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Terrace and the rise of Evil
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<blockquote data-quote="akira1" data-source="post: 4570740" data-attributes="member: 64437"><p><strong>To the Valley of the Unicorn</strong></p><p></p><p>The following documents were unearthed in a historical dig off the southern coast of Garsis in the area formerly known as Elzelik-Rath. They appear to be a historical accounting of a journey, or maybe a fictional story recounting the exploits of fabled heroes. They were originally composed by a bard known simply as Fendril of the Company of the Broken Horn. </p><p></p><p> Gunhilda sat upon a large stone on the outskirts of the Ranaga encampment and distractedly traced runes into the dirt at her feet. The nights festivities, those that had ended in any event, Gunhilda thought with a wry smile, had left most of the camp asleep and their snores created a buzzing counterpoint to the often feral yowls that were coming from other parts of the encampment. The heavy overhanging clouds that blotted out the sky, seemed to roil of their own accord this morning and Gunhilda squinted her brilliant blue eyes up at them wondering what events had been set into motion by the arrival of the outsiders and how this whole thing would play out. </p><p></p><p> As if her thoughts had summoned them, the adventurers, known as the Tainted walked across the frozen earth towards Gunhilda and she took this moment to reassess them as they approached her. Damien the Drow Fey'ri, even though he was one of the damned Drow, she found that his chaotic nature often suited her a lot more than Ivanor, the cleric of Cambion,the Lord of Nightmares and Death. Ivanor was a tall human male that seemed very rigid and finally came Kalanaghar another damned Drow but a decent swordsman none the less. </p><p></p><p> "Lady what is that you are drawing in the ground?" Ivanor asked as the Tainted approached Gunhilda. </p><p></p><p> "Nothing to concern you." Came Gunhilda's reply as she stood and dragged her deerskin wrapped feet over the runes that had sprang unbidden into her mind. "Attend me while I give you direction to the Valley of the Unicorns." </p><p> They listened as she laid out their travel directions and a few warnings as well. </p><p></p><p>"No one from our clan has ever been there and returned with the same description of the place, but you will know you are near it when the mists come upon you unbidden. There is rumored to be a terrible fire that blazes in the sky there and all manner of strange and evil creatures." </p><p></p><p> "So we are to travel to the Northeast from here." That was Ivanor. </p><p></p><p> "Yes, for approximately 3 to 4 days before you will be in the region where this place is rumored to be." Gunhilda replied. </p><p></p><p> "May the blessings of Batista be upon you all." Gunhilda said by way of a benediction as they began to depart. </p><p></p><p> "Cambion has always walked with me lady." Replied Ivanor. </p><p></p><p> Silently Gunhilda mused, "I am sure but who is going to hold Cambion's hand when you go into a place where your gods do not even dare to tread?" Outwardly Gunhilda simply watched as the Tainted walked out of the hold of clan Ranaga. </p><p></p><p> The forest of the Hinterlands, known as the Elde Forest, stretched ancient and hoary over most of the Hinterlands, the area formerly known as the 7 Kingdoms of the Westmen. The diffuse light that normally reaches the ground in this region, was even more filtered and under the ancient canopy, total darkness reigned. The cold and the remnants of snow combined with the darkness made travel slow going for the Tainted as they moved through this forest. </p><p></p><p> "I hate forests!" Ivanor began as they traveled slowly through the murk. "Whose idea was it to come out here anyway." </p><p></p><p> "I think it was yours" Damien replied slyly from the shadows. "Something to do with your church." </p><p></p><p> Kalanaghar retained his usually stoicism as he moved through the forest. Like Damien he had also grew up in a forest but not one nearly as ancient and untamed as this forest was. "I think I see a place that we can camp up ahead" Kalanaghar replied as they continued to move through the forest. </p><p> </p><p>The camp was struck and the Tainted set about breaking up their duties among themselves. Kalanaghar took the first watch and nothing of import occurred during his tenure. </p><p></p><p> During Damiens watch, a couple of bears came frolicking into the camp. They had been causing some noise earlier and Damien had prudently attempted to wake Ivanor at their approach. </p><p></p><p> "Ivanor replied, "You woke me for a couple of bears!" and then promptly went back to sleep. </p><p></p><p> When warned Kalanaghar did wake up at least and then Ivanor once again was alerted and woke up. At this point as well the bears, smelling the food in their packs began to tear up their backpacks to get at it. </p><p></p><p> Ivanor became enraged and Damein and Kalanaghar moved in to end the threat of the bear. Stepping from the shadows behind one of the bears, Damien drove his knife into the creatures flank at nearly the same time Kalanaghar drove