The Adventures of the Knights of Spellforge Keep
- Thread starter Dr Midnight
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Dr Midnight
Explorer
ONE YEAR LATER
ZIAD
Put on your armor
Ragged after fights
Hold up your sword
You're leaving the light
Make yourself ready
For the Lords of the Dark
They'll watch your way
So be cautious, quiet, and hark
-KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS, Helloween
Ziad, the young spellsword, shouted an oath and smashed the evil wizard’s crystal.
“Gahhhh!!!” The wizened bald man, skinny and wrinkled with wild eyes, fell to his knees. Orange-reddish light gasped upward from the shattered crystal and dissipated in the blink of an eye.
“Your reign is over, Myriachus,” Kizzlorn said, wiping blood from the corner of her mouth.
“Done, yes, done!” The wizard hissed and giggled on the floor.
Orthos eyed the foe with a distasteful glare. “What’s the matter with baldy, here?”
“His mind is gone. It shattered along with the crystal,” Ziad said as he sheathed his sword.
“Good, he deserves it.”
“He deserves worse, for what happened to Niffler,” Kizzlorn muttered. The dwarf gave no reply, but strapped his great warhammer to his back and tried to avoid thinking about it. The halfling had become a bit too curious about all the marvelous trinkets there had been to find within the tower. He’d begun touching things without inspecting them first, opening doors without checking them for traps, and walking several dozens of paces ahead of his companions (despite their warnings). He was obliterated when he put his hands to a milky white globe he had discovered in one of the lower levels. The party entered the room in time to see his gleaming, fleshless skeleton fall in a heap on the floor at the base of the podium. Nothing could be done.
Ziad had thought their earlier adventures difficult, but they had at least survived their earlier adventures. The ghoul mistress of Baron NeMoren had been a simple defeat- it was even fun. The earlier days were lighter and full of jests. Then, Taessus had perished in Nightfang Spire. The reality of adventuring’s danger came rushing in on them. Niffler was gone. The little joker had been the glue that held the group’s sanity together in dark times with his inappropriate humor and easy smiles. He was now only so many bones in a sack hanging from Nanny’s shoulder. The entire group felt the loss.
They busied themselves with going through Myriachus’s treasure hoard. One good thing about adventuring as time goes on: the treasure gets greater and greater, Orthos thought to himself. “This will make for adequate reparations to the people of the nearby villages… all of whom have suffered under your rule,” he grunted. He put a chest into a bag of holding. “With some for ourselves to offset expenses, of course.”
Kizzlorn looked around on the floor. “Where’s Snooky? Snooky! Here!”
“Nan-ny find.” The shield guardian was gingerly cradling the cat’s body against his chest. “Snooo-kee a-sleep.”
“Knocked out, eh? Poor thing. He did jump right at Myriachus to deliver that spell.” She took Snooky and poured a potion into his mouth. She then laid him in the bottom of her knapsack so he could rest. “He took a pretty good blow. He won’t be up and around for a while.”
“Oh, how they screamed!” The wizard cackled to himself as he leaned against the wall, clawing at his cheeks.
Kizzlorn shivered. “Let’s find what we came for.”
“We came to free the townspeople, Kizz,” Ziad said.
She blushed and lowered her head. “I… You’re right. I didn’t mean to put the people aside. Let’s at least find the mirror.” Kizzlorn had often shown how much she valued the ongoing quest over their year of adventuring together. Always they did good, but her drive often unsettled the others.
They had come to free the townspeople, of course, but what had led them to this area of the Flanaess was the rumor they’d taken from the defeated orc warlord. The rumor stated that the wizard Myriachus possessed some relic: a gift of a high-ranking member of the Eye of St. Cuthbert. Of course the Eye of St. Cuthbert was no more (and hadn’t been for two decades), but the surviving lieutenants had fled across the map, still bearing their secrets. The Foes were chasing them down still in hopes of finding the clues that would lead them to the missing Gold Dragon.
“What’s this,” Orthos asked. He was standing in front of a tall elliptical shape that had a sheet of canvas laid over it.
Myriachus groaned low in his throat. “That… oh, that, the present, my present, it’s mine. Got from. GOT FROM! Mine. Heeee.” A trickle of blood ran from one nostril into his big toothsome grin.
Orthos pulled the canvas away. It was a tall mirror in an oval shape. Its edges were rimmed in black and veined with gold. What captured everyone’s breath was the fact that someone was trapped within it. A frozen form, human, was standing within the mirror’s glass with his mouth half open. His hands were held up in a gesture of warding. Fear was in his eyes. His clothes were ragged and his hair was filthy. Though bearded and grizzled, he looked to be maybe twenty-five years old.
“I’ve heard of these,” Ziad said as he stepped forward. “Mirror of life-trapping, or something like that. Suspended animation. This man is alive. All we need to do is smash the mirror… if what I’ve heard is true.”
“Do it,” Kizz said.
Ziad cracked the glass with the pommel of his sword, and the mirror shattered outwards. The man spilled out onto his face, then gasped. The spellsword knelt by him and said “Easy. You’re in the wizard Myriachus’s black tower. We’ve just freed you from the mirror. How do you feel?”
The man coughed in reply, hacking his breaths in and out. His scared rabbit eyes turned around the whole room, looking at every face. “Nuh. No!”
“I am Ziad. This is the lady Kizzlorn. Over there, that’s Orthos-“
“NOO! WHERE AM I?? KEEP ME SAFE!!!”
Orthos cast a calming spell on the man and his breathing returned to normal. “What’s your name, boy?”
“Uh… I don’t know. I can’t… wait. Garren. My name was Garren.”
“What happened to you, Garren?”
