cthuluftaghn
First Post
A lot of story packed into a little space. Efficiently written... very good!
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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
Tales of the Obsidian Hammers
- Thread starter SableWyvern
- Start date
(Note: I have updated the second post (002), above, for some more details I remembered about our visit to the Loremasters.)
Into the Hoardeep
We followed an obvious, but rarely-used road from Taureth to the rather expansive area known as the Hoardeep. A half-hour of walking took us to the entrance to a coniferous forest, it didn’t look haunted, but since none of us had seen a haunted forest before we didn’t really have much to go on.
Regardless of the impending doom the regulars at the Drum & Sword said would befall us and being the intrepid adventurers we were, we bravely ventured forth.
Given the build-up, initially the much-vaunted Hoardeep was a bit of a disappointment. We had all expected to be hacking our way through ghosts, goblins and ghouls every step of the way. In fact, initially at least, the Hoardeep was a fairly peaceful place.
After approximately an hour, we came across an idyllic, small clearing with a small pond in the centre. On closer inspection, the water in the pond appeared to be glowing ever so slightly. Chade tasted the water and upon vouching for the taste, we filled some waterskins from the pond.
A further two hours of walking lead us to a much larger clearing, maybe 200 yards across, from which two paths lead off, one in a westerly direction and another towards the southwest. The clearing sloped upwards to the north-west corner and, of course, was surrounded by forest on all sides. In roughly the middle of the clearing were three holes that each looked like the entrances to a cave. Judging by their proximity, it would seem logical that they would all join up, but we’d just have to take a look to find out.
Caves and sticks…
We decided on the middle one and after lighting a couple of torches, with Terjon and myself leading the way we ventured forth.
(Note: The text relating to our adventures into the caves was spread over a long period of time, because we had to head back to town and heal up in between forays, I have summarised the more interesting areas without detailing every time we went back to town and came back again.)
The caves were apparently a natural creation, but it was obvious that there had been (or was currently) residents based on scrape marks on the walls and footprints in the dirt. It also appeared that some areas of the caves had been shored up with wooden beams. The cave did not descend far into the earth, but the slight downward grade sloping land above our heads meant that we were, in fact, going further underground. The cave wandered slightly, and there were some intersections, at which we had developed the habit of going left first.
A small group of what we guessed to be bugbears were the first residents we encountered. Similar to the goblins in Enlor’s tomb, they had made their ‘home’ in some of the smaller caverns in the complex. It was a pitched battle, we despatched our adversaries but not before Terjon received a near fatal blow from one of the bugbears’ morningstars and Warramayl was also injured. Chade revived the paladin and was tending to Warramayl’s wounds when Mareth handed Terjon a waterskin. Apparently, that was one of the skins filled at the glowing pond (either that, or the water in Taureth has miraculous healing properties), because Terjon’s wounds magically closed over and he claimed to be feeling just fine as he leapt to his feet.
Chade was very excited by this and floated the idea of opening a store near the pond to sell the magical water to the citizens of Taureth. Apart from being generally appalled at the idea, I argued that it was impractical.
“How can you expect people to travel for two hours, entering an area they are all scared witless of, just to come and buy water?” I asked.
“Once they find out that it heals wounds, they will come.” He responded.
I left it at that and hoped he would forget about it.
Among the bugbear’s belongings we found a strange stick-like object with stylised spiders carved into it. According to Entarsis it was magical and he figured it was probably a wand, but he would have to take some time to study it closely. He appeared kind of excited. We allowed the sorcerer to hang onto his pretty, new stick.
We found (and killed) two more groups of bugbears in the areas of the caves relatively close to the entrance and ascertained that all the cave entrances were connected to the same cave complex before we decided to head back to Taureth with our loot (some coins and other stuff we took from the bugbears).
Entarsis said that he needed some time alone with his new stick to attempt to identify what it did. He also said that he needed a hundred gold to buy some material components for the spell he was going to cast. We all dug deep and volunteered equal shares of the cash. We stayed in Taureth the next day to allow Entarsis time to commune with the ‘wand’. Reikon went off to do, well, whatever it is Reikon does when we’re not around. Terjon went to a slummy section of Taureth to give away his portion of our loot. The rest of us spent the time restocking our torch supplies and looking around town for some better quality weapons (and discovered that we couldn’t’ afford any).
We were sitting around in the common room when Entarsis came down from the room he was sharing with Warramayl, looking quite triumphant he walked purposefully over to our table and sat down.
“It’s a wand of web.” He whispered so only we could hear him. We all knew that Entarsis was a spellcaster and it didn’t worry us, but others are not so understanding.
“How many charges?” Reikon asked, being the only other arcane spellcaster in the group.
Entarsis looked a little embarrassed.
“One.”
“One?!” I exclaimed in a voice loud enough to draw more glances from other patrons that I would have liked.
“One.” Entarsis confirmed.
“We paid a hundred gold for that!?”
“Well, yes.”
“It had better come in useful.”
“Uh huh.”
“Oh well. Hang onto it, that’s a damn expensive stick.”
We resolved to search deeper into the cave complex the next day.
More caves, but no more sticks
The journey to the caves was more exciting than the last one (just). Being the rogue and the ranger in the group, Reikon and I regularly scout ahead of the group to, hopefully, provide some early warning of danger in our path.
Today, we found some. About a hundred yards ahead of the group to the left-hand side of the path were a trio of owlbears, headed directly for us. I made the birdcall that Reikon and I had worked out, indicating that we should head back to the group. I heard the reply and hurried the fifty feet back to the group.
Terjon halted the group as I ran up to them, waiting for information.
“Three owlbears to the West Nor-West.” Remembering their reputation for ferociousness the next move was obvious. “We’ll go this way and skirt around them.” I continued, pointing to the south. Warramayl looked disappointed. “Don’t worry, Warra.” I remarked as we hurried southwards, “you’ll have plenty more chances to die.”
We stopped roughly three hundred yards from the path, where I paused to make sure of our bearings before we set off in the direction I determined to be west. Remembering the roughly south-westerly direction the path we took two days hence, I figured we would meet it again if we continued in this direction.
Sure enough we once again arrived at the clearing and headed for the cave entrances – the north-most was chosen this time.
We were soon back in familiar territory, revisiting the bugbear lairs to ensure they had not been repopulated. After determining that they were still empty. Working our way what I guessed to be roughly north-wards, we found a very large cavern of indeterminate length. Sticking close to the wall, we headed along it’s length.
I don’t know how I missed it, but before we could react a purple tentacle-like object whipped out of nowhere and hammered me against the cave wall. In the next few seconds, which seemed to go very slowly, three more tentacles struck at Terjon, Warramayl and Entarsis from out of the darkness. Fortunately, the initial attack on yours truly had given them time to dodge attacks coming there way.
“Come on, guys.” I winced as I gulped the air that had been driven from my body. “We’ll get out of it’s range.” I got to my feet and started moving north. Hugging the wall, myself, Mareth and Entarsis headed away from the area where the purple tentacles were. “Let’s go!” I yelled as I saw Chade suddenly burst into light then throw the source of the light, a copper piece, toward our attacker. Reikon was already loading an arrow into his longbow, Warramayl had his sling out and Terjon was pulling out his sword. Damn them! I was in the process of yelling “It’s just a plant“ when I was cut off by an ear-piercing shriek. On the edge of the torchlight was an apparently immobile, disgusting little bubble-like creature covered in eyes and mouths, from which the noise was coming.
Unable to concentrate on what Terjon and the others were doing against their barely-sentient adversary and finding myself unable to move with my hands over my ears, I could only watch as Mareth drew his rapier and ran at the bubble-beastie. Entarsis moved a little closer to give Mareth light and started muttering to himself and moving his free hand. A glowing, magical dart sprang forth from his outstretched hand and plunged into the bubble, just as Mareth struck it with his rapier. Entarsis pulled out his sling, I found my feet had returned to my control and we made short work of little-mr-screeching-bubble-thing.
When we returned to the site of the purple tentacle-plant, we could see several Reikon’s arrows protruding from it’s centre-mass and several of it’s tentacles hacked off. Warramayl was nursing a bruised shoulder, which Chade was attending to and Terjon was wiping some purple ichor from his longsword and Reikon was retrieving Chade’s copper piece.
“Well, that was fun.” I remarked. “You okay, Warra?”
“Yeah.”
“By the gods!” Chade exclaimed. “What was that noise!?”
“That squashed thing over there.” Mareth pointed vaguely in the direction of the dead bubble-beastie.
“If I never see one of those again, it will be too soon.” Entarsis added.
“Any idea what either of these things were, Rhael?” Reikon asked me.
“Nup.” I replied. “Let’s just hope there are no more.”
The others nodded their agreement as we resumed our exploration of the cave.
Finding no more assailants in the cave depths, we made it to the other end. At the end was a pool of water, completely black because of the lack of light, and obviously relatively deep. Reikon took off his pack and extracted a small frog.
“Where’d the frog come from, Reik?” Chade asked the obvious question.
“He’s my familiar.” Reikon replied. “Like Entarsis’ rat.”
“Oh.” Chade obviously understood the whole thing just as well as the rest of us, because he just left it there.
“I’m going to get him to swim into the pond and tell me how deep it is.” With that, he pushed the frog toward the water’s edge, into which the frog gleefully leapt. Needless to say, I was sceptical, and I could tell that Terj shared my feelings.
After a few minutes, the frog returned to the surface and Reikon picked him up, looking disappointed.
“Of course, I failed to realise that frogs can’t count and certainly can’t measure. Damn.” He looked meaningfully at the wet, green amphibian. “I hope you enjoyed yourself.” I was shocked to see the frog nod, almost imperceptibly, but didn’t bother mentioning it.
“Oh well. Back the way we came.” Mareth said.
With that, we turned away from the pool and walked back to the entrance to the large cave.
Into the Hoardeep
We followed an obvious, but rarely-used road from Taureth to the rather expansive area known as the Hoardeep. A half-hour of walking took us to the entrance to a coniferous forest, it didn’t look haunted, but since none of us had seen a haunted forest before we didn’t really have much to go on.
Regardless of the impending doom the regulars at the Drum & Sword said would befall us and being the intrepid adventurers we were, we bravely ventured forth.
Given the build-up, initially the much-vaunted Hoardeep was a bit of a disappointment. We had all expected to be hacking our way through ghosts, goblins and ghouls every step of the way. In fact, initially at least, the Hoardeep was a fairly peaceful place.
After approximately an hour, we came across an idyllic, small clearing with a small pond in the centre. On closer inspection, the water in the pond appeared to be glowing ever so slightly. Chade tasted the water and upon vouching for the taste, we filled some waterskins from the pond.
A further two hours of walking lead us to a much larger clearing, maybe 200 yards across, from which two paths lead off, one in a westerly direction and another towards the southwest. The clearing sloped upwards to the north-west corner and, of course, was surrounded by forest on all sides. In roughly the middle of the clearing were three holes that each looked like the entrances to a cave. Judging by their proximity, it would seem logical that they would all join up, but we’d just have to take a look to find out.
Caves and sticks…
We decided on the middle one and after lighting a couple of torches, with Terjon and myself leading the way we ventured forth.
(Note: The text relating to our adventures into the caves was spread over a long period of time, because we had to head back to town and heal up in between forays, I have summarised the more interesting areas without detailing every time we went back to town and came back again.)
The caves were apparently a natural creation, but it was obvious that there had been (or was currently) residents based on scrape marks on the walls and footprints in the dirt. It also appeared that some areas of the caves had been shored up with wooden beams. The cave did not descend far into the earth, but the slight downward grade sloping land above our heads meant that we were, in fact, going further underground. The cave wandered slightly, and there were some intersections, at which we had developed the habit of going left first.
A small group of what we guessed to be bugbears were the first residents we encountered. Similar to the goblins in Enlor’s tomb, they had made their ‘home’ in some of the smaller caverns in the complex. It was a pitched battle, we despatched our adversaries but not before Terjon received a near fatal blow from one of the bugbears’ morningstars and Warramayl was also injured. Chade revived the paladin and was tending to Warramayl’s wounds when Mareth handed Terjon a waterskin. Apparently, that was one of the skins filled at the glowing pond (either that, or the water in Taureth has miraculous healing properties), because Terjon’s wounds magically closed over and he claimed to be feeling just fine as he leapt to his feet.
Chade was very excited by this and floated the idea of opening a store near the pond to sell the magical water to the citizens of Taureth. Apart from being generally appalled at the idea, I argued that it was impractical.
“How can you expect people to travel for two hours, entering an area they are all scared witless of, just to come and buy water?” I asked.
“Once they find out that it heals wounds, they will come.” He responded.
I left it at that and hoped he would forget about it.
Among the bugbear’s belongings we found a strange stick-like object with stylised spiders carved into it. According to Entarsis it was magical and he figured it was probably a wand, but he would have to take some time to study it closely. He appeared kind of excited. We allowed the sorcerer to hang onto his pretty, new stick.
We found (and killed) two more groups of bugbears in the areas of the caves relatively close to the entrance and ascertained that all the cave entrances were connected to the same cave complex before we decided to head back to Taureth with our loot (some coins and other stuff we took from the bugbears).
Entarsis said that he needed some time alone with his new stick to attempt to identify what it did. He also said that he needed a hundred gold to buy some material components for the spell he was going to cast. We all dug deep and volunteered equal shares of the cash. We stayed in Taureth the next day to allow Entarsis time to commune with the ‘wand’. Reikon went off to do, well, whatever it is Reikon does when we’re not around. Terjon went to a slummy section of Taureth to give away his portion of our loot. The rest of us spent the time restocking our torch supplies and looking around town for some better quality weapons (and discovered that we couldn’t’ afford any).
We were sitting around in the common room when Entarsis came down from the room he was sharing with Warramayl, looking quite triumphant he walked purposefully over to our table and sat down.
“It’s a wand of web.” He whispered so only we could hear him. We all knew that Entarsis was a spellcaster and it didn’t worry us, but others are not so understanding.
“How many charges?” Reikon asked, being the only other arcane spellcaster in the group.
Entarsis looked a little embarrassed.
“One.”
“One?!” I exclaimed in a voice loud enough to draw more glances from other patrons that I would have liked.
“One.” Entarsis confirmed.
“We paid a hundred gold for that!?”
“Well, yes.”
“It had better come in useful.”
“Uh huh.”
“Oh well. Hang onto it, that’s a damn expensive stick.”
We resolved to search deeper into the cave complex the next day.
More caves, but no more sticks
The journey to the caves was more exciting than the last one (just). Being the rogue and the ranger in the group, Reikon and I regularly scout ahead of the group to, hopefully, provide some early warning of danger in our path.
Today, we found some. About a hundred yards ahead of the group to the left-hand side of the path were a trio of owlbears, headed directly for us. I made the birdcall that Reikon and I had worked out, indicating that we should head back to the group. I heard the reply and hurried the fifty feet back to the group.
Terjon halted the group as I ran up to them, waiting for information.
“Three owlbears to the West Nor-West.” Remembering their reputation for ferociousness the next move was obvious. “We’ll go this way and skirt around them.” I continued, pointing to the south. Warramayl looked disappointed. “Don’t worry, Warra.” I remarked as we hurried southwards, “you’ll have plenty more chances to die.”