his sword into the second bears shoulder. Both bears immediately fled the camp but as they did they issued startled cries of alarm....and alerted their mother, who was foraging nearby. </p><p></p><p> An earthshaking roar echoed through the forest followed moments later by ground shaking foot falls. For an instant the Tainted stood still shocked by the approach of this behemoth. Then Ivanor smoothly drew his scythe and took up a position to face whatever came out of the forest. Damien melded smoothly into the shadows and Kalanaghar hid behind a tree. Time stretched out and in the distance, Ivanor could see trees swaying and waving crazily as whatever it was approached. Tensing as the beast came closer, Ivanor resolved to charge it as soon as it came out of the gloom of the forest. </p><p></p><p> The mother Dire Bear, did not know what hit her as with a yell nearly as fierce as her own, Ivanor charged and delivered a wicked slash across her broad hairy back with his scythe. Time seemed to lurch and snap forward twice as fast at this point. The mother bear reared to her full 15 feet dwarfing Ivanor her cruel claws glinted evilly in the murk and her large razor sized teeth sparkled. With another roar, the mother bear lurched into the assault on Ivanor. Her large shield sized paws slammed twice into Ivanor and the screech of claws on metal spread through out the forest. The drip of Ivanors own blood after the initial splatter became a rang hollowly in the forest. Again Ivanor whirling his scythe about him as he went moved in on the mother bear and ducked under another titanic sweep of her arms and was able to deliver a foot long gash across her side which sent roars of pain billowing from the mother bears mouth. </p><p></p><p> Suddenly like a shadow, Kalanaghar was there and his sword and knife weaved a nearly hypnotic pattern before the eyes of the mother bear as he relied on his skill and speed to help him evade his much larger and slower opponent. The mother bear bled from numerous nicks and cuts inflicted by Kalanaghar. Before she was able to land a blow on her second more agile opponent. </p><p></p><p> Damien for his part moved through the darkness silently maneuvering himself into position to deliver a deadly strike to an unprotected flank on the mother bear. </p><p></p><p> Enraged by the tenacity of the Tainted, the Mother bear frenzied. Her eyes dilated with fury and adrenaline surged through her muscles. With one punishing blow she caved in the breast plate of Ivanor and sent him flying backwards from her and with her second she sent Kalanaghar flying as if launched from a catapult. The sickening crunch of bone could be heard as he struck a tree. Dropping to his knees in pain and gasping for breath, Kalanaghar reached into him to that innate magic that all of his race were born with. Crawling forward slightly and holding his wounded side, he concentrated on the mother bear and the world through his eyes suddenly changed. He was still in the forest, but he was now seeing it through the eyes of the magical realm. Glowing tendrils of magic, brilliant reads and blues suffused himself and several items on his companions, almost lovingly and with supreme skill he pulled several streams of magic and wove them into an impenetrable dome of darkness around the enraged mother bear. </p><p> A howl of rage and frustration escaped the mother bears as the world around her suddenly went black. Seizing the moment of the brief respite, Ivanor called upon the favor of his deity and his wounds sealed themselves. He firmly got to his feet only swaying a little. At the same time the mother bear charged from the globe of darkness obviously confused and angered by its sudden appearance to find herself no where near the threats she had faced. </p><p></p><p> Damien then using his own innate magic also summoned a globe of darkness and the mother bear, confused and disoriented by this tactic charged again intent on simply escaping the darkness now. She fled into the woods on the trail of her cubs leaving the Tainted to breath a sigh of relief and tend their wounds. </p><p></p><p> Another day of travel found the Tainted on the great tundra of the Hinterlands. The tough looking scrub brush was the only thing that broke up the unrelenting boredom of this plain. The grayish green smudge of the forest lay behind them now and the Tainted looked disconsolately upon the plain ahead of them. A thin layer of ice and snow also covered the ground. </p><p></p><p> "Whats that?" Damien announced after they had been traveling on the plain for a few hours. </p><p></p><p> Turning and squinting Kalanaghar stated, " It looks like a bird of some sort." </p><p></p><p> "Can we tell how far off it is?" Ivanor queried. </p><p></p><p> "No, I cant tell if its a really big bird and is really far away or if it is a small bird that is not so far away." Kalanaghar replied. </p><p></p><p> "Well lets just continue on and ignore it." Ivanor stated. </p><p></p><p> And with that, the Tainted continued on at a brisk walk and soon their avian companion broke off and left them alone. Darkness found them on the plain and they set up camp. Now that they were not moving, the plain seemed to come to life with all types