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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rhael" data-source="post: 274234" data-attributes="member: 5269">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.</blockquote>

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