Breakstone
First Post
Heh. I can't wait to see the effects the years have had on Dartan...
The Adventures of the Knights of Spellforge Keep
- Thread starter Dr Midnight
- Start date
- Status
Dr Midnight
Explorer
ONE YEAR LATER
Rafflorn put a tube of scrolls into the wagon he was packing and stood back to take a look. “I think we’re all set. That’s everything.”
Katya sat nearby on their doorstop. Kizzlorn was bouncing happily in her arms. The adorable girl now had a shock of bright strawberry blonde hair and pudgy little baby arms and legs.
Raelin and Kyler were playing with small wooden swords. An illusion spell cast on the pine toy swords had turned them into gleaming bright weapons of majesty. Kyler was perhaps too young to be playing with even wooden swords, but his brother was very careful to not hurt him. They loved playing with the swords Daddy made for them. Raelin had a short spruce twig he’d tucked into his belt. It was his “wand”. He’d occasionally point it at Kyler and yell “Kablow!” To this Kyler would giggle while the older boy commanded him to fall down. Kyler had little pieces of rolled-up parchment in a sack on his hip. They were his “scrolls”. Daddy had written things like “Kyler’s magical scroll of lightning bolts” on them in bright paint. Kyler couldn’t read them yet, and he certainly didn’t know how scrolls were used (he usually whacked his brother with them), but he loved them dearly. Katya had fashioned the boys two capes from linen and had lined them with gold satin. They whooped and yelled as they ran around the yard wearing them… never out of their mother’s sight. Kizzlorn had a tiny cape of her own folded up in the bureau, waiting for her to be big enough to put it on and run around with her brothers.
Kat asked “We’ve got the potions packed in the bag of holding?”
“Yes.”
“And the amulets?”
“Yep.”
Katya sighed and stood up. “I guess that’s it, then… you’ve given Nanny his prerogatives?”
“I’ll do that now.”
Rafflorn walked back to the house while Katya waved to Rowan and Kyla, who were walking up their meager driveway, toting two hired swords (a dwarven barbarian and a halfling monk) and Taigiel the half-dragon. “Unca Rowan, Aunt Kyla!” the boys ran to them and gave them terrific hugs. Raelin then said hello to the dwarf, and challenged him to a swordfight. The dwarf, who normally remained stoic when conducting business, roared with laughter.
Katya hugged her sister and said “Dartan never came?”
Kyla shook her head. “We sent the letter, but… I suppose he’s not going to come.”
“Did you send a letter to Vek?” Her sister’s guilty look told Katya that she hadn’t. Not that Katya could truly blame her… Vek Mormont unnerved everyone, and her sister was a devout worshiper of Pelor. Vek’s transformation to… whatever he was… had been hard on Kyla. She wasn’t equipped to deal with undead party members. “It’s no matter,” Kat said. “We’ve been training. We’re much better off than we were when we first faced him.”
Inside the house, Rafflorn was speaking to Nanny. “Repeat all that to me.”
“Nan-ny take chil-dren to cas-tle”
“No, an armed cart will be here shortly to pick you up. The cart will take you to the castle.”
“Armed cart take Nan-ny and chil-dren to cas-tle”
“Correct,” Rafflorn said patiently. “What then?”
“Pro-tect, al-ways. Watch. Guard. Raff-lorn return, two weeks.”
“Good. Are the children to leave the castle?”
“NO!”
“Are the children to leave your sight until we return?”
“NO!”
Rafflorn nodded. “Excellent. What happens if we don’t return within three weeks?”
“Nan-ny give thing to no-bles.”
“That’s right. Give the paper to the nobles. Remember, Nanny- guard them to the last.”
Nanny’s eyeslights blazed red with indomitable mechanical pride. “NAN-NY PRO-TECT!”
Rafflorn knew he didn’t have to worry about Nanny protecting the kids with everything he had- he would be smashed to atoms before he’d let anyone lay a finger on Raelin, Kyler, or Kizzlorn. He was a well put-together shield guardian. “Carry on, Nanny. See you soon.” Raff walked outside to find Taigiel chilling glasses of water for the boys with his breath. “Are we ready?”
