Struggle and Strife- A scarred lands storyhour
- Thread starter Lars Frehse
- Start date
Lars Frehse
First Post
One of the two Asaathi now cast a spell, and the amphora was covered with grease and it slipped out of Niklas's hand. The other one placed himself in front of the spellcaster, brandishing his scimitar and blocking the doorway.
Ben started shouting, waking the others up and Niklas dived for the amphora, but before he could reach it, it flew towards the far Asaathi, moving through the air as if carried by an invisible hand.
Now, Ben pulled out his sling and shot a bullet at the Asaath in the doorway, missing him and Niklas charged him. The Asaath dodged the blow and tried to bite the monk, and greenish spittle spew forth as his jaws snapped close on thin air.
Torn grabbed his mace and ran towards the window, and not bothering to open it, he jumped through it, glass shards exploding outwards along with him. By now, the Asaath who was holding the Amphora ran into the night, his body almost parallel to the ground, and soon Torn realized that he wasn't able to catch up with the creature.
The other one, who was now keeping Niklas and Jan at bay, turned around, parrying another one of Jan's swordstrokes and ran into the night as well. And as suddenly as the lizardlike creatures had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, as suddenly they were gone again, and the night looked as if the intruders had never been there.
Ben blinked, and all of a sudden it felt as if two iron hands were pinching his eyes closed. As each of the other ones blinked they felt the same sensation. Helpless they were forced to stare at the back of their eyelids, which turned into screens for a horrible projection.
Right in front of their closed eyes, bathed in flames, they saw a majestic figure in a white toga. His eyes were burning with rage and sadness and the scepter in his hand, like his sandals were splattered with blood. They all recognized him right away: It was Chardun the Slaver, himself.
Chardun spoke to them, and his voice was exploding in their heads: "Fools! You have lost that which is mine. Now you will go and regain it or die while attempting to do so. There is no choice for you. You will be on your way as soon as the sun rises."
Then, the vision was gone, but everytime they blinked, they saw an afterimage of the god. Like the sun left a reminder of itself on the eye when you stare at it for too long, so did the radiant deity burn itself into the eyes of those who he had chosen.
As they gathered on the square in front of the hut, Trepat's raven returned and reported that he had watched the two intruders gather with four others of their specie. "Kraa!", he continued: " Then, they ran down along the shore of the river".
By now, villagers who had been woken up by the ruckus were gathering in the square as well, and Torn frowned:" We will definetly need horses to keep up with these beings. They are fast as lightning.".
As they were debating, Radraan approached the square. He was visibly shaken. Sweat was running down his forehead and his near constant smile of the day had disappeared and was replaced by an expression of sheer terror. His eyes were wide open and it looked as if he was avoiding to close his eyes at all costs.
He walked up to Jan, who he seemed to consider to be the leader of the party and said:" I, I had a visitation... I know you will need horses soon. My helper, he is getting horses for you right now. Oh, some of you are wounded. Let me tend to their wounds.".
He healed the wounds and then, after bowing reverently, he walked off. Ben stayed with the poisoned Ranger as the others tried to catch some sleep. Just before dawn, a young apprentice of Radraan walked up to the cottage and handed over five horses.
At dawn, Ben woke his friends up, and after they had made certain that Phuram Dayal, the mayor, and Jonegar would help the Vigilant until he had recovered in peace, they set off to follow the trail of the Asaathi.
Picking up the trail was easy. Apparently, the titanspawn were travelling as fastly as possible and not taking too much care to remain secretive. After a few hours, they reached a shallow part of the river where they crossed it. There, the trail lead into the hills up ahead.
"The Blod Steppes", Torn said.
They all sat on horseback and Torn explained:" My father told me about this place. He said that it is named that way, since over and over armies clashed here, soaking the land with blood. I think there is even a titan or two supposed to have been defeated here...
"Anyway, not even the Calastians have tried to conquer this place. All there is are strange plants and titanspawn...".
Niklas nodded darkly: " It is not as if we have much of a choice...".
And so, they dug their heels into the flanks of their horses and proceeded into this unknown terrain. As the day passed by, the trail lead them over rolling hills , past weird rock formations and ever westwards, deeper and deeper into the Blood Steppes.
At night, they made camp on a hill. They talked for a little while about the events of the last two days and then, they planned their watch: They would have two double watches and Ben, who had taken care of the Ranger throughout the previous night, would sleep through.
So, Jan and Trepat stayed awake, talking silently, and the other three fell into a deep and exhausted sleep. Over them, the nameless orb was shining, so that even Jan was able to see in the night. Then, towards the end of their watch, after midnight, Trepat heard the sound of a snapping twig in the underbrush. He motioned Jan to listen, and now they both heard moaning and grunting noises from behind some bushes in their back. Both jumped up, and facing the bushes, they woke up their sleeping friends, who grabbed their weapons.
They stood up, and now, five zombies broke through the bushes. Their rotting flesh was clad in rusty armor and they were wearing old weapons. Once, in a war long forgotten by now, those five had been soldiers in a large army. They had gotten killed in a battle that had seemed of utmost importance back then. Their corpses had been thrown into a bog and after centuries the wickedness and cruelty of the land surrounding them had filled them with an unholy unlife.
They battled fiercly on the campsite, and the heroes were able to use their agility and speed against their undead opponents. And then, all of the Zombies were hacked to pieces. The friends now cleaned up the site, and after making sure that there weren't any more of the undead near, and after the excitement of battle had vaporated, Jan, Trepat and Ben layed down to get some well needed sleep.
On the next day at noon, the trail lead to a small clearing under a so called "fang"- a hundredfifty feet high sharp and twisted spire of rock. There, it seemed as if the asaathi had had a camp in the previous night.
All of the heroes dismounted, and they examined the fireplace and the tracks. Then, Trepat, who was standing close to some scrub bushes, shouted:"Come here, I think I found something!".
They walked to the bushes and now they saw it, too: There, dragged away from the main site and abandoned under some bushes lay an Asaathi. Ben recognized him as the one who had cast the greasing spell on the Amphora. His golden eyes were no longer shining with a hating intellect- they were, like the rest of him, quite dead.
Ben started shouting, waking the others up and Niklas dived for the amphora, but before he could reach it, it flew towards the far Asaathi, moving through the air as if carried by an invisible hand.
Now, Ben pulled out his sling and shot a bullet at the Asaath in the doorway, missing him and Niklas charged him. The Asaath dodged the blow and tried to bite the monk, and greenish spittle spew forth as his jaws snapped close on thin air.
Torn grabbed his mace and ran towards the window, and not bothering to open it, he jumped through it, glass shards exploding outwards along with him. By now, the Asaath who was holding the Amphora ran into the night, his body almost parallel to the ground, and soon Torn realized that he wasn't able to catch up with the creature.