We stopped roughly three hundred yards from the path, where I paused to make sure of our bearings before we set off in the direction I determined to be west. Remembering the roughly south-westerly direction the path we took two days hence, I figured we would meet it again if we continued in this direction.
Sure enough we once again arrived at the clearing and headed for the cave entrances – the north-most was chosen this time.
We were soon back in familiar territory, revisiting the bugbear lairs to ensure they had not been repopulated. After determining that they were still empty. Working our way what I guessed to be roughly north-wards, we found a very large cavern of indeterminate length. Sticking close to the wall, we headed along it’s length.
I don’t know how I missed it, but before we could react a purple tentacle-like object whipped out of nowhere and hammered me against the cave wall. In the next few seconds, which seemed to go very slowly, three more tentacles struck at Terjon, Warramayl and Entarsis from out of the darkness. Fortunately, the initial attack on yours truly had given them time to dodge attacks coming there way.
“Come on, guys.” I winced as I gulped the air that had been driven from my body. “We’ll get out of it’s range.” I got to my feet and started moving north. Hugging the wall, myself, Mareth and Entarsis headed away from the area where the purple tentacles were. “Let’s go!” I yelled as I saw Chade suddenly burst into light then throw the source of the light, a copper piece, toward our attacker. Reikon was already loading an arrow into his longbow, Warramayl had his sling out and Terjon was pulling out his sword. Damn them! I was in the process of yelling “It’s just a plant“ when I was cut off by an ear-piercing shriek. On the edge of the torchlight was an apparently immobile, disgusting little bubble-like creature covered in eyes and mouths, from which the noise was coming.
Unable to concentrate on what Terjon and the others were doing against their barely-sentient adversary and finding myself unable to move with my hands over my ears, I could only watch as Mareth drew his rapier and ran at the bubble-beastie. Entarsis moved a little closer to give Mareth light and started muttering to himself and moving his free hand. A glowing, magical dart sprang forth from his outstretched hand and plunged into the bubble, just as Mareth struck it with his rapier. Entarsis pulled out his sling, I found my feet had returned to my control and we made short work of little-mr-screeching-bubble-thing.
When we returned to the site of the purple tentacle-plant, we could see several Reikon’s arrows protruding from it’s centre-mass and several of it’s tentacles hacked off. Warramayl was nursing a bruised shoulder, which Chade was attending to and Terjon was wiping some purple ichor from his longsword and Reikon was retrieving Chade’s copper piece.
“Well, that was fun.” I remarked. “You okay, Warra?”
“Yeah.”
“By the gods!” Chade exclaimed. “What was that noise!?”
“That squashed thing over there.” Mareth pointed vaguely in the direction of the dead bubble-beastie.
“If I never see one of those again, it will be too soon.” Entarsis added.
“Any idea what either of these things were, Rhael?” Reikon asked me.
“Nup.” I replied. “Let’s just hope there are no more.”
The others nodded their agreement as we resumed our exploration of the cave.
Finding no more assailants in the cave depths, we made it to the other end. At the end was a pool of water, completely black because of the lack of light, and obviously relatively deep. Reikon took off his pack and extracted a small frog.
“Where’d the frog come from, Reik?” Chade asked the obvious question.
“He’s my familiar.” Reikon replied. “Like Entarsis’ rat.”
“Oh.” Chade obviously understood the whole thing just as well as the rest of us, because he just left it there.
“I’m going to get him to swim into the pond and tell me how deep it is.” With that, he pushed the frog toward the water’s edge, into which the frog gleefully leapt. Needless to say, I was sceptical, and I could tell that Terj shared my feelings.
After a few minutes, the frog returned to the surface and Reikon picked him up, looking disappointed.
“Of course, I failed to realise that frogs can’t count and certainly can’t measure. Damn.” He looked meaningfully at the wet, green amphibian. “I hope you enjoyed yourself.” I was shocked to see the frog nod, almost imperceptibly, but didn’t bother mentioning it.
“Oh well. Back the way we came.” Mareth said.
With that, we turned away from the pool and walked back to the entrance to the large cave.
Last edited:
Death awaits with big, nasty, pointy teeth!
After leaving the large cave, deciding that the water could be explored more thoroughly when we were next really bored, we took a left and headed further into the cave complex.
We had taken an offshoot from a larger tunnel, when Reikon, who was leading the way, called a halt. He pointed at the ceiling of the cave and held his torch up so we could see. I looked, amazed that he had spotted anything in this gloom and was surprised to see the lower three or four inches of a portcullis sticking out the rock. Closer inspection of the floor revealed the grooves in which the portcullis sat when lowered. Beyond the ‘doorway’ we could see a room, which appeared to have another exit in the left wall.
Reikon checked the area to ensure that the portcullis was not trapped, and we cautiously stepped through the area into the room. It was a thirty foot square, with us on the left hand side with the opening directly behind us and the other doorway in the left hand wall in the far corner.
Note: The following section, up to the mark saying ‘end of modified section’, has been modified from the original post based on some fairly major corrections from the GM of this campaign relating to the encounter, which I obviously didn’t remember as well as I thought I did. I really should have taken more notes on those early sessions. I have borrowed heavily from his post as far as the text of this next section goes, because he captured it very well. Thanks, Sable. - Rhael
We were halted, mid-step by a language we did not understand. The voice then spoke again, apparently in another language, before finally saying, in what can be loosely called common:
“Halt. What is your business here?”
As we contemplated a response, Chade decided he wanted to know who was speaking to the group. His favourite trick of casting Light on a coin and into the darknesss seemed like a good idea, so he set about this task. Unfortunately, certain dwarves apparently did not appreciate him beginning to chant the strange and mystical language of spellcasting because the portcullis behind us was closed suddenly, separating Entarsis and Reikon from the rest of the party. From out of the darkness we were pelted with crossbow bolts before being charged by a wave of four scalemail-clad dwarves followed by a larger dwarf covered in full plate mail, obviously the leader. (Rhael’s first rule of adventuring is starting to take shape: “Stay well away from the guys wearing full plate.”) They seemed shorter than the dwarves I had seen and they had grey skin.
“Duergar” I commented, loud enough for my companions to hear.
“This isn’t good.” Mareth remarked dryly, as we all raised our weapons to meet the charge.
Reikon started taking shots with his bow from behind the portcullis and I could hear Entarsis chanting, and when the first of them went down from a stroke of my blade, the leader yelled with rage and advanced on me. I found myself in a pitched battle with him, while the others fought off his lackeys. By the time we had taken them all down, Mareth was unconscious, Chade had a gash on his upper arm and Terjon was looking a little worse for wear.
Moments after the leader went down, more duergar appeared from a side passage. Watching us, almost warily but with fury in their eyes.
Reikon then said something hasty and ill-advised (as he did fairly regularly), the dwarves shouted in rage and attacked. In killing the second group, no further of our number were knocked out, but we had taken more damage. Warramayl was now limping badly and I had a gash on my side.
“We can’t take another group on!” Terjon whispered, tersely. “Rhael, Warra. Help me open the portcullis.”
In the breathing space we thought we had, we turned and attempted to lift the portcullis. Chade cast a spell on Mareth to get him to his feet, though still weak Mareth waved off any support and leaned against the wall instead.
Unfortunately, before we could make any headway with the portcullis, we could hear another group of dwarves approaching from the shadows. One stepped forward into our torchlight.
“What are ye doin’ ‘ere!?” Asked the spokesman.
“We are adventurers.” Chade retorted. “We were exploring this cave complex and ended up here.”
“Do you have any idea where ye are, adventurers?” The last word was said with a caustic sarcasm I didn’t think he could possibly get across with that accent.
“We do not know exactly where we are, except that we are in a cave system.” I replied.
“Ye near the entrance to the Underdark.” The dwarf stated.
“By the gods!” Entarsis exclaimed in a whisper. He had obviously heard all the same stories regarding that place as I had.
“That’s right, Human. And ye be trapped. While ye obviously be strong, we are legion. Hundreds of my kin wait to join this fight. However, for a mere fifty gold ye can be reunited with ye’re comrades and no more blood need be shed.”
I looked around. I was pretty happy with that offer, considering our circumstances. Unfortunately I wasn’t close enough to Chade to stop him opening his mouth…
“You should give us fifty gold to stop us from killing you!” He said.
The dwarf was obviously, and not surprisingly unimpressed with this statement.
“One hundred gold.” Said the dwarf. As we started to reach for our money pouches, I heard Chade inhale again.
He laughed. “There aren't hundreds of them,” he whispered, obviously intending only we hear him “There can't be.”
The dwarf’s face betrayed his anger.
“Two hundred gold, and one more word from that one and ye all die!”
As we physically had to restrain and silence Chade, we emptied the counted out the required funds and gave the coins to the dwarf in Chade’s money pouch.
The duergar hefted the pouch, and inspected the contents. True to his word, as soon as he had his money, the portcullis was raised and we were allowed to leave, unmolested. Once Chade was no longer restrained, he began to curse, complain and generally voice his disapproval.
“We could've taken them.” He commented loudly and bitterly.
None of us were particularly enamoured of the cleric at that point.
“Regardless, there was still an iron portcullis between us and freedom.” Noted Mareth.
“And it hardly matters now, does it?” It was obviously a rhetorical question, but I had to say it.
Chade grumbled.
Terjon spoke next. “I say we get the hell out of here.”
End modified section.
We didn’t mind that idea of that and we headed for the cave entrance.
“We should use the healing pond.” Chade said as we left the large clearing.
“I agree.” Reikon and Terjon both said at once.
“Hmmm. Not a bad idea. We’ll do that.” It was a good idea, how could I disagree with that.
We got to the clearing with the glowing pond and sat down on the soft, green grass (itself unusual in the middle of a conifer forest). Mareth went first, his numerous wounds closing over in a matter of moments. Chade drank, followed by me. It was when Terjon took a drink that we realised that the pool had limitations. Nothing happened.
“What’s going on?!” Terjon sounded worried as he drank some more of the water, thinking that he hadn’t drank enough.
“It only works once.” Terjon looked at the cleric in confusion. “It only works once per person and you drank the water from the waterskin back in the cave, remember?” Chade repeated, with more detail for the paladin’s benefit.
Terjon sank back on his haunches, disappointed.
“Oh, well. There goes your healing water shop, eh, Chade.” I joked.
“I guess so.” He replied.
“Back to good, old fashioned, divine healing spells, huh?” Entarsis was in a strangely jovial mood.
“I guess so.” Chade repeated his previous answer as he knelt next to Terjon and cast some curative spells on him.
Since we were all feeling fine and it was still early, we decided to head back to the cave. We found our way back to the path leading to the duergar, but instead of taking the offshoot we continued on. The path sloped down on a greater angle, and the footing was a little more unsure, but it was slow going, but not difficult travel.
We stopped for a brief rest at a point where the cave opened up, creating a doorway into a small room. Reikon was leaning against the cave wall when I heard a brief woosh-like sound then heard three noises, two were like arrows thudding into armour and the last had the distinctive noise of striking flesh. I heard Reikon gurgle slightly as the torch slipped from his grip and he fell to the floor, three black spines about five or six inches long protruding from his torso and upper arm.
Before we could react, we were bombarded again. This time, Terjon and Mareth were struck and one spine glanced off the cave wall. From the darkness out of the reach of our torchlight we heard some low, gutteral growling, then two huge, human-like faces, surrounded by a mane of fur emerged at a run and attacked!
“Manticores!” I yelled, in horror.
Terjon, Mareth, Warramayl and I only had time to form a line across the opening before the first one was upon us. The other hung back, but flung some more spines at Terjon, two of which missed and one thudded into his shield.
The closer of the two jumped at Mareth and took him down with it’s huge paws, the elf bleeding from four parallel slashes across his chest where the attack tore through his leather armour.
I struck the first one in the shoulder with my sword, the gash looking puny and almost pathetic. This enraged the beast further and it next struck out at me. It struck me in the left thigh, the claws raking across my scale armour, but bruising the flesh beneath. Terjon and Warramayl also managed to land blows to the creature before the paladin fell to another powerful attack from the creature in front and the monk went down under a hail of spines from the one in the back.
Chade rushed forward to apply some first aid to Warramayl, but was knocked against the cave wall by a massively strong swipe from the Manticore.
“I should get the hell out of here!” I thought to myself. I could see the bodies of my comrades lying around my feet out of my periphery. Strangely, this didn’t scare me, it steeled my resolve to either defend them or die trying, if that was what I had to do.
I heard Entarsis chanting behind me and I felt some sudden, sharp pains in my stomach. I looked down, briefly to see two of those horrid black spines lodged in my gut. It was a stupid thing to do, in my moment of distraction, the manticore in front of me smashed me in the side and sent me reeling backwards.
“What a way to die.” I thought as the deep blackness of unconsciousness closed over me.
After leaving the large cave, deciding that the water could be explored more thoroughly when we were next really bored, we took a left and headed further into the cave complex.
We had taken an offshoot from a larger tunnel, when Reikon, who was leading the way, called a halt. He pointed at the ceiling of the cave and held his torch up so we could see. I looked, amazed that he had spotted anything in this gloom and was surprised to see the lower three or four inches of a portcullis sticking out the rock. Closer inspection of the floor revealed the grooves in which the portcullis sat when lowered. Beyond the ‘doorway’ we could see a room, which appeared to have another exit in the left wall.
Reikon checked the area to ensure that the portcullis was not trapped, and we cautiously stepped through the area into the room. It was a thirty foot square, with us on the left hand side with the opening directly behind us and the other doorway in the left hand wall in the far corner.
Note: The following section, up to the mark saying ‘end of modified section’, has been modified from the original post based on some fairly major corrections from the GM of this campaign relating to the encounter, which I obviously didn’t remember as well as I thought I did. I really should have taken more notes on those early sessions. I have borrowed heavily from his post as far as the text of this next section goes, because he captured it very well. Thanks, Sable. - Rhael
We were halted, mid-step by a language we did not understand. The voice then spoke again, apparently in another language, before finally saying, in what can be loosely called common:
“Halt. What is your business here?”
As we contemplated a response, Chade decided he wanted to know who was speaking to the group. His favourite trick of casting Light on a coin and into the darknesss seemed like a good idea, so he set about this task. Unfortunately, certain dwarves apparently did not appreciate him beginning to chant the strange and mystical language of spellcasting because the portcullis behind us was closed suddenly, separating Entarsis and Reikon from the rest of the party. From out of the darkness we were pelted with crossbow bolts before being charged by a wave of four scalemail-clad dwarves followed by a larger dwarf covered in full plate mail, obviously the leader. (Rhael’s first rule of adventuring is starting to take shape: “Stay well away from the guys wearing full plate.”) They seemed shorter than the dwarves I had seen and they had grey skin.
“Duergar” I commented, loud enough for my companions to hear.
“This isn’t good.” Mareth remarked dryly, as we all raised our weapons to meet the charge.