Katya was making some final adjustments to her adventuring costume- which she still fit into, happily. “Yeah. Let’s say g… let’s hug the kids.” The two were being incredibly careful about using the word “goodbye” lately. They were heading up to the lair of the enemy that had been plaguing them for three years- they were more than a little fearful for their lives. Saying the word “goodbye” scared them. The dragon had not attacked since they’d come to live in Greyhawk- he knew that it could not survive against the forces and heroes of Greyhawk- but he occasionally sent them messages. Sometimes it snowed in warm weather. Sometimes the sun was momentarily blotted out while Rafflorn cut wood outside, and when he looked, there’d be nothing in the sky but clouds and sun. Still, he’d run inside and cast Protection from Evil on the whole family, among other spells. Those times were the most terrifying. The waiting and not knowing.
They knelt and called the boys over. Rafflorn held Kizzlorn. “Raelin, Kyler… You know mommy and daddy are going away, right?”
“Yeah, fight-a DWAgon, right daddy?”
“That’s right soldier. Who’s going to take care of you while we’re away?”
“Nanny,” the two said.
“Who else?”
“Castle people.”
“Who’s going to protect your baby sister?”
“WE ARE!” they shouted with big grins.
Katya said “What big strong boys we have! Little Kizz will be very safe with you two around, I just know it.” Raelin and Kyler smiled with pride. “We’ll miss you very much, every day,” Katya continued. “Will you miss us?”
“Yes, Mommy.”
“How much?”
“This much!” The boys held their arms out wide.
“HOW much??”
“THIS MUCH!!” They spread their little arms as far as they went.
Katya hugged them both. “Love you.”
“Love you too Mommy.” Raelin’s face brightened. “Will you bring presents?”
“We’ll see.” Daddy winked at him, then looked at his baby daughter in his arms. “And you, little Kizzlorn… “ She smiled upwards with her gummy baby grin. “…you be good, okay?” He kissed her forehead and passed her off to Nanny, who took her in his immense mechanical arms with calculated tenderness.
Taigiel, Aunt Kyla, Uncle Rowan, the two sellswords, and Mommy and Daddy got on the cart. The horses led it down the road. Before it passed beyond the trees, Mommy and Daddy turned and waved. The boys waved back. Kizzlorn’s bright blue eyes watched, gurgling, and flailing her fat little arms in the sunshine, not knowing that she would never see her parents again. The wagon rolled around a bend and disappeared.
More to come…
Rafflorn put a tube of scrolls into the wagon he was packing and stood back to take a look. “I think we’re all set. That’s everything.”
Katya sat nearby on their doorstop. Kizzlorn was bouncing happily in her arms. The adorable girl now had a shock of bright strawberry blonde hair and pudgy little baby arms and legs.
Raelin and Kyler were playing with small wooden swords. An illusion spell cast on the pine toy swords had turned them into gleaming bright weapons of majesty. Kyler was perhaps too young to be playing with even wooden swords, but his brother was very careful to not hurt him. They loved playing with the swords Daddy made for them. Raelin had a short spruce twig he’d tucked into his belt. It was his “wand”. He’d occasionally point it at Kyler and yell “Kablow!” To this Kyler would giggle while the older boy commanded him to fall down. Kyler had little pieces of rolled-up parchment in a sack on his hip. They were his “scrolls”. Daddy had written things like “Kyler’s magical scroll of lightning bolts” on them in bright paint. Kyler couldn’t read them yet, and he certainly didn’t know how scrolls were used (he usually whacked his brother with them), but he loved them dearly. Katya had fashioned the boys two capes from linen and had lined them with gold satin. They whooped and yelled as they ran around the yard wearing them… never out of their mother’s sight. Kizzlorn had a tiny cape of her own folded up in the bureau, waiting for her to be big enough to put it on and run around with her brothers.
Kat asked “We’ve got the potions packed in the bag of holding?”
“Yes.”
“And the amulets?”
“Yep.”
Katya sighed and stood up. “I guess that’s it, then… you’ve given Nanny his prerogatives?”
“I’ll do that now.”
Rafflorn walked back to the house while Katya waved to Rowan and Kyla, who were walking up their meager driveway, toting two hired swords (a dwarven barbarian and a halfling monk) and Taigiel the half-dragon. “Unca Rowan, Aunt Kyla!” the boys ran to them and gave them terrific hugs. Raelin then said hello to the dwarf, and challenged him to a swordfight. The dwarf, who normally remained stoic when conducting business, roared with laughter.
Katya hugged her sister and said “Dartan never came?”
