Struggle and Strife- A scarred lands storyhour

[Lars Frehse]

Unwelcome visitors- part 3

Throughout the night, they took turns copying the ritual from the walls of the tomb. While some of them laborously copied sign by infernal signs, the others slept, and except for Niklas, they took turns.

The monk had by now mastered a technique he had learned from a tome that he had bought from Azaton in Mithril. The technique had been developed by the exemplars of Hedrad and it enabled him to go without sleeping for an unlimited time, as long as he meditated for a short while in the morning.

Outside again, morning had already broken. They were greeted by Swift Jane and Jan's horse, who had hidden from the Mormo-worshippers until just now. From the looks of the blue sky it promised to become a beautiful summer day, and the green treetops below them in the valley gave the land a peaceful and healthy look.

Trepat was the first to look on the ground of the plateau on which they were standing. Several stones and rocks had been piled on top of each other, and there was a dried leaf looking out from under the top stone. Curious, he picked up the stone and picked up the leaf, seeing that to his surprise, there had been something written on it in a lofty and functional way.

Troops sent by the church of Chardun wait for you in Vauldell.
A friend

Trepat showed it to his friends and Jan turned to his horse, asking it whether it had seen anyone placing this note. Through the mystical connection of Paladin and his mount, the horse told him that there had indeed been a woman clad in worn leatherarmor with a single long black braid, who had put the leaf there under the stone a few hours ago. Ben, already expecting sandlewood, put on his wolfskull and indeed he smelled that particular smell again. It looked like the mysterious woman had helped them for the third time ever since they had entered Lageni.

"But why?", Niklas asked. "After all, going in there and gaining the knowledge stored within seems to be the very point of the tomb!"

Trepat shrugged:"Sure. However we are still nonbelievers. From their point of view, we may very well have defiled the resting place of a devout follower of their god. I can even understand them- after all, you wouldn't want followers of Chardun, Belsameth and Vangal looting a temple of Corean, either...".

Jan still didn't seem content. There were too many mysteries: "But how did they find out we went here in the first place?"

Torn, who had just dropped his backpack, straightened again: "They could have found out in Vauldell- after all, it looks like we had been the first well armed and armored people there in quite a while. And since there is nothing else here, it doesn't exactly need a genius to figure out we came for the tomb- even if the Hedrada priest stayed quiet.

"And then the archfiend himself may have figured out his mistake in the end. Or he did only tell us about it in the first place, so that we would either get killed by the tomb or that he would have a legal reason to have us executed afterwards"

He shrugged:" Actually, though, I don't really care about the whys of all this. I am more concerned about getting out of here again alive.".

Torn pulled out his map and they all huddled around it. Torn pointed at it with one big index-finger:" We are here. I don't think we will make it back to our boat but if we head northwest, keeping the Kelders to our right, we should reach the Eni river after a few days. From there, all we have to do is walk north along the banks of the river."

They all agreed on this and soon afterwards they were heading out northwest through the foothills of the kelders. For the next days, they avoided all signs of civilization, circling around villages and hamlets, since they wanted to leave no trail behind that could be picked up by the soldiers in their back.

Eventuallly, they reached the Eni, and soon enough, they were happy that they were on the eastern bank of the river, since the river protected them from the dangers of the blood steppes to their west. Their biggest problem was that often, there was hardly much land to walk on, since the river was flowing right next to the steep granite mountains at times. Then, they had to wade through the sluggish river.

At least they often found caves to spend the nights in, and if there were no caves, there were at least crevices that offered protection from the elements at night. It was in such a huge crevice where they set up camp on the third night of their journey along the Eni when Niklas was watching over his friends, next to a small campfire.

He was looking out over the Eni, watching the strange shadows in the Blood Steppes, or at least what the star light and the thin scythelike blade of Belsameth's moon allowed him to see. Suddenly, at the edge of his vision, he saw a humanoid shadow pressed against the rock at the left entrance to the crevice. Trying not to alert the watcher, he yawned, and then slowly got up. Hoping to look as unalarmed as possible, he slowly walked the few steps to Torn's sleeping back.

