Happy 4th of July everyone!!
Here's the last part of session II. Enjoy!!
------------------
Session II (Part 6)
As Kelec stammered out the last of his story, the stunted one-eyed Master’s face did little to betray whether the dwarf’s half-tale was to be believed or not.
After a few moments of thought, a seeming eternity for Kelec, the Master finally said, “Very well then. It seems you came upon my little operation with relatively good intentions. You merely sought to rescue a “damsel in distress” and make some money for yourself while doing that.”
“Yes….that’s it in a nutshell Master,” the relieved druid replied.
“That’s good my dear Kelec,” The Master said, and then continued in a preachy, arrogant tone, “Honest working men….even common mercenaries are rare in this world. Much too rare I think. Corruption, decadence, and vanity are becoming the norm. The world is rotting from the insides, and I think that soon…soon..”
Janne interrupted, “Excuse me Wise Master, but I think the others have been gone for quite some time, they might be in trouble.”
“What!? Oh yes, I lost myself for a second, thank you my dear. That’s right, Kelec, you and Gorbag shall come with me. Your last companion is out there. Hopefully you can help me find him, so that he will see the error of attacking my camp. Janne you wait here, it could be dangerous.”
“Yes my Master, but please be careful,” the woman said with a zealous passion burning in her eyes.
“Don’t worry my pretty, my death matters not. Everything is nearly finished; all of our plans are close to fruition.”
As he turned to go, Kelec asked one last time for permission to check on Gareth. Surprisingly, the Master relented, and told the dwarf to “be quick about it.” As the dwarf made his way back to the hovel, the Master told Janne to also go to the hovel and find a few torches for him to take along for patrol.
The dwarf entered the hut alongside Janne. Kelec saw that the shack was packed with clutter and was illuminated by a single hooded lantern, hanging from the rafters. Two buckets were nailed to walls in order to catch rainwater from leaks in the roof. The floor had wide gaps in the boards and in some places had rotted through leaving gaping holes that led to the dark swamp below. Some other furniture littered the room, including a small anvil that was affixed to the apron of a surprisingly large fieldstone firestone. Gareth’s broken form was sprawled beside this stonework, with his limbs bent unnaturally, looking for all the world like a dead beggar cast into a ditch. The man’s face was covered in blood and filth, and his eyes stared lifelessly toward the ceiling of the hovel.
The normally stoic Kelec, sighed sadly, and bent over the Mytherian’s corpse. The form lying before him looked nothing like the dapper, fastidious nobleman he had met only a day before. As Kelec was about to close Gareth’s eyes for the last time, the dwarf was surprised to feel a slight breath coming from the man’s mouth. He quickly felt Gareth’s pulse, and sure enough, there was a faint, yet steady throb.
Gareth was alive, if tenuously.
Kelec looked over his shoulder at Janne and said sadly, “Aye the poor lad be dead. I think it proper if I say a quick prayer for his soul…..uh…he was a spiritual one this one.”
Janne, who was intently searching the hovel for torches, acidly replied, “Do what you will, but such sentiments are a mere crutch for the weak in the face of the cleansing fires of The Great Eye.”
The dwarf looked at the woman as if she were mad, but said nothing in reply. He wasn’t sure if he knew how to reply to such a strange, bone-chilling statement anyway. Instead he quietly began chanting a string of non-sequiter but solemn sounding Dendar words. He waited until he was sure that Janne wasn’t watching him carefully, and then intoned a cure light wounds spell on his gravely wounded companion, hoping against all hope that the words of the spell would be disguised as part of false prayer.
Once the spell was cast, he immediately put all of his strength into holding down the Mytherian’s shoulders and head. Kelec also made sure that one of his hands was covering Gareth’s eyes.
As Kelec had anticipated, Gareth tried to instinctively stir after the spell had been cast, and even as he struggled to suppress the wounded man’s movement, he cried mournfully, “He’s really dead!! Please rest well Gareth! You poor dead bastard!”
The revived noble quickly understood, and stopped moving.