The other one, who was now keeping Niklas and Jan at bay, turned around, parrying another one of Jan's swordstrokes and ran into the night as well. And as suddenly as the lizardlike creatures had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, as suddenly they were gone again, and the night looked as if the intruders had never been there.
Ben blinked, and all of a sudden it felt as if two iron hands were pinching his eyes closed. As each of the other ones blinked they felt the same sensation. Helpless they were forced to stare at the back of their eyelids, which turned into screens for a horrible projection.
Right in front of their closed eyes, bathed in flames, they saw a majestic figure in a white toga. His eyes were burning with rage and sadness and the scepter in his hand, like his sandals were splattered with blood. They all recognized him right away: It was Chardun the Slaver, himself.
Chardun spoke to them, and his voice was exploding in their heads: "Fools! You have lost that which is mine. Now you will go and regain it or die while attempting to do so. There is no choice for you. You will be on your way as soon as the sun rises."
Then, the vision was gone, but everytime they blinked, they saw an afterimage of the god. Like the sun left a reminder of itself on the eye when you stare at it for too long, so did the radiant deity burn itself into the eyes of those who he had chosen.
As they gathered on the square in front of the hut, Trepat's raven returned and reported that he had watched the two intruders gather with four others of their specie. "Kraa!", he continued: " Then, they ran down along the shore of the river".
By now, villagers who had been woken up by the ruckus were gathering in the square as well, and Torn frowned:" We will definetly need horses to keep up with these beings. They are fast as lightning.".
As they were debating, Radraan approached the square. He was visibly shaken. Sweat was running down his forehead and his near constant smile of the day had disappeared and was replaced by an expression of sheer terror. His eyes were wide open and it looked as if he was avoiding to close his eyes at all costs.
He walked up to Jan, who he seemed to consider to be the leader of the party and said:" I, I had a visitation... I know you will need horses soon. My helper, he is getting horses for you right now. Oh, some of you are wounded. Let me tend to their wounds.".
He healed the wounds and then, after bowing reverently, he walked off. Ben stayed with the poisoned Ranger as the others tried to catch some sleep. Just before dawn, a young apprentice of Radraan walked up to the cottage and handed over five horses.
At dawn, Ben woke his friends up, and after they had made certain that Phuram Dayal, the mayor, and Jonegar would help the Vigilant until he had recovered in peace, they set off to follow the trail of the Asaathi.
Picking up the trail was easy. Apparently, the titanspawn were travelling as fastly as possible and not taking too much care to remain secretive. After a few hours, they reached a shallow part of the river where they crossed it. There, the trail lead into the hills up ahead.
"The Blod Steppes", Torn said.
They all sat on horseback and Torn explained:" My father told me about this place. He said that it is named that way, since over and over armies clashed here, soaking the land with blood. I think there is even a titan or two supposed to have been defeated here...
"Anyway, not even the Calastians have tried to conquer this place. All there is are strange plants and titanspawn...".
Niklas nodded darkly: " It is not as if we have much of a choice...".
And so, they dug their heels into the flanks of their horses and proceeded into this unknown terrain. As the day passed by, the trail lead them over rolling hills , past weird rock formations and ever westwards, deeper and deeper into the Blood Steppes.
At night, they made camp on a hill. They talked for a little while about the events of the last two days and then, they planned their watch: They would have two double watches and Ben, who had taken care of the Ranger throughout the previous night, would sleep through.
So, Jan and Trepat stayed awake, talking silently, and the other three fell into a deep and exhausted sleep. Over them, the nameless orb was shining, so that even Jan was able to see in the night. Then, towards the end of their watch, after midnight, Trepat heard the sound of a snapping twig in the underbrush. He motioned Jan to listen, and now they both heard moaning and grunting noises from behind some bushes in their back. Both jumped up, and facing the bushes, they woke up their sleeping friends, who grabbed their weapons.
They stood up, and now, five zombies broke through the bushes. Their rotting flesh was clad in rusty armor and they were wearing old weapons. Once, in a war long forgotten by now, those five had been soldiers in a large army. They had gotten killed in a battle that had seemed of utmost importance back then. Their corpses had been thrown into a bog and after centuries the wickedness and cruelty of the land surrounding them had filled them with an unholy unlife.
They battled fiercly on the campsite, and the heroes were able to use their agility and speed against their undead opponents. And then, all of the Zombies were hacked to pieces. The friends now cleaned up the site, and after making sure that there weren't any more of the undead near, and after the excitement of battle had vaporated, Jan, Trepat and Ben layed down to get some well needed sleep.
On the next day at noon, the trail lead to a small clearing under a so called "fang"- a hundredfifty feet high sharp and twisted spire of rock. There, it seemed as if the asaathi had had a camp in the previous night.
All of the heroes dismounted, and they examined the fireplace and the tracks. Then, Trepat, who was standing close to some scrub bushes, shouted:"Come here, I think I found something!".
They walked to the bushes and now they saw it, too: There, dragged away from the main site and abandoned under some bushes lay an Asaathi. Ben recognized him as the one who had cast the greasing spell on the Amphora. His golden eyes were no longer shining with a hating intellect- they were, like the rest of him, quite dead.
Lars Frehse
First Post
Thank you for the feedback!
As you see, I made some minor modifications to the original adventure, but then I think every DM does that with an adventure that comes "out of the box".
Oh, and I think I forgot to mention earlier: You can download this excellent adventure at: www.scarredlands.com .
In spite of being for free, it is more fun then a lot of adventures I had paid money for in the past, so I highly recommend it.
As you see, I made some minor modifications to the original adventure, but then I think every DM does that with an adventure that comes "out of the box".
Oh, and I think I forgot to mention earlier: You can download this excellent adventure at: www.scarredlands.com .
In spite of being for free, it is more fun then a lot of adventures I had paid money for in the past, so I highly recommend it.
SSS-Druid
First Post
Lars Frehse said:
That is to say, it's available at www.swordsorcery.com , under the free downloads.
Enjoy!
Lars Frehse
First Post
Serpent Amphora part 5
Ben went on his knees and examined the corpse: "Hmmmm. There are no wounds. No evidence that any weapon was used. Wait!".
He pointed at a part of the Asaath's chest that had been burnt:" Maybe magic. Looks like some form of an energy attack.".
Jan scratched his beard:" I wonder whether it was another Asaath who had killed him...".
"I don't think so", Trepat said. He was back at the campsite and was pointing to some tracks:"There was another creature here. From the looks of this camp, this creature had been waiting here for quite a while. I think I even recognize the footprints: it looks like those of a rat. But this rat walked on two legs and was the size of a man!".