Reikon started taking shots with his bow from behind the portcullis and I could hear Entarsis chanting, and when the first of them went down from a stroke of my blade, the leader yelled with rage and advanced on me. I found myself in a pitched battle with him, while the others fought off his lackeys. By the time we had taken them all down, Mareth was unconscious, Chade had a gash on his upper arm and Terjon was looking a little worse for wear.
Moments after the leader went down, more duergar appeared from a side passage. Watching us, almost warily but with fury in their eyes.
Reikon then said something hasty and ill-advised (as he did fairly regularly), the dwarves shouted in rage and attacked. In killing the second group, no further of our number were knocked out, but we had taken more damage. Warramayl was now limping badly and I had a gash on my side.
“We can’t take another group on!” Terjon whispered, tersely. “Rhael, Warra. Help me open the portcullis.”
In the breathing space we thought we had, we turned and attempted to lift the portcullis. Chade cast a spell on Mareth to get him to his feet, though still weak Mareth waved off any support and leaned against the wall instead.
Unfortunately, before we could make any headway with the portcullis, we could hear another group of dwarves approaching from the shadows. One stepped forward into our torchlight.
“What are ye doin’ ‘ere!?” Asked the spokesman.
“We are adventurers.” Chade retorted. “We were exploring this cave complex and ended up here.”
“Do you have any idea where ye are, adventurers?” The last word was said with a caustic sarcasm I didn’t think he could possibly get across with that accent.
“We do not know exactly where we are, except that we are in a cave system.” I replied.
“Ye near the entrance to the Underdark.” The dwarf stated.
“By the gods!” Entarsis exclaimed in a whisper. He had obviously heard all the same stories regarding that place as I had.
“That’s right, Human. And ye be trapped. While ye obviously be strong, we are legion. Hundreds of my kin wait to join this fight. However, for a mere fifty gold ye can be reunited with ye’re comrades and no more blood need be shed.”
I looked around. I was pretty happy with that offer, considering our circumstances. Unfortunately I wasn’t close enough to Chade to stop him opening his mouth…
“You should give us fifty gold to stop us from killing you!” He said.
The dwarf was obviously, and not surprisingly unimpressed with this statement.
“One hundred gold.” Said the dwarf. As we started to reach for our money pouches, I heard Chade inhale again.
He laughed. “There aren't hundreds of them,” he whispered, obviously intending only we hear him “There can't be.”
The dwarf’s face betrayed his anger.
“Two hundred gold, and one more word from that one and ye all die!”
As we physically had to restrain and silence Chade, we emptied the counted out the required funds and gave the coins to the dwarf in Chade’s money pouch.
The duergar hefted the pouch, and inspected the contents. True to his word, as soon as he had his money, the portcullis was raised and we were allowed to leave, unmolested. Once Chade was no longer restrained, he began to curse, complain and generally voice his disapproval.
“We could've taken them.” He commented loudly and bitterly.
None of us were particularly enamoured of the cleric at that point.
“Regardless, there was still an iron portcullis between us and freedom.” Noted Mareth.
“And it hardly matters now, does it?” It was obviously a rhetorical question, but I had to say it.
Chade grumbled.
Terjon spoke next. “I say we get the hell out of here.”
End modified section.
We didn’t mind that idea of that and we headed for the cave entrance.
“We should use the healing pond.” Chade said as we left the large clearing.
“I agree.” Reikon and Terjon both said at once.
“Hmmm. Not a bad idea. We’ll do that.” It was a good idea, how could I disagree with that.
We got to the clearing with the glowing pond and sat down on the soft, green grass (itself unusual in the middle of a conifer forest). Mareth went first, his numerous wounds closing over in a matter of moments. Chade drank, followed by me. It was when Terjon took a drink that we realised that the pool had limitations. Nothing happened.
“What’s going on?!” Terjon sounded worried as he drank some more of the water, thinking that he hadn’t drank enough.
“It only works once.” Terjon looked at the cleric in confusion. “It only works once per person and you drank the water from the waterskin back in the cave, remember?” Chade repeated, with more detail for the paladin’s benefit.
Terjon sank back on his haunches, disappointed.
“Oh, well. There goes your healing water shop, eh, Chade.” I joked.
“I guess so.” He replied.
“Back to good, old fashioned, divine healing spells, huh?” Entarsis was in a strangely jovial mood.
“I guess so.” Chade repeated his previous answer as he knelt next to Terjon and cast some curative spells on him.
Since we were all feeling fine and it was still early, we decided to head back to the cave. We found our way back to the path leading to the duergar, but instead of taking the offshoot we continued on. The path sloped down on a greater angle, and the footing was a little more unsure, but it was slow going, but not difficult travel.
We stopped for a brief rest at a point where the cave opened up, creating a doorway into a small room. Reikon was leaning against the cave wall when I heard a brief woosh-like sound then heard three noises, two were like arrows thudding into armour and the last had the distinctive noise of striking flesh. I heard Reikon gurgle slightly as the torch slipped from his grip and he fell to the floor, three black spines about five or six inches long protruding from his torso and upper arm.
Before we could react, we were bombarded again. This time, Terjon and Mareth were struck and one spine glanced off the cave wall. From the darkness out of the reach of our torchlight we heard some low, gutteral growling, then two huge, human-like faces, surrounded by a mane of fur emerged at a run and attacked!
“Manticores!” I yelled, in horror.
Terjon, Mareth, Warramayl and I only had time to form a line across the opening before the first one was upon us. The other hung back, but flung some more spines at Terjon, two of which missed and one thudded into his shield.
The closer of the two jumped at Mareth and took him down with it’s huge paws, the elf bleeding from four parallel slashes across his chest where the attack tore through his leather armour.
I struck the first one in the shoulder with my sword, the gash looking puny and almost pathetic. This enraged the beast further and it next struck out at me. It struck me in the left thigh, the claws raking across my scale armour, but bruising the flesh beneath. Terjon and Warramayl also managed to land blows to the creature before the paladin fell to another powerful attack from the creature in front and the monk went down under a hail of spines from the one in the back.
Chade rushed forward to apply some first aid to Warramayl, but was knocked against the cave wall by a massively strong swipe from the Manticore.
“I should get the hell out of here!” I thought to myself. I could see the bodies of my comrades lying around my feet out of my periphery. Strangely, this didn’t scare me, it steeled my resolve to either defend them or die trying, if that was what I had to do.
I heard Entarsis chanting behind me and I felt some sudden, sharp pains in my stomach. I looked down, briefly to see two of those horrid black spines lodged in my gut. It was a stupid thing to do, in my moment of distraction, the manticore in front of me smashed me in the side and sent me reeling backwards.
“What a way to die.” I thought as the deep blackness of unconsciousness closed over me.
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SableWyvern
Hero
Post removed after Rhael corrected his story.
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Player's Perspective (005)
Escape.
I was awakened only moments later as Entarsis poured a healing potion down my throat. I sat up and coughed a little and took stock of the situation. Nothing much had changed. All my companions, save Entarsis were lying, bleeding on the cave floor.
“Hurry!” The urgency in Entarsis’ voice was palpable as he motioned toward the Manticores, “It won’t last for long.”
It was then that I noticed the one thing that was different. The manticores were entangled in a sticky web-like substance, unable to move. “We have to get them out of here!” Entarsis gestured at our companions.
I was on my feet in a flash and I extracted a flask from my pack.
“Quick.” I said, handing the bottle to Entarsis. “Give this to Chade.” I stepped toward my fallen comrades. “I’ll grab Terj and Warramayl. You and Chade get Mareth and Reikon and come after me.” The fear giving me strength, I somehow heaved the comatose monk and paladin onto my shoulders and actually managed a slight jog on the way out.
I stopped after about thirty seconds to wait for the others, giving me some time to bind Terj and Warramayl’s wounds.
“Come on!” Entarsis yelled as he jogged up, carrying Reikon. I picked up my burdens and we doubletimed it out of the caves.
“Mareth doesn’t look too good!” I puffed as we all fell to the ground outside the caves.
“I managed to stop the bleeding as we left the manticores.” He was breathing almost as hard as I was. “But only just in time. We almost lost him.”
Between Chade and Terjon, they managed to get the entire group on their feet, ready for the long limp back to Taureth.
“What happened back there?” I asked as we got to our feet. The first time I’d thought to.
Entarsis grinned and pulled a stick with spidery carvings on it from his belt.
“A hundred gold well spent, I’d say.” He waggled the stick around.
“I never doubted you for a second.” I had to laugh at the irony of the situation.
“Good work, Entarsis.” Reikon put in. It was unusual to hear him complement anyone, and I’m sure Entarsis appreciated the fact.
“Then I just had to pick the strongest one to give my only healing potion to.” He continued, nodding in my direction.
I turned to Terjon.
“I’m just thankful that you haven’t started wearing that full plate armour that paladins seem to favour.” I remarked with a smile.
“So am I.” Terj felt at the spot on his ribs where the creature’s paw had struck him.
“Duergar dwarves, the underdark and manticores.” Mareth said quietly.
“What a day, huh?” Entarsis posed the rhetorical question.
We travelled the rest of the way with barely a word being spoken, all hoping we didn’t meet anything more dangerous than a mosquito on the way back to town.
We were feeling pretty weary by the time we got back to Taureth and, as usual, once our gear was deposited in our rooms, we took up our customary table in the corner of the Drum & Sword’s common room.
While my companions, barring Terjon and Warramayl were busy getting as intoxicated as they could in the shortest possible time, I noticed a man wearing a white tabard sitting at the bar facing toward the commonroom. Ordinarily this wouldn’t have been much of an issue, except he appeared to be watching us intently.
Escape.
I was awakened only moments later as Entarsis poured a healing potion down my throat. I sat up and coughed a little and took stock of the situation. Nothing much had changed. All my companions, save Entarsis were lying, bleeding on the cave floor.
“Hurry!” The urgency in Entarsis’ voice was palpable as he motioned toward the Manticores, “It won’t last for long.”
It was then that I noticed the one thing that was different. The manticores were entangled in a sticky web-like substance, unable to move. “We have to get them out of here!” Entarsis gestured at our companions.
I was on my feet in a flash and I extracted a flask from my pack.
“Quick.” I said, handing the bottle to Entarsis. “Give this to Chade.” I stepped toward my fallen comrades. “I’ll grab Terj and Warramayl. You and Chade get Mareth and Reikon and come after me.” The fear giving me strength, I somehow heaved the comatose monk and paladin onto my shoulders and actually managed a slight jog on the way out.
I stopped after about thirty seconds to wait for the others, giving me some time to bind Terj and Warramayl’s wounds.
“Come on!” Entarsis yelled as he jogged up, carrying Reikon. I picked up my burdens and we doubletimed it out of the caves.
“Mareth doesn’t look too good!” I puffed as we all fell to the ground outside the caves.
“I managed to stop the bleeding as we left the manticores.” He was breathing almost as hard as I was. “But only just in time. We almost lost him.”
Between Chade and Terjon, they managed to get the entire group on their feet, ready for the long limp back to Taureth.
“What happened back there?” I asked as we got to our feet. The first time I’d thought to.
Entarsis grinned and pulled a stick with spidery carvings on it from his belt.
“A hundred gold well spent, I’d say.” He waggled the stick around.
“I never doubted you for a second.” I had to laugh at the irony of the situation.
“Good work, Entarsis.” Reikon put in. It was unusual to hear him complement anyone, and I’m sure Entarsis appreciated the fact.
“Then I just had to pick the strongest one to give my only healing potion to.” He continued, nodding in my direction.
I turned to Terjon.
“I’m just thankful that you haven’t started wearing that full plate armour that paladins seem to favour.” I remarked with a smile.
“So am I.” Terj felt at the spot on his ribs where the creature’s paw had struck him.
“Duergar dwarves, the underdark and manticores.” Mareth said quietly.
“What a day, huh?” Entarsis posed the rhetorical question.
We travelled the rest of the way with barely a word being spoken, all hoping we didn’t meet anything more dangerous than a mosquito on the way back to town.
We were feeling pretty weary by the time we got back to Taureth and, as usual, once our gear was deposited in our rooms, we took up our customary table in the corner of the Drum & Sword’s common room.
While my companions, barring Terjon and Warramayl were busy getting as intoxicated as they could in the shortest possible time, I noticed a man wearing a white tabard sitting at the bar facing toward the commonroom. Ordinarily this wouldn’t have been much of an issue, except he appeared to be watching us intently.
Player's Perspective (006)
A Chance Meeting
Since we had been staying at the inn for some time now many of the regulars knew us, and we them, however I had never seen this man before and decided to check it out.
I slowly raised myself out of my chair and walked toward the man. As I neared I could tell that he was a powerfully built man, probably only slightly shorter than my six feet, four inches when standing. His face had a couple of scars on it and the fact that his hand had not once strayed to the sword at his hip in the time I had been regarding him told me he had worn it for some time. As I walked toward him, I noticed his focus switch from the group to me.
I walked to the bar and stood next to the man. “Hail and well met, good sir.”
“And the same to you, young warrior.”
“I couldn’t help but notice you watching us.”
“Yes, I was intrigued by the symbols of Hieroneous you and your young friend had on your armour when you walked in.” He waved a hand in Terjon’s direction. “One does not come across such blatant advertisements of faith very often these days.”
I was surprised. Few people still believe in the gods, fewer still would call themselves followers of a god, and fewer still would actually recognise the symbol of Hieroneous for what it is.
“Y- Yes.” I stammered, slightly. “My name is Rhael Everard, Ranger and my friend over there is Terjon, Paladin of Hieroneous. “
“Good to meet you, Rhael. My name is Tremeslear, Knight of the Chalice. It is heartening to see that two men as young as yourselves have the faith required. I am a follower of Pelor myself.”
I nodded, familiar with the deity from my study of the religions under mine and Terjon’s, Antoral, a Paladin of Hieroneous.
“I too, am happy to meet a man of religion. What did you say you are? A Knight of the Chalice? I am sorry to say this, but I have never heard of your order.”
“Do not be sorry, Rhael. There are not many in our order, and very few would have heard of us. We do not keep permanent headquarters or seek to advertise our presence in this world.”
“What is it that your Order seeks to achieve?”
Tremeslear lowered his voice. “Our primary purpose is to combat demons and drive them from this world.” This statement hit me like a maul in the face. I was stunned. Since a very young age, I had been studying the history of this world and based on this learning as well as the teaching of Antoral, I had developed a distaste for demons. This lead me to spend a great deal of time studying the other planes. I was stunned, elated, excited and relieved all at the same time. I had to take a moment to stop myself from gushing like a thirteen-year-old girl.
“Demons.” I repeated quietly. Letting the excitement show on my face, but careful not to talk too loudly – the general populace do not like hearing the ‘D’ word. “Tremeslear, I have devoted a great deal of my life to learning about demons and how to combat them! Knowing there is a group of people devoted to the same cause warms my heart no end.”
“Rhael, it is very possible that you would fit in well with our order,” An image flashed across my mind of my kneeling before a white-clad knight, “but I fear that you are not ready yet.” My face fell, just a little. “The Knighthood requires a level of ability in combat I feel you have probably not reached. Tell me, young Ranger, do you have the ability to channel the divine power of Hieroneous?”
