Lars Frehse
First Post
Plans- part 1
They found Donnangar in the backroom of the „Drinking Hog“, seeing that among other things, they shared their taste in inns with the orcleader, since it was their favorite place to stay in Mullis Town as well.
The burly chieftain was happy to see them- not only had it been a while since he had last seen his subjects of honor, but it also offered him a chance to break away from tedious paperwork. He had come to Mullis Town in order to barter for the excess of the first harvest with the local merchants, and now he had to figure out his gains and make sure that noone would take advantage of him as well. Even though he was a learned orc, certainly smarter than most of the merchants he had to deal with, his life in the plains had taught him more about the lay of the land and the history of his people than of numbers.
He pushed away the papers, telling his overworked officers to calculate the numbers once again, and then took the group of heroes with him to another table, ordering food and ale for dinner.
„And“, he said eventually between two bites, „what has brought you here?“
„Well, it all started when we went to the market here in Mullis Town, about two months ago.“, Ben started: „We had just gotten back from Vesh, planning to visit your new camp at the shores of the Bloodbasin“, he continued, and then he and his friends took turns telling him everything that had happened ever since they had battled against the necromancer. During their dinner, they told him about their journey to Mithril, the meeting with Kwalish, the many traps on the way to the keeper and, finally, about the halls of Dunai himself.
Donnangar grew more and more agitated as they told him about the orcish runes, and the way the entrances resembled the mouths of orcs as well. His wheathered and scared face was completely filled with wonder by the time they related to him how the ent had told them that only Orcs were allowed to pass.
When they were done with dinner and the waitress had just brought them fresh ale, Donnangar asked: „ So, what happened after Ben had returned from his short swim in the morass?“
„Well,“ Ben said, „we decided to rest right there. After all, there was still a third way leading away in the central chamber. We were sure that it would lead to the howling head in the Kelder mountains, and so we thought that we would take a complete look around first before we returned to the scholars. Also, there was still nothing we could bring them. And as we had learned, we couldn’t take the scholars either.“.
Niklas took over: „Even though we could try taking them to the entrance at the island of Cyri, we figured that probably the predator statues in that one hall would come alive and devour them, or something to that effect. Anyway, on the next morning, we went back to the central chamber and went into that other tunnel. First, there was a huge building...“
Trepat interrupted the monk: „No, you’re wrong. First we got into a huge hall that was totally dark. Not even Torn’s or my eyes were able to penetrate it, and the same was true for our torches and lamps. Having dealt with magical darkness before, we used a rope to bind us together, and then we ventured through the hall and through a tunnel to the next hall. And that is where we saw the giant building.“.
Now that the elf was finished, Niklas continued: „ As you can imagine, everything we had seen so far had been pretty amazing, and this hall was no different. Again, it was several hundred yards across, and almost filled by one single, large building. It was almost as spacious as the entire cave and several stories high. There were countless entrances and windows, and yet when we went in there, it was clean, and as good as new, but entirely empty.“.
„And what did it’s architecture look like? Did it in any way resemble the ruins of Hor’ Kung?“, Donnangar asked.
„No“, Torn said, before the monk could start again. „If it reminded me of anything, it was modern Veshian architecture. Light but efficient, you know?“
He emptied his ale and after a silence, in which the barmaid refilled their tankards, he said: „We took a quick look into one of the entrances, but after passing through a few doors, we returned. That thing looked like a giant labyrinth.“ He paused shortly, and then added, looking at Niklas: „And this labyrinth had walls, to boot!“.
After his friends had finished chuckling at this little private joke, which referred to how the monk had thought that the empty dark room in Marilvaz’ tomb had been a „labyrinth without walls“, he went on: „So, we turned around, went to the next hall, and I am telling you, this one beats ’em all.
„The hall was lit- like the one where we met the keeper of the trees. And in a way, there was a forest as well, but this one, you know, this one was different.“
Torn seemed to be lacking the words right now, and Donnangar asked: „In what way?“
Ben took over: „Well, it was made entirely made of crystal and gems, just to mention one thing. If you can imagine it- the „grass“ was made of green crystals and there were cherries made of rubys hanging from the trees. Everything in there was a little translucent, so wherever we looked, we saw the colors of the rainbow.
„It was beautiful. Everything looked natural, and right away we all had the feeling that indeed this crystalforest was „alive“ and not merely created. It’s beauty was too wild, too free to have been made by mere beings, no matter how highly their civilization had ascended. So, none of us touched anything or tried to take anything, as was for the best, as we were to find out soon enough“.
Jan, who had been eager to add his own version for quite a while now, continued: „Yes, because just like there had been a guardian in the forest of wood, there was one in the forest of gems as well. And this one was a dragon!
„It was as big as a house, and like everything else in that cave, it was made entirely of crystal, and it was even kinda transparent. However, I saw no organs, or anything else I would expect to see if I could look into a living being, like organs or bones or...“
Trepat rolled his eyes and before Jan could list all the things he would expect to see if he had the ability to look into living beings, he said: „Anyway, the moment we laid eyes on him, he turned his crystal eyes towards us and I felt a fear which was stronger than anything else I had ever felt. I was frozen with panic and even though everything in me screamed at me to run as far away from this, this thing, I couldn’t. I was vaguely aware that all my companions were likewise paralyzed, but I didn’t care, because I felt the certainty that my end was near. And then the beast spoke.“, the elf ended, adding an artful pause in order to excite his rapt one man audience even further.
However, the pause didn’t last for long, because before Donnangar could ask what it was that the dragon had said, Jan was already imitating the deep and yet airy voice of the dragon that reminded of the wind amidst the spires of the Kelders: „„Why have you come here?“, the dragon said, only that he didn’t so much say it but that his voice was in our heads.“.