of predators. Wolves, dire and otherwise roamed the tundra as well as dinosaurs and other dangerous creatures. </p><p></p><p> After completing another sleep cycle, the Tainted continued on in their journey only to realize that they were out of food. Ivanor and Kalanaghar began to succumb to their lack of food and by the third day of their travels, Ivanor was no longer able to continue at his normal pace and he sank to the ground exhausted after their third day of travel. Kalanaghar recovered somewhat and using some of his survival skills was able to acquire enough food to nurse himself and Ivanor back to health. </p><p></p><p>Damien suspiciously did not require food and when asked he simply waved an ornately carved ring and said, " No need." then smiled. </p><p></p><p> The Tainted then rested an additional day to regain their strength and then continued on looking for the Valley of the Unicorns. Late on their 5th day of travel they began to notice eddying swirls of mist around their ankles which swiftly began to thicken and quite suddenly they were engulfed in an opalescent cloud of mist which blocked their vision to only a few feet from their face. </p><p></p><p> " We have plenty of rope lets tie ourselves together so that we do not become lost in this fog." Ivanor suggested. </p><p></p><p>The others dutifully followed this directive and in a few moments they were tied together and moving through the fog again. The mists thickened and became even more damp as the Tainted moved through them. </p><p></p><p> Almost with warning, the mist wall ended and the Tainted stumbled out of the fog into a different world entirely. The sky was devoid of the usual cloudy overcast they were accustomed to and the breeze that was blowing through this place was cool and refreshing unlike the blistering hot winds that normally plagued the central blood lands region. Ivanor, recovered first as Damien and Kalanaghar both were totally blinded by the unaccustomed light. </p><p></p><p>Ivanor noticed several things. There was an abundance of plant life and it all seemed soft and fragile. There were none of the usual thorns or obvious poisonous or lethal aspects that he would normally associate with plants on these plants. Small creatures with vividly colored wings flitted about on these plants and rose in swirling masses on the soft breezes around them. The animals seemed non aggressive, and the usual claws talons and scales and vicious demeanors were replaced with soft fur, cotton ball tails and large floppy ears. They seemed almost inquisitive but would always bound away as Ivanor approached them. The final thing that he noted was that the colors were sharper here and more vibrant. </p><p></p><p> "Thats going to be a problem" Damien said as he squinted up at the ball of fire that filled the blue cloud free sky and his small speck of darkness which did not seem to blot it out at all. </p><p></p><p>******NEXT THE BATTLE WITH THE GUARDIAN OF THE VALE*********</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="akira1, post: 4570740, member: 64437"] [b]To the Valley of the Unicorn[/b] The following documents were unearthed in a historical dig off the southern coast of Garsis in the area formerly known as Elzelik-Rath. They appear to be a historical accounting of a journey, or maybe a fictional story recounting the exploits of fabled heroes. They were originally composed by a bard known simply as Fendril of the Company of the Broken Horn. Gunhilda sat upon a large stone on the outskirts of the Ranaga encampment and distractedly traced runes into the dirt at her feet. The nights festivities, those that had ended in any event, Gunhilda thought with a wry smile, had left most of the camp asleep and their snores created a buzzing counterpoint to the often feral yowls that were coming from other parts of the encampment. The heavy overhanging clouds that blotted out the sky, seemed to roil of their own accord this morning and Gunhilda squinted her brilliant blue eyes up at them wondering what events had been set into motion by the arrival of the outsiders and how this whole thing would play out. As if her thoughts had summoned them, the adventurers, known as the Tainted walked across the frozen earth towards Gunhilda and she took this moment to reassess them as they approached her. Damien the Drow Fey'ri, even though he was one of the damned Drow, she found that his chaotic nature often suited her a lot more than Ivanor, the cleric of Cambion,the Lord of Nightmares and Death. Ivanor was a tall human male that seemed very rigid and finally came Kalanaghar another damned Drow but a decent swordsman none the less. "Lady what is that you are drawing in the ground?" Ivanor asked as the Tainted approached Gunhilda. "Nothing to concern you." Came Gunhilda's reply as she stood and dragged her deerskin wrapped feet over the runes that had sprang unbidden into her mind. "Attend me while I give you direction to the Valley of the Unicorns." They listened as she laid out their travel directions and a few warnings as well. "No one from our clan has ever been there and returned with the same description of the place, but you will know you are near it when the mists come upon you unbidden. There is