“You tell me, please… I’m sure you’ll understand if I’m more than a little confused.”
They brought him up to date, at least as far as how they came to find him in the tower. They didn’t happen to mention that they were now greatly interested in plumbing his memory for any details he could give as to the people who’d imprisoned him. It seemed that Garren couldn’t remember anything, really. His memory was damaged from the deep freeze the mirror had put him in. He knew his name and what he’d been doing at the moment he was imprisoned. Everything else was a blur.
“I remember running, tripping, jumping into a stream to swim away. I was hunted down like a dog. They surrounded me on horses, and one of them- big one in a robe- got off and held something up. Then I was here.”
Kizz and Orthos exchanged a glance. They were on the right track. The person who'd imprisoned Garren was clearly the same person who'd come to Gorgoldand so many years ago.
The man was too flustered and frightened to bother with the questioning much further. He needed time to pull his head together and remember what he could. They gave him a sword and decided to bring him along with them, as he surely couldn’t recall who he was or where in life he belonged. Kizzlorn turned to question Myriachus and found him dead and smiling at her.
“The wizard died. How?”
Ziad spoke with little compassion. “Maybe his brain boiled in madness. Who knows.”
“Who cares, more like,” Orthos said. He found a large stack of rolled parchment pieces. “Hey, scrolls.” He unwound one and tossed it aside. “Pfeh! Sleep. No wonder he left these in a dusty pile.”
Ziad picked up another and unwound it. His eyes widened. “Kizz?”
“Yes Zi.”
“Your last name is Spellforge, am I right?”
Her head turned with interest. “Yeah. What’s that?”
“Your father’s name was Rafflorn?”
“Yes,” she ran over and looked down at the parchment.
It was a deed to a castle called Spellforge Keep, in a town called Verbobonc.
More to come…
ZIAD
Put on your armor
Ragged after fights
Hold up your sword
You're leaving the light
Make yourself ready
For the Lords of the Dark
They'll watch your way
So be cautious, quiet, and hark
-KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS, Helloween
Ziad, the young spellsword, shouted an oath and smashed the evil wizard’s crystal.
“Gahhhh!!!” The wizened bald man, skinny and wrinkled with wild eyes, fell to his knees. Orange-reddish light gasped upward from the shattered crystal and dissipated in the blink of an eye.
“Your reign is over, Myriachus,” Kizzlorn said, wiping blood from the corner of her mouth.
“Done, yes, done!” The wizard hissed and giggled on the floor.
Orthos eyed the foe with a distasteful glare. “What’s the matter with baldy, here?”
“His mind is gone. It shattered along with the crystal,” Ziad said as he sheathed his sword.
“Good, he deserves it.”
“He deserves worse, for what happened to Niffler,” Kizzlorn muttered. The dwarf gave no reply, but strapped his great warhammer to his back and tried to avoid thinking about it. The halfling had become a bit too curious about all the marvelous trinkets there had been to find within the tower. He’d begun touching things without inspecting them first, opening doors without checking them for traps, and walking several dozens of paces ahead of his companions (despite their warnings). He was obliterated when he put his hands to a milky white globe he had discovered in one of the lower levels. The party entered the room in time to see his gleaming, fleshless skeleton fall in a heap on the floor at the base of the podium. Nothing could be done.
Ziad had thought their earlier adventures difficult, but they had at least survived their earlier adventures. The ghoul mistress of Baron NeMoren had been a simple defeat- it was even fun. The earlier days were lighter and full of jests. Then, Taessus had perished in Nightfang Spire. The reality of adventuring’s danger came rushing in on them. Niffler was gone. The little joker had been the glue that held the group’s sanity together in dark times with his inappropriate humor and easy smiles. He was now only so many bones in a sack hanging from Nanny’s shoulder. The entire group felt the loss.
They busied themselves with going through Myriachus’s treasure hoard. One good thing about adventuring as time goes on: the treasure gets greater and greater, Orthos thought to himself. “This will make for adequate reparations to the people of the nearby villages… all of whom have suffered under your rule,” he grunted. He put a chest into a bag of holding. “With some for ourselves to offset expenses, of course.”
Kizzlorn looked around on the floor. “Where’s Snooky? Snooky! Here!”
“Nan-ny find.” The shield guardian was gingerly cradling the cat’s body against his chest. “Snooo-kee a-sleep.”
“Knocked out, eh? Poor thing. He did jump right at Myriachus to deliver that spell.” She took Snooky and poured a potion into his mouth. She then laid him in the bottom of her knapsack so he could rest. “He took a pretty good blow. He won’t be up and around for a while.”
“Oh, how they screamed!” The wizard cackled to himself as he leaned against the wall, clawing at his cheeks.
Kizzlorn shivered. “Let’s find what we came for.”
“We came to free the townspeople, Kizz,” Ziad said.
She blushed and lowered her head. “I… You’re right. I didn’t mean to put the people aside. Let’s at least find the mirror.” Kizzlorn had often shown how much she valued the ongoing quest over their year of adventuring together. Always they did good, but her drive often unsettled the others.
They had come to free the townspeople, of course, but what had led them to this area of the Flanaess was the rumor they’d taken from the defeated orc warlord. The rumor stated that the wizard Myriachus possessed some relic: a gift of a high-ranking member of the Eye of St. Cuthbert. Of course the Eye of St. Cuthbert was no more (and hadn’t been for two decades), but the surviving lieutenants had fled across the map, still bearing their secrets. The Foes were chasing them down still in hopes of finding the clues that would lead them to the missing Gold Dragon.
“What’s this,” Orthos asked. He was standing in front of a tall elliptical shape that had a sheet of canvas laid over it.
Myriachus groaned low in his throat. “