Broccli_Head
Explorer
Lazybones said:
Get him, Arun!
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Shackled City Epic: "Vengeance" (story concluded)
- Thread starter Lazybones
- Start date
Get him, Arun!
I agree with Jon Potter... this is one of the most impressive battles you've written yet.
That is one nasty horde of enemies for them to fight. I especially like the momentary glimpse of Zenna from Arun's perspective as she lays out the hurt... not even considering the fact that he's got to be completely coated in gore and blood, most of it belonging to his enemies, and still laying about him and crushing his foes.
Now that's a Paladin.
That is one nasty horde of enemies for them to fight. I especially like the momentary glimpse of Zenna from Arun's perspective as she lays out the hurt... not even considering the fact that he's got to be completely coated in gore and blood, most of it belonging to his enemies, and still laying about him and crushing his foes.
Now that's a Paladin.
Lazybones
Adventurer
I posted the update above where I had the extra space from a double post after Ch.241.
Thanks for the kudos; I find mass-battles to be fun to write, and you don't often see them in modules published in Dungeon (though I do recall an interesting mod way back, where a high-level party faced a cult of disease, and the final encounter was about 200 cultists, mostly 0-level fanatics. Fun stuff, especially the impromptu rules for overcoming armored warriors via mass human wave.
In case you were curious, here's the post-battle count of dead orcs:
-Mole: 9 (initially pleased that she’d taken out 6 by herself, she’s later disgruntled when she learns how many the others got)
-Dannel: 52 (26 arrows, 18 mini-fireballs, 8 Alakast)
-Zenna: 9 (2 crossbow, 3 color spray [actually killed by falling damage], 4 burning hands, plus assists on ogres and Kavorek)
-Hodge: 13 (2 crossbow, 2 spear, 9 axe)
-Arun: 18 (1 hammer, 17 sword)
-Clinger: 4 (incl. 2 “off camera”)
total: 105
Thanks for the kudos; I find mass-battles to be fun to write, and you don't often see them in modules published in Dungeon (though I do recall an interesting mod way back, where a high-level party faced a cult of disease, and the final encounter was about 200 cultists, mostly 0-level fanatics. Fun stuff, especially the impromptu rules for overcoming armored warriors via mass human wave.
In case you were curious, here's the post-battle count of dead orcs:
-Mole: 9 (initially pleased that she’d taken out 6 by herself, she’s later disgruntled when she learns how many the others got)
-Dannel: 52 (26 arrows, 18 mini-fireballs, 8 Alakast)
-Zenna: 9 (2 crossbow, 3 color spray [actually killed by falling damage], 4 burning hands, plus assists on ogres and Kavorek)
-Hodge: 13 (2 crossbow, 2 spear, 9 axe)
-Arun: 18 (1 hammer, 17 sword)
-Clinger: 4 (incl. 2 “off camera”)
total: 105
Thanks for an enjoyable read.
I have enjoyed your characters overall. I especially like the development of Hodge from a fleeing NPC to a cohort who is gaining depth and other facets to his personality. I was incredibly pleased to find the party forming into a battle wedge, and using a few more elementary tactics.
I plan on upping the views count of this thread on a regular basis. You've snagged another regular reader.
I have enjoyed your characters overall. I especially like the development of Hodge from a fleeing NPC to a cohort who is gaining depth and other facets to his personality. I was incredibly pleased to find the party forming into a battle wedge, and using a few more elementary tactics.
I plan on upping the views count of this thread on a regular basis. You've snagged another regular reader.
Last edited:
Broccli_Head
Explorer
Lazybones said:
Black Bard
First Post
It was really great, Lazy!!! One of the most wonderful battle scenes I`ve seen written! Congratulations. 
The only complaint I have is that such a fight would be impossible to play in a game table... If you don`t have 8 hours to spare, I mean...
The only complaint I have is that such a fight would be impossible to play in a game table... If you don`t have 8 hours to spare, I mean...
Lazybones
Adventurer
Welcome Micah; I think you'll see some better tactics as we continue, as the group starts to face enemies that can destroy a whole party quite easily. Arun will even pick up a ranged weapon, as we'll see in this update.
BH: I didn't count the ogres, but you're definitely right; they had barbarian levels so they were even tougher than "normal" ogres.
BB: Thanks, and you're right; one of the reasons I've given up tabletop D&D for my online Neverwinter Nights campaigns is how smoothly the combat goes in the latter game. My last tabletop group was okay, but often even mundane battles would last over an hour using battlemats and minatures.
Anyway, here's the wrap-up for the Interlude; next week we get into the plot of "Secrets of the Soul Pillars"...