rumored to be a terrible fire that blazes in the sky there and all manner of strange and evil creatures." "So we are to travel to the Northeast from here." That was Ivanor. "Yes, for approximately 3 to 4 days before you will be in the region where this place is rumored to be." Gunhilda replied. "May the blessings of Batista be upon you all." Gunhilda said by way of a benediction as they began to depart. "Cambion has always walked with me lady." Replied Ivanor. Silently Gunhilda mused, "I am sure but who is going to hold Cambion's hand when you go into a place where your gods do not even dare to tread?" Outwardly Gunhilda simply watched as the Tainted walked out of the hold of clan Ranaga. The forest of the Hinterlands, known as the Elde Forest, stretched ancient and hoary over most of the Hinterlands, the area formerly known as the 7 Kingdoms of the Westmen. The diffuse light that normally reaches the ground in this region, was even more filtered and under the ancient canopy, total darkness reigned. The cold and the remnants of snow combined with the darkness made travel slow going for the Tainted as they moved through this forest. "I hate forests!" Ivanor began as they traveled slowly through the murk. "Whose idea was it to come out here anyway." "I think it was yours" Damien replied slyly from the shadows. "Something to do with your church." Kalanaghar retained his usually stoicism as he moved through the forest. Like Damien he had also grew up in a forest but not one nearly as ancient and untamed as this forest was. "I think I see a place that we can camp up ahead" Kalanaghar replied as they continued to move through the forest. The camp was struck and the Tainted set about breaking up their duties among themselves. Kalanaghar took the first watch and nothing of import occurred during his tenure. During Damiens watch, a couple of bears came frolicking into the camp. They had been causing some noise earlier and Damien had prudently attempted to wake Ivanor at their approach. "Ivanor replied, "You woke me for a couple of bears!" and then promptly went back to sleep. When warned Kalanaghar did wake up at least and then Ivanor once again was alerted and woke up. At this point as well the bears, smelling the food in their packs began to tear up their backpacks to get at it. Ivanor became enraged and Damein and Kalanaghar moved in to end the threat of the bear. Stepping from the shadows behind one of the bears, Damien drove his knife into the creatures flank at nearly the same time Kalanaghar drove his sword into the second bears shoulder. Both bears immediately fled the camp but as they did they issued startled cries of alarm....and alerted their mother, who was foraging nearby. An earthshaking roar echoed through the forest followed moments later by ground shaking foot falls. For an instant the Tainted stood still shocked by the approach of this behemoth. Then Ivanor smoothly drew his scythe and took up a position to face whatever came out of the forest. Damien melded smoothly into the shadows and Kalanaghar hid behind a tree. Time stretched out and in the distance, Ivanor could see trees swaying and waving crazily as whatever it was approached. Tensing as the beast came closer, Ivanor resolved to charge it as soon as it came out of the gloom of the forest. The mother Dire Bear, did not know what hit her as with a yell nearly as fierce as her own, Ivanor charged and delivered a wicked slash across her broad hairy back with his scythe. Time seemed to lurch and snap forward twice as fast at this point. The mother bear reared to her full 15 feet dwarfing Ivanor her cruel claws glinted evilly in the murk and her large razor sized teeth sparkled. With another roar, the mother bear lurched into the assault on Ivanor. Her large shield sized paws slammed twice into Ivanor and the screech of claws on metal spread through out the forest. The drip of Ivanors own blood after the initial splatter became a rang hollowly in the forest. Again Ivanor whirling his scythe about him as he went moved in on the mother bear and ducked under another titanic sweep of her arms and was able to deliver a foot long gash across her side which sent roars of pain billowing from the mother bears mouth. Suddenly like a shadow, Kalanaghar was there and his sword and knife weaved a nearly hypnotic pattern before the eyes of the mother bear as he relied on his skill and speed to help him evade his much larger and slower opponent. The mother bear bled from numerous nicks and cuts inflicted by Kalanaghar. Before she was able to land a blow on her second more agile opponent. Damien for his part moved through the darkness silently maneuvering himself into position to deliver a deadly strike to an unprotected flank on the mother bear. Enraged by the tenacity of the Tainted, the Mother bear frenzied. Her eyes dilated with fury and adrenaline surged through her muscles. With one punishing blow she caved in the breast plate of Ivanor and sent him flying backwards from her and with her second she sent Kalanaghar flying as if launched from a catapult. The sickening crunch of bone could be heard as he struck a tree. Dropping to his knees in pain and gasping for breath, Kalanaghar reached into him to that