He bend down and shook the sleeping half-orc, saying quietly, but loud enough for their watcher to pick it up: "Hey, it's your turn now". Sleepy eyed, Torn got up, and then Niklas said:"Before I go to sleep, I wanted to talk about tomorrow's route first.".

Torn was surprised without showing it. After all, there weren't any options regarding their route but following the river, and Niklas hadn't slept for weeks now, anyway! Still, trusting his friend, he went to the campfire with him, and they sat down at the map.

Niklas pulled out a feather and ink, and while he was talking about possible ways, he painted an arrow on the map, which pointed to the figure he had seen, he wrote:"Keep talking. One person watching.". Torn understood, and after nodding to his friend, he said:"Alright then. Let's do it this way. You can go sleep now"

He got up, stretching himself, and then he slowly walked to the bank, keeping himself from looking at the point at which Niklas' arrow had pointed. He opened his pants and stood broad-legged in the universal known posture of a man who is about to pass water. When he was done, he suddenly whirled around and sprinted a few steps to where the arrow had pointed, and indeed, Niklas hadn't been wrong- there was a halfling woman dressed in studded leather looking at him with surprise.

He tried to grab her, but he held on merely for a few seconds, since she turned out to be as flexible as a cat and as slippery as an eel. As Niklas shouted: "wake up!" and came running, she ducked away from Torn, swallowed a potion and disappeared.

 

[Corwyn]

Verry nice story Lars.

I discoverd it three day's ago and just finished reading it all.

Exelent and gripping narration.

Looking forward to more!!

 

[Lars Frehse]

Thanks a lot, Corwyn! I am flattered and happy to hear that you are enjoying yourself!

 

[Lars Frehse]

Unwelcome visitors- part 4 of 4

Torn and Niklas stood still, trying to find tracks in the sand of the bank. Then, Torn saw a new footprint appearing out of nowwhere, started running and pointed in the direction. Niklas picked it up, ran and slammed into something small and invisible, and Torn saw where she hit the ground, since sand sprayed up where she fell.

He jumped forward, like a cat pouncing on a mouse, but when he landed, there was nothing under him but sand. Meanwhile Trepat, who had drawn the right conclusions, cast a spell from one of his scrolls that allowed him to see invisible creatures, and now he saw the halfling woman getting back on her feet and running along the banks. He cast a melf's acid arrow and hit the woman, and then as he ran up, he gave directions to Torn and Niklas who were moving through the darkness trying to corner the invisible woman according to the elf's orders.

Just as it looked that the they had her, Trepat saw how she swallowed another potion. Now, she went to the rock wall and crawled it up as easily as if it were a ladder. He shouted:"Niklas, she's going up the wall!" and the monk reacted immediately. With lightning speed, he turned to his right, and grasped into nothing, and now he felt her, squirming in his arms. Torn pulled out a dagger and held it close where he expected the halfling's head to be and said:" I think it is time to give up".

Indeed, the squirming stopped, and after carrying her back to the camp and tieing her up, she became visible again as well. Now, for the first time they got a good look at her. She was a brown haired halfling woman with short brown hair and a long scar under her right amber eye, and she was equipped with a masterwork chainshirt and a shortsword and an armbrust of comparable quality.

"What's your name", Ben asked.

Her eyes were moving around, examining her surroundings, giving her the look of a cornered cat that wanted to break out:" My name is Lily.".

"Alright then, Lily", he continued:"what are you doing here?".

Her experssion changed into one of curiosity:" You sound as if you come from the heteromony of Virduk as well!".

"Yes, that's right. I had to leave it though.".

"Ah, what a shame.".

Jan interrupted them:" That is not important now. Why have you been watching us?".

She turned her head away from Ben and looked at the Paladin now:" I am a scout of the Calastian army.".

"How far away are the ones you scout for and how many are there?", Torn asked.

She smiled:" I will tell you that. If you swear in the names of your gods to let me go unharmed with my equipment, that is.".

"Why should we trust you? Even if you tell us the truth the troop could be too strong for us anyhow.", Niklas wanted to know.

In spite of her situation, she retained an air of confidence:" Well, I can assure you for once that if you attack them, you do stand a chance. And there isn't much you can lose, anyway. And you can rest assured that I wouldn't return and warn them either- after all, that I got captured means that I failed, and the Calastian army does not look kindly on failures...".

