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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rhael" data-source="post: 726205" data-attributes="member: 5269">Player's Perspective (018)NoteTo anyone who has been reading this, this post marks the catch-up point.  That is to say, the session(s) of which this post speaks occur after the post that began this thread, the previous seventeen chapters occurred in the six months prior to this thread being begun.The characters’ levels at this point in the story at this point in the campaign are as stated in the original post (with one small correction).  Restated for posterity:* Rhael 5 Ranger/4 Cleric of Hieroneous* Warramayl 7 Monk* Terjon 6 Paladin* Mareth 4 Fighter/3 Evoker* Hejkan 1 Barbarian/6 Cleric of Kord* Shadow 7 Rogue* Taklinn 7 Fighter.Where do we want to go today?There was plenty of text in the report the Loremasters had prepared for us, and some of it made no sense.  Much of it was made up of passages from ancient texts that the researchers had found and transcribed into the report and was written in a very round-a-bout and cryptic fashion.  Reference was made to what we could only guess to be some ancient units of measurement which only confused us further.Sticking to the Loremasters’ conclusions, as opposed to the mystifying passages, there was very little in the way of specifics, although I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting.  The report did speak of areas which we found out were far to the west of us somewhere towards (or within) the disputed lands where armies of undead and demonic hordes fight under the control of their masters for a large section of land near Amoria.  Also mentioned was an ancient and lost dwarven kingdom called Eered Kazor which the Loremasters said was somewhere in a large region to the south and west of here, but they could provide no further details.  The document spoke of a ‘key’ which would unlock Mareciot, but it was lost and apparently only someone with the blood of Aldaraan could actually wield the key anyway.  The key, it was written, was made up of the Ring of Destiny, the Sphere of Haedros, a staff of very specific dimensions and a mithril spike.  We had no idea whether these latter two ingredients were specific items or whether we would have to manufacture them.  The Ring of Destiny was most likely the one we saw around the old man’s neck (about a year ago now), which was now in the hands of the Fists of Hextor.  We already had the Sphere of Haedros, but the rest of the things we needed were still out of our reach.  Sure, we had a fair idea that the Ring of Destiny was with the Fists of Hextor in the Old Karath Empire, but there was no way I was going to go wandering into a Hextor stronghold – especially not with Hieroneous’ symbol emblazoned on my shield.After a fair bit of discussion, we came to the conclusion that all we could really do was head westwards – hopefully we may be able to find some more specific information about Mareciot and Eered Kazor.There is a city called Illsarth on the edge of the Freeholds, south west of here.  We decide that we can head in that direction, try to gather extra information there before striking out westwards towards Kadrendorst across a vast, mountainous wilderness, dotted with the occasional town and many a tribe of giants.  Travellers are warned against veering too far from the roads, and even they can be dangerous.The westwards journey took us through, what for most of us, was our old home town.  Shadow, Taklinn and Hejkan were from elsewhere, but for Terj, Mareth, Warramayl and I it could be a pleasant homecoming.  However, it was not the uneventful trip that we had hoped for.  Near the end of the first day of the three day trek (it was much quicker now that we had horses) Mareth told us there were four figures on horses coming towards us down the path – they appeared to be dressed completely in black.  Even if that was unusual, I wasn’t going to do anything out of the ordinary and possibly start trouble. “Just stay on the path and keep riding.   Get ready to ride single-file to allow them to pass.”  I paused.  “We don’t want any trouble.”As they closed to within a hundred yards, Mareth said that they were riding black horses and were covered head to toe in full plate armour.  They made no unusual movements as they approached.“Greetings.”  I said, pleasantly, raising my hand.“Greetings.”  The leader responded.  His helmed head looked up and down as he passed, slowly.  “How goes the worship of Hieroneous?”  I could tell he was denigrating my faith, but I wasn’t going to risk a fight over something like that.“Fine, thank-you.”  I replied.  Pretending not to notice his tone.  He laughed in response.As they passed, I could see the symbols of Hextor on their saddles and on the back of their armour, the same garb as the men who fled Esgaro that morning after killing the old man, and revealing them as Fists of Hextor.“We should attack them.”  Hejkan said, in low tones after they had passed twenty yards down the road.  Unexpectedly, the other guys were all for it.  Since I liked to think that we ran a democratic-style party, I acquiesced.   Then Hejkan did something stupid.  By this stage they were a good fifty yards down the path.“Hextor sucks arse!”  Hejkan yelled.  “Charge!  In the name of Kord!”  He turned his horse and rode at top speed towards the Fists.  I sighed, slightly, now that any surprise had been lost.  Warramayl, Terjon, Mareth, Taklinn set off after Hejkan at top speed.  I rode at a speed which still allowed me to concentrate enough to cast some spells.  Shadow rode next to me and took out his bow.One of the Fists began spellcasting (obviously a cleric), it was next to him that I conjured a magical floating longsword which began attacking him.The other three Fists had ridden forward to meet the attack of my comrades, while the spellcaster had hung back.  I got off my horse (not feeling particularly confident at fighting from horseback) and jogged toward him, not wanting to over-commit too early (as my companions had).  I could see him casting another spell from atop his horse, blocking my mystical longsword with his shield.  A brief look over my shoulder revealed nothing particularly unusual, but a longer look told me that Terjon had been paralyzed by a spell of holding.  Hopefully the special paladin’s horse granted to him by Hieroneous – hopefully it would keep him out of harm’s way long enough for the spell to wear off.By the time I reached my target, I was a good fifty feet from the others, but so was this cleric.  Another spell from the fist summoned a large hound with fire in its eyes and mouth next to me, but the protection from evil spell I had cast moments earlier meant that it could not harm me as long as I left it alone.  He was still on his horse when I reached him and scored a palpable hit to his upper left thigh with my first swing.A cry from up the path revealed that something had gone wrong and Hejkan’s impassioned cries to Kord had ceased and I had no idea what had happened to Terjon, but I dared not look as I may miss one of the blows this Fist was raining down with his mace.  Numerous blows were swung and blocked, but eventually, the cut in his leg forced the Fist to lose his balance and he fell too far towards me during a particularly heavy swing and I ducked under his shield and buried my blade in his side.The other Fists obviously had a far better idea of what was going on than I did, for as soon as this happened the leader shouted “Away!” at the top of his lungs and the other Fists broke off their attacks and rode towards me and their dying comrade.  This gave me a good chance to have a look around.  Hejkan was lying on the ground, Terjon was stuck fast in his saddle but further down the path out of harm’s way.  Shadow was up a tree, bow in hand and the others were in various states of readiness, Warramayl was looking the worst for wear.  There was evidence of someone having cast an Entangle spell at the base of Shadow’s tree where a mass of vines and creepers writhed and grabbed at air, searching desperately for something to ensnare.I backed away from the body of the Fist slightly and yelled at the leader as he rode up.“If you wish to collect your comrade and flee I will not stand in your way.”  I stood, ready for an attack, and had to dive to one side as he tried to ride over me.  I rolled to my feet and came up in a defensive posture.</blockquote>

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