The friends examined the tracks and came to a conclusion, that this bipedal creature with rat feet had confronted the Asaathi here, and after a little commotion, it had marched on together with the five remaining Asaathi. Not wanting to waste any valuable daylight the heroes now mounted their horses again and rode on in pursuit of the tracks.
They rode on until the sun set, and then, by now deep in the Blood Steppes, they settled down for yet another night. All of them were exhausted, and in spite of the horrible encounter last night, they decided to go for single watches this time. After all, now, merely a month before summer solstice, the nights were too short for a good sleep already...
Late at night, Trepat, who had the midnight watch, was humming a song, as he noticed something small moving close to Niklas. Taking it for a hedgehog or some other harmless animal, he nonetheless got up to get a closer look. He walked a few steps and gasped in surprise: The small being approaching Niklas was neither a hedgehog nor any other animal. Instead, Trepat saw a tiny puppet that was made from sticks, leaves and stones. The puppet stretched out it's hand, reaching out for the sleeping human and Trepat shouted out a warning.
Niklas jerked awake as the puppet touched him and immediatly, electricity raced through his body, almost knocking him out cold. Woken up by the commotion, Torn and Jan now saw that they too were being approached by similar puppets. They jumped up, and, after some of them got shocked by the tiny creatures, they were able to hack and stomp the puppets into the parts they were made of.
Looking around, they saw that the saddlebags next to one of the horses were opened. It looked as if the strange puppets had crawled out of them.
Carefully touching the remnants of one of the puppets with the tip of his sword, Jan asked: "But when and where did they get in there?"
Torn answered:" The only logical possibility is the Asaathi's camp. Maybe they were aware that they were being chased and either they or the "rat" had left those things behind as a little surprise. Those tiny things had plenty of chances to get into the saddlebags when we examined the campsite..."
Niklas rubbed the spot of his arm where the construct had touched him and nodded in agreement:" I am only glad you saw that thing in time, Trepat. I sure wouldn't have wanted that little devil to get a better hold of me while I was asleep!".
They checked the other saddlebags and once they were certain that there were no more of the constructs, Torn got ready for his watch and the others went back to sleep. It dawned much too early for their taste, but still they got back on horseback and resumed the hunt.
For two days they kept on riding, and thy had to settle down for sleep in dangerous terrain for two more nights. Then, on the third day after the assault of the puppets, Trepat noticed a huge, yet almost invisible net between two trees close by. He called out for his friends, and all of a sudden a web was shot from within the crown of the right tree, completely engulfing Jan and his horse who crashed to the ground, caught in the net.
The others prepared themselves for more to come as a black spider that was as big as their horses raced towards them. It attacked Niklas, biting him, and the other ones surrounded the beast. Where they hit it, green blood splattered them, but the beast was relentless. It randomly bit at it's attackers, until it was lethally wounded and broke down.
After liberating Jan and his horse from the sticky web, the friends approached the trees. Ben embraced the memories of his previous life as a spider, and he climbed up the tree with the precise and deliberate movements of a spider.
In the crown of the tree, he found the spider's nest and the mummified remnants of three animals and two humanoids. Ben dislodged those mummies from the branches that kept them in place, and they crashed to the ground.
One of the humanoids had been a goblin with six arms and spider eyes, and the other one looked exactly like a humansized rat on two legs. Excited, Torn removed the net- this have must be one of the species that had met with the Asaathi days before.
All there was left of the creature was it's dark brown fur and the skeleton. The spider must have sucked all the liquid out of her- a quick glance showed that she had been female. She wore leather clothes and in a belt, she had a dagger- apparently she hadn't been able to draw it when the spider had gotten her.
Ben focused on her neck and gently picked up an amulet that was tied to a leather string. The amulet depicted a writhing serpent and Ben said only one word: "Mormo.".
Neither one of them spoke much for the remainder of the day, and around noon on the day after, they approached another rock formation. Niklas and Torn scouted ahead, and they came to a small gulley with a cliff-face at the furthest end. There was a small waterfall and it's base there was a small lake with three small slipshod huts.
The monk and the rogue hid behind some bushes and observed the area. Now, they saw more ratmen like the dead one they had seen on the previous day. These ones, though, seemed very alive. On top of the cliff, there were two ratmen patrolling, and another two pairs were patrolling the ground. Each of them was equipped with leather armors, scimitars and crossbows.
After a while, they returned to their friends, telling them about what they had seen. One thing was clear: if they wanted to get the amphora, they would have to somehow get into this camp.
Ben went on his knees and examined the corpse: "Hmmmm. There are no wounds. No evidence that any weapon was used. Wait!".
He pointed at a part of the Asaath's chest that had been burnt:" Maybe magic. Looks like some form of an energy attack.".
Jan scratched his beard:" I wonder whether it was another Asaath who had killed him...".
"I don't think so", Trepat said. He was back at the campsite and was pointing to some tracks:"There was another creature here. From the looks of this camp, this creature had been waiting here for quite a while. I think I even recognize the footprints: it looks like those of a rat. But this rat walked on two legs and was the size of a man!".
The friends examined the tracks and came to a conclusion, that this bipedal creature with rat feet had confronted the Asaathi here, and after a little commotion, it had marched on together with the five remaining Asaathi. Not wanting to waste any valuable daylight the heroes now mounted their horses again and rode on in pursuit of the tracks.
They rode on until the sun set, and then, by now deep in the Blood Steppes, they settled down for yet another night. All of them were exhausted, and in spite of the horrible encounter last night, they decided to go for single watches this time. After all, now, merely a month before summer solstice, the nights were too short for a good sleep already...
Late at night, Trepat, who had the midnight watch, was humming a song, as he noticed something small moving close to Niklas. Taking it for a hedgehog or some other harmless animal, he nonetheless got up to get a closer look. He walked a few steps and gasped in surprise: The small being approaching Niklas was neither a hedgehog nor any other animal. Instead, Trepat saw a tiny puppet that was made from sticks, leaves and stones. The puppet stretched out it's hand, reaching out for the sleeping human and Trepat shouted out a warning.
Niklas jerked awake as the puppet touched him and immediatly, electricity raced through his body, almost knocking him out cold. Woken up by the commotion, Torn and Jan now saw that they too were being approached by similar puppets. They jumped up, and, after some of them got shocked by the tiny creatures, they were able to hack and stomp the puppets into the parts they were made of.
Looking around, they saw that the saddlebags next to one of the horses were opened. It looked as if the strange puppets had crawled out of them.
Carefully touching the remnants of one of the puppets with the tip of his sword, Jan asked: "But when and where did they get in there?"