The friends turned away from Lily and huddled together. After some frantic whispering for a few minutes, Trepat turned back to Lily:" Alright. But you have to tell us all the details you know abou the members of that troop."

An hour later they reached the dome-like cave that Lily had told them about. The wily scout was already far in the mountains somewhere, heading to a new future far away from Calastia, and it looked like she had told them the truth. Torn had scouted ahead and saw the priest of Chardun he knew about from Lily's information sitting next to a campfire with two regular soldiers. In the back of the cave, there were several filled sleeping bags from which Torn could hear a faint snoring sound- those were the other soldiers, the mage and Colonel Gihjan.

He still wondered why the dragoon was among their pursuers. Maybe Fiarun had heard about the encounter of the dragoon and the adventurers, and sent him along because he knew what they looked like, at least... Or maybe Enkili was playing tricks on them, bringing their paths together for the third time for reasons that only the god knew.

Knowing that his friends were behind him at the bank of the river, he watched as Ben, now in his spiderform, crawled up the ceiling of the cave, trying to get over their enemies. Then, however a small rock fell down and one of the soldiers looked up. He didn't seem to see the giant spider, but he told the priest and his fellow soldier none the less. Then he went to the back of the cave- apparently he wanted to wake his companions, and Torn decided to wait no longer.

He charged forward, surprising the priest and swinging his spiked chain, he hit him in the chest, right where it hurt. Reacting to his friend, Ben dropped from the ceiling and faced the soldier who had walked back and who's wake up call had now, that the sounds of battle echoed through the cave, become pointless.

As the soldiers who had been asleep got up, grabbing their shields and swords, Trepat, Jan and Niklas ran up to the cave, attracted by the combat noise. The camplight threw their shadows to the walls, and to an observer on the other side of the Eni, who only saw those shadows, it must have looked as if flickering giants were battling each other.

Among the six humans who were only getting up now, they saw Colonel Gihjan and one who didn't go for a weapon. Recognizing him as the wizard Lily had told them about, Torn stepped back from the cleric who was now being attacked by Jan and used the ring of spell storing they had taken from Tears of her Enemies to vanish for a short while. Invisible he approached the mage who was about to cast a spell and then he appeared seemingly out of nowwhere and killed him with one single strike.

Fortunately for them, only the cleric and the two soldiers who had been on guard were wearing any armor. Torn, who was a bit ahead of the main battle kept the soldiers around him at bay with the superior range of his spiked chain until suddenly he stood face to face with Colonel Gihjan. The Black Dragoon was still wearing his woolen shirt and long underpants but he wore his steel shield with the symbold of the dragoon and his sword, and his face was frozen into a mask of hatred.

Ever since Torn had been a child, he had been able to rely on his brute strength that had never failed to give him an advantage when he grew up in the backstreets of Durrover-city. But this time, he had found his equal. As they fought, Torn forgot the world around him, needing every bit of his concentration just to ward of the Dragoon.

Locked in a struggle of life and death they fought until Torn, who was bleeding from several small cuts and bruises, found a vital opening and rammed the end of his spiked chain into Gihjan's gut. For a second, their eyes locked and Torn saw the mask of hatred smoothing and changing into the look of puzzlement as his miserable and hatefilled existence finally had found an end.

By now, his friends had defeated the priest as well, and after a short while, when only two soldiers were left, those two threw away there weapons and surrendered, not wanting to sacrifice themselves now that the battle was lost anyway.

For now, the friends had escaped the wrath of the archfiend Fiarun.

 

[Nightfall]

Nice stuff! I was wondering if you'd use the Archfiend or not.

 

[Lars Frehse]

A short respite- part 1

The friends took the horses of their enemies and the full plate armors from the priest and Colonel Gihjan and put them into their bag of holding. This, however, forced them to spill out a small mount of copperpieces which they had looted from Marilvaz's tomb. As he saw the heap, Torn had an idea.

He turned to the two remaining soldiers who they intended to send home to Lageni on foot:"Do you want those coins?"

One of them answered:" Well, sure, sir!".

"Good then. You can fill up your saddlebags and carry as many coins home as you can.", he told them.