Kelec stood back up and nervously glanced at Janne. The Mytherian woman didn’t seem aware of what had happened, and was completely fooled by the dwarf’s cries of mock grief. She was too busy poking through a crate that sat on the opposite side of the hovel from Kelec and Gareth still looking for a torch.
“Well I guess that’s that, I’m ready to go,” the dwarf proclaimed, and then looking down at his “dead” companion added, “I guess I can tend to his funeral arrangements when….uh…me, and Gorbag get back from……uh…finding my other friend.”
After another moment, the oblivious Janne found two torches deep in the shipping crate she had been searching, and handed both to Kelec.
Torches in hand, Kelec rejoined Gorbag and their new Master by the stone wall that guarded the bridge on to this island. The Master had Kelec light one of the torches, and bade the dwarf give it to Gorbag. The other torch the Master put in his belt for later use.
With that done, the three men left to search for the other guards.
Kelec was greatly relieved that the Master had forgotten to tell Gorbag and himself recover their weapons. The dwarf was still worried however, the charmed orc was still quite formidable without his sword.
---------------------
Li Hai was careful in disposing of the three corpses, having dumped them unceremoniously into the swamp. His confidence had been bolstered by the ease with which he took out the three guards, and he had all but forgotten the stiffness in his joints that had been brought on by the giant bee sting from before.
He was as of yet, unwounded, and was operating under the assumption that he alone would have to deal with the rest of the men in the swamp. He had crept back to the island adjacent to the island on which the Master and his men had made camp, and
He knew that the only way he could accomplish this, was by picking off a man here and a man there, until he had slowly whittled down the enemy, until it was just down to him and the Master. He relished the thought of that battle, but knew that he had to be careful. He still had many enemies to go through before he could face down the strange and powerful one-eyed man.
-----------------------
It was still very dark, with dawn still many hours off, as Kelec and the Master struggled through the swamp, while Gorbag, spry even armored in chain, led the way bearing a smoldering torch.
Gorbag didn’t know where he was going, and occasionally went too far for the Master’s comfort. The Master always called the orc back.
A few times during their arduous search for the other guards and Li Hai, Kelec thought about somehow striking the one-eyed man from behind, but the dwarf could never get up the nerve. The thought of fighting both Gorbag and the Master stayed the druid’s hand.
The dwarf needed help, but no aid would be forthcoming. He hoped that Li Hai was still alive.
Li Hai of course was alive, and he had in fact witnessed the trio’s passing. The sorcerer had hidden himself amid the reeds on the island with the rusty battering ram, and his presence went undetected. Li Hai let them pass by, not risking a confrontation. He believed Gorbag and Kelec to be charmed, and he had no desire to enter a battle that badly outnumbered.
The Halthyte instead started to creep back towards the island with the camp on it. He planned to kill whoever had remained behind and then set up an ambush for the Master when he returned. Hopefully the odds would be more in his favor then.
Kelec, Gorbag, and the Master meanwhile, continued through the swamp. They soon left the battering ram island, and plodded on to the island with the nest-crowned gargoyle statue.
As they neared the statue, Kelec grew nervous. He suspected that the Master knew about the secret cache of potions that he had found buried beneath it.
Kelec’s fears were proved right when the Master gleefully turned off the path and headed immediately towards the statue.
It only took a few seconds for the small man to uncover the box, and it was but a split second before the Master had opened the small strongbox only to find it empty.
“Arggh, What is this!? Where are my potions?!” the Master roared.
He quickly started pushing through the mud around the statue in the vain hope that the potions had somehow been moved.
Kelec meanwhile was already backing a few feet away, uncertain of what to do. He merely watched the Master, while stoking his dingy beard nervously.
“Where are they?! I need those potions! I’m wounded!” the Master cried, even as he put his hands to the wound on his back from Li Hai’s well-aimed crossbow bolt.
Exasperated, the Master stood up and wheeled around towards Kelec.
“You know where they are don’t you?! Tell me! I checked on them two days ago!” the Master moved towards Kelec with a murderous look in his eye.
Kelec was backing up with gritted teeth, “Wait Master, I don’t know what you’re talking about…..uh one of your men must have…..um….taken them. Maybe they were wounded.”
“You’re lying! I can see it in your face! Answer me now slave!”