innate magic that all of his race were born with. Crawling forward slightly and holding his wounded side, he concentrated on the mother bear and the world through his eyes suddenly changed. He was still in the forest, but he was now seeing it through the eyes of the magical realm. Glowing tendrils of magic, brilliant reads and blues suffused himself and several items on his companions, almost lovingly and with supreme skill he pulled several streams of magic and wove them into an impenetrable dome of darkness around the enraged mother bear. A howl of rage and frustration escaped the mother bears as the world around her suddenly went black. Seizing the moment of the brief respite, Ivanor called upon the favor of his deity and his wounds sealed themselves. He firmly got to his feet only swaying a little. At the same time the mother bear charged from the globe of darkness obviously confused and angered by its sudden appearance to find herself no where near the threats she had faced. Damien then using his own innate magic also summoned a globe of darkness and the mother bear, confused and disoriented by this tactic charged again intent on simply escaping the darkness now. She fled into the woods on the trail of her cubs leaving the Tainted to breath a sigh of relief and tend their wounds. Another day of travel found the Tainted on the great tundra of the Hinterlands. The tough looking scrub brush was the only thing that broke up the unrelenting boredom of this plain. The grayish green smudge of the forest lay behind them now and the Tainted looked disconsolately upon the plain ahead of them. A thin layer of ice and snow also covered the ground. "Whats that?" Damien announced after they had been traveling on the plain for a few hours. Turning and squinting Kalanaghar stated, " It looks like a bird of some sort." "Can we tell how far off it is?" Ivanor queried. "No, I cant tell if its a really big bird and is really far away or if it is a small bird that is not so far away." Kalanaghar replied. "Well lets just continue on and ignore it." Ivanor stated. And with that, the Tainted continued on at a brisk walk and soon their avian companion broke off and left them alone. Darkness found them on the plain and they set up camp. Now that they were not moving, the plain seemed to come to life with all types of predators. Wolves, dire and otherwise roamed the tundra as well as dinosaurs and other dangerous creatures. After completing another sleep cycle, the Tainted continued on in their journey only to realize that they were out of food. Ivanor and Kalanaghar began to succumb to their lack of food and by the third day of their travels, Ivanor was no longer able to continue at his normal pace and he sank to the ground exhausted after their third day of travel. Kalanaghar recovered somewhat and using some of his survival skills was able to acquire enough food to nurse himself and Ivanor back to health. Damien suspiciously did not require food and when asked he simply waved an ornately carved ring and said, " No need." then smiled. The Tainted then rested an additional day to regain their strength and then continued on looking for the Valley of the Unicorns. Late on their 5th day of travel they began to notice eddying swirls of mist around their ankles which swiftly began to thicken and quite suddenly they were engulfed in an opalescent cloud of mist which blocked their vision to only a few feet from their face. " We have plenty of rope lets tie ourselves together so that we do not become lost in this fog." Ivanor suggested. The others dutifully followed this directive and in a few moments they were tied together and moving through the fog again. The mists thickened and became even more damp as the Tainted moved through them. Almost with warning, the mist wall ended and the Tainted stumbled out of the fog into a different world entirely. The sky was devoid of the usual cloudy overcast they were accustomed to and the breeze that was blowing through this place was cool and refreshing unlike the blistering hot winds that normally plagued the central blood lands region. Ivanor, recovered first as Damien and Kalanaghar both were totally blinded by the unaccustomed light. Ivanor noticed several things. There was an abundance of plant life and it all seemed soft and fragile. There were none of the usual thorns or obvious poisonous or lethal aspects that he would normally associate with plants on these plants. Small creatures with vividly colored wings flitted about on these plants and rose in swirling masses on the soft breezes around them. The animals seemed non aggressive, and the usual claws talons and scales and vicious demeanors were replaced with soft fur, cotton ball tails and large floppy ears. They seemed almost inquisitive but would always bound away as Ivanor approached them. The final thing that he noted was that the colors were sharper here and more vibrant. "Thats going to be a problem" Damien said as he squinted up at the ball of fire that filled the blue cloud free sky and his small speck of darkness which did not seem to blot it out at all. ******NEXT THE BATTLE WITH THE GUARDIAN OF THE VALE********* [/QUOTE]
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