Torn answered:" The only logical possibility is the Asaathi's camp. Maybe they were aware that they were being chased and either they or the "rat" had left those things behind as a little surprise. Those tiny things had plenty of chances to get into the saddlebags when we examined the campsite..."
Niklas rubbed the spot of his arm where the construct had touched him and nodded in agreement:" I am only glad you saw that thing in time, Trepat. I sure wouldn't have wanted that little devil to get a better hold of me while I was asleep!".
They checked the other saddlebags and once they were certain that there were no more of the constructs, Torn got ready for his watch and the others went back to sleep. It dawned much too early for their taste, but still they got back on horseback and resumed the hunt.
For two days they kept on riding, and thy had to settle down for sleep in dangerous terrain for two more nights. Then, on the third day after the assault of the puppets, Trepat noticed a huge, yet almost invisible net between two trees close by. He called out for his friends, and all of a sudden a web was shot from within the crown of the right tree, completely engulfing Jan and his horse who crashed to the ground, caught in the net.
The others prepared themselves for more to come as a black spider that was as big as their horses raced towards them. It attacked Niklas, biting him, and the other ones surrounded the beast. Where they hit it, green blood splattered them, but the beast was relentless. It randomly bit at it's attackers, until it was lethally wounded and broke down.
After liberating Jan and his horse from the sticky web, the friends approached the trees. Ben embraced the memories of his previous life as a spider, and he climbed up the tree with the precise and deliberate movements of a spider.
In the crown of the tree, he found the spider's nest and the mummified remnants of three animals and two humanoids. Ben dislodged those mummies from the branches that kept them in place, and they crashed to the ground.
One of the humanoids had been a goblin with six arms and spider eyes, and the other one looked exactly like a humansized rat on two legs. Excited, Torn removed the net- this have must be one of the species that had met with the Asaathi days before.
All there was left of the creature was it's dark brown fur and the skeleton. The spider must have sucked all the liquid out of her- a quick glance showed that she had been female. She wore leather clothes and in a belt, she had a dagger- apparently she hadn't been able to draw it when the spider had gotten her.
Ben focused on her neck and gently picked up an amulet that was tied to a leather string. The amulet depicted a writhing serpent and Ben said only one word: "Mormo.".
Neither one of them spoke much for the remainder of the day, and around noon on the day after, they approached another rock formation. Niklas and Torn scouted ahead, and they came to a small gulley with a cliff-face at the furthest end. There was a small waterfall and it's base there was a small lake with three small slipshod huts.
The monk and the rogue hid behind some bushes and observed the area. Now, they saw more ratmen like the dead one they had seen on the previous day. These ones, though, seemed very alive. On top of the cliff, there were two ratmen patrolling, and another two pairs were patrolling the ground. Each of them was equipped with leather armors, scimitars and crossbows.
After a while, they returned to their friends, telling them about what they had seen. One thing was clear: if they wanted to get the amphora, they would have to somehow get into this camp.
Lars Frehse
First Post
Chapter 7- The Struggle for the Serpent Amphora part 1
The sky darkened in the east and a storm was building up and moving towards the friends.
Ben frowned: “This doesn’t look like a natural thunderstorm, there… Whatever the cause, it is not just bad weather.”
“All the more reason for us to hurry up”, Torn said.
Niklas nodded: “What do you think? We two could try to sneak to the ratmen on top of the cliff. If we kill them, we should be able to take care of the two patrols. After all, if the Asaathi are still in that camp, I doubt we would have a chance against all of them at once.”.
The half orc stood up and fastened his axe to his belt:”Alright then, let’s go.”.
Niklas and Torn circled around the cliff, leaving their friends behind. Then, after half an hour, they had reached the top of the cliff. Carefully crawling under the protection of some bushes, they approached the two watchers. They were sitting on some smooth rocks, chatting idly. Torn and Niklas inched themselves carefully closer, and when they were mere feets away from their intended victims, they jumped up and Torn split the skull of the ratman closer to them. The other one jumped up and tried to grab his scimitar, but before he could pull his weapon, the monk and the rogue were already close to him, attacking him with axe and fists and Niklas broke the ratman’s neck with a well placed kick.
After hiding the bodies, they examined the campsite, and found nothing but a rope leading down to the main camp and a wineskin that was half full with sour wine. Then, they returned to the camp and told the others of their success.
Now, they went into the gully where they hid themselves in order to ambush one of the patrols. By now, single drops of rain where falling from the sky and in the distance, there was thunder. After a short while, one of the patrols indeed walked up to the spot where the friends where hiding.
It looked as if they were unaware of the ambush, but Niklas saw one of the ratmen nudging the other one. The humanoid rat slightly pointed his head towards where Jan was hiding and the other one nodded in agreement- some of Jan’s platemail was shining through the leaves of his hiding spot.
Now Niklas crawled over to Jan, intending to warn him without giving the entire ambush away. But before he could reach him, both ratmen had raised their crossbows and they fired bolts at the surprised paladin. Jan screamed out in pain- even though one of the bolts was deflected by his dwarven craft armor, the other one punched a hole into the plate protecting his shoulder and entered his flesh there.
Everything happened rather fast then. As the thunder roared, the ratmen reloaded their crossbolts, but as they were just shooting their next volley, Jan had raised his crossbow in turn and shot one of the ratmen into his throat. As the hit one sank to the ground, grasping for the bolt while blood was shooting from his neck, the ambushers charged the remaining ratman.
Seeing that he was surrounded, he shot his last bolt at Jan, hitting again, and then he pulled his scimitar, facing his opponents. But against the heros’ superiority in numbers, he had no chance and Niklas ran him through with his glaive.
As the friends stood over the corpses of their enemies, there was lightning which was shortly afterwards followed by thunder. The air was now rapidly getting colder and the wind was blowing stronger with each passing minute. At the same time, the rain had gotten stronger, too, and the occasional drops of rain had now been replaced by a real downpour.
Trepat wiped his wet hair out of his face: “ Let’s get the last patrol. Jan, I am sorry, but I think it would be best if you would stay behind. You are just too loud and shiny for ambushes…”.
Jan nodded in agreement and while he was taking care of his wounds, the others sneaked towards the camp.
They saw the remaining two ratmen at the edge of their encampment. They were agitated and talking with raised voices in order to be audible over the noise of the thunderstorm.
“Listen”, one said: “ Ygran and Wookas should have returned by now. And I haven’t seen Lok and Onnat up there either!”.
The other one was holding his crossbow nervously:” So, you think the Asaathi had been followed?”
“Could be. Something is foul here. And even if they are just hiding away from the rain and the “visitor”, then we can’t allow that lack of discipline. I think it would be best if I would go and tell Storm of Blood.”.