The soldiers were stunned with surprise. On one evening they had been ambushed and faced certain death, and no the same ones who had almost ended their lives were heaping coins on them. However, none of the two wanted to waste too much time questioning the motives of their benefactors and each of them filled up a pair of saddlebags each, which they carried heavily on their shoulder as they slowly walked back along the banks until they turned around a bend and were gone.

"This should slow them down", Torn explained to his puzzled friends "with that kind of weight, we should be already close to the Veshian border by the time they reach the next Lagenian fortress to report what had happened.".

Torn was right. For whatever reason, they didn't encounter any further opposition on their way north and wouldn't it have been for the depressing sight of the Blood Steppes beyond the river, it could have even been called pleasant. At last they had left Lageni behind, none of them too keen on returning there anytime soon, and the weather gently switched to that of a pleasant indian summer.

Eventually, they reached Trela. The river looked as peaceful as ever, and they were greeted warmly by the farmers. They were told that unlike the bad weather they had experienced in Lageni, it had been unusually dry here, and that at times the farmers had trouble to bring their crops through the drought. Hearing that, Ben cursed heartily that they had to spend the best part of the summer in the rain, and then they had to deal with another problem: and that was which route they would take to come back to Vesh.

Lacking boats big enough to carry all their horses, they had the alternatives of either circling around Denev's aquifier on it's eastern bank and then going through the blood marshes or taking the western routes and entering Vesh via Ontenazu. The mountains of the western route were notorious for it's deadly winds, which were strong enough to smash unwary travellers to death against the rock walls. But there were scouts who knew the winds and who would guide them.

Still, they decided to take the eastern route. Especially Ben wasn't ready to lay his life in the hands of strangers, and he rather wanted to brave the swamps, where at least he would have his fate in his own hands. In this, Trepat and Torn, who were both rather relying on themselves then on anyone else, supported him, and even though Jan and Niklas would have liked to get to know the mysterious lands of Ontenazu, they accepted the decision of their friends.

After resting and relaxing for the day, and hearing that some months ago, a priest of Belsameth had inquired about the death of his fellow priest at the hands of the group, they continued their journey in the early next morning. The whole time they kept the Kelders to their right, and for the first three days, in which they had covered about half the way, the sun kept shining. Then, on the third night, the weather changed. It got colder, the wind picked up, blowing down from the mountain, and during the midnight watch, it started raining as well. First, single fat drops fell down only to soon turn into an outright downpour.

It looked as if the sky had held back it's waters only to pour them down on the friends again, and Ben reacted accordingly in the morning. For the whole day, he kept on cursing the heavens and their bad luck that seemingly lead them to travel from one patch of bad weather to the next.

At nights, they were still damp, and their animals and themselves never got really dry, since the rain kept on, and in their tents at night, their wet, damp smell was almost unbearable. On the third day of the constant rain, there was hardly any dry land left, and they had to lead their horses over the rock of the foot of a giant mountain when they saw before them the wet marshlands of the swamps. Most of the lands were at least covered with puddles of water, and the hills that raised above the wet plains looked like islands in a lake.

Then, suddenly their steeds became nervous, and Trepat heard a distant rumble coming from behind. Immediately he knew what was causing this, and he shouted:" Avalanche! Quick! To the nearest hill!". And really, now that he had shouted it, they heard the distant rumbling too, slowly growing in volume until it drowned out all other noises, like those of the rain drumming down and their feet and hooves running through the mud.

They all headed for the nearest hill and they were whipped by the wind and the rain as they now felt the very earth tremble under them as well. Then, as they struggled up the side of the hill, running and grabbing for sticks and stone, hopefully elevating them above the flood of mud and, they saw it in the faint light of the darkened day: Behind them, as high as one of the higher houses of Mithril, the elements were rushing towards them. A brown muddy whirling mass of water full of rocks and all kind of vegetation from brushes to full trees came whirling, seemingly growing as it came closer and closer.

Niklas, who had helped the animals and his lagging friends was last, and in the last second he jumped up to get on the safe harbor of the top of the hill- but he was too late. Suddenly he felt how his legs were torn away under him and in an instant, he was taken away. All around him, there was the chaotic, thundering flood and he had completely lost all orientation, not even able anymore to tell up from down.

