will his player do now?

I am sorry he died too. I liked the character.

Justin took the death of Heidon fairly gracefully and is now playing Kinshag (who did not actually exist by name before the events of chapter 9). It was sort of his own fault he died, though he also was hit by two criticals in the fight in the crows nest and that hurt. He was not actually fully dead when thrown off the crows nest but the subsequent damage was substantial.

It was actually kind of funny how big a part critical hits played in this last session. Firing for the villagers from the longboats at the pirates on the Dead Squid I rolled no less then three criticals. Heidon was taken out with criticals. The carrion crawler in the old cellar had 19 hitpoints and a single critical bowshot fired at just the right moment did exactly 19. Tilliana was struck in the first round with the fight with the hookwings and I rolled a critical. This was followed by a roll of 2d12 and I rolled a 2 12s. She went from 24 hp to 0 in one hit. Fortunately she had one spell left to convert and then 1 0 level spell left to help Niccolo.

The fight with Reshk was going to be more of an event (he's actually one tough kobold) but after a decent bow wound from Niccolo for 10 hp, Alairic criticaled and did a further 21 points of damage. Which was fortunate for the paladin. He had like 2 hit points left himself.

Probably tomorrow I will post new stats for Alairic and the stats for Kinshag.

 

[Kaodi]

Height

I was just checking the stats you posted before again, and it appears that everyone in the party is vertically challenged by modern standards. I was just wondering if this is a feature of your campaign or some sort of fluke.

-Kaodi

 

[Wicht]

Kaodi,
The heights for the three humans was rolled using the Reanaarian charts in the Kalamar's players Guide. The average height for a pureblood male Reanaarian is a little over five feet. The average height for the other branches of humanity is much taller, with the Fhoki standing on the average over six feet tall.