“Good. I will stay here and hold watch.”.
Not willing to wait for whoever this “Storm of Blood” was, Trepat decided to take out the messenger. But the driving rain spoiled his aim and he missed both of the ratmen, who were now fully alerted.
Both shouted:”ALARM!!!” and shot their crossbows at Trepat, but they too had problems shooting straight in the storm and missed him.
A hundred yards back, Jan heard the cry of Alarm and figuring that the time of ambushes was over, he started to run as fast as his full plate armor allowed him to towards the encampment.
The others now left their cover and charged the ratmen. A fierce battle ensued, and just as they had defeated the two ratmen, one of the huts opened and two of the Asaathi came out. Also, there were more ratmen coming from under the waterfall.
As Jan charged into the frey, a tree next to him was struck by lighning, catching fire in spite of the rain and as he was battling Asaathi and ratmen, the echo of the exploding tree was still humming in his head.
The battle was fierce, and just as it seemed that the adventurers were gaining the upper hand, Trepat noticed a figure swooping to and fro among the clouds and peals of thunder.
As the figure swooped low, all fighting ceased, since both, divine folks and titanspawn were looking up to it. Squinting in the rain, they saw that it was a vaguely feminine form some nine feet tall. Her ugly and warty face was framed by whipping and writhing hair that seemed to have a life on her own.
Her cackling was louder than the thunder and it made the blood freeze in the veins of the terror stricken heroes: “ Fool servants of the ursuper gods! Your end is at hand!”.
The sky darkened in the east and a storm was building up and moving towards the friends.
Ben frowned: “This doesn’t look like a natural thunderstorm, there… Whatever the cause, it is not just bad weather.”
“All the more reason for us to hurry up”, Torn said.
Niklas nodded: “What do you think? We two could try to sneak to the ratmen on top of the cliff. If we kill them, we should be able to take care of the two patrols. After all, if the Asaathi are still in that camp, I doubt we would have a chance against all of them at once.”.
The half orc stood up and fastened his axe to his belt:”Alright then, let’s go.”.
Niklas and Torn circled around the cliff, leaving their friends behind. Then, after half an hour, they had reached the top of the cliff. Carefully crawling under the protection of some bushes, they approached the two watchers. They were sitting on some smooth rocks, chatting idly. Torn and Niklas inched themselves carefully closer, and when they were mere feets away from their intended victims, they jumped up and Torn split the skull of the ratman closer to them. The other one jumped up and tried to grab his scimitar, but before he could pull his weapon, the monk and the rogue were already close to him, attacking him with axe and fists and Niklas broke the ratman’s neck with a well placed kick.
After hiding the bodies, they examined the campsite, and found nothing but a rope leading down to the main camp and a wineskin that was half full with sour wine. Then, they returned to the camp and told the others of their success.
Now, they went into the gully where they hid themselves in order to ambush one of the patrols. By now, single drops of rain where falling from the sky and in the distance, there was thunder. After a short while, one of the patrols indeed walked up to the spot where the friends where hiding.
It looked as if they were unaware of the ambush, but Niklas saw one of the ratmen nudging the other one. The humanoid rat slightly pointed his head towards where Jan was hiding and the other one nodded in agreement- some of Jan’s platemail was shining through the leaves of his hiding spot.
Now Niklas crawled over to Jan, intending to warn him without giving the entire ambush away. But before he could reach him, both ratmen had raised their crossbows and they fired bolts at the surprised paladin. Jan screamed out in pain- even though one of the bolts was deflected by his dwarven craft armor, the other one punched a hole into the plate protecting his shoulder and entered his flesh there.
Everything happened rather fast then. As the thunder roared, the ratmen reloaded their crossbolts, but as they were just shooting their next volley, Jan had raised his crossbow in turn and shot one of the ratmen into his throat. As the hit one sank to the ground, grasping for the bolt while blood was shooting from his neck, the ambushers charged the remaining ratman.
Seeing that he was surrounded, he shot his last bolt at Jan, hitting again, and then he pulled his scimitar, facing his opponents. But against the heros’ superiority in numbers, he had no chance and Niklas ran him through with his glaive.
As the friends stood over the corpses of their enemies, there was lightning which was shortly afterwards followed by thunder. The air was now rapidly getting colder and the wind was blowing stronger with each passing minute. At the same time, the rain had gotten stronger, too, and the occasional drops of rain had now been replaced by a real downpour.
Trepat wiped his wet hair out of his face: “ Let’s get the last patrol. Jan, I am sorry, but I think it would be best if you would stay behind. You are just too loud and shiny for ambushes…”.
Jan nodded in agreement and while he was taking care of his wounds, the others sneaked towards the camp.
They saw the remaining two ratmen at the edge of their encampment. They were agitated and talking with raised voices in order to be audible over the noise of the thunderstorm.
“Listen”, one said: “ Ygran and Wookas should have returned by now. And I haven’t seen Lok and Onnat up there either!”.
The other one was holding his crossbow nervously:” So, you think the Asaathi had been followed?”
“Could be. Something is foul here. And even if they are just hiding away from the rain and the “visitor”, then we can’t allow that lack of discipline. I think it would be best if I would go and tell Storm of Blood.”.
“Good. I will stay here and hold watch.”.
Not willing to wait for whoever this “Storm of Blood” was, Trepat decided to take out the messenger. But the driving rain spoiled his aim and he missed both of the ratmen, who were now fully alerted.
Both shouted:”ALARM!!!” and shot their crossbows at Trepat, but they too had problems shooting straight in the storm and missed him.
A hundred yards back, Jan heard the cry of Alarm and figuring that the time of ambushes was over, he started to run as fast as his full plate armor allowed him to towards the encampment.
The others now left their cover and charged the ratmen. A fierce battle ensued, and just as they had defeated the two ratmen, one of the huts opened and two of the Asaathi came out. Also, there were more ratmen coming from under the waterfall.
As Jan charged into the frey, a tree next to him was struck by lighning, catching fire in spite of the rain and as he was battling Asaathi and ratmen, the echo of the exploding tree was still humming in his head.
The battle was fierce, and just as it seemed that the adventurers were gaining the upper hand, Trepat noticed a figure swooping to and fro among the clouds and peals of thunder.
As the figure swooped low, all fighting ceased, since both, divine folks and titanspawn were looking up to it. Squinting in the rain, they saw that it was a vaguely feminine form some nine feet tall. Her ugly and warty face was framed by whipping and writhing hair that seemed to have a life on her own.
Her cackling was louder than the thunder and it made the blood freeze in the veins of the terror stricken heroes: “ Fool servants of the ursuper gods! Your end is at hand!”.