Then, he was knocked against something hard, and instinctively, he grabbed for it. Clinging tight, as the mud and the water streamed around him, he slowly regained his orientation, and then, gratefully he had succeeded in raising his head over the water. He saw that he was clinging to a ragged old tree, and as he pulled himself into the crown, which raised over the rushing masses under him, he shouted for health.

Trepat was the first to saw him some fifty yards away from the hill. Like his friends, he had been saved from the flood by his raised position. Oblivious to the rain, he whipped out his scroll of fly, and cast the spell on it. Now, that he was able to fly, he raised above the flood and moved over to where Niklas was clinging on to the tree for his very life.

He reached the monk and grabbed for him, but he wasn't strong enough to lift the burly human. "Hold on a little longer!", he shouted over the deafening roar of the raging elements. He flew up a few yards, and as Niklas felt the tremor of something huge and heavy hitting the tree somewhere under the muddy surface, Trepat used his wand of bullstrength on himself. Now he sank down again, and as the tree was slowly bending over, finally giving in to the stream of mud around it, Trepat had him. Somewhere, on the hill, Jan was praying to Corean for the rescue of his brother and now the elf suceeded in lifting Niklas over the water.

Sluggishly, they moved over the water, and the strain of Niklas' weight strained Trepat's arm, and he felt a burning pain in his shoulderjoint, as if his arm was about to be torn out of it's socket, but then they were over the comparatively dry land of their island, and they both dropped to the muddy ground. They were wet, dirty and exhausted, but at least they were alive.

 

[Lars Frehse]

A short respite- part 2

They set up camp as they waited for the skies to clear up and the water to drain into the lake and the swamps. They lacked dry woods and other commodities to get a good fire going, and so they spend the first day cold, wet and miserable. However, in the evening the constant drumming of the rain on the canvas of the tents lost it’s raging violence and in around midnight the rain had finally stopped.

Around them, the land had disappeared. All they could see where other islands in the distance and occasionaly treetops were peaking out of the brown and muddy water as well. But that was already all that hinted at solid land having been there just this morning. Gazing over the depressing sight, they realized that they would probably have to wait days until they would be able to continue their journey.

After three such days of mindnumbing waiting on confined space, that time had finally come. The ground was still covered with water, and they had to be careful to avoid holes and other obstacles as they waded ahead, but at least the waterlevel didn’t go over their steeds knees.

By the time they reached the little village at the north of Denev’s aquifer, most of the water had gone. The villagers, who still remembered their liberation from Radraan, the priest of Belsameth, greeted them enthusiasically and after the friends had explained that they were heading back to Vesh, the villagers offered them to aid them with constructing another raft, like they had done over a year ago.

It soon became clear, however, that they weren’t able to construct a raft that was big enough for all them and all their steeds. The friends knew that the villagers didn’t have the money to buy the horses they had gotten from the calastian soldiers from them, and so they handed them over to the peasants and fishers as a gift, keeping only Swift Jane and the coreanic steed.

If it was at all possible, the lavish gift made the villagers even friendlier, and they did everything to make the days the adventurers spent there as pleasing and comfortable as possible. When the raft was finally done, the villagers told the group that they would always be welcome in their humble village, and they waved to them goodbye until the friends had pushed the raft out of sight.

The journey through the swamp was pleasantly uneventful- the lands here were still flooded and the hostile creatures that made it their home had to deal with the effect of the flood themselves. Without their knowledge, the flood was actually a blessing in disguise for the heroes.

When they reached the southern border of Vesh, they were greeted by the same Vigilantes who had given them the boat for their journey south, and they escorted them on their journey through Vesh, until one afternoon they reached Lave. There, homecommander Kelemis Durn welcomed them in the hall of command, and after listening to their report and taking the transcript of the ritual, he congratulated and thanked each of them.

He had changed for the better. Even though there were still subtle signs that he would never forget the tragic events of his murder at the hand of his own second-in-command, he at least seemed to have found a way to deal with it. Again, he was the powerful, cheerful and optimistic man they had met when they had brought the serpent amphora over a year ago.