“No.”
“A demonstration of a least a rudimentary ability in this regard is another pre-requisite of any individual petitioning for entry to our order. You will have to train as a cleric, perhaps your paladin friend will be able to instruct you in this regard.”
“Oh.”
“Furthermore, you must pass tests relating to knowledge of religion and the planes, you must have defeated a demon in combat, you must own a set of enchanted full plate armour and we have a strict moral code, similar to that of a paladin that includes a vow of chastity.”
I pondered this for a moment. I had no idea where I would find a demon or a set of magical plate armour. The vow of chastity wasn’t an issue, because I didn’t get much tail anyway, and I was confident I could pass their tests of knowledge.
I steeled myself.
“Tremeslear,” I began. “I will devote as long as it takes to meet these requirements and then I will petition for entry to the Knights of the Chalice.”
“That is heartening to hear, Rhael, and I look forward to the day you begin your training.”
I had more questions. So many more.
“I know there are demons in the world, and they are fairly ubiquitous, but where does the Order fight most of it’s battles?”
“There are two kingdoms, far to the west of hear which you may have heard of: Kadrendorst and Menria?” I shook my head, indicating I had not heard of them. Tremeslear continued. “They are currently fighting over an area of land called the Norwald Egress. Now, both of these kingdoms are self-serving in their purpose, and the Order holds no political alliance with either, but Kadrendorst regularly uses demons as troops in their battles.” My eyes widened at this news. “Yes. I imagine this news would alarm most people. Anyway, as a result of this, the Order finds itself nominally allied with Menria, but only by virtue of the fact that we oppose the demons and Kadrendorst’s use of them.”
“If the battle is in the west, what are you doing in Taureth?”
“I have been on campaign for a number of years. I am travelling to the east to see my family.”
We chatted for sometime regarding the political machinations of the area, the philosophical reasons behind the battles in the west as well as other smaller matters before Tremeslear, citing tiredness, announced he was heading to bed.
“I am planning to be back in Taureth in about a year, but if you wish to attempt to get a message to me, there is a temple to the road god near the outskirts of town. The priests there may know how to contact me. Goodnight, Rhael. And good luck.”
“And to you, sir knight.”
I shook Tremeslear’s hand before he headed up the stairs to where the rooms were.
I sat at the bar, in silence for some time, pondering the conversation. I now had a purpose in my life. I would become a Knight of the Chalice and devote my life to combating demons.
I stepped off the barstool and headed back to my companions. I resumed my seat next to Terjon and tapped him on the shoulder.
“Terjon.”
“Yesth.” It would appear that Terjon had had a couple more ales than he usually did, his condition was nothing compared to some of the others. Entarsis appeared to be asleep and Chade was having difficulty keeping his neck straight.
“I want you to teach me how to be a cleric.”
“Sure. No problems.”
A Chance Meeting
Since we had been staying at the inn for some time now many of the regulars knew us, and we them, however I had never seen this man before and decided to check it out.
I slowly raised myself out of my chair and walked toward the man. As I neared I could tell that he was a powerfully built man, probably only slightly shorter than my six feet, four inches when standing. His face had a couple of scars on it and the fact that his hand had not once strayed to the sword at his hip in the time I had been regarding him told me he had worn it for some time. As I walked toward him, I noticed his focus switch from the group to me.
I walked to the bar and stood next to the man. “Hail and well met, good sir.”
“And the same to you, young warrior.”
“I couldn’t help but notice you watching us.”
“Yes, I was intrigued by the symbols of Hieroneous you and your young friend had on your armour when you walked in.” He waved a hand in Terjon’s direction. “One does not come across such blatant advertisements of faith very often these days.”
I was surprised. Few people still believe in the gods, fewer still would call themselves followers of a god, and fewer still would actually recognise the symbol of Hieroneous for what it is.
“Y- Yes.” I stammered, slightly. “My name is Rhael Everard, Ranger and my friend over there is Terjon, Paladin of Hieroneous. “
“Good to meet you, Rhael. My name is Tremeslear, Knight of the Chalice. It is heartening to see that two men as young as yourselves have the faith required. I am a follower of Pelor myself.”
I nodded, familiar with the deity from my study of the religions under mine and Terjon’s, Antoral, a Paladin of Hieroneous.
“I too, am happy to meet a man of religion. What did you say you are? A Knight of the Chalice? I am sorry to say this, but I have never heard of your order.”
“Do not be sorry, Rhael. There are not many in our order, and very few would have heard of us. We do not keep permanent headquarters or seek to advertise our presence in this world.”
“What is it that your Order seeks to achieve?”
Tremeslear lowered his voice. “Our primary purpose is to combat demons and drive them from this world.” This statement hit me like a maul in the face. I was stunned. Since a very young age, I had been studying the history of this world and based on this learning as well as the teaching of Antoral, I had developed a distaste for demons. This lead me to spend a great deal of time studying the other planes. I was stunned, elated, excited and relieved all at the same time. I had to take a moment to stop myself from gushing like a thirteen-year-old girl.
“Demons.” I repeated quietly. Letting the excitement show on my face, but careful not to talk too loudly – the general populace do not like hearing the ‘D’ word. “Tremeslear, I have devoted a great deal of my life to learning about demons and how to combat them! Knowing there is a group of people devoted to the same cause warms my heart no end.”
“Rhael, it is very possible that you would fit in well with our order,” An image flashed across my mind of my kneeling before a white-clad knight, “but I fear that you are not ready yet.” My face fell, just a little. “The Knighthood requires a level of ability in combat I feel you have probably not reached. Tell me, young Ranger, do you have the ability to channel the divine power of Hieroneous?”
“No.”
“A demonstration of a least a rudimentary ability in this regard is another pre-requisite of any individual petitioning for entry to our order. You will have to train as a cleric, perhaps your paladin friend will be able to instruct you in this regard.”
“Oh.”
“Furthermore, you must pass tests relating to knowledge of religion and the planes, you must have defeated a demon in combat, you must own a set of enchanted full plate armour and we have a strict moral code, similar to that of a paladin that includes a vow of chastity.”
I pondered this for a moment. I had no idea where I would find a demon or a set of magical plate armour. The vow of chastity wasn’t an issue, because I didn’t get much tail anyway, and I was confident I could pass their tests of knowledge.
I steeled myself.
“Tremeslear,” I began. “I will devote as long as it takes to meet these requirements and then I will petition for entry to the Knights of the Chalice.”
“That is heartening to hear, Rhael, and I look forward to the day you begin your training.”
I had more questions. So many more.
“I know there are demons in the world, and they are fairly ubiquitous, but where does the Order fight most of it’s battles?”
“There are two kingdoms, far to the west of hear which you may have heard of: Kadrendorst and Menria?” I shook my head, indicating I had not heard of them. Tremeslear continued. “They are currently fighting over an area of land called the Norwald Egress. Now, both of these kingdoms are self-serving in their purpose, and the Order holds no political alliance with either, but Kadrendorst regularly uses demons as troops in their battles.” My eyes widened at this news. “Yes. I imagine this news would alarm most people. Anyway, as a result of this, the Order finds itself nominally allied with Menria, but only by virtue of the fact that we oppose the demons and Kadrendorst’s use of them.”
“If the battle is in the west, what are you doing in Taureth?”
“I have been on campaign for a number of years. I am travelling to the east to see my family.”
We chatted for sometime regarding the political machinations of the area, the philosophical reasons behind the battles in the west as well as other smaller matters before Tremeslear, citing tiredness, announced he was heading to bed.
“I am planning to be back in Taureth in about a year, but if you wish to attempt to get a message to me, there is a temple to the road god near the outskirts of town. The priests there may know how to contact me. Goodnight, Rhael. And good luck.”
“And to you, sir knight.”
I shook Tremeslear’s hand before he headed up the stairs to where the rooms were.
I sat at the bar, in silence for some time, pondering the conversation. I now had a purpose in my life. I would become a Knight of the Chalice and devote my life to combating demons.
I stepped off the barstool and headed back to my companions. I resumed my seat next to Terjon and tapped him on the shoulder.
“Terjon.”
“Yesth.” It would appear that Terjon had had a couple more ales than he usually did, his condition was nothing compared to some of the others. Entarsis appeared to be asleep and Chade was having difficulty keeping his neck straight.
“I want you to teach me how to be a cleric.”
“Sure. No problems.”
Player's Perspective (007)
Another peaceful walk in the countryside
Terjon began training me in the ways of the cleric the next day. It would be a long and arduous process, and a severe departure from my training as a ranger, but I would do whatever was necessary to succeed.
After exploring what we believed to be the limits of the cave system, at least as far as our abilities would take us anyway, we decided that it was time to venture beyond the large clearing and head further into the Hoardeep. It was a long-shot, exploring those caves for the Tomb of Adrestus, since it was most likely set up in a similar fashion to Enlor’s crypt and was therefore unlikely to be in a cave. Our best guess was that the crypt was somewhere, deeper into the forest.
After a day of rest (and training for me), we set off toward the large clearing. We passed the healing pond and the now relatively familiar journey seemed a little shorter than usual. The large clearing was much as we last saw it and we were confronted with the decision to go either west or southwest. Sticking with our previous habit of going left, we took the westerly path.
Reikon and I resumed our scouting procedure. We had travelled for approximately half an hour, the path following a roughly westerly course, when I heard Reikon’s bird call. I responded with my own and headed back to the group.
“Orcs.” Reikon spat the word. “Five of them. A hundred yards down the path and coming this way.”
“Quickly!” I don’t know why I whispered. “Into the forest, we can size them up and ambush them if necessary.” I looked at Reikon. “Confirmed birdcall to OK the ambush.”
He nodded once, headed for a tree with plenty of foliage and scooted up it with the dexterity of a cat.
We all got off the path and hid as best we could in the trees around the road. I could see Entarsis mentally preparing for a spell and the rest of us had our weapons drawn ready for the attack.
The orcs seemed fairly relaxed as they wandered along the path. I found myself wondering what they were doing here. From my hiding place I could see one of them hacking lazily at the trees with his axe as he passed them. Defilers! This would not go unpunished. There were only five of them, and they were none too alert. I gave the birdcall and Reikon returned his own.
He waited until the orcs were in our midst before silently lodging an arrow in the back of the leader’s head. The orcs had no idea they were under attack until their leader pitched forward into the dirt. Before he was dead we leapt from our hiding places and were upon the orcs before they could react.
“Defilers of the forest. You have seen your last day!” I yelled as I charged one of the pig-faced atrocities.
The orcs put up a bit of a fight, but were outmatched, outnumbered and on the defensive from the beginning. We came out of the battle unscathed.
“Quick! Get them off the path.” Mareth had grabbed one of the orcs by his leather armour and was dragging it into the scrub to the left of the path.
We complied with his instruction and within a matter of minutes there was very little evidence of a battle taking place here – at least to someone without the proper training. Reikon went through the orc’s pockets and came up with a couple of handfuls of gold and silver coins.
“Even their money smells.” Chade commented as Reikon tipped the booty into one of the cleric’s pouches.
“If you spent most of your time inside an orc’s pants you’d probably smell a bit, yourself.” Entarsis noted, with a grin.
“Come on. Let’s keep going.” I urged the others and headed back to the path.
We resumed our usual pattern of scouting and it was an hour later when I heard a large amount of noise in the forest up ahead. It was still a reasonable distance away, but it sounded like an entire battalion moving through the forest. I heard the unmistakable noise of a heavily laden cart being pulled on squeaky wheels.
After the usual birdcall signals Reikon headed back to the group. I wanted to see what the nine hells was going on, so I stepped onto the path probably fifty feet in front of the group and waved at them, pointed in the direction of the noise. I then made a signal indicating I was going to have a look and then pointed into the forest, indicating they should get off the path.
Reikon obviously understood and lead the rest of the group into the forest. I turned and ran into the forest with the intention of flanking whatever it was that was making all that noise. About two hundred and fifty yards further on, I came across a group of two dozen orcs escorting two carts full of timber. I stopped for a moment to confirm their numbers and sprinted back to the last place I saw the group. When I got to the position, I heard someone call my name in a loud whisper, and I headed for the noise.
I found the group about twenty feet from the edge of the path and told them what I saw. Chade was keen to take them on.
“Don’t be a fool. Twenty is too many. That last lot must have been a scouting party.”
“I say we get away from the path and let them pass.” Mareth obviously agreed with my thought process.
Chade grumbled a bit, but we moved further into the forest and hid in some low scrub where we could see the orcs pass.
“They probably won’t realise their scouts are dead until they reach their destination.” Reikon pointed out. “If we were going to take them by surprise, now is the time.”
“It’s too risky.” I said. “We caught five orcs by surprise and took them down pretty quickly. Twenty is a much different proposition.”
We lay in silence, waiting for the orcs to pass by. It took some time, because of the carts they moved very slowly. I noted with anger that many of their number were carelessly stepping on the plants and hacking at the trees with their blades as they walked by. They would pay, but not right now.
We waited for a few minutes, while the orcs made their way down the path toward Taureth, although I could only guess their actual destination.
When the creak of the wheels was a distant sound down the path we emerged from the scrub where we were hiding and headed back to the path.
“Be on the lookout.” We all looked at Terjon. “There might me more of them.” Terjon is a dear friend from childhood, but occasionally I do forget that he is a bit of a dullard. His heart is in the right place, and he is quite likeable, but he does occasionally remind us that he was about as smart as Entarsis’ rat familiar.
“Thanks for that, Terjon.” Reikon remarked, a little more than a little sardonically. “I don’t know what we’d do without you.”
“That’s okay. Just trying to help.” The paladin obviously didn’t pick up on Reikon’s sarcastic intentions. The elf gave him a withering stare, which just Terjon smiled at, nodded at me and jogged up the path to his scouting position.
I gave Mareth and Entarsis, who were both grinning knowingly, a wry smile and ran after Reikon.
“You’re just lucky he’s too stupid to realise you’re being nasty.” I pointed out when I caught up to my fellow scout.
“We all make fun of him on occasion.” The elf replied. “He seems happy enough.” Then he remarked, seemingly more to himself than me, “Ignorance is bliss, I suppose.”
I signalled back down the path for the group to start moving, Reikon and I separated off to different sides of the path and we were on our way again.
Sometimes you’re lucky. And others, well…
It was probably another half hour later when I heard Reikon’s bird call from the right hand side of the path.
“What’s up?” I asked when we rejoined the group.
“More orcs. Probably a rearguard for the group we saw earlier.”
“Told you there’d be more.” Terjon pointed out. Reikon gave him a scathing glance and returned to the task at hand.
“There’s about ten of them and they’ve congregated in a small clearing just around a sharp corner in the path. I don’t know what they’re waiting for.” His voice trailed off as he considered his own proposition.
“We can take ten.” Chade unhooked his mace from his belt to emphasise his point.
“Easily.” Warramayl rarely said anything, but when he had a chance to test himself in combat, he was relatively excitable.
“Maybe.” Mareth replied. “We can’t just assume that all orcs we meet will be grunts like those ones we took out earlier.”
“Uh huh.” I nodded in agreement. “Did you notice anything in particular about any individuals, Reik?”