Lars Frehse
First Post
Fight for the Serpent Amphora part2 of 4
Desperate, the adventurers prepared for the hag’s attack, when suddenly the wan light of the area turned a deep purple. It was exactly the color they remembered from their vision of Chardun in Trela.
The hag now looked around in confused surprise and fear, as if searching the surroundings for an invisible foe. Then, with a clap of thunder, two devils appeared out of nowwhere. They were as tall as the hag and covered with hideous scales. Each of them was holding a giant whip in it’s hand and as they were flying with their huge wings, their snakelike tails were wiggling in the air. One devil engaged the hag and the other one dived down, hunting the scattering asaathi and ratmen.
The hag flew up into the clouds, the devil in hot pursuits, and the rest of the battle between them was hidden from the viewers on the ground, since it all seemed to happen within the clouds. The battle and the clouds, however, soon moved rapidly westwards, back to where they had come from.
Torn, who was among the Asaathi at that moment summoned all his will to get out of the murderous frenzy he had been in and ran towards his friends who were standing close to the waterfall, carefully avoiding the devil on the ground who was laughing madly as he slaughtered the Asaathi. Then, Jan and Trepat noticed two ratmen who left the cliff through a small, previously unnoticed crevace. They were both moving towards the rope that lead to the top of the cliff, and while the smaller, unarmed one positioned itself at the bottom of the rope, the other one climbed up. Trepat noticed that the climbing ratman was wearing a canvas bag through which he could see the form of the amphora.
Trepat called his friends, pointing to the Amphora, and told Nebrot, his speaking raven, to harass the climbing ratman. Meanwhile, the rat at the bottom of the rope had finished a spell that surrounded it with a multicolored energy shield.
As the adventurers were running towards the rope, Nebrot flew ahead and started picking at the climbing ratman. The climber was now unable to climb on, since he had to use one of his clawlike hands to fend off the raven while he needed the other one to stay in place- not only were the rain and the wind making it hard to climb, but the wet rope was also very slippery already.
The spellcasting rat at the bottom cast a spell which Trepat recognized- it was a magic missile, and she directed the force of the arcane energy at the raven that had been attacking her partner, killing it instantly.
As the raven plummeted to the ground, Trepat felt the pain of the death of his companion with every cell of his body. He fell on his knees in the mud, screaming out loud. For a few seconds, the pain was overbearing. Then, as soon as he was able to see again, he got up again, pulled his sword and ran towards the wizard all the while screaming in anguish and rage.
His friends were there, before him, though, and Torn went up and climbed after the ratman as his friends battled the spellcaster. She, in turn cast a spell and tried to touch Jan, but she lost her footing in the mud and fell down. Without hesitation, Jan thrust his sword down, cutting through her neck.
For Trepat that wasn’t enough. Enraged over the loss of his friend, he kept on hacking at the wet corpse that was laying in a puddle in which her blood and the rain were quickly mixing up.
Meanwhile, Torn was closing in on the escaping ratman. Further down the rope was Niklas, trying to close up, but failing to do so. By the time the ratman had reached the top of the cliff, Torn was already right behind, and before his enemy could cut the rope, he was already on his feet, facing him.
The ratman pushed Torn, trying to toss him down the cliff into his certain death, but in spite of the muddy earth on which he was standing, he was able to keep his ground and step sidewise, getting away from the onehundred feet deep drop behind him.
Both pulled their weapons now, and with a surprisingly quick attack, the ratman had slashed at Torn’s arm, drawing blood. There was thunder, and the half-orc slashed at his opponent, but the ratman had sidestepped and was now attacking with his scimitar, again wounding Torn.
The situation was getting dire now. The rain was washing his two bleeding wounds and the ratman was looking at him with cool calculation in his eyes. They were circling each other, as Torn saw Niklas’ hands on the edge of the cliff- he too had reached the top by now. Following the half-orc’s glance, the ratman now saw his hands, too, but the slight turn of his head offered Torn enough of an opening for one desperate lunge.
His axe hit the ratman right in the jaws, splitting it, and as the rodent was spitting blood, Torn finished him with another axestrike at his skull.
After Niklas had helped him stop his bleedings, they picked up the amphora and climbed back down. By now, the rat-wizard had been hacked to pieces and Jan was comforting Trepat, who sat next to his raven in the mud.
Ben cured their wounds, and they searched the camp. It indeed looked like all the inhabitants had ran away. Behind the waterfall, there was a damp cave that was full of wet furs which smelled like a wet dog. There were several niches which were filled with scraps of cloth, fur and foliage and one larger nest that had probably belonged to the leader.
They plundered it, finding gold and silver and an arcane scroll in a chest. When they were done, they saw that the rain had passed westwards with the hag, and now the sun was shining through rips and openings in the blanket of clouds. It looked like it could be a beautiful evening again.
They changed into dry clothings and then they gathered dry wood from within the huts. With it, they built a small pyre and gave the raven a hero’s funeral.
Then, they returned to their horses and set off to ride back home, since they wanted to get some space between themselves and the encampment before they would settle down for the night’s rest.
During the next days, they saw gigantic beetles, spider and other monstrous vermin, but since they were careful, they avoided those. At one point, they almost ran into a group of goblins, but deciding it was wiser to make no contact on their way out of blood stepped, they rode in a wide arch, remaining undetected by the titanspawn, as well.
At nights, they had to deal with giant centipedes and other oversized nasties, but fortunately, they encountered no undead or ratmen. Then, after four days, they had reached the river again, and in the evening they were back in Trela.
Desperate, the adventurers prepared for the hag’s attack, when suddenly the wan light of the area turned a deep purple. It was exactly the color they remembered from their vision of Chardun in Trela.
The hag now looked around in confused surprise and fear, as if searching the surroundings for an invisible foe. Then, with a clap of thunder, two devils appeared out of nowwhere. They were as tall as the hag and covered with hideous scales. Each of them was holding a giant whip in it’s hand and as they were flying with their huge wings, their snakelike tails were wiggling in the air. One devil engaged the hag and the other one dived down, hunting the scattering asaathi and ratmen.
The hag flew up into the clouds, the devil in hot pursuits, and the rest of the battle between them was hidden from the viewers on the ground, since it all seemed to happen within the clouds. The battle and the clouds, however, soon moved rapidly westwards, back to where they had come from.