* * * * *
Chapter 243
“Look!” Mole shouted, leaping up onto her feet on the saddle of her pony, pointing at the horizon to the south. The pony, used to her antics, merely kept plodding on. “Cauldron!”
Zenna, drawn back into the present by her friend’s shout, stared into the distance. Although she would not have seen it without Mole’s direction, she could now make out the dark line that was the black malachite walls of the town, still miles distant.
A rush of conflicting emotions came over her as she looked upon the faraway city. Odd, that she and Mole had only lived there for half a year, not even that, really, considering the various expeditions out of the city they’d been on, and much of that time had been spent dealing with nearly constant threats to their lives. Yet somehow the place had crept into their hearts, and there was a part of her, at least, that considered Cauldron home. They’d made enemies, it was true, but also friends, allies who had helped them before, and who could be called upon again if the need arose.
And it probably would, she thought, remembering the tumultuous state of the city when they’d left.
They hadn’t found out just how long they’d been gone until days after leaving the mountains. They’d seen the signs before then, of course; the weather was a dead giveaway. But she supposed none of them had truly wanted to believe, until the people in that isolated Tethyrian village they’d stopped at had confirmed it.
By her counting, they’d spent a tenday in Redgorge and the jungles near the Demonskar, and maybe another tenday in Occipitus. The time spent in the latter locale was more difficult to quantify, but certainly not much greater than her estimate.
Only they’d learned that four months had passed here, on Faerûn.
When she’d finally thought about it, it made sense, in an odd way. Her studies of the planes had revealed that the passage of time was a mutable quantity in some places away from the Prime. The others took some more convincing, but ultimately they all had to confront the reality of what had happened.
“We need to get back to Cauldron,” Arun had said.
“If it even still be there,” Hodge opined.
But then, on the borders of Tethyr, they’d had to confront a choice. The southern road along the Alamirs was a long and difficult one, and they were in need of both weapons and supplies. Their clothes and armor were in terrible shape, the former in tatters and the latter battered. They had wealth—Mole had seen that little of value over the course of their journeys had escaped her bag of holding—but it would do them no good here. Zenna had gained access to new powers, but some of that potential was not usable without the spells she wanted to add to her spellbook.
Ultimately she’d been able to prevail upon the others to agree to a diversion, to the Tethyrian city of Saradush. It took them the better part of a tenday to reach the city, but part of the logic of the trip would be the availability of good horses that would speed their return to Cauldron.
After spending so much time in the relatively small city of Cauldron, Saradush was a boiling jumble of people and activity. Summer lent a frenetic activity to the place, although the stifling heat of the afternoon put something of a damper on the otherwise constant bustle of its markets. With Mole and Dannel taking the lead, they found willing buyers for the various items they’d acquired in their recent adventures, and plenty of others eager to relieve them of that wealth.
Zenna’s first priority was to gain new spells for her book, and she quickly secured new scrolls and the inks and other ingredients needed to transfer them. She met several powerful mages with whom she spent hours in conversation and discussion, and even another priest of Azuth, a half-elven woman who seemed impressed by her rapid rise to power at such a relatively young age. The days passed quickly, too quickly, and despite the eagerness of her friends to be on their way another tenday passed before she was ready to depart. Even then she often looked over the additional scrolls she carried, powerful magics they’d found at Vaprak’s Voice, spells that she could not yet cast, but which someday, she was confident she would be able to grasp.
But the others had not spent their time idly. One of the first things they’d accomplished was the restoration of Arun’s crippled hand. Poorer by a donation of nearly a thousand gold pieces to the temple of Lathander, they departed with a two-handed paladin.
Even with that cost, and the thousands of gold that Zenna was using to buy and transcribe new spells, they still had a fair amount of coin to spend. They had a number of extra weapons that they sold for decent profits, including the wounding spear they’d taken from the succubus, Morgan’s old bastard sword, and the two magical lanterns. Although the primary purpose of those last items was now meaningless, they still bore a potent aura, and functioned quite well as magical flails. Arun did not forget about the evil-tainted dagger that Mole had taken, and he insisted that they destroy rather than sell that item. The paladin also insisted upon keeping the extra holy sword that they carried, stating that he would much rather prefer to see it conferred upon a group that would put it to proper use—such as the Temple of Helm in Cauldron—rather than trading it in a marketplace like just another magical trinket.
