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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wicht" data-source="post: 503534" data-attributes="member: 221">Chapter 22 – TerfiindelThey spent the next few hours piling loot on the ground in front of the Keep’s first tower.  There were numerous chests of coins, most of them filled with copper coins but a couple of them had silver gold and even platinum coins in them.  Including the chest of uncut gems they had taken out of the mines, when they were done they had a total of twelve chests of coins stacked in front of the keep.  Most of them weighed around two hundred pounds.  Whatever the orcs had been involved in had apparently been lucrative for them.“We need a wagon,” said Tilliana as she tried to adjust a strap on her new armor.  She was wearing the armor that had previously been on Sawtooth.  It was an old suit of dwarven armor and it was magical.  Tilliana was not sure however that she liked the armor.  It was harder to move in then she was used to.  “I could stay and you two could go back to Terfiindel and get the wagon or you can stay and I can go,” continued Tilliana.  “We could all go,” said Jozz.  Kall said nothing.  He was too busy taking practice swings with his new ‘toy’.  The jet black scythe he had taken from Sawtooth’s body.  The wood was polished black and the metal was also black.  Tilliana had informed him that it was magical as well and despite its black coloring it did not seem inherently evil.  “If we all go someone might take these coins while we are gone,” said Tilliana.“We should leave a guard,” said Jozz.In the end, Jozz and Kall opted to stay with the treasure while Tilliana rode back to town and fetched Jozz’s wagon. It was a few hours after noon when she finally got underway, her lance held at attention and her spirits high.  The day was warm under the spring sun and she and the boys had been successful in clearing the keep of the evil within.About an hour out of town she was ambushed.  Her first warning came in the form of a javelin that missed her by mere inches.  Another javelin bounced from her shield and one struck Prancer.Prancer reared back, neighing in pain and Tilliana held on tightly lest she fall.  And then the orcs charged out of hiding.  There were six of them, emboldened by the sight of a lone traveler.  Tilliana readied her lance and worked to bring Prancer back under control.  Other javelins sailed past her and she ducked as one flew towards her head.  She was almost too slow and the tip scratched her scalp, drawing blood.  But it was a scratch, no more.  Digging her heels into Prancer she directed the mare at one of the orcs and charged, lance down.  The orc rolled away from the attack and came up, axe at the ready.  The other orcs pulled out their axes and then the six foul smelling creatures rushed Tilliana, surrounding her and Prancer.Tilliana loosed her shield and slammed the lance into the ground, tip first.  It stuck and gripping Prancer with her knees she drew her sword.  Two axe blades struck her, their blades ringing against the metal of her armor.  Snarling Tilliana swung her sword, cleaving the head from one orc and then deftly following through and cutting the throat of another.  She quickly reversed her momentum and cut down an orc on the other side of Prancer and then cleaved through the skull of a fourth.  The two remaining orcs, seeing their companions cut down in mere seconds screamed in fear and took off running.  One ran down the trail, towards the keep and the other ran away from the road to the north-east.  Tilliana sheathed her sword and pulled her lance out from the ground.  Then, judging that the one running away from the trail would be in cover faster she spurred Prancer towards him.  In a matter of seconds the swift warhorse had overtaken the fleeing orc and Tilliana’s lance ran him through, killing him almost instantly.  She pulled the lance free from the body and then swiftly turned Prancer back towards the last orc.  He had more of a headstart, but he could not outrun the horse.  Hearing the sounds of the hooves drawing up behind him, the orc turned and looked over his shoulder.  There was no way for him to escape.  With a brief prayer to the battlerager the orc turned and hefting his axe charged at the coming foe.  It ducked under the lance and then swung at the priestess.  Tilliana ducked to the side, the axe missing her.  Then, determining her lance would be useless against a foe so near she dropped it and reached to pull out her sword.  Prancer reared back and away from the orc’s great axe and then as Prancer came back down, Tilliana brought her sword down on the orc’s helmet.  There was a flash of sparks and the orc fell to the ground.Tilliana took the time to pull the bodies off the road and searcht hem for valuables.  There was little on them and nothing to indicate they were more then mere bandits.  She made it into Terfiindel without further incident and promptly rode to the inn.  She dismounted and led Prancer into the stables.  Inside Firebolt greeted her with a snort.  Tilliana stopped and patted the old battle-horse and then went over to where the wagon and cart were parked.  It did not take her long to notice something was amiss.  The chests that had been on the back of the wagon were gone and even worse, the demon-rock, which Tilliana had left in the back of her cart was missing.  “I’m sorry miss,” said the Innkeeper busting through the side door of the stables, “I am glad to hear you was back but dreadful afraid to have to tell you.  But I do have to tell you, we had trouble last night.  Someone broke into our stables here, took some of your stuff and killed my young stable-hand.  I don’t know what this town has come to with those black cultists and stealing and murder and all.  The sheriff, he thinks he knows who done it but he can’t proof it and he’s afraid to have a go at it.   But you should see him as soon as you can.”There was nothing Tilliana could do about it.  She decided to see the sheriff after fetching the two boys and so prepared the wagon, hitching her two horses to it to pull.  She assured the innkeeper she did not fault him and after asking whether anyone fitting the description of Alairic, Niccolo or Kinshag had checked in yet, she drove back out to the keep.She worried the whole trip back, not so much over the stolen money but over the stolen rock.  There was still a week and more to go until Pelselond was new in the sky but still she did not like to think of what could happen with the demon-rock in the wrong hands.“What!” shouted Jozz when Tilliana made it back to the keep and broke the news about the stolen chests, “I didn’t think people would steal from us!”“It is horrible but the sheriff has an idea about who did it, so we can talk to him when we make it back.”They loaded the wagon down with the chests and the orc’s weapons and armors.  Then they exchanged Tilliana’s horses for Jozz’s two horses.    They made two stops before reaching Terfiindel.  They stopped at the sight of their camp from the previous night, where they loaded the wagon with the various weapons and armors taken from the dead orcs, and then they stopped once more to load up the weapons and armor of the orcs Tilliana had killed that same day.  The wagon was creaking from the weight as they pulled into Terfiindel.  They sun was already sinking over the horizon and night was coming.    The innkeeper promised them the same rooms they had slept in before and fixed them a hearty supper.  Tilliana and the boys then carried every single one of the chests from the wagon up to the two rooms.      “No one is going to steal these tonight,” said Kall.    Before going to sleep, Tilliana carried one of the orc’s great axes and one of their suits of armor out into a field and there she burned them, offering them up to Naemae as a tribute of her victory.</blockquote>

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