Kyla shook her head. “We sent the letter, but… I suppose he’s not going to come.”
“Did you send a letter to Vek?” Her sister’s guilty look told Katya that she hadn’t. Not that Katya could truly blame her… Vek Mormont unnerved everyone, and her sister was a devout worshiper of Pelor. Vek’s transformation to… whatever he was… had been hard on Kyla. She wasn’t equipped to deal with undead party members. “It’s no matter,” Kat said. “We’ve been training. We’re much better off than we were when we first faced him.”
Inside the house, Rafflorn was speaking to Nanny. “Repeat all that to me.”
“Nan-ny take chil-dren to cas-tle”
“No, an armed cart will be here shortly to pick you up. The cart will take you to the castle.”
“Armed cart take Nan-ny and chil-dren to cas-tle”
“Correct,” Rafflorn said patiently. “What then?”
“Pro-tect, al-ways. Watch. Guard. Raff-lorn return, two weeks.”
“Good. Are the children to leave the castle?”
“NO!”
“Are the children to leave your sight until we return?”
“NO!”
Rafflorn nodded. “Excellent. What happens if we don’t return within three weeks?”
“Nan-ny give thing to no-bles.”
“That’s right. Give the paper to the nobles. Remember, Nanny- guard them to the last.”
Nanny’s eyeslights blazed red with indomitable mechanical pride. “NAN-NY PRO-TECT!”
Rafflorn knew he didn’t have to worry about Nanny protecting the kids with everything he had- he would be smashed to atoms before he’d let anyone lay a finger on Raelin, Kyler, or Kizzlorn. He was a well put-together shield guardian. “Carry on, Nanny. See you soon.” Raff walked outside to find Taigiel chilling glasses of water for the boys with his breath. “Are we ready?”
Katya was making some final adjustments to her adventuring costume- which she still fit into, happily. “Yeah. Let’s say g… let’s hug the kids.” The two were being incredibly careful about using the word “goodbye” lately. They were heading up to the lair of the enemy that had been plaguing them for three years- they were more than a little fearful for their lives. Saying the word “goodbye” scared them. The dragon had not attacked since they’d come to live in Greyhawk- he knew that it could not survive against the forces and heroes of Greyhawk- but he occasionally sent them messages. Sometimes it snowed in warm weather. Sometimes the sun was momentarily blotted out while Rafflorn cut wood outside, and when he looked, there’d be nothing in the sky but clouds and sun. Still, he’d run inside and cast Protection from Evil on the whole family, among other spells. Those times were the most terrifying. The waiting and not knowing.
They knelt and called the boys over. Rafflorn held Kizzlorn. “Raelin, Kyler… You know mommy and daddy are going away, right?”
“Yeah, fight-a DWAgon, right daddy?”
“That’s right soldier. Who’s going to take care of you while we’re away?”
“Nanny,” the two said.
“Who else?”
“Castle people.”
“Who’s going to protect your baby sister?”
“WE ARE!” they shouted with big grins.
Katya said “What big strong boys we have! Little Kizz will be very safe with you two around, I just know it.” Raelin and Kyler smiled with pride. “We’ll miss you very much, every day,” Katya continued. “Will you miss us?”
“Yes, Mommy.”
“How much?”
“This much!” The boys held their arms out wide.
“HOW much??”
“THIS MUCH!!” They spread their little arms as far as they went.
Katya hugged them both. “Love you.”
“Love you too Mommy.” Raelin’s face brightened. “Will you bring presents?”
“We’ll see.” Daddy winked at him, then looked at his baby daughter in his arms. “And you, little Kizzlorn… “ She smiled upwards with her gummy baby grin. “…you be good, okay?” He kissed her forehead and passed her off to Nanny, who took her in his immense mechanical arms with calculated tenderness.
Taigiel, Aunt Kyla, Uncle Rowan, the two sellswords, and Mommy and Daddy got on the cart. The horses led it down the road. Before it passed beyond the trees, Mommy and Daddy turned and waved. The boys waved back. Kizzlorn’s bright blue eyes watched, gurgling, and flailing her fat little arms in the sunshine, not knowing that she would never see her parents again. The wagon rolled around a bend and disappeared.
More to come…
Last edited:
Breakstone
First Post
Woah...
Heh, I like the Nanny, Doc!
Heh, I like the Nanny, Doc!