Torn, who was among the Asaathi at that moment summoned all his will to get out of the murderous frenzy he had been in and ran towards his friends who were standing close to the waterfall, carefully avoiding the devil on the ground who was laughing madly as he slaughtered the Asaathi. Then, Jan and Trepat noticed two ratmen who left the cliff through a small, previously unnoticed crevace. They were both moving towards the rope that lead to the top of the cliff, and while the smaller, unarmed one positioned itself at the bottom of the rope, the other one climbed up. Trepat noticed that the climbing ratman was wearing a canvas bag through which he could see the form of the amphora.
Trepat called his friends, pointing to the Amphora, and told Nebrot, his speaking raven, to harass the climbing ratman. Meanwhile, the rat at the bottom of the rope had finished a spell that surrounded it with a multicolored energy shield.
As the adventurers were running towards the rope, Nebrot flew ahead and started picking at the climbing ratman. The climber was now unable to climb on, since he had to use one of his clawlike hands to fend off the raven while he needed the other one to stay in place- not only were the rain and the wind making it hard to climb, but the wet rope was also very slippery already.
The spellcasting rat at the bottom cast a spell which Trepat recognized- it was a magic missile, and she directed the force of the arcane energy at the raven that had been attacking her partner, killing it instantly.
As the raven plummeted to the ground, Trepat felt the pain of the death of his companion with every cell of his body. He fell on his knees in the mud, screaming out loud. For a few seconds, the pain was overbearing. Then, as soon as he was able to see again, he got up again, pulled his sword and ran towards the wizard all the while screaming in anguish and rage.
His friends were there, before him, though, and Torn went up and climbed after the ratman as his friends battled the spellcaster. She, in turn cast a spell and tried to touch Jan, but she lost her footing in the mud and fell down. Without hesitation, Jan thrust his sword down, cutting through her neck.
For Trepat that wasn’t enough. Enraged over the loss of his friend, he kept on hacking at the wet corpse that was laying in a puddle in which her blood and the rain were quickly mixing up.
Meanwhile, Torn was closing in on the escaping ratman. Further down the rope was Niklas, trying to close up, but failing to do so. By the time the ratman had reached the top of the cliff, Torn was already right behind, and before his enemy could cut the rope, he was already on his feet, facing him.
The ratman pushed Torn, trying to toss him down the cliff into his certain death, but in spite of the muddy earth on which he was standing, he was able to keep his ground and step sidewise, getting away from the onehundred feet deep drop behind him.
Both pulled their weapons now, and with a surprisingly quick attack, the ratman had slashed at Torn’s arm, drawing blood. There was thunder, and the half-orc slashed at his opponent, but the ratman had sidestepped and was now attacking with his scimitar, again wounding Torn.
The situation was getting dire now. The rain was washing his two bleeding wounds and the ratman was looking at him with cool calculation in his eyes. They were circling each other, as Torn saw Niklas’ hands on the edge of the cliff- he too had reached the top by now. Following the half-orc’s glance, the ratman now saw his hands, too, but the slight turn of his head offered Torn enough of an opening for one desperate lunge.
His axe hit the ratman right in the jaws, splitting it, and as the rodent was spitting blood, Torn finished him with another axestrike at his skull.
After Niklas had helped him stop his bleedings, they picked up the amphora and climbed back down. By now, the rat-wizard had been hacked to pieces and Jan was comforting Trepat, who sat next to his raven in the mud.
Ben cured their wounds, and they searched the camp. It indeed looked like all the inhabitants had ran away. Behind the waterfall, there was a damp cave that was full of wet furs which smelled like a wet dog. There were several niches which were filled with scraps of cloth, fur and foliage and one larger nest that had probably belonged to the leader.
They plundered it, finding gold and silver and an arcane scroll in a chest. When they were done, they saw that the rain had passed westwards with the hag, and now the sun was shining through rips and openings in the blanket of clouds. It looked like it could be a beautiful evening again.
They changed into dry clothings and then they gathered dry wood from within the huts. With it, they built a small pyre and gave the raven a hero’s funeral.
Then, they returned to their horses and set off to ride back home, since they wanted to get some space between themselves and the encampment before they would settle down for the night’s rest.
During the next days, they saw gigantic beetles, spider and other monstrous vermin, but since they were careful, they avoided those. At one point, they almost ran into a group of goblins, but deciding it was wiser to make no contact on their way out of blood stepped, they rode in a wide arch, remaining undetected by the titanspawn, as well.
At nights, they had to deal with giant centipedes and other oversized nasties, but fortunately, they encountered no undead or ratmen. Then, after four days, they had reached the river again, and in the evening they were back in Trela.
Lars Frehse
First Post
The struggle for the serpent amphora- part 3 of 4
Eochaid, the Ranger, had full recovered by now, and he greeted them as they entered the village:” Greetings! I am glad to see you back. Did you succeed?”
Torn patted the saddlebag that was holding the amphora now and nodded.
“Ah, good. Well, come to the tavern, then. I owe you a dinner at the very least for now.”
They accepted his invitation and had a pleasant evening with the ranger. At some point in the evening, after they had had dinner he asked:” Well, good gentlemen, I don’t know where you are heading, but I intend to bring this amphora to Lave, the capital of my homecountry, Vesh. I know I have already asked more than enough from you good people, but maybe you could accompany me on the way there?”.
They checked the maps and seeing that it was on the way to Mithril, anyway, they agreed.
“Besides” said Jan, “we have risked so much already, we too want to make sure that the artifact reaches a safe place.”.
Eochaid was now grinning broadly: “Great! I have already purchased and prepared a boat that should take us over Adurn’s tear.”
They sat merrily together for a few more hours and at midnight, Radraan, the priest of Belsameth entered the hut that was serving as the village’s tavern.
He raised his hands in a greeting gesture:” Ah, I am glad to see that you all made it back alive! You are mighty heroes, indeed. You have entered the lion’s den and remained unscathed! Indeed, the gods are smiling upon you.”
Jan got up and greeted the priest with equal politeness: “Greetings to you, too, good priest. Now, may I be frank and ask what brings you here?”
The Belsameth priest was smiling his frozen smile again: “I came to give you a chance to reconsider your initial plan. After all, it is clear that Chardun wished to retrieve the Amphora that bears his seal. So, the only logical consequence would be to bring it to Calastia, where his royal highness King Virduk rules with the scepter and the laurels of the Great General himself!”.
“True enough”, answered Jan:” But all The Overlord wished was that the amphora that bears his seal should be taken away from the titanspawn. And this is what we will be doing by bringing it to Vesh.”
Now Niklas got up, too:” Besides, there is really not much we have to decide about it anyway. It was originally retrieved by the vigils, so it is Eochaid’s right to decide where the Amphora should be brought. And also, my brother had sworn an oath in the name of Corean to bring the Serpent Amphora to Vesh. And you can surely not expect a paladin of the champion to break his word now, can you?”.