„I will give this transcript to our scholars. It looks like at last we will be able to get rid of the damned thing! And I don’t think I have to tell you just how much I am looking forward to having this lodestone of my mind.

„Of course I will keep you informed regarding what we will find out. Now, however, I have a much more pleasant task to do. You know, usually it would be customary for me to give land or title to deserving men like you. At least a public ceremony would be in order, considering what you have already done for Vesh. However, since I think I will still have to rely on you in the matter of the amphora in the future, I would like you to remain as unknown as possible.“

He paused for a moment, the cheer gone for now: „After all, I am worried how the servants of the Serpent Queen could have tracked you so easily. And the black haired woman you told me about worries me as well. Even though she was benign, she seemed to know what you were after... Else she wouldn’t have been able to help you at Marilvaz’ tomb. All that is disturbing, and I would like to prevent any further factions finding out about your importance, skill and tasks.“

Kelemis Durm took a drink and then he continued with a big smile: „So, I had wondered how I could possibly reward you. This time, I had been certain that you would return succesfully, and so I had some things prepared.“

He got up, rang a bell and after a servant brought in a large wooden chest and he had dismissed the servant, the homecommander opened the chest and pulled out a small, black crossbow, which he handed over to Torn: „This is for you, Torn. It is called a crossbow of the Assassin, and it is enchanted in a way to enable you to use your skill of hitting vital spots even more effectively and at longer range.“.

Torn took the crossbow and thanked the commander who then pulled out a pair of leather boots: “Trepat, those are for you. They are called „boots of the huntress“ and they were enchanted by a priest of Tanil to strengthen two of your abilities. Not only will it be harder to track you and the people you are travelling with as long as you are wearing them, but it will also make you better at tracking your enemies as well!“

„For you, Ben“, he continued after he had handed the boots to the grateful elf: „I have this periapt. As long as you are wearing it, your wisdom will be even greater than usually. This way, you will be an even more effective servant of the earth mother“.

Ben took the periapt of wisdom, grinning broadly and Kelemis Durm had already turned over to Jan: „For you I have a gift crafted by the servants of Madriel. It is called the „ring of Madriel’s blessing“ and with it, your abilities against undead will be strengthened- it will be easier to turn or smite them, since you will be infused with the force of life granted by Madriel the healer.

“For you, Niklas I have nothing in my chest. However, the same priests who had crafted this ring had learned from our elven friends in the Ganjus how to create magical tatoos. If you want, they will inscribe a tatoo that will give you Madriel’s blessing- and it can’t be taken from you“.

Niklas accepted and after Kelemis told them to stay in the finest inn at his cost until he could tell them what the scholars had found out about the, he wished them a pleasant stay in the city. Once outside, they had time to look around- the people of Lave had used the time to rebuild the damages of the titanspawn attack and it looked that like their homecommander, the people had overcome the shock and were now going on about their daily business like they had done before.

 

[Nightfall]

Good stuff! Finally the guys get some rewards for their good deeds!

 

[Lars Frehse]

A short respite- part 3

Eventually, Kelemis told them that there were complications regarding interpreting the ritual. According to the scholars, it would most likely take all autumm and spring at the very least. „If you want to return to Mithril and the Gravelfist tribe that would be no problem. I will send messengers as soon as we have found out more. I am sure you are as curious about it as I am, so I will of course keep you informed. Furthermore, as I had told you before, in case new complications arise, I would love to come back to you.“.

It took them merely a day to prepare for travelling on. For many of them, their newfound home was in the north, and so they were eager to journey there. During their trip, they saw farmers bringing in the harvest of the year and they turned into inns at night, enjoying the luxury of a soft bed after their rough trip to Lageni.

Mullis Town was as busy as ever, and the friends took the same inn they had stayed at the times they had been there before, feeling comfortably familiar with that place. On the next morning, they went to the market, buying provisions and replacing gear that had been broken.

When they were almost done, Ben went to a stand that sold medicinal herbs, and his friends stood close by, taking in the many colors and smells of the market. There had been a short rain at night and now the sun was reflected in small puddles of water which rippled every time a boot or the hoof of a beast of burden stepped into them.