“One of them had blue face-paint, but it was difficult to tell too much, there are fairly dense bushes surrounding their position.”
“We can’t go charging in there.” Mareth pointed out, looking directly at Chade. The cleric tried to look hurt. “We should wait and try to ambush them. If they are, in fact, the rearguard for the other group, they’ll have to start moving soon.”
“We can stay a bit closer to the road here.” I said, pointing at the thicker scrub surrounding the path.
“Let’s hurry. We don’t know how long we’ve got.”
“Right. Spread out on both sides of the path, but not too far apart.” As I finished the order, we separated. The scrub provided excellent cover. I knew that Terjon was directly across the path from me and Entarsis was about twenty feet behind me, but the location of the others was a bit of a mystery.
Warramayl’s over-eagerness cost us dearly in this battle. I heard the familiar thunk of one of his slingstones hitting flesh and bone, while the body of the orcs was still too far from Terjon and my hiding spots. Even the paladin seemed to realise that this was not good, as I heard a muffled curse from across the path.
The orcs fanned out, some disappearing into the forest on either side of the path. We were forced to act.
“Charge!” I yelled, hoping to create a little confusion among the orcs with us coming from different directions. It didn’t work. We all seemed to converge on the one spot, directly in front of the orc group.
I found myself front and centre, Terjon to my right and Mareth on the other side of him. Chade was to my left and Reikon on the other side of him. Warramayl was behind us and Entarsis a little further back. We could only see seven of the original ten on the path in front of us.
“Watch out for flankers.” Mareth shouted.
And the battle was joined.
The orcs that attacked us from the front appeared to be the of the same ill-trained ilk as the ones we fought earlier, but behind them was the blue-faced orc, wearing bloodstained leather armour and carrying a massive double-bladed great-axe. Next to him was a slightly taller orc carrying a staff with some feathers hanging off the top. Mage or shaman, I concluded.
My suspicions were confirmed as the orc began chanting.
“Mage!” Chade shouted as the orc completed it’s casting and a mass of sticky, spider-silk strands exploded behind us. Warramayl was caught in the middle and had no chance of escape.
“Help!” That was Entarsis’ voice – obviously the sorcerer was also caught in the strands.
As the sorcerer yelled, I clove the head from the orc in front of me. Before it could fall to the ground, the blue-faced orc, seemingly in a frenzy charged over it’s falling comrade and attacked me.
This was the toughest opponent I had faced yet, with the exception of the manticores. The orc was massively strong, and with comrades to my sides and web to my back, I had very little room to move and avoid the deadly swings of it’s axe. I was forced onto the defensive, and was merely trying to survive long enough to get an effective attack.
Meanwhile, Terjon and Mareth had managed to despatch their opponents, and had pushed forward to attack the mage. One of the orcs that had disappeared into the forest when Warramayl hit one with his sling rejoined the battle, attacking Reikon, who was having trouble with his original attacker. Chade, too, was having difficulties and with Entarsis and Warramayl trapped there was no extra assistance available.
I finally managed to get a few swings at the blue-faced orc, between his attacks. They were largely ineffectual, but at least I was getting onto the front foot.
I could hear something happening behind me, but didn’t dare look. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Reikon looking for a way out of his current situation, sandwiched between the web, two orcs and Chade, but to no avail.
Mareth and Terjon had no real problems taking out the mage. Terjon turned to help me with my opponent and Mareth had a chance to look around.
“Entarsis!” He shouted, he sounded distressed. With that, he ran toward the far edge of the web.
Chade finally took down his attacker and was able to help Reikon with his two.
With some well-coordinated flanking manoeuvres, Terjon and I managed to kill the blue-faced orc, but not before I had a decent-sized gash in my left shoulder and Terj a cut in his leg. As it went down, finally had a chance to look around properly. Mareth was fighting off two orcs standing near a limp-looking Entarsis. Warramayl had almost fought his way out of the web.
“Terj!” I shouted to get the Paladin’s attention. “Help Reik and Chade!” I pointed. I then ran to assist Mareth.
Now that we outnumbered our adversaries, despatching the remaining orcs did not prove difficult, however the cost of the battle was high.
He was still suspended in the web, but as far as we could tell, Entarsis was not moving and didn’t look to be in good shape. There was a large pool of blood at his feet and as the web started to dissipate Chade lunged forward to catch the sorcerer’s body. We waited with baited breath while he checked for signs of life. He had been slumped over before, and the deep cut across his abdomen had not been visible.
Chade shook his head.
“He’s dead, guys.” He sounded numb. I think we all were. I didn’t know what to do, so I cried. Chade looked disappointed and frustrated, both at his friend’s death as well as his inability to do anything about it. The others seemed to be dealing with his death in their own way, only Reikon seeming unaffected.
I took some bandages from my pack and wrapped them around Entarsis’ stomach to stop any further blood coming from the wound, as well as hold in any errant entrails. Reikon set about looting the corpses, once again coming up with a few handfuls of coin. The great-axe used by the blue-faced orc appeared to be of pretty high quality, so we decided to take it with us.
Apart from Entarsis, Mareth was limping and bleeding heavily from several cuts on his arms and torso, his rapier black with blood. Terjon was sporting that cut in his leg, and some heavy bruising under his armour which made it hurt to breath.
Chade and Terjon exhausted their healing powers, and in minutes we were ready to travel again.
“We’ve got to take him back to Esgaro.” I said.
“I agree.” Terjon said.
We fashioned a stretcher from one of my sacks and some relatively straight branches and took turns carrying our friend’s body back to Taureth. The journey seemed longer than usual.
Lysergik Funeral Procession *
We arrived back in Taureth, exhausted and overwrought with sadness. It was late, and we reasoned that we should get some rest before we head back home.
The next morning, Chade cast a spell on the sorcerer’s body to slow the decomposition – handy considering it was going to take a week to get back to Esgaro. We sold his adventuring gear and put the money, along with another hundred gold aside to give to his family when we got to Esgaro.
The journey home was uneventful, except that Terjon and I had some extra time to devote to my clerical studies and it was during the trip that I cast my first orison, as Terjon told me they were called. It was at this point that I realised Chade’s lit coin trick wasn’t all that hard. I could feel the divine power of Hieroneous and I praised the day. I felt a level of happiness, despite the death of my friend.
When we arrived in Esgaro and presented the rather well preserved body of their son to Entarsis’ parents, they were understandably upset. Terjon, Mareth and I stayed with them for an hour or so telling them how he died (with perhaps a small amount of embellishment relating to his heroism, and maybe a little less information about being stuck in a web and killed by orcs). We regaled them with the tale of him saving our collective butts from the manticores and made up a few more heroic deeds before we left. Arrangements were made for the funeral to be the day after tomorrow.
We met up with the others at the tavern and proceeded to get quite drunk. The tales of Entarsis’ heroism becoming taller and taller as the night went on.
We used the next day to catch up with family and other friends before attending Entarsis’ funeral the day after. After his body was lowered into the ground, Reikon tossed an object in on top of the sorcerer. Just before a clod of dirt covered the object, I noticed that it was the now useless wand of web he had used to save us from the manticores.
* Lysergik Funeral Procession. Grammatically doesn't make much sense, but it's a reference to a band I'm quite fond of called Down. Lysergik Funeral Procession is a song from their second album, "Down II: A Bustle In Your Hedgerow". Originally the heading for this section was simply 'Funeral Procession', but I decided to change it.
Another peaceful walk in the countryside
Terjon began training me in the ways of the cleric the next day. It would be a long and arduous process, and a severe departure from my training as a ranger, but I would do whatever was necessary to succeed.
After exploring what we believed to be the limits of the cave system, at least as far as our abilities would take us anyway, we decided that it was time to venture beyond the large clearing and head further into the Hoardeep. It was a long-shot, exploring those caves for the Tomb of Adrestus, since it was most likely set up in a similar fashion to Enlor’s crypt and was therefore unlikely to be in a cave. Our best guess was that the crypt was somewhere, deeper into the forest.
After a day of rest (and training for me), we set off toward the large clearing. We passed the healing pond and the now relatively familiar journey seemed a little shorter than usual. The large clearing was much as we last saw it and we were confronted with the decision to go either west or southwest. Sticking with our previous habit of going left, we took the westerly path.
Reikon and I resumed our scouting procedure. We had travelled for approximately half an hour, the path following a roughly westerly course, when I heard Reikon’s bird call. I responded with my own and headed back to the group.
“Orcs.” Reikon spat the word. “Five of them. A hundred yards down the path and coming this way.”
“Quickly!” I don’t know why I whispered. “Into the forest, we can size them up and ambush them if necessary.” I looked at Reikon. “Confirmed birdcall to OK the ambush.”
He nodded once, headed for a tree with plenty of foliage and scooted up it with the dexterity of a cat.
We all got off the path and hid as best we could in the trees around the road. I could see Entarsis mentally preparing for a spell and the rest of us had our weapons drawn ready for the attack.
The orcs seemed fairly relaxed as they wandered along the path. I found myself wondering what they were doing here. From my hiding place I could see one of them hacking lazily at the trees with his axe as he passed them. Defilers! This would not go unpunished. There were only five of them, and they were none too alert. I gave the birdcall and Reikon returned his own.
He waited until the orcs were in our midst before silently lodging an arrow in the back of the leader’s head. The orcs had no idea they were under attack until their leader pitched forward into the dirt. Before he was dead we leapt from our hiding places and were upon the orcs before they could react.
“Defilers of the forest. You have seen your last day!” I yelled as I charged one of the pig-faced atrocities.
The orcs put up a bit of a fight, but were outmatched, outnumbered and on the defensive from the beginning. We came out of the battle unscathed.
“Quick! Get them off the path.” Mareth had grabbed one of the orcs by his leather armour and was dragging it into the scrub to the left of the path.
We complied with his instruction and within a matter of minutes there was very little evidence of a battle taking place here – at least to someone without the proper training. Reikon went through the orc’s pockets and came up with a couple of handfuls of gold and silver coins.
“Even their money smells.” Chade commented as Reikon tipped the booty into one of the cleric’s pouches.
“If you spent most of your time inside an orc’s pants you’d probably smell a bit, yourself.” Entarsis noted, with a grin.
“Come on. Let’s keep going.” I urged the others and headed back to the path.
We resumed our usual pattern of scouting and it was an hour later when I heard a large amount of noise in the forest up ahead. It was still a reasonable distance away, but it sounded like an entire battalion moving through the forest. I heard the unmistakable noise of a heavily laden cart being pulled on squeaky wheels.
After the usual birdcall signals Reikon headed back to the group. I wanted to see what the nine hells was going on, so I stepped onto the path probably fifty feet in front of the group and waved at them, pointed in the direction of the noise. I then made a signal indicating I was going to have a look and then pointed into the forest, indicating they should get off the path.
Reikon obviously understood and lead the rest of the group into the forest. I turned and ran into the forest with the intention of flanking whatever it was that was making all that noise. About two hundred and fifty yards further on, I came across a group of two dozen orcs escorting two carts full of timber. I stopped for a moment to confirm their numbers and sprinted back to the last place I saw the group. When I got to the position, I heard someone call my name in a loud whisper, and I headed for the noise.
I found the group about twenty feet from the edge of the path and told them what I saw. Chade was keen to take them on.
“Don’t be a fool. Twenty is too many. That last lot must have been a scouting party.”
“I say we get away from the path and let them pass.” Mareth obviously agreed with my thought process.
Chade grumbled a bit, but we moved further into the forest and hid in some low scrub where we could see the orcs pass.
“They probably won’t realise their scouts are dead until they reach their destination.” Reikon pointed out. “If we were going to take them by surprise, now is the time.”
“It’s too risky.” I said. “We caught five orcs by surprise and took them down pretty quickly. Twenty is a much different proposition.”
We lay in silence, waiting for the orcs to pass by. It took some time, because of the carts they moved very slowly. I noted with anger that many of their number were carelessly stepping on the plants and hacking at the trees with their blades as they walked by. They would pay, but not right now.
We waited for a few minutes, while the orcs made their way down the path toward Taureth, although I could only guess their actual destination.
When the creak of the wheels was a distant sound down the path we emerged from the scrub where we were hiding and headed back to the path.
“Be on the lookout.” We all looked at Terjon. “There might me more of them.” Terjon is a dear friend from childhood, but occasionally I do forget that he is a bit of a dullard. His heart is in the right place, and he is quite likeable, but he does occasionally remind us that he was about as smart as Entarsis’ rat familiar.
“Thanks for that, Terjon.” Reikon remarked, a little more than a little sardonically. “I don’t know what we’d do without you.”
“That’s okay. Just trying to help.” The paladin obviously didn’t pick up on Reikon’s sarcastic intentions. The elf gave him a withering stare, which just Terjon smiled at, nodded at me and jogged up the path to his scouting position.
I gave Mareth and Entarsis, who were both grinning knowingly, a wry smile and ran after Reikon.
“You’re just lucky he’s too stupid to realise you’re being nasty.” I pointed out when I caught up to my fellow scout.
“We all make fun of him on occasion.” The elf replied. “He seems happy enough.” Then he remarked, seemingly more to himself than me, “Ignorance is bliss, I suppose.”
I signalled back down the path for the group to start moving, Reikon and I separated off to different sides of the path and we were on our way again.
Sometimes you’re lucky. And others, well…
It was probably another half hour later when I heard Reikon’s bird call from the right hand side of the path.
“What’s up?” I asked when we rejoined the group.
“More orcs. Probably a rearguard for the group we saw earlier.”
“Told you there’d be more.” Terjon pointed out. Reikon gave him a scathing glance and returned to the task at hand.
“There’s about ten of them and they’ve congregated in a small clearing just around a sharp corner in the path. I don’t know what they’re waiting for.” His voice trailed off as he considered his own proposition.
“We can take ten.” Chade unhooked his mace from his belt to emphasise his point.
“Easily.” Warramayl rarely said anything, but when he had a chance to test himself in combat, he was relatively excitable.
“Maybe.” Mareth replied. “We can’t just assume that all orcs we meet will be grunts like those ones we took out earlier.”
“Uh huh.” I nodded in agreement. “Did you notice anything in particular about any individuals, Reik?”
“One of them had blue face-paint, but it was difficult to tell too much, there are fairly dense bushes surrounding their position.”
“We can’t go charging in there.” Mareth pointed out, looking directly at Chade. The cleric tried to look hurt. “We should wait and try to ambush them. If they are, in fact, the rearguard for the other group, they’ll have to start moving soon.”
“We can stay a bit closer to the road here.” I said, pointing at the thicker scrub surrounding the path.
“Let’s hurry. We don’t know how long we’ve got.”
“Right. Spread out on both sides of the path, but not too far apart.” As I finished the order, we separated. The scrub provided excellent cover. I knew that Terjon was directly across the path from me and Entarsis was about twenty feet behind me, but the location of the others was a bit of a mystery.
Warramayl’s over-eagerness cost us dearly in this battle. I heard the familiar thunk of one of his slingstones hitting flesh and bone, while the body of the orcs was still too far from Terjon and my hiding spots. Even the paladin seemed to realise that this was not good, as I heard a muffled curse from across the path.