Kelec, grasping at straws for a way out, shouted, “I…I..don’t know where the freakin’ potions are okay!?!”
The Master was nearly on top of Kelec, when the calm, oft-forgotten Gorbag chimed in and said, “Hey Masta, I know where dem drinks be.”
The stumpy Master spun around and said, “What!? You do!? Where are they!?”
“Uh…Kelec….I thinks…you….gave one to Gareth and one to Li Hai.” replied the orc, who then helpfully added, “Silly Kelec, you must a forgot dat right?”
Before the Master could even react, Kelec screamed at Gorbag, “You stupid bastard!! You’ve f*cked both us!”
Even as Gorbag stood there dumbfounded at the druid’s scornful words, the Master drew a wicked looking curved dagger out from under his ratty cloak and charged towards Kelec.
Kelec quickly uttered a minor spell, which caused a burst of light to erupt directly in front of the Master face, and then took off at top speed off the path, into the thick waving swamp reeds.
The flare had little affect on the Master beyond giving the dwarf a quick diversion, and barely a moment after Kelec had left the swamp path, the twisted man turned and ordered Gorbag to capture him.
Gorbag, still stinging from Kelec’s angry words, tried his best to do what he was told, but wasn’t able to catch Kelec before the dwarf had pushed his way through the reeds and jumped headfirst into the murky waters of the swamp.
The orc, long afraid of water, and dimly aware that his armor would cause him to sink like a stone, stopped on the edge of the island dumbly watching Kelec swim away from land.
Once the Master realized what had happened, he shouted to Gorbag and said, “Come back here orc! That villain is as good as dead anyway without a horsemint salve.” (10)
“What you want me to do then Masta?” the orc asked obediently.
“Bah everything’s near ruin thanks to all of you! The only thing I can do now is try and unleash my vengeance on Cherry Knoll. I’m still in danger. The archer is still out there.”
The Master pondered his situation for a few more moments, and then turned to his charmed orc and said, “Gorbag, do you know if your companions did anything to the Floodgate when you first came into the swamp?”
Gorbag could barely understand question, and just shrugged.
The Master angrily cursed and then said, “It matters not, I hopefully can fix whatever sabotages they’ve delivered upon my creation. Follow me orc.”
“Uh, yessir.”
That said, Gorbag followed the Master towards the Floodgate with torch in hand.
---------------------
Back on the island with the derelict shack, Gareth was easily able to surprise Janne and quickly subdue her after Kelec, Gorbag, and the Master had left for their patrol.
By the time Li Hai returned to the island after seeing the trio pass him by on the path, Gareth had already consumed the healing potion from the Master’s secret cache, and then started questioning Janne.
Li Hai crept up into the shack and found Gareth sitting on a small stool with his long sword idly held at the woman’s throat. Li Hai, though surprised to find his companion still living, moved into the shack and sarcastically asked, “So this is how you noble types tame your women eh?”
Sporting a somewhat shamed look on his face, Gareth simply said, “Things got pretty harry there for a while aye? Heh, good to see that your still alive Li Hai!”
The Halthyte just sneered and coolly answered, “I wish I could say as much for you, you spineless whelp. Your plan is the reason for this whole…”
“Now now enough of that!” Gareth interrupted, “There’s no harms done, Kelec’s okay (he healed me for Saints’ sake), you’re okay, and I’m sure that Gorbag’s okay. So let’s just let the past remain ….the …uh…past.”
“You’re an idiot,” Li Hai hissed, and then began rummaging though the shack looking for something to help fight the Master and his still charmed companions.
-------------------
An hour passed and night still clung to the area mercilessly. Kelec was able to figure out where the Master and Gorbag were heading, and he decided that the most direct way to the Floodgate would be to swim there.
Thanks to his tireless stamina, Kelec was able to swim nearly the length of the swamp by the time the Master and Gorbag were anyway near the Floodgate.
At one point during his hard swim, Kelec was nearly swallowed hole by a monstrous catfish that inhabited the dark waters of the swamp. By some act of dumb luck, Kelec managed to punch the beast right between the eyes just before he was consumed. His exacting blow was enough to make the fish lose its appetite, and it swam away to find something a bit less troublesome. (11)
Kelec was able to beat the pair to the Floodgate, but by the time he was able to hear them coming, he found himself unable to do much if anything to damage the Floodgate.