As Ben talked idly with the shopkeeper, a fat, bald and cheerful human, he was suddenly pushed to the side by a grotesquely clad man with greasy black hair. He was dressed in what seemed to be a tight fitting suit of armor made of rotting flesh and bones- and parts of human flesh on top of that.

„Alright now“, he told the shopowner: „I got a list of things I want and I want them quickly. I don’t want to waste my precious time with the likes of you, and I am sure you don’t want to upset me, either.“

The fat man was indignant:“ I am sorry, sir, but I am dealing with this gentleman here right now. He was here first.“.

„I don’t care“, came the retort: „I am an impatient man and I demand service now!“.

Now Torn stepped ahead, bringing Trepat, Niklas and Jan with him to back up Ben: „We are quite sure that our friend has come here first, and that you’ll have to wait.“

The grotesque man wanted to answer but then paused. Apparently, he realized that these were no commoners he could easily push around, so he swallowed what he intended to say and simply hissed: „Allright then, I’ll wait.“.

Now Ben and the shopkeeper continued their haggling and chatting about herbs while the others kept a watchful eye at the obnoxious man. He was barely able to contain the rage he seemed to be feeling and he stared at them evilly.

Then, a little girl of five years, at the hand of her mother came along, and as she saw and smelled the man, she cried out:“ Mama! This man is ickie!“.

Immediately, the man turned around and kicked her like a ball. The girl cried out and was torn from the hand of her mother to fly for several yards where she hit the cobbled, wet ground of the market square. People shouted out in idignation, but no one dared coming close to the cruel looking stranger.

The only ones who came to action were the adventurers themselves. Trepat readied his bow and then he saw how the man cast a spell and was flying upwards. Now, that they saw that the man wasn’t able to stick to his responsibility to the little girl, Torn whipped out his crossbow and shot a bolt, which dug itself into the flesharmor of the mage.

As his friends opened fire on the mage, Ben ran over to the little girl. Her mother was cradling the girl’s head in her lap as she cried for help. Ben checked and saw that the girl was unconcious and had a concussion but at least she wasn’t mortally wounded.

The wizard, who was still raising and flying southeastwards at the same time cast another spell while Trepat and Torn kep firing and Niklas was running under the man, trying to find out where he was heading. Meanwhile Ben healed the girl who came back to conciousness, only to experience all hell breaking lose around her in the final seconds of her young life.

The market was already emptying as people ran away in the general panic created by the actions of the wizard and the friends’ use of their weapons. Carts were being tipped over and marchendise spilled over the cobblestones and into the puddles and then the wizard cast another spell and a fireball exploded right in the centre where Trepat and Torn were shooting at their enemy.

The commoners who were still around, including the little girl and her mother, who’s names Ben would never learn now, were all killed instantly. Ben, Trepat and Torn, who were all in the blast radius were burnt as well, but being used to attacks like that, they rolled and turned so that they could survive the fireball.

Now all five of them picked up the chase. Jan’s horse came running, having sensed the trouble it’s master was in, and the paladin grabbed Ben as he swung himself onto the back of his mount. Niklas, Ben and Torn followed on foot, shooting a few more times at the wizard until he had gotten out of range.

Once out of the city, they saw that the wizard was heading to the towerlike ruin that was called „The Ruined Pillar“. The weathered structure was one of the remnants of the mysterious civilization called „the ancients“ and the friends saw that their enemy landing in it’s shadow.

Together, they followed him, and when they finally reached the pillar, Trepat and Ben cast some preparatory spells. The pillar was basically a ruined tower. At one point, the wall had completely crumbled, creating a fifteen foot wide gap, but apart from that, the remaining walls were at least twenty feet tall.

They crouched against the outside of the wall close to the gap, and then, at a prepared sign, they all charged in, Torn taking the lead. To their surprise, the evil wizard wasn’t alone- there were four heavily armored humanoids. The only thing that could be seen in the darkness under their helmets were pairs of eyes which were glowing crimson red.

Worst of all, though, was that the evil wizard seemed to have been expecting them. He stood in the back of the ruin and as Torn jumped in through the gap, he cast a spell at the halforc.

 

[Talix]

D'oh! Attacking prepared wizards is never the brightest of ideas...

Lots of fun updates since I last read, yes I'm still here!