The orcs fanned out, some disappearing into the forest on either side of the path. We were forced to act.
“Charge!” I yelled, hoping to create a little confusion among the orcs with us coming from different directions. It didn’t work. We all seemed to converge on the one spot, directly in front of the orc group.
I found myself front and centre, Terjon to my right and Mareth on the other side of him. Chade was to my left and Reikon on the other side of him. Warramayl was behind us and Entarsis a little further back. We could only see seven of the original ten on the path in front of us.
“Watch out for flankers.” Mareth shouted.
And the battle was joined.
The orcs that attacked us from the front appeared to be the of the same ill-trained ilk as the ones we fought earlier, but behind them was the blue-faced orc, wearing bloodstained leather armour and carrying a massive double-bladed great-axe. Next to him was a slightly taller orc carrying a staff with some feathers hanging off the top. Mage or shaman, I concluded.
My suspicions were confirmed as the orc began chanting.
“Mage!” Chade shouted as the orc completed it’s casting and a mass of sticky, spider-silk strands exploded behind us. Warramayl was caught in the middle and had no chance of escape.
“Help!” That was Entarsis’ voice – obviously the sorcerer was also caught in the strands.
As the sorcerer yelled, I clove the head from the orc in front of me. Before it could fall to the ground, the blue-faced orc, seemingly in a frenzy charged over it’s falling comrade and attacked me.
This was the toughest opponent I had faced yet, with the exception of the manticores. The orc was massively strong, and with comrades to my sides and web to my back, I had very little room to move and avoid the deadly swings of it’s axe. I was forced onto the defensive, and was merely trying to survive long enough to get an effective attack.
Meanwhile, Terjon and Mareth had managed to despatch their opponents, and had pushed forward to attack the mage. One of the orcs that had disappeared into the forest when Warramayl hit one with his sling rejoined the battle, attacking Reikon, who was having trouble with his original attacker. Chade, too, was having difficulties and with Entarsis and Warramayl trapped there was no extra assistance available.
I finally managed to get a few swings at the blue-faced orc, between his attacks. They were largely ineffectual, but at least I was getting onto the front foot.
I could hear something happening behind me, but didn’t dare look. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Reikon looking for a way out of his current situation, sandwiched between the web, two orcs and Chade, but to no avail.
Mareth and Terjon had no real problems taking out the mage. Terjon turned to help me with my opponent and Mareth had a chance to look around.
“Entarsis!” He shouted, he sounded distressed. With that, he ran toward the far edge of the web.
Chade finally took down his attacker and was able to help Reikon with his two.
With some well-coordinated flanking manoeuvres, Terjon and I managed to kill the blue-faced orc, but not before I had a decent-sized gash in my left shoulder and Terj a cut in his leg. As it went down, finally had a chance to look around properly. Mareth was fighting off two orcs standing near a limp-looking Entarsis. Warramayl had almost fought his way out of the web.
“Terj!” I shouted to get the Paladin’s attention. “Help Reik and Chade!” I pointed. I then ran to assist Mareth.
Now that we outnumbered our adversaries, despatching the remaining orcs did not prove difficult, however the cost of the battle was high.
He was still suspended in the web, but as far as we could tell, Entarsis was not moving and didn’t look to be in good shape. There was a large pool of blood at his feet and as the web started to dissipate Chade lunged forward to catch the sorcerer’s body. We waited with baited breath while he checked for signs of life. He had been slumped over before, and the deep cut across his abdomen had not been visible.
Chade shook his head.
“He’s dead, guys.” He sounded numb. I think we all were. I didn’t know what to do, so I cried. Chade looked disappointed and frustrated, both at his friend’s death as well as his inability to do anything about it. The others seemed to be dealing with his death in their own way, only Reikon seeming unaffected.
I took some bandages from my pack and wrapped them around Entarsis’ stomach to stop any further blood coming from the wound, as well as hold in any errant entrails. Reikon set about looting the corpses, once again coming up with a few handfuls of coin. The great-axe used by the blue-faced orc appeared to be of pretty high quality, so we decided to take it with us.
Apart from Entarsis, Mareth was limping and bleeding heavily from several cuts on his arms and torso, his rapier black with blood. Terjon was sporting that cut in his leg, and some heavy bruising under his armour which made it hurt to breath.
Chade and Terjon exhausted their healing powers, and in minutes we were ready to travel again.
“We’ve got to take him back to Esgaro.” I said.
“I agree.” Terjon said.
We fashioned a stretcher from one of my sacks and some relatively straight branches and took turns carrying our friend’s body back to Taureth. The journey seemed longer than usual.
Lysergik Funeral Procession *
We arrived back in Taureth, exhausted and overwrought with sadness. It was late, and we reasoned that we should get some rest before we head back home.
The next morning, Chade cast a spell on the sorcerer’s body to slow the decomposition – handy considering it was going to take a week to get back to Esgaro. We sold his adventuring gear and put the money, along with another hundred gold aside to give to his family when we got to Esgaro.
The journey home was uneventful, except that Terjon and I had some extra time to devote to my clerical studies and it was during the trip that I cast my first orison, as Terjon told me they were called. It was at this point that I realised Chade’s lit coin trick wasn’t all that hard. I could feel the divine power of Hieroneous and I praised the day. I felt a level of happiness, despite the death of my friend.
When we arrived in Esgaro and presented the rather well preserved body of their son to Entarsis’ parents, they were understandably upset. Terjon, Mareth and I stayed with them for an hour or so telling them how he died (with perhaps a small amount of embellishment relating to his heroism, and maybe a little less information about being stuck in a web and killed by orcs). We regaled them with the tale of him saving our collective butts from the manticores and made up a few more heroic deeds before we left. Arrangements were made for the funeral to be the day after tomorrow.
We met up with the others at the tavern and proceeded to get quite drunk. The tales of Entarsis’ heroism becoming taller and taller as the night went on.
We used the next day to catch up with family and other friends before attending Entarsis’ funeral the day after. After his body was lowered into the ground, Reikon tossed an object in on top of the sorcerer. Just before a clod of dirt covered the object, I noticed that it was the now useless wand of web he had used to save us from the manticores.
* Lysergik Funeral Procession. Grammatically doesn't make much sense, but it's a reference to a band I'm quite fond of called Down. Lysergik Funeral Procession is a song from their second album, "Down II: A Bustle In Your Hedgerow". Originally the heading for this section was simply 'Funeral Procession', but I decided to change it.
The Prophecy of the Inner Key
The Document
This is the document we found all the way back in Player's Perspective 001. I only just managed to find it, and because we're nearing a point where it will be relevant, I figured I should post it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Prophecy of the Inner Key
In her last days, Alinulindal gathered to her those two servants of her King most trusted and loyal. She bound them to her in the Arbour of Starlight; that place that longest stood bright against the coming end. Nevermore did she then leave the hallowed grove, and holds still the essence of Ninrandir.
To the blood of Enlor and Adrestus was bequeathed the honour of holding the secret of the inner key of fabled Mareciot.
To Enlor the knowledge of Adrestus;
In their lich-halls lying the key’s centre.
Enlor upon Ar Helliot; Adrestus nigh the mouths of Temmersel – both resting in verdant realms that most resembled their lady’s eternal home.
~When desert storms begin to rage,
A portal opens wide.
Beware the calm that heralds then
The coming of the tide.~
Be pure of heart, those who seek the keys, for the blood of Enlor and Adrestus sleeps never.
Be warned too, those whose honour is unquestioned – for the fair Lady Alinulindal was always assured that her Lord did not see his own doom; instead one that would defy those who might in noble spirit seek to raise his standard once more.
In Heironeous’ name I pray for a new Mareciot, and may he strengthen us all against the Scourge.
e
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: The 'e' at the end of the document was in a circle, we have learned that the 'e' stands for Enlor.
The Document
This is the document we found all the way back in Player's Perspective 001. I only just managed to find it, and because we're nearing a point where it will be relevant, I figured I should post it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Prophecy of the Inner Key
In her last days, Alinulindal gathered to her those two servants of her King most trusted and loyal. She bound them to her in the Arbour of Starlight; that place that longest stood bright against the coming end. Nevermore did she then leave the hallowed grove, and holds still the essence of Ninrandir.
To the blood of Enlor and Adrestus was bequeathed the honour of holding the secret of the inner key of fabled Mareciot.
To Enlor the knowledge of Adrestus;
In their lich-halls lying the key’s centre.
Enlor upon Ar Helliot; Adrestus nigh the mouths of Temmersel – both resting in verdant realms that most resembled their lady’s eternal home.
~When desert storms begin to rage,
A portal opens wide.
Beware the calm that heralds then
The coming of the tide.~
Be pure of heart, those who seek the keys, for the blood of Enlor and Adrestus sleeps never.
Be warned too, those whose honour is unquestioned – for the fair Lady Alinulindal was always assured that her Lord did not see his own doom; instead one that would defy those who might in noble spirit seek to raise his standard once more.
In Heironeous’ name I pray for a new Mareciot, and may he strengthen us all against the Scourge.
e
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: The 'e' at the end of the document was in a circle, we have learned that the 'e' stands for Enlor.
Last edited:
Player's Perspective (008)
New friend?
The journey back to Taureth was completely uneventful. Not even a small band of goblins broke the monotony.
Unfortunately, our first night back in the Drum & Sword was anything but uneventful. Chade and Terjon were getting fresh mugs of ale, the rest of us were just sitting there, minding our own business when there was a loud ‘whoop’ and suddenly there was a brightly dressed halfling standing on our table (among tipped ale glasses), brandishing a shortsword.
“Greetings, adventurers!” The little fella said with a bow. “I am Ulric. Bard and adventurer, at your service.”
Reikon was on his feet with sword drawn before most of us even realised the halfling was on the table. Warramayl and Mareth also leapt off their chairs and into fighting stances. I deliberately remained seated, leaning back slightly, my hand on the hilt of my longsword.
“That’s nice, my little friend.” He said through gritted teeth. “But in future I advise against leaping onto people’s tables swinging weapons around.”
“ ‘Tis of no consequence!” Ulric shouted with sudden dramatic flair, looking around for his applause. None came. He did not, however, take the hint and remove himself from our table.
I immediately took a disliking to the loud intruder.
“Ulric.” I addressed him directly, and by name to get his attention. “Why are you on our table?”
At this point, Chade and Terj returned to our table, mugs in hand. Both stood, looking at the halfling, noticing the tipped over mugs and unwilling to set the fresh ones down.
“I wish to make a grand entrance to make a grand impression on the grand adventurers!”
“I see –“
“I have heard of your exploits, and I seek adventure. I am a teller of stories. A player of tunes. A singer of songs. A slayer of beasts!” The last statement was punctuated with a thrust from his shortsword at an imaginary creature. And what better place to continue my grand adventures than with grand adventurers?”
Regrettably, I do not feel I can do justice to the ensuing five minutes with narrative, suffice to say that Ulric didn’t get off our table until Reikon threatened to gut him where he stood. I’m not sure that any of us particularly liked him (Terjon, I think, was a but chuffed at the ‘grand adventurers’ tag) but, being a man down, we accepted him into our group – with no small measure of trepidation. He was informed in no uncertain terms that he would have to make himself useful and stay out of trouble. He attempted to tell us a story, but it was so bad that the bartender told him to shut up lest he drive his customers away or to sleep.
Anyway, with Ulric in tow, or rather with Ulric bounding along in the front of the main group occasionally bursting into song or story (never have I been more thankful for being a Ranger and having to scout ahead of the party). The racket was quickly stifled by whomever got to him first, of course, but I’m sure that every denizen of this forest heard him.
As we neared the large clearing I signalled to Reikon and met him and the group back on the trail.
“Ulric!” I snarled at him. He came trotting over from where he was smelling some fairly poisonous fungus (I regretted calling him over).
“Yessir, Rhael, sir!” He mock-saluted me.
I wanted to punch him.
“We’re heading into an area where we’ve seen orc activity –“
“Orcs huh?” He interrupted. “I’ve killed hundreds of orcs!” He started thrusting and parrying at imaginary (and very short) orcs as if in combat.
“Of course you have.” I said, as condescendingly as I could muster.
“The reason I mention this is that I want you to shut-up. The last thing we need is to alert any more inhabitants to our presence than is absolutely necessary.”
He saluted again.
“Yes sir!”
When we reached the clearing I was more thankful that I had told Ulric to be quiet (and even more thankful he had complied). In the clearing was a reasonably large wooden structure, surrounded by a low wall, also built of wood. The wall was approximately four feet in height, and had one gate that we could see. At either end of the gate were two guard towers, probably twelve feet tall, and three more towers punctuated the wall at regular intervals. The newly constructed compound was roughly circular in shape and approximately a hundred yards in diameter. From our vantage point, we could tell that the wall encompassed the three cave entrances we had found weeks earlier. I would hesitate to call it an actual fortress, due to the wooden construction and low wall, but that is how it came to be known – more for convenience than anything else.
“That would explain the orcs and the wood, I guess.” Mareth commented.
“Mmmm.” I replied. “I say we skirt around it.”
“I say we take them out.” I half-expected Chade to say something like that.
“We’re not attacking a walled compound with who-knows-howmany orcs in it. Don’t be a fool. Even Terjon wouldn’t suggest that.”
Terjon smiled, thinking that was a complement.
“I agree with Rhael.” Mareth said.
“Me too.” Terjon piped up.
“Fine.” Chade was in a semi-mock huff.
“We’ll skirt around the south border of the clearing, sticking to the forest, and continue down that westbound path we followed the other day. Stay alert.”
With that, I started off on my intended route, the others following, trying to be as stealthy as possible.
We made it around the clearing without incident, keeping a close eye on the ‘fortress’. Interestingly, we saw no activity within the grounds at all – but we were a fair distance away.
We regrouped on the west-bound path leading away from the clearing and restarted our journey. We passed the site of Entarsis’ last battle, the elements and local creatures long-since cleaning up the dead bodies and scraps of flesh.
Probably another hour later we found another clearing. This one much larger than the one with the caves. It appeared to be uninhabited, but we could tell that there had previously been a walled village in this clearing – there were some run-down buildings still remaining and some of the posts used to hold up the fence surrounding the village.
There were three paths leading off this clearing, including the one we had just traversed. We had approached from the east, there was a path leading north and one leading further west.
We went left.
The path did not go very far, ending at what we could only guess was the cesspit. The stench drove us away fairly quickly. Amazing that pretty much anything to do with orcs smells worse than the equivalent associated with even the dirtiest humans – at least in my limited experience.
Retreating from the cesspit, we returned to the large clearing and headed west.
Another half hour of walking later we were hailed from the forest.
More interruptions
“Halt, travellers!” The voice was strong and in a slightly archaic form of common –still recognisable, but with a strange accent. “State your purpose and stay your hands.”
Noone else decided to talk within what I thought was an acceptable amount of time, so keeping my hands well away from the hilt of my sword I spoke.
“We are adventurers, searching for a tomb that we have been told lies in these woods.” Not knowing the nature or power of of our addressor, I decided that honesty was the best policy.