When I was Rafflorn, I spent every copper that I could spare to build Nanny. The only problem was that I was just a couple hundred xp away from being the right level to finally animate the thing.
Of course when we returned I was finally able, but the group took a break at that point.
Of course when we returned I was finally able, but the group took a break at that point.
Last edited:
Blood Jester
First Post
Dr Midnight said:
Yikes!
Broccli_Head
Explorer
Dang!
Ahhh man! Who's going to die?
The parents or the baby....
Doc, don't play with our emotions like that!
Dr Midnight said:
Ahhh man! Who's going to die?
The parents or the baby....
Doc, don't play with our emotions like that!
Malachai_rose
First Post
...
As much as it pains me to say it, kill the parents not the kids... I got this thing where kids dyin seems ungood to me. Well again great post the parts about the boys playing with the toy adventuring scrolls and swords their parents had made for them was great, really heartfelt stuff Doc. Gotta be honest you ever considerd putting this stuff together to write a book or series of books ? I would definitely read a few Knights books, I mean hey Dragonlance started the same way if I understand correctly. Anyways keep em comin Doc
and where the hell was Dartan, lol, slacker 
As much as it pains me to say it, kill the parents not the kids... I got this thing where kids dyin seems ungood to me. Well again great post the parts about the boys playing with the toy adventuring scrolls and swords their parents had made for them was great, really heartfelt stuff Doc. Gotta be honest you ever considerd putting this stuff together to write a book or series of books ? I would definitely read a few Knights books, I mean hey Dragonlance started the same way if I understand correctly. Anyways keep em comin Doc
and where the hell was Dartan, lol, slacker Yah, I gotta say I'm missin' Dartan. 'Course, the boy really needs ta git some god in his life again. I'm thinkin' if ya goes after the kids ya might have a pretty ugly bunch of readers on yer hands. We might gear up our character sheets and come huntin' fer ya. So think twice for yer makes any moves along them lines . . .
Lessin' of course the whole point of this interlude is ta kill off the parents so that the kids can be the new adventurers, fresh start and all that. Now that I think of it, that seems ta be much more likely. Vek is ageless and I gather rather attached ta his character. Dartan is the only survivor from the beginnin', so it is mighty convienient them two didn't show up fer the dragon hunt.
Also noticed the name changed from Knights of the silver quill ta the whole spellforge thing. New name new heroes? All in all, yer one HELL of a writer Doc. Yer writin' style has grown incredibly since yer started this scribble. Lookin' forward ta more.
-Immort
Lessin' of course the whole point of this interlude is ta kill off the parents so that the kids can be the new adventurers, fresh start and all that. Now that I think of it, that seems ta be much more likely. Vek is ageless and I gather rather attached ta his character. Dartan is the only survivor from the beginnin', so it is mighty convienient them two didn't show up fer the dragon hunt.
Also noticed the name changed from Knights of the silver quill ta the whole spellforge thing. New name new heroes? All in all, yer one HELL of a writer Doc. Yer writin' style has grown incredibly since yer started this scribble. Lookin' forward ta more.
-Immort
Dr Midnight
Explorer
Awww, but it's so much fun...
That's very nice of you to say, but it'd never freakin' happen. Besides, you'd have to pay for it. I'll be taking a writing class when I go to college next year, maybe I can turn this into moneymaking. I dunno. I happen to think I'm perhaps too heavy-handed with the drama.
Hmmm...
"You boys could use a little churchin' up." -Cab Calloway, the Blues Brothers
Well, what with the death rate, most of the heroes never met or gave a crap about Gorgoldand or his little book store. It didn't make sense to have one person in the group keeping the tie to his old group's name. I thought a change appropriate.
Thanks!
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Taren Seeker
First Post
You are SO gonna whack the kids.
The other possibility that I see is that you'll have the Spellforge adults go down fighting, then Vek will train up the young'uns for revenge, or the young'uns will train themselves up and go find Vek. Dartan...well he'll be around as an even crustier old timer. He'd be what, 60 at that point?
Or he'll die too. I don't know.
Nevermind.
The other possibility that I see is that you'll have the Spellforge adults go down fighting, then Vek will train up the young'uns for revenge, or the young'uns will train themselves up and go find Vek. Dartan...well he'll be around as an even crustier old timer. He'd be what, 60 at that point?
Or he'll die too. I don't know.
Nevermind.
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