Radraan nodded shortly, and there was fake regret in his voice now:” Well, then, I see that you have made up your mind. I only hope that you will not regret your decision. Good night.”.
And with these words, he disappeared into the night.
Torn emptied his tankard of wine and said:” Looks like there is one more enemy we’ve got to watch out for.”.
Eochaid agreed:” Yes, but then I would always rather have a priest of Belsameth as my enemy than as my friend… Anyway, I will only feel comfortable when the Amphora is safely in the Hall of Command in Lave.”
And with these words, they ended their feast and went to bed.
On the next morning, they set sail with the small boat Eochaid had prepared. They left their horses behind, but fortunately there was enough space for their two pack mules.
It was a nice day for sailing a boat. There was a fresh breeze and the blue of the sky was mirrored in the crystal clear water of Adurn’s tear. As the sun had reached it’s peak, Niklas approached the ranger and asked him about the ratmen they had encountered in the blood steppes.
“Yes, I know them. In fact, some vigils consider them to be the greatest danger Vesh is facing. They appeared out of nowwhere after the titanswar and by now, we even had to face them in full scaled battles! But maybe I should start at the beginning.
”They call themselves slitheren, and from what we found out about now, this is how they came into being:
”After the titans fell, the rats came, and they gnawed at the titan’s remains. Right from the start, the dark magical energies transformed the rats, making them bigger, smarter and more like the titan they were feasting on. They bred and each generation grew more humanoid. This is how they came into being.
“Other rats became like other titans, without actually feasting on them, and from what we know now, there are now twelve distinct races among them, each one representing the titan that had instilled them with their dark energy. The one that killed your sorceror’s raven, for instance, would most likely be a “red witch” one of the brood that is instilled with the spirit of Mormo.”
“There are several broods operating from withing the mourning marshes, and they are now endangering the entire south of our country…”
They sailed on in silence, and at night, they anchored at a shallow part of the lake.
As Jan held watch, he lay down on his back and watched the stars. Then, contrasting against the background of the sickle of Belsameth’s moon, he saw four vultures. He squinted his eyes- he had never heard of vultures that were out at night. The moment he got a better view, he got up and woke his companions- the “vultures” were really winged women who were armed with scythes, and they seemed ready to dive down at them!
Eochaid, the Ranger, had full recovered by now, and he greeted them as they entered the village:” Greetings! I am glad to see you back. Did you succeed?”
Torn patted the saddlebag that was holding the amphora now and nodded.
“Ah, good. Well, come to the tavern, then. I owe you a dinner at the very least for now.”
They accepted his invitation and had a pleasant evening with the ranger. At some point in the evening, after they had had dinner he asked:” Well, good gentlemen, I don’t know where you are heading, but I intend to bring this amphora to Lave, the capital of my homecountry, Vesh. I know I have already asked more than enough from you good people, but maybe you could accompany me on the way there?”.
They checked the maps and seeing that it was on the way to Mithril, anyway, they agreed.
“Besides” said Jan, “we have risked so much already, we too want to make sure that the artifact reaches a safe place.”.
Eochaid was now grinning broadly: “Great! I have already purchased and prepared a boat that should take us over Adurn’s tear.”
They sat merrily together for a few more hours and at midnight, Radraan, the priest of Belsameth entered the hut that was serving as the village’s tavern.
He raised his hands in a greeting gesture:” Ah, I am glad to see that you all made it back alive! You are mighty heroes, indeed. You have entered the lion’s den and remained unscathed! Indeed, the gods are smiling upon you.”
Jan got up and greeted the priest with equal politeness: “Greetings to you, too, good priest. Now, may I be frank and ask what brings you here?”
The Belsameth priest was smiling his frozen smile again: “I came to give you a chance to reconsider your initial plan. After all, it is clear that Chardun wished to retrieve the Amphora that bears his seal. So, the only logical consequence would be to bring it to Calastia, where his royal highness King Virduk rules with the scepter and the laurels of the Great General himself!”.
“True enough”, answered Jan:” But all The Overlord wished was that the amphora that bears his seal should be taken away from the titanspawn. And this is what we will be doing by bringing it to Vesh.”
Now Niklas got up, too:” Besides, there is really not much we have to decide about it anyway. It was originally retrieved by the vigils, so it is Eochaid’s right to decide where the Amphora should be brought. And also, my brother had sworn an oath in the name of Corean to bring the Serpent Amphora to Vesh. And you can surely not expect a paladin of the champion to break his word now, can you?”.
Radraan nodded shortly, and there was fake regret in his voice now:” Well, then, I see that you have made up your mind. I only hope that you will not regret your decision. Good night.”.
And with these words, he disappeared into the night.
Torn emptied his tankard of wine and said:” Looks like there is one more enemy we’ve got to watch out for.”.
Eochaid agreed:” Yes, but then I would always rather have a priest of Belsameth as my enemy than as my friend… Anyway, I will only feel comfortable when the Amphora is safely in the Hall of Command in Lave.”
And with these words, they ended their feast and went to bed.
On the next morning, they set sail with the small boat Eochaid had prepared. They left their horses behind, but fortunately there was enough space for their two pack mules.
It was a nice day for sailing a boat. There was a fresh breeze and the blue of the sky was mirrored in the crystal clear water of Adurn’s tear. As the sun had reached it’s peak, Niklas approached the ranger and asked him about the ratmen they had encountered in the blood steppes.
“Yes, I know them. In fact, some vigils consider them to be the greatest danger Vesh is facing. They appeared out of nowwhere after the titanswar and by now, we even had to face them in full scaled battles! But maybe I should start at the beginning.
”They call themselves slitheren, and from what we found out about now, this is how they came into being:
”After the titans fell, the rats came, and they gnawed at the titan’s remains. Right from the start, the dark magical energies transformed the rats, making them bigger, smarter and more like the titan they were feasting on. They bred and each generation grew more humanoid. This is how they came into being.
“Other rats became like other titans, without actually feasting on them, and from what we know now, there are now twelve distinct races among them, each one representing the titan that had instilled them with their dark energy. The one that killed your sorceror’s raven, for instance, would most likely be a “red witch” one of the brood that is instilled with the spirit of Mormo.”
“There are several broods operating from withing the mourning marshes, and they are now endangering the entire south of our country…”
They sailed on in silence, and at night, they anchored at a shallow part of the lake.
As Jan held watch, he lay down on his back and watched the stars. Then, contrasting against the background of the sickle of Belsameth’s moon, he saw four vultures. He squinted his eyes- he had never heard of vultures that were out at night. The moment he got a better view, he got up and woke his companions- the “vultures” were really winged women who were armed with scythes, and they seemed ready to dive down at them!
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