The dwarf was still unarmed, and even if he had had a cutting blade or something along those lines, he wasn’t sure he’d know how to disable the Floodgate. To the dwarf, it looked like the huge dam would almost certainly burst if any rope, pulley, or mechanism were sabotaged.
He couldn’t make heads or tales of the construction without a lot more time.
Therefore, just moments before he would have been spotted by the Master and Gorbag, Kelec ducked into the concealing reeds of the swamp. Hope was his only ally.
--------------------
“Finally, we’re here.” the Master announced in a tired voice. Both Gorbag and the Master had run through the mucky swamp trail to reach the Floodgate. The Master, old and relatively out of shape, was exhausted from the trek.
Gorbag was still feeling fine, and seemed almost invigorated from the run.
After a few more seconds of catching his breath, the Master moved towards the complex Floodgate, and started checking all of the pulleys and woodwork to see if they’d been tampered with.
A few minutes passed as the one-eyed man meticulously checked the dam.
Kelec still lay in wait ready for any advantageous moment to attack, while Gorbag stood beside the bridge barely paying attention to what was going on as usual. The orc stood dangerously close to Kelec’s hiding place, and it was only thanks to the warrior’s sheer stupidity that Kelec wasn’t spotted.
Finally after much careful investigation, the Master smiled wickedly and in a very anti-climatic move, simply moved to a small winch near the center of the Floodgate’s eastern bridgeway, pulled out his curved dagger, and cut the thick rope that was wrapped tightly around the winch.
A flurry of motion rumbled through the entire complex as the dam’s gates were lowered and the great held-back force of the swamp spilled through, hurdling towards Cherry Knoll miles away.
Kelec cursed quietly and then forced himself out of concealment and charged past the idle Gorbag and barreled into a very stunned Master.
It was a bitter fight, with Kelec desperately struggling to wrest the dagger away from the Master, while at the same time trying to avoid several well placed blows from Gorbag, whom the Master had ordered to help fight off the lone dwarf.
Gorbag was able to punch Kelec solidly in the face on two occasions, but the doughty dwarf was able to overcome the exhausted Master and keep more or less away from Gorbag, who was vainly trying to separate the pair, even as he was trying not to hurt Kelec that much. (12)
In the end, Kelec managed to push the Master against the wall on the bridge that overlooked the deep, now churning waters of the swamp. After a hard punch into the Master’s gut, Kelec was able to grab the dagger away.
Now armed, Kelec stabbed the one-eyed Master in the chest, and was able to heave the Master over the side of the bridge, even as he had the prescience to grab the master's strange charm medallion from around his neck even as the battered man fell over towards the water below.
The Master now exhausted, bleeding, and pummeled, lost consciousness as soon as he hit the surface of the swamp, and then sunk like a rock.
He died right there even as his limp form was pushed through the open gates of the dam. His corpse was sent swiftly downriver, not to be seen again.
Kelec meanwhile was still in grave danger, because Gorbag finally lost what little compassion he had for the dwarf. The orc cried angrily several times about “his Master being hurt” or Kelec being “mean, bad man.”
Thus, with the Floodgate open and spilling forth the pent up strength of the swamp towards Cherry Knoll, Kelec was forced to flee or risk getting smashed to bits by Gorbag.
End of Session II
------------------------
Endnotes:
(10) A horsemint plant is native to the lands around Cherry Knoll, and the Master had brewed special salves that when applied to the skin made a person unpalatable to the giant catfish as well as leeches who inhabit the local swamp.
(11) I ruled that Kelec, as a druid, would know that big fish, such as the catfish, would probably leave a person alone if a solid punch was applied to their nose area. I took that idea from what little I know about sharks in the real world.
(12) Gorbag takes no pleasure from killing, and was trying hard not to hurt Kelec too bad. Thus during the battle between the Master and Kelec, the orc was attacking with several negative modifiers based his desire not to hurt Kelec.
