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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lars Frehse" data-source="post: 228055" data-attributes="member: 1674">Passing on part 1Passing on throughThe men entered the river valley of the Dardale on a sunny morning. The river cut through the Kelders and the group walked along it's bank towards it source in the north.Days passed peacefully, as the Kelders towered higher and higher to their left and right. The river was running strongly, since the spring sun had melted the snow in the mountains, and an occasional rain forced the travellers into the mountains, since the river was full enough to go over it's banks when the river had to carry the rainwater, as well.Apart from that, it was a pleasant march. The sun was shining most of the times, the air was crisp and clean and in the evenings, there was usually plenty of fish for dinner. As the days passed, they were ready to forget the pain and horror the land had gone through during the titanwars and afterwards- here, nature and the world seemed at peace and in order.It was on a sunny day like that, when the group marched along a rocky part of the riverbanks. Here, boulders that were taller than a man were laying on the beach as if a child of a giant had tossed them around in a violent rage. With the sun in their back, they walked along, as Ben, who was leading a mule on a leash, saw a glint of metal behind a big rock ahead of them. Squinting his eyes, the halfling was able to identify the tips of two blades.Slowing his pace, he signaled to Trepat, who marched next to him, leading the other donkey of the party. The elf too saw the weapon tips, and in turn tapped lightly on Jan's shoulder, pointing at the rock. The young Paladin, who walked in front of them, now saw the blades, too and shouted: " In the name of Corean, show yourselves!".Ben slapped his forehead, cursing under his breath, as something unexpected happened. While he, like the others, focused on the left and right side of the rock, a feline creature leaped straight over the boulder and charged at the Half Orc Torn, who had walked up front.The creature that was now closing in with vicious speed looked like a panter that was made of obsidian. Sticking out of it's shining black back were swords and axes, their wicked blades protecting the beast's body in the way a hedgehog is protected by it's spikes.Initially, the fearsome beast clawed away at it's chosen enemy, ripping open Torn’s leather armor and tearing into the flesh of his right shoulder. But already, the others came to his help. Jan swung his sword at the beast, but as he hit, he felt the blade being pulled into the predator! Fortunately, he was able to hold fast to his sword and free his blade. Now, from the other side Niklas approached the beast, and ignoring the blades that cut his fists, he punched at the cat.Soon, they surrounded the beast, but the predator seemed to be tireless. Heedless of it's injuries, it struck down Torn and then shot one of the longswords in it's body at Trepat, who had been tormenting it with his magic missiles.Eventually though, they managed to overcome the beast, surrounding it and overbearing it with their weapons and magic. The blade beast, as it was called, now lay still in front of them, and with it, another of Golthagga, the titan smith's, minions was defeated. Trepat cast a spell that enabled him to detect magic, and to their common surprise, he found that two of the longswords- the one that the beast had propelled out of it's body and another that was still stuck in it, had magical properties. So, they put those swords on their mules and after disposing of the body in the river, they marched on.The scenery was beautiful, but after a few more days, some of our heroes would have wished to meet others of the divine races. While Ben and Trepat were enjoying the calm, the humans and the half orc were getting restless and wished for some faces other then their own to talk to.But all they encountered were mountaingoats and other animals that were at home in a mountain range. At least fresh water was no issue, but the river valley, that had been wide and sandy close to the sea, got ever narrower and rockier, the farther they marched on.A week after the encounter with the bladebeast, there was merely 20 feet of riverbank left. To the right of them, the Dardale river was turbulent. Here, the valley was rather small and shallow, so that the water was racing past, tearing everything that fell into it along in a mad rush down to the ocean. To the left, the rock was forming a sheer wall of 10 feet height that seperated the banks from a plateau.Jan and Torn were sunken in conversation, as they walked along that area, as all of a sudden a rock fell down on them. Both reacted quick enough- the one protected by his faith and the other by years of living on the street and watched the rock bounce past them into the river, as several creatures jumped screaming down the plateau.They were Sargons. Fierce and merciless, these skinny greyskinned humanoids had forsaken the trappings of civilization centuries ago and were now  nothing more then cruel bipedal animals. They were naked and almost indistinguishable, since they had no visible sexual organs or individual characteristics to distinguish them.All of them had long, strong fingernails, which were about as long as their forearms, so that they were forced to either lift their arms up or drag the claws over the floor.Now, they attacked the group, craving the one thing the heroes had to offer them: fresh meat. And there is only one thing a Sargon likes better then fresh meat: the fresh meat of a member of the divine races. The Sargons were everywhere. Soon, they had the heroes surrounded, and were slashing with their long curved claws at their opponents.Fortunately, they weren't wearing any armor, nor was their grey skin especially thick, so that Torn Jan and Niklas were able to score some good hits, and when they hit, they usually killed with one blow against the Sargon's unprotected heads and bodies.But there were eight of the Sargons, and they knew how to wield their vicious claws, so that for a long time, the battle raged evenly, until the remaining four titanspawn overcame Ben and Torn. Now, the situation was dire. Trepat, Niklas and Jan had received wounds from the Sargons as well by now, and even though Jan smashed another skull of one of their attackers, another Sargon bypassed Jan's shield, cutting him deeply over the face, slashing open a deep bleeding wound and knocking the Paladin out cold.The Sargon turned to face the monk and the sorcerer who were still left standing, as out of nowwhere a raven who seemed to have a body made of shadow dived down on the creature and attacked him. He hit with his beak, and under the skin of the Sargon, expanding through his vein, there was shadow. The titanspawn looked down in horror, as he saw this dark web reach for his heart. Then, as the shadowpoison reached his heart, he dropped dead.Niklas now used the momentary panic of the two remaining Sargons and kicked one in the face, breaking the spine, and Trepat, having used all his arcane might for the day, shot an arrow at the other one, hitting his heart.The raven, in turn, flew up and disappeared again.To be continued…</blockquote>

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