They found Donnangar in the backroom of the „Drinking Hog“, seeing that among other things, they shared their taste in inns with the orcleader, since it was their favorite place to stay in Mullis Town as well.
The burly chieftain was happy to see them- not only had it been a while since he had last seen his subjects of honor, but it also offered him a chance to break away from tedious paperwork. He had come to Mullis Town in order to barter for the excess of the first harvest with the local merchants, and now he had to figure out his gains and make sure that noone would take advantage of him as well. Even though he was a learned orc, certainly smarter than most of the merchants he had to deal with, his life in the plains had taught him more about the lay of the land and the history of his people than of numbers.
He pushed away the papers, telling his overworked officers to calculate the numbers once again, and then took the group of heroes with him to another table, ordering food and ale for dinner.
„And“, he said eventually between two bites, „what has brought you here?“
„Well, it all started when we went to the market here in Mullis Town, about two months ago.“, Ben started: „We had just gotten back from Vesh, planning to visit your new camp at the shores of the Bloodbasin“, he continued, and then he and his friends took turns telling him everything that had happened ever since they had battled against the necromancer. During their dinner, they told him about their journey to Mithril, the meeting with Kwalish, the many traps on the way to the keeper and, finally, about the halls of Dunai himself.
Donnangar grew more and more agitated as they told him about the orcish runes, and the way the entrances resembled the mouths of orcs as well. His wheathered and scared face was completely filled with wonder by the time they related to him how the ent had told them that only Orcs were allowed to pass.
When they were done with dinner and the waitress had just brought them fresh ale, Donnangar asked: „ So, what happened after Ben had returned from his short swim in the morass?“
„Well,“ Ben said, „we decided to rest right there. After all, there was still a third way leading away in the central chamber. We were sure that it would lead to the howling head in the Kelder mountains, and so we thought that we would take a complete look around first before we returned to the scholars. Also, there was still nothing we could bring them. And as we had learned, we couldn’t take the scholars either.“.
Niklas took over: „Even though we could try taking them to the entrance at the island of Cyri, we figured that probably the predator statues in that one hall would come alive and devour them, or something to that effect. Anyway, on the next morning, we went back to the central chamber and went into that other tunnel. First, there was a huge building...“
Trepat interrupted the monk: „No, you’re wrong. First we got into a huge hall that was totally dark. Not even Torn’s or my eyes were able to penetrate it, and the same was true for our torches and lamps. Having dealt with magical darkness before, we used a rope to bind us together, and then we ventured through the hall and through a tunnel to the next hall. And that is where we saw the giant building.“.
Now that the elf was finished, Niklas continued: „ As you can imagine, everything we had seen so far had been pretty amazing, and this hall was no different. Again, it was several hundred yards across, and almost filled by one single, large building. It was almost as spacious as the entire cave and several stories high. There were countless entrances and windows, and yet when we went in there, it was clean, and as good as new, but entirely empty.“.
„And what did it’s architecture look like? Did it in any way resemble the ruins of Hor’ Kung?“, Donnangar asked.
„No“, Torn said, before the monk could start again. „If it reminded me of anything, it was modern Veshian architecture. Light but efficient, you know?“
He emptied his ale and after a silence, in which the barmaid refilled their tankards, he said: „We took a quick look into one of the entrances, but after passing through a few doors, we returned. That thing looked like a giant labyrinth.“ He paused shortly, and then added, looking at Niklas: „And this labyrinth had walls, to boot!“.
After his friends had finished chuckling at this little private joke, which referred to how the monk had thought that the empty dark room in Marilvaz’ tomb had been a „labyrinth without walls“, he went on: „So, we turned around, went to the next hall, and I am telling you, this one beats ’em all.
„The hall was lit- like the one where we met the keeper of the trees. And in a way, there was a forest as well, but this one, you know, this one was different.“
Torn seemed to be lacking the words right now, and Donnangar asked: „In what way?“
Ben took over: „Well, it was made entirely made of crystal and gems, just to mention one thing. If you can imagine it- the „grass“ was made of green crystals and there were cherries made of rubys hanging from the trees. Everything in there was a little translucent, so wherever we looked, we saw the colors of the rainbow.
„It was beautiful. Everything looked natural, and right away we all had the feeling that indeed this crystalforest was „alive“ and not merely created. It’s beauty was too wild, too free to have been made by mere beings, no matter how highly their civilization had ascended. So, none of us touched anything or tried to take anything, as was for the best, as we were to find out soon enough“.
Jan, who had been eager to add his own version for quite a while now, continued: „Yes, because just like there had been a guardian in the forest of wood, there was one in the forest of gems as well. And this one was a dragon!
„It was as big as a house, and like everything else in that cave, it was made entirely of crystal, and it was even kinda transparent. However, I saw no organs, or anything else I would expect to see if I could look into a living being, like organs or bones or...“
Trepat rolled his eyes and before Jan could list all the things he would expect to see if he had the ability to look into living beings, he said: „Anyway, the moment we laid eyes on him, he turned his crystal eyes towards us and I felt a fear which was stronger than anything else I had ever felt. I was frozen with panic and even though everything in me screamed at me to run as far away from this, this thing, I couldn’t. I was vaguely aware that all my companions were likewise paralyzed, but I didn’t care, because I felt the certainty that my end was near. And then the beast spoke.“, the elf ended, adding an artful pause in order to excite his rapt one man audience even further.
However, the pause didn’t last for long, because before Donnangar could ask what it was that the dragon had said, Jan was already imitating the deep and yet airy voice of the dragon that reminded of the wind amidst the spires of the Kelders: „„Why have you come here?“, the dragon said, only that he didn’t so much say it but that his voice was in our heads.“.
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