Without another word being spoken, a dozen creatures with the body of a horse and the torso of a man where it’s head should be emerged from the trees. They had longbows with arrows nocked or longspears, all ready for trouble.
“Centaurs!” I breathed, relieved.
“You will come with us.” The leader stated. They did not seem overly hostile, but still kept a close eye on us. I turned to the others briefly and motioned for them to keep calm.
We marched along the path, even Ulric was remaining quiet. A short time later, we emerged into another clearing that housed a largish tribe of the creatures – probably two-score males plus half that number of females and children.
“Wait here.” The lead centaur addressed us and left the group in the company of his charges. The centaurs watched us closely, I made sure I made no threatening moves and hoped my companions would do the same. They obviously were not as comfortable as I. Reikon looked decidedly nervous and ready for a fight, I could tell that a couple of our guards were keeping a close eye on him. Ulric was gazing at the centaurs in awe, Terj, Mareth and Chade were trying to look as dignified as possible and Warramayl just looked wary.
A few minutes later, the lead centaur from the hunting party returned with another, larger centaur.
Since I was standing at the head of the group, the larger centaur strode up and addressed me.
“I am Longstride, chieftain of this tribe. Who are you?” The centaur was gruff and slightly standoffish, just as I had known centaurs to be.
“I am Rhael Everard, Ranger and Cleric of Hieroneous.” I decided to be as formal as possible. “I greet you Longstride as a fellow defender of the forest, on behalf of myself and my friends.”
“My scout tells me that you seek a crypt of some sort.”
“Your scout speaks truly, Longstride. We are searching for the crypt of an ancient warrior by the name of Adrestus. Our best guess indicates that the tomb would most likely have a large stone near the entrance with the name Adrestus carved upon its surface.”
“Indeed?” Longstride replied. “I do know of this crypt of which you speak.” My heart lifted at the thought of completing part of our quest. “For what purpose do you seek this tomb? It has been abandoned for some time – do you perhaps wish to search this tomb for valuables? I can assure you that many others have come before you with this intent.”
“No, Longstride. That is not my intention.” The centaur looked somewhere between surprised and dubious. “We come in search of an ancient artefact known as the Sphere of Haedros, that is said to lay in Adrestus’ tomb.”
“I know not of this item of which you speak. Pray continue.”
I proceeded to tell Longstride pretty much everything, through which he listened intently.
When I finished our tale, with the odd interjection from my companions, Longstride stood in silence for a few moments collecting his thoughts before he spoke.
“It appears that you and your friends have a difficult task ahead, young ranger. I can show you the path to what I believe is the tomb you seek.”
“I thank you, Longstride. We appreciate your assistance.”
“Can you tell us anything else about this area?” Mareth asked. “We came through what we think was an abandoned and dismantled Orc village a little way back down the path.”
Longstride made a face at the mention of ‘orcs’.
“The orcs were living in that clearing for some time and we had numerous clashes with their hunters before they learned which areas were ours from long before they arrived and they stayed clear of us. They have moved on. We find their presence in this forest abhorrent, but it is beyond our sphere of influence.” He paused. “As for the area, there is an old tower further to the southwest –“
“Yeah, we heard about that back in Taureth.” Chade interrupted – I wish he hadn’t. “Something about a crazed wizard’s test for his daughter’s suitors, or something.”
“Yes.” Longstride replied, shortly. “We too have heard those stories. We cannot vouch for their validity, however. As I was saying, the mountain yonder,” he pointed to the north “houses a green dragon and its horde.”
“A dragon, huh?” Chade didn’t take the hint. “We heard about that too. Weren’t sure if we could believe it or not.”
Longstride appeared mildly annoyed at being interrupted, especially twice, but continued.
“Aside from that, the ‘Hoardeep’ as you know it, is populated with many and varied denizens – most of which are dangerous.”
I waited until I was sure he had finished.
“Do you and your people have many problems with the dragon, Longstride?”
“Occasionally one of our people is taken by the dragon, but we have learned to stay out of it’s way. However, it is the natural way of things.”
“Of course.” I paused, trying to think how to get moving. Longstride helped me out.
“But enough talk, I will now show you the way to the tomb.”
“Thank-you, Longstride.”
The centaur chieftain took us to the north-western corner of the village and showed us a path.
“Down that path, about a half-hour’s walk is a track that leads to the crypt. The path continues, curling around to the southwest, where you will find the tower of which I spoke earlier. North of the crypt is the lower reaches of the mountain that is inhabited by the dragon.”
“Thank-you again, Longstride.” I said with a slight bow. “We shall see you again when we pass back this way.”
He nodded and we went on our way.
As he promised, a half-hour later the path separated into a main path and a narrow track leading off into the forest. A short walk down that path lead us to what we sought. A rock, embedded in the ground with the word ‘Adrestus’ carved upon it’s surface.
New friend?
The journey back to Taureth was completely uneventful. Not even a small band of goblins broke the monotony.
Unfortunately, our first night back in the Drum & Sword was anything but uneventful. Chade and Terjon were getting fresh mugs of ale, the rest of us were just sitting there, minding our own business when there was a loud ‘whoop’ and suddenly there was a brightly dressed halfling standing on our table (among tipped ale glasses), brandishing a shortsword.
“Greetings, adventurers!” The little fella said with a bow. “I am Ulric. Bard and adventurer, at your service.”
Reikon was on his feet with sword drawn before most of us even realised the halfling was on the table. Warramayl and Mareth also leapt off their chairs and into fighting stances. I deliberately remained seated, leaning back slightly, my hand on the hilt of my longsword.
“That’s nice, my little friend.” He said through gritted teeth. “But in future I advise against leaping onto people’s tables swinging weapons around.”
“ ‘Tis of no consequence!” Ulric shouted with sudden dramatic flair, looking around for his applause. None came. He did not, however, take the hint and remove himself from our table.
I immediately took a disliking to the loud intruder.
“Ulric.” I addressed him directly, and by name to get his attention. “Why are you on our table?”
At this point, Chade and Terj returned to our table, mugs in hand. Both stood, looking at the halfling, noticing the tipped over mugs and unwilling to set the fresh ones down.
“I wish to make a grand entrance to make a grand impression on the grand adventurers!”
“I see –“
“I have heard of your exploits, and I seek adventure. I am a teller of stories. A player of tunes. A singer of songs. A slayer of beasts!” The last statement was punctuated with a thrust from his shortsword at an imaginary creature. And what better place to continue my grand adventures than with grand adventurers?”
Regrettably, I do not feel I can do justice to the ensuing five minutes with narrative, suffice to say that Ulric didn’t get off our table until Reikon threatened to gut him where he stood. I’m not sure that any of us particularly liked him (Terjon, I think, was a but chuffed at the ‘grand adventurers’ tag) but, being a man down, we accepted him into our group – with no small measure of trepidation. He was informed in no uncertain terms that he would have to make himself useful and stay out of trouble. He attempted to tell us a story, but it was so bad that the bartender told him to shut up lest he drive his customers away or to sleep.
Anyway, with Ulric in tow, or rather with Ulric bounding along in the front of the main group occasionally bursting into song or story (never have I been more thankful for being a Ranger and having to scout ahead of the party). The racket was quickly stifled by whomever got to him first, of course, but I’m sure that every denizen of this forest heard him.
As we neared the large clearing I signalled to Reikon and met him and the group back on the trail.
“Ulric!” I snarled at him. He came trotting over from where he was smelling some fairly poisonous fungus (I regretted calling him over).
“Yessir, Rhael, sir!” He mock-saluted me.
I wanted to punch him.
“We’re heading into an area where we’ve seen orc activity –“
“Orcs huh?” He interrupted. “I’ve killed hundreds of orcs!” He started thrusting and parrying at imaginary (and very short) orcs as if in combat.
“Of course you have.” I said, as condescendingly as I could muster.
“The reason I mention this is that I want you to shut-up. The last thing we need is to alert any more inhabitants to our presence than is absolutely necessary.”
He saluted again.
“Yes sir!”
When we reached the clearing I was more thankful that I had told Ulric to be quiet (and even more thankful he had complied). In the clearing was a reasonably large wooden structure, surrounded by a low wall, also built of wood. The wall was approximately four feet in height, and had one gate that we could see. At either end of the gate were two guard towers, probably twelve feet tall, and three more towers punctuated the wall at regular intervals. The newly constructed compound was roughly circular in shape and approximately a hundred yards in diameter. From our vantage point, we could tell that the wall encompassed the three cave entrances we had found weeks earlier. I would hesitate to call it an actual fortress, due to the wooden construction and low wall, but that is how it came to be known – more for convenience than anything else.
“That would explain the orcs and the wood, I guess.” Mareth commented.
“Mmmm.” I replied. “I say we skirt around it.”
“I say we take them out.” I half-expected Chade to say something like that.
“We’re not attacking a walled compound with who-knows-howmany orcs in it. Don’t be a fool. Even Terjon wouldn’t suggest that.”
Terjon smiled, thinking that was a complement.
“I agree with Rhael.” Mareth said.
“Me too.” Terjon piped up.
“Fine.” Chade was in a semi-mock huff.
“We’ll skirt around the south border of the clearing, sticking to the forest, and continue down that westbound path we followed the other day. Stay alert.”
With that, I started off on my intended route, the others following, trying to be as stealthy as possible.
We made it around the clearing without incident, keeping a close eye on the ‘fortress’. Interestingly, we saw no activity within the grounds at all – but we were a fair distance away.
We regrouped on the west-bound path leading away from the clearing and restarted our journey. We passed the site of Entarsis’ last battle, the elements and local creatures long-since cleaning up the dead bodies and scraps of flesh.
Probably another hour later we found another clearing. This one much larger than the one with the caves. It appeared to be uninhabited, but we could tell that there had previously been a walled village in this clearing – there were some run-down buildings still remaining and some of the posts used to hold up the fence surrounding the village.
There were three paths leading off this clearing, including the one we had just traversed. We had approached from the east, there was a path leading north and one leading further west.
We went left.
The path did not go very far, ending at what we could only guess was the cesspit. The stench drove us away fairly quickly. Amazing that pretty much anything to do with orcs smells worse than the equivalent associated with even the dirtiest humans – at least in my limited experience.
Retreating from the cesspit, we returned to the large clearing and headed west.
Another half hour of walking later we were hailed from the forest.
More interruptions
“Halt, travellers!” The voice was strong and in a slightly archaic form of common –still recognisable, but with a strange accent. “State your purpose and stay your hands.”
Noone else decided to talk within what I thought was an acceptable amount of time, so keeping my hands well away from the hilt of my sword I spoke.
“We are adventurers, searching for a tomb that we have been told lies in these woods.” Not knowing the nature or power of of our addressor, I decided that honesty was the best policy.
Without another word being spoken, a dozen creatures with the body of a horse and the torso of a man where it’s head should be emerged from the trees. They had longbows with arrows nocked or longspears, all ready for trouble.
“Centaurs!” I breathed, relieved.
“You will come with us.” The leader stated. They did not seem overly hostile, but still kept a close eye on us. I turned to the others briefly and motioned for them to keep calm.
We marched along the path, even Ulric was remaining quiet. A short time later, we emerged into another clearing that housed a largish tribe of the creatures – probably two-score males plus half that number of females and children.
“Wait here.” The lead centaur addressed us and left the group in the company of his charges. The centaurs watched us closely, I made sure I made no threatening moves and hoped my companions would do the same. They obviously were not as comfortable as I. Reikon looked decidedly nervous and ready for a fight, I could tell that a couple of our guards were keeping a close eye on him. Ulric was gazing at the centaurs in awe, Terj, Mareth and Chade were trying to look as dignified as possible and Warramayl just looked wary.
A few minutes later, the lead centaur from the hunting party returned with another, larger centaur.
Since I was standing at the head of the group, the larger centaur strode up and addressed me.
“I am Longstride, chieftain of this tribe. Who are you?” The centaur was gruff and slightly standoffish, just as I had known centaurs to be.
“I am Rhael Everard, Ranger and Cleric of Hieroneous.” I decided to be as formal as possible. “I greet you Longstride as a fellow defender of the forest, on behalf of myself and my friends.”
“My scout tells me that you seek a crypt of some sort.”
“Your scout speaks truly, Longstride. We are searching for the crypt of an ancient warrior by the name of Adrestus. Our best guess indicates that the tomb would most likely have a large stone near the entrance with the name Adrestus carved upon its surface.”
“Indeed?” Longstride replied. “I do know of this crypt of which you speak.” My heart lifted at the thought of completing part of our quest. “For what purpose do you seek this tomb? It has been abandoned for some time – do you perhaps wish to search this tomb for valuables? I can assure you that many others have come before you with this intent.”
“No, Longstride. That is not my intention.” The centaur looked somewhere between surprised and dubious. “We come in search of an ancient artefact known as the Sphere of Haedros, that is said to lay in Adrestus’ tomb.”
“I know not of this item of which you speak. Pray continue.”
I proceeded to tell Longstride pretty much everything, through which he listened intently.
When I finished our tale, with the odd interjection from my companions, Longstride stood in silence for a few moments collecting his thoughts before he spoke.
“It appears that you and your friends have a difficult task ahead, young ranger. I can show you the path to what I believe is the tomb you seek.”
“I thank you, Longstride. We appreciate your assistance.”
“Can you tell us anything else about this area?” Mareth asked. “We came through what we think was an abandoned and dismantled Orc village a little way back down the path.”
Longstride made a face at the mention of ‘orcs’.
“The orcs were living in that clearing for some time and we had numerous clashes with their hunters before they learned which areas were ours from long before they arrived and they stayed clear of us. They have moved on. We find their presence in this forest abhorrent, but it is beyond our sphere of influence.” He paused. “As for the area, there is an old tower further to the southwest –“
“Yeah, we heard about that back in Taureth.” Chade interrupted – I wish he hadn’t. “Something about a crazed wizard’s test for his daughter’s suitors, or something.”
“Yes.” Longstride replied, shortly. “We too have heard those stories. We cannot vouch for their validity, however. As I was saying, the mountain yonder,” he pointed to the north “houses a green dragon and its horde.”
“A dragon, huh?” Chade didn’t take the hint. “We heard about that too. Weren’t sure if we could believe it or not.”
Longstride appeared mildly annoyed at being interrupted, especially twice, but continued.
“Aside from that, the ‘Hoardeep’ as you know it, is populated with many and varied denizens – most of which are dangerous.”
I waited until I was sure he had finished.
“Do you and your people have many problems with the dragon, Longstride?”
“Occasionally one of our people is taken by the dragon, but we have learned to stay out of it’s way. However, it is the natural way of things.”
“Of course.” I paused, trying to think how to get moving. Longstride helped me out.
“But enough talk, I will now show you the way to the tomb.”
“Thank-you, Longstride.”
The centaur chieftain took us to the north-western corner of the village and showed us a path.
“Down that path, about a half-hour’s walk is a track that leads to the crypt. The path continues, curling around to the southwest, where you will find the tower of which I spoke earlier. North of the crypt is the lower reaches of the mountain that is inhabited by the dragon.”