Mole grumbled a bit at the coin lost by such niceties, but even so they had a considerable cache to spend. Dannel found via a few covert inquiries a dealer who possessed a fabulous weapon, a magical bow that imparted electrical energy to each missile it fired. The cost was extravagant, but after witnessing the elf’s marksmanship against the orcs, they all agreed to pitch in part of their shares to enable the purchase. They also applied the full pressure of the group to force Arun to acquire a non-magical bow. The paladin grumbled about dwarves and “elvish weapons,” but Zenna’s logic was ultimately too straightforward: they often engaged enemies at a distance, and the ability to hurt a foe at range was too useful an ability to snub. The dwarf ultimately gave in, and although his shots were nowhere near as smooth or as accurate as Dannel’s, he surprised them all with his ability to drive arrows through practice targets.
Mole acquired a new rapier and some magical gloves that enhanced her agility somewhat. Hodge got a new shield, and finally, they all agreed to collectively finance the recharging of their healing wands, an essential purchase for people in their line of work. Arun spent time repairing their weapons, and he modified the ornate plate armor they’d taken from the slain lich into a form suitable for Hodge to wear. The dwarf complained at first about having a yet heavier burden, but he soon adjusted, and they sold his old battered suit of banded armor and used the proceeds to acquire the fine horses that they now rode.
Zenna and Dannel’s relationship had slipped back into a more or less stable détente. The others, Mole in particular, were frustrated by the inability of their friends to overcome the gap that still remained between them, given their obvious feelings for each other. But Zenna still had her own issues, and one of the first things Dannel had done on reaching Saradush was to disappear for the better part of a day and a half. He didn’t share with them what he’d been up to, and Zenna immediately suspected that he’d been contacting his friends in the Harpers. The incident renewed the chill between them, but at least there was no open conflict, and each took it as a given that the other would be present when they rode south again.
So much had happened, and they didn’t really know what to expect, now that they had made it back. Upon realizing her most recent elevation in magical power Zenna had prepared a sending to notify Jenya that they were alive and returning, but the response had been too brief to really convey anything meaningful. Zenna watched the black walls draw nearer, and wondered what challenges lay ahead.
NEXT: “SECRETS OF THE SOUL PILLARS”
BH: I didn't count the ogres, but you're definitely right; they had barbarian levels so they were even tougher than "normal" ogres.
BB: Thanks, and you're right; one of the reasons I've given up tabletop D&D for my online Neverwinter Nights campaigns is how smoothly the combat goes in the latter game. My last tabletop group was okay, but often even mundane battles would last over an hour using battlemats and minatures.
Anyway, here's the wrap-up for the Interlude; next week we get into the plot of "Secrets of the Soul Pillars"...
* * * * *
Chapter 243
“Look!” Mole shouted, leaping up onto her feet on the saddle of her pony, pointing at the horizon to the south. The pony, used to her antics, merely kept plodding on. “Cauldron!”
Zenna, drawn back into the present by her friend’s shout, stared into the distance. Although she would not have seen it without Mole’s direction, she could now make out the dark line that was the black malachite walls of the town, still miles distant.
A rush of conflicting emotions came over her as she looked upon the faraway city. Odd, that she and Mole had only lived there for half a year, not even that, really, considering the various expeditions out of the city they’d been on, and much of that time had been spent dealing with nearly constant threats to their lives. Yet somehow the place had crept into their hearts, and there was a part of her, at least, that considered Cauldron home. They’d made enemies, it was true, but also friends, allies who had helped them before, and who could be called upon again if the need arose.
And it probably would, she thought, remembering the tumultuous state of the city when they’d left.
They hadn’t found out just how long they’d been gone until days after leaving the mountains. They’d seen the signs before then, of course; the weather was a dead giveaway. But she supposed none of them had truly wanted to believe, until the people in that isolated Tethyrian village they’d stopped at had confirmed it.
By her counting, they’d spent a tenday in Redgorge and the jungles near the Demonskar, and maybe another tenday in Occipitus. The time spent in the latter locale was more difficult to quantify, but certainly not much greater than her estimate.
Only they’d learned that four months had passed here, on Faerûn.
When she’d finally thought about it, it made sense, in an odd way. Her studies of the planes had revealed that the passage of time was a mutable quantity in some places away from the Prime. The others took some more convincing, but ultimately they all had to confront the reality of what had happened.
“We need to get back to Cauldron,” Arun had said.
“If it even still be there,” Hodge opined.
But then, on the borders of Tethyr, they’d had to confront a choice. The southern road along the Alamirs was a long and difficult one, and they were in need of both weapons and supplies. Their clothes and armor were in terrible shape, the former in tatters and the latter battered. They had wealth—Mole had seen that little of value over the course of their journeys had escaped her bag of holding—but it would do them no good here. Zenna had gained access to new powers, but some of that potential was not usable without the spells she wanted to add to her spellbook.
Ultimately she’d been able to prevail upon the others to agree to a diversion, to the Tethyrian city of Saradush. It took them the better part of a tenday to reach the city, but part of the logic of the trip would be the availability of good horses that would speed their return to Cauldron.
After spending so much time in the relatively small city of Cauldron, Saradush was a boiling jumble of people and activity. Summer lent a frenetic activity to the place, although the stifling heat of the afternoon put something of a damper on the otherwise constant bustle of its markets. With Mole and Dannel taking the lead, they found willing buyers for the various items they’d acquired in their recent adventures, and plenty of others eager to relieve them of that wealth.
Zenna’s first priority was to gain new spells for her book, and she quickly secured new scrolls and the inks and other ingredients needed to transfer them. She met several powerful mages with whom she spent hours in conversation and discussion, and even another priest of Azuth, a half-elven woman who seemed impressed by her rapid rise to power at such a relatively young age. The days passed quickly, too quickly, and despite the eagerness of her friends to be on their way another tenday passed before she was ready to depart. Even then she often looked over the additional scrolls she carried, powerful magics they’d found at Vaprak’s Voice, spells that she could not yet cast, but which someday, she was confident she would be able to grasp.
But the others had not spent their time idly. One of the first things they’d accomplished was the restoration of Arun’s crippled hand. Poorer by a donation of nearly a thousand gold pieces to the temple of Lathander, they departed with a two-handed paladin.
Even with that cost, and the thousands of gold that Zenna was using to buy and transcribe new spells, they still had a fair amount of coin to spend. They had a number of extra weapons that they sold for decent profits, including the wounding spear they’d taken from the succubus, Morgan’s old bastard sword, and the two magical lanterns. Although the primary purpose of those last items was now meaningless, they still bore a potent aura, and functioned quite well as magical flails. Arun did not forget about the evil-tainted dagger that Mole had taken, and he insisted that they destroy rather than sell that item. The paladin also insisted upon keeping the extra holy sword that they carried, stating that he would much rather prefer to see it conferred upon a group that would put it to proper use—such as the Temple of Helm in Cauldron—rather than trading it in a marketplace like just another magical trinket.
Mole grumbled a bit at the coin lost by such niceties, but even so they had a considerable cache to spend. Dannel found via a few covert inquiries a dealer who possessed a fabulous weapon, a magical bow that imparted electrical energy to each missile it fired. The cost was extravagant, but after witnessing the elf’s marksmanship against the orcs, they all agreed to pitch in part of their shares to enable the purchase. They also applied the full pressure of the group to force Arun to acquire a non-magical bow. The paladin grumbled about dwarves and “elvish weapons,” but Zenna’s logic was ultimately too straightforward: they often engaged enemies at a distance, and the ability to hurt a foe at range was too useful an ability to snub. The dwarf ultimately gave in, and although his shots were nowhere near as smooth or as accurate as Dannel’s, he surprised them all with his ability to drive arrows through practice targets.
Mole acquired a new rapier and some magical gloves that enhanced her agility somewhat. Hodge got a new shield, and finally, they all agreed to collectively finance the recharging of their healing wands, an essential purchase for people in their line of work. Arun spent time repairing their weapons, and he modified the ornate plate armor they’d taken from the slain lich into a form suitable for Hodge to wear. The dwarf complained at first about having a yet heavier burden, but he soon adjusted, and they sold his old battered suit of banded armor and used the proceeds to acquire the fine horses that they now rode.
Zenna and Dannel’s relationship had slipped back into a more or less stable détente. The others, Mole in particular, were frustrated by the inability of their friends to overcome the gap that still remained between them, given their obvious feelings for each other. But Zenna still had her own issues, and one of the first things Dannel had done on reaching Saradush was to disappear for the better part of a day and a half. He didn’t share with them what he’d been up to, and Zenna immediately suspected that he’d been contacting his friends in the Harpers. The incident renewed the chill between them, but at least there was no open conflict, and each took it as a given that the other would be present when they rode south again.
So much had happened, and they didn’t really know what to expect, now that they had made it back. Upon realizing her most recent elevation in magical power Zenna had prepared a sending to notify Jenya that they were alive and returning, but the response had been too brief to really convey anything meaningful. Zenna watched the black walls draw nearer, and wondered what challenges lay ahead.
NEXT: “SECRETS OF THE SOUL PILLARS”
Lazybones
Adventurer
The Shackled City
Book VI: "Secrets of the Soul Pillars"
* * * * *
Chapter 244
Two men met in a darkened room. The only illumination came from a struggling candle in a golden censer laid atop a small stone table decorated with a rich red velvet cloth. The light was not strong enough to reveal more of the chamber, but neither of the two men required additional light to see. They knew each other, that was clear by the way they carried themselves, but there was also a tension between them.
Each man radiated power, but otherwise they seemed total opposites. One was tall, broad of shoulder and muscular, if somewhat bulging about his gut. He was clad in plate armor that was clearly well-crafted, by the way it fit about him like a second skin. The other was slight and was clad in very expensively cut fabrics, and there was at least a pound of gold laid about him as decoration, and the stones on the rings he wore on his fingers were the kind that could feed and house a man comfortably for a year. He looked to be of half-elvish ancestry, and he moved with a subtle grace, as if each step he took had been thought over and prepared at some earlier time in advance.
The armored man overwhelmed the other fellow in physical presence, but the faint light caused the beads of sweat on his brow to glisten, and when the dandy turned, the pale light seemed to catch in his eyes, glimmering as ten tiny motes that danced merrily within those cold orbs.
“Those troublesome adventurers have returned to Cauldron,” the half-elf said.
“Yes... yes, I had heard that,” the armored man replied. “They have active dealings with Urikas at the Temple of Helm, and we have been watching them for some time.”
“They have grown beyond themselves, too quickly,” the other replied. “Matters rapidly approach a critical phase. They must be dealt with, now.”
The armored man seemed to stumble over his words slightly. “But... Embril Aloustinai, she is not here...”
The half-elf pursed his lips slightly. “Yes, I know that. In her absence, you will have to provide leadership, Ike Iverson.”
“Yes, of course, my lord Vhalantru... but...”
The smaller man strode around the armored figure, almost casually. “Your organization has benefited greatly from our arrangement, cleric. This does not seem like too much to ask... is it?”
He’d suddenly come to a stop behind the armored man, but Iverson did not turn. “No, my lord. I will see to it personally.”
“Excellent.” The half-elf resumed his strides and soon faced the other again. “I knew those fools would be trouble, when I first saw them in Kazmojen’s bazaar.”
The other man did not respond.
The half-elf laughed. “They have come far fast, those outlanders. But it is time for their adventuring careers to come to a sudden, and painful, end...”
Book VI: "Secrets of the Soul Pillars"
* * * * *
Chapter 244
Two men met in a darkened room. The only illumination came from a struggling candle in a golden censer laid atop a small stone table decorated with a rich red velvet cloth. The light was not strong enough to reveal more of the chamber, but neither of the two men required additional light to see. They knew each other, that was clear by the way they carried themselves, but there was also a tension between them.
Each man radiated power, but otherwise they seemed total opposites. One was tall, broad of shoulder and muscular, if somewhat bulging about his gut. He was clad in plate armor that was clearly well-crafted, by the way it fit about him like a second skin. The other was slight and was clad in very expensively cut fabrics, and there was at least a pound of gold laid about him as decoration, and the stones on the rings he wore on his fingers were the kind that could feed and house a man comfortably for a year. He looked to be of half-elvish ancestry, and he moved with a subtle grace, as if each step he took had been thought over and prepared at some earlier time in advance.
The armored man overwhelmed the other fellow in physical presence, but the faint light caused the beads of sweat on his brow to glisten, and when the dandy turned, the pale light seemed to catch in his eyes, glimmering as ten tiny motes that danced merrily within those cold orbs.
“Those troublesome adventurers have returned to Cauldron,” the half-elf said.
“Yes... yes, I had heard that,” the armored man replied. “They have active dealings with Urikas at the Temple of Helm, and we have been watching them for some time.”
“They have grown beyond themselves, too quickly,” the other replied. “Matters rapidly approach a critical phase. They must be dealt with, now.”
The armored man seemed to stumble over his words slightly. “But... Embril Aloustinai, she is not here...”
The half-elf pursed his lips slightly. “Yes, I know that. In her absence, you will have to provide leadership, Ike Iverson.”
“Yes, of course, my lord Vhalantru... but...”
The smaller man strode around the armored figure, almost casually. “Your organization has benefited greatly from our arrangement, cleric. This does not seem like too much to ask... is it?”
He’d suddenly come to a stop behind the armored man, but Iverson did not turn. “No, my lord. I will see to it personally.”
“Excellent.” The half-elf resumed his strides and soon faced the other again. “I knew those fools would be trouble, when I first saw them in Kazmojen’s bazaar.”
The other man did not respond.
The half-elf laughed. “They have come far fast, those outlanders. But it is time for their adventuring careers to come to a sudden, and painful, end...”
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