“Thank-you again, Longstride.” I said with a slight bow. “We shall see you again when we pass back this way.”
He nodded and we went on our way.
As he promised, a half-hour later the path separated into a main path and a narrow track leading off into the forest. A short walk down that path lead us to what we sought. A rock, embedded in the ground with the word ‘Adrestus’ carved upon it’s surface.
Player's Perspective (009)
Group Update
Rhael (Human Ranger/Cleric), Reikon (Elf Rogue/Illusionist), Terjon (Human Paladin), Warramayl (Human Monk), Mareth (Elf Fighter), Ulric(Halfling Bard), Chade (Human Cleric of St Cuthbert)
The Tomb of Adrestus
“I can’t believe we actually found it.” Mareth exclaimed.
We continued past the stone and found a ruined temple-like structure, very similar to the building we found in the forest near Esgaro and in a similar state of disrepair.
Reikon checked the door for traps, and finding none gave the heavy-looking stone door a push.
“It didn’t move.” He said, needlessly. “Give me a hand.”
Terjon, Warramayl and I walked over to where Reikon was standing by the door.
“One. Two.” Terjon counted. “Threeeeee!” The last number was stretched out as we pushed with all our might –the door was very heavy, but swung easily once we got it moving.
What greeted us was completely different from Enlor’s tomb. Carved stone steps leading downwards to the east and into blackness. The craftsmanship was of an ageless quality and only the dust revealed by the sunlight streaming into the passage gave a hint as to the length of time this tomb had lain undisturbed.
Warramayl and Mareth lit torches as Terjon and I lead the way into the tomb.
As I passed the threshold I whispered a prayer to Hieroneous, asking forgiveness for violating the tomb of one of his champions. A glance to my left revealed Terjon was also mouthing words of prayer.
At the bottom of a very long flight of stairs was a short passage of no more than ten feet, which lead to another stone doorway. This one opening much easier than the front door, after Reikon conducted his obligatory trap-check.
The room we entered was very large – our torchlight did not reveal any walls beyond the one behind us.
“Be very careful.” Reikon whispered. “It is very easy to trap these kind of floors.”
Bearing the elf’s warning in mind, we carefully made our way around the room. It was massive. It’s ceiling was so high, that I would not have been surprised if it made up the aboveground section of the temple we saw on the surface. Along the walls to our left and right were huge columns, and in the middle of the northern (left) wall was an altar. The altar itself bore carvings indicating a tribute to Hieroneous, and near it’s base were the skeletons of what we could only guess were two adventurers who found their way to the tomb. There were double doors in the centre of the south wall and the east wall.
Reikon immediately started searching through their leftover equipment.
“Wow!” he exclaimed – in a fairly uncharacteristic way.
We all took a few steps closer to the skeletal remains. Reikon had dusted off the breastplate that one of the skeletons was still encased in. “Mithril.” He breathed.
“Should we take it?” Terjon said to no-one in particular.
“Of course!” Chade said. “Finder’s keepers.”
“It’s not like this is Adrestus or anything, Terjon!” Reikon sneered a little. “These are just two other dumb adventurers who came to loot the tomb, and failed.” Terjon’s only reply was a shrug that caused the chainmail under his half-plate to jingle slightly.
“We are not here to loot this place, as you put it, Reikon!” I put in, hurt at the insinuation. “We are here to retrieve an ancient artefact that will assist us to fight the evil that remains in this world. We are here for one thing and one thing alone: the Spere of Haedros.”
“Whatever.” Reikon said, dismissively. He turned back to the bodies, leaving me fuming behind him. “It looks like the old owner was a skinny bastard, possibly an elf. The armour will probably only fit me or Mareth, and it’s not much use to me.” He picked up the armour, noisily shook the bones from it and handed it to Mareth.
Mareth took a few minutes to clean out the armour, take off his chain shirt and don his new breastplate, with Terjon helping him.
“It fits perfectly.” He said. “And it feels so light.” He made a few experimental lunges and twists with his rapier to test out the weight.
“Anything else?” Chade asked Reikon.
“Just a couple of flasks,” He gave one an experimental shake, “and they appear to still have fluid in them and a few coins.”
“Come on.” I said. “Let’s keep moving.”
Reikon handed the potions to Chade, who shoved them in his pack.
Continued around the room made our way towards the door in the south wall, carefully watching the floor.
Suddenly, Reikon shouted “Look out!”. But it was too late.
The floor beneath Terj and my feet crumbled, and we were falling. I scrambled to catch hold of something to break my fall. Luckily there were some handholds on the way down so I was able to slow my fall somewhat. Seconds later, I landed, flat on my back. The force of the fall forcing the wind from my lungs.
I distantly heard my name being called. Terjon’s too.
Terjon!
I sat up. A little too quickly, in hindsight. The sudden change of position sending a shooting pain up my left side. I gingerly felt my ribs, at least two were broken, possibly more. There was also a sharp pain in my left leg which I couldn’t identify.
“Terj.” I said. I received no reply.
“Terj!” A little more urgency this time. Still nothing. I was now officially worried.
I could tell we had fallen quite a distance from the torchlight I could see flickering at the top of the pit.
“Hang on!” I think it was Chade’s voice. “I’ll send down some light.” A few seconds later I heard the distinctive fwinng of a coin being tossed, spinning into the pit. It was eerie watching the ball of light descend upon us, the light flickering and casting strange shadows as the copper piece hit the floor next to me and bounced.
Once the light settled and I was able to focus, I saw why Terj hadn’t answered me. His mangled body was crushed against the stone floor and impaled on a number of spikes that were randomly placed throughout the floor. I then realised how lucky I had been – I had missed several spikes by inches, and one had torn a hole in my left calf – explaining the pain.
“No!” I yelled – surely drawing some interest from my companions fifty feet above. “Quick! Get a rope down here! Terj is hurt!” I was still hopeful that he was alive. I scrambled across the floor to where my friend lay face down in a pool of blood. His torso was pierced in two places, he had several broken limbs and he didn’t appear to be breathing.
I watched as a rope uncoiled on its way down to me. Careful not to do too much more damage to the paladin as I lifted him from the spikes I looped the rope around his underarms and secured it with what I believed was a proper knot.
“Get him up!” I yelled and watched as the rope went taut and my friend slowly rose into the air, his longsword slipping from his hands as he left the ground. I picked up the sword and stuck it in my belt. I also picked up the light-enchanted coin that Chade had thrown.
It took a few minutes for my companions to lift Terjon out of the hole and send the rope back down for me. I tied it around my waist and called for them to start lifting as I stuck the light-coin between my teeth and began to climb the rope.
As soon as I pulled myself over the edge of the pit, I crawled over to where Terjon lay. I could see his pale skin through gaps in the blood that stained his features and his sightless eyes staring up at me. I closed his eyelids, collapsed next to him and cried for my best friend.
I was vaguely aware of Chade tending to my ribs and leg injury. Physically I felt much better. I cannot describe the emptiness I felt at the death of Terjon. We had been friends since we were very young. We had trained together under Antoral, a paladin of Hieroneous, gone camping together, played together and fought together. Memories of our younger years flashed through my mind – the day Terj took his vows as a paladin of Hieroneous, time spent in the woods continually having to watch where Terj stepped and what he ate and the time he spent staring out the window while I was studying.
The others stood around, mostly not knowing what to do. Ulric was silent, Reikon was scowling, Warramayl was trying his best to look unaffected, Mareth and Chade looked upset.
“Let’s get out of here.” I finally said as I picked up Terjon and began carrying him from the tomb. I suppose the others didn’t have any other ideas, so they just followed respectfully behind.
“What are we going to do, Rhael?” Mareth asked quietly.
“We’re taking Terjon’s body back to Esgaro.” Was my only reply.
I ascended the stairs into forest, waited briefly for my eyes to adjust to the natural light and set off toward the centaur encampment.
Group Update
Rhael (Human Ranger/Cleric), Reikon (Elf Rogue/Illusionist), Terjon (Human Paladin), Warramayl (Human Monk), Mareth (Elf Fighter), Ulric(Halfling Bard), Chade (Human Cleric of St Cuthbert)
The Tomb of Adrestus
“I can’t believe we actually found it.” Mareth exclaimed.
We continued past the stone and found a ruined temple-like structure, very similar to the building we found in the forest near Esgaro and in a similar state of disrepair.
Reikon checked the door for traps, and finding none gave the heavy-looking stone door a push.
“It didn’t move.” He said, needlessly. “Give me a hand.”
Terjon, Warramayl and I walked over to where Reikon was standing by the door.
“One. Two.” Terjon counted. “Threeeeee!” The last number was stretched out as we pushed with all our might –the door was very heavy, but swung easily once we got it moving.
What greeted us was completely different from Enlor’s tomb. Carved stone steps leading downwards to the east and into blackness. The craftsmanship was of an ageless quality and only the dust revealed by the sunlight streaming into the passage gave a hint as to the length of time this tomb had lain undisturbed.
Warramayl and Mareth lit torches as Terjon and I lead the way into the tomb.
As I passed the threshold I whispered a prayer to Hieroneous, asking forgiveness for violating the tomb of one of his champions. A glance to my left revealed Terjon was also mouthing words of prayer.
At the bottom of a very long flight of stairs was a short passage of no more than ten feet, which lead to another stone doorway. This one opening much easier than the front door, after Reikon conducted his obligatory trap-check.
The room we entered was very large – our torchlight did not reveal any walls beyond the one behind us.
“Be very careful.” Reikon whispered. “It is very easy to trap these kind of floors.”
Bearing the elf’s warning in mind, we carefully made our way around the room. It was massive. It’s ceiling was so high, that I would not have been surprised if it made up the aboveground section of the temple we saw on the surface. Along the walls to our left and right were huge columns, and in the middle of the northern (left) wall was an altar. The altar itself bore carvings indicating a tribute to Hieroneous, and near it’s base were the skeletons of what we could only guess were two adventurers who found their way to the tomb. There were double doors in the centre of the south wall and the east wall.
Reikon immediately started searching through their leftover equipment.
“Wow!” he exclaimed – in a fairly uncharacteristic way.
We all took a few steps closer to the skeletal remains. Reikon had dusted off the breastplate that one of the skeletons was still encased in. “Mithril.” He breathed.
“Should we take it?” Terjon said to no-one in particular.
“Of course!” Chade said. “Finder’s keepers.”
“It’s not like this is Adrestus or anything, Terjon!” Reikon sneered a little. “These are just two other dumb adventurers who came to loot the tomb, and failed.” Terjon’s only reply was a shrug that caused the chainmail under his half-plate to jingle slightly.
“We are not here to loot this place, as you put it, Reikon!” I put in, hurt at the insinuation. “We are here to retrieve an ancient artefact that will assist us to fight the evil that remains in this world. We are here for one thing and one thing alone: the Spere of Haedros.”
“Whatever.” Reikon said, dismissively. He turned back to the bodies, leaving me fuming behind him. “It looks like the old owner was a skinny bastard, possibly an elf. The armour will probably only fit me or Mareth, and it’s not much use to me.” He picked up the armour, noisily shook the bones from it and handed it to Mareth.
Mareth took a few minutes to clean out the armour, take off his chain shirt and don his new breastplate, with Terjon helping him.
“It fits perfectly.” He said. “And it feels so light.” He made a few experimental lunges and twists with his rapier to test out the weight.
“Anything else?” Chade asked Reikon.
“Just a couple of flasks,” He gave one an experimental shake, “and they appear to still have fluid in them and a few coins.”
“Come on.” I said. “Let’s keep moving.”
Reikon handed the potions to Chade, who shoved them in his pack.
Continued around the room made our way towards the door in the south wall, carefully watching the floor.
Suddenly, Reikon shouted “Look out!”. But it was too late.
The floor beneath Terj and my feet crumbled, and we were falling. I scrambled to catch hold of something to break my fall. Luckily there were some handholds on the way down so I was able to slow my fall somewhat. Seconds later, I landed, flat on my back. The force of the fall forcing the wind from my lungs.
I distantly heard my name being called. Terjon’s too.
Terjon!
I sat up. A little too quickly, in hindsight. The sudden change of position sending a shooting pain up my left side. I gingerly felt my ribs, at least two were broken, possibly more. There was also a sharp pain in my left leg which I couldn’t identify.
“Terj.” I said. I received no reply.
“Terj!” A little more urgency this time. Still nothing. I was now officially worried.
I could tell we had fallen quite a distance from the torchlight I could see flickering at the top of the pit.
“Hang on!” I think it was Chade’s voice. “I’ll send down some light.” A few seconds later I heard the distinctive fwinng of a coin being tossed, spinning into the pit. It was eerie watching the ball of light descend upon us, the light flickering and casting strange shadows as the copper piece hit the floor next to me and bounced.
Once the light settled and I was able to focus, I saw why Terj hadn’t answered me. His mangled body was crushed against the stone floor and impaled on a number of spikes that were randomly placed throughout the floor. I then realised how lucky I had been – I had missed several spikes by inches, and one had torn a hole in my left calf – explaining the pain.
“No!” I yelled – surely drawing some interest from my companions fifty feet above. “Quick! Get a rope down here! Terj is hurt!” I was still hopeful that he was alive. I scrambled across the floor to where my friend lay face down in a pool of blood. His torso was pierced in two places, he had several broken limbs and he didn’t appear to be breathing.
I watched as a rope uncoiled on its way down to me. Careful not to do too much more damage to the paladin as I lifted him from the spikes I looped the rope around his underarms and secured it with what I believed was a proper knot.
“Get him up!” I yelled and watched as the rope went taut and my friend slowly rose into the air, his longsword slipping from his hands as he left the ground. I picked up the sword and stuck it in my belt. I also picked up the light-enchanted coin that Chade had thrown.
It took a few minutes for my companions to lift Terjon out of the hole and send the rope back down for me. I tied it around my waist and called for them to start lifting as I stuck the light-coin between my teeth and began to climb the rope.
As soon as I pulled myself over the edge of the pit, I crawled over to where Terjon lay. I could see his pale skin through gaps in the blood that stained his features and his sightless eyes staring up at me. I closed his eyelids, collapsed next to him and cried for my best friend.
I was vaguely aware of Chade tending to my ribs and leg injury. Physically I felt much better. I cannot describe the emptiness I felt at the death of Terjon. We had been friends since we were very young. We had trained together under Antoral, a paladin of Hieroneous, gone camping together, played together and fought together. Memories of our younger years flashed through my mind – the day Terj took his vows as a paladin of Hieroneous, time spent in the woods continually having to watch where Terj stepped and what he ate and the time he spent staring out the window while I was studying.
The others stood around, mostly not knowing what to do. Ulric was silent, Reikon was scowling, Warramayl was trying his best to look unaffected, Mareth and Chade looked upset.
“Let’s get out of here.” I finally said as I picked up Terjon and began carrying him from the tomb. I suppose the others didn’t have any other ideas, so they just followed respectfully behind.
“What are we going to do, Rhael?” Mareth asked quietly.
“We’re taking Terjon’s body back to Esgaro.” Was my only reply.
I ascended the stairs into forest, waited briefly for my eyes to adjust to the natural light and set off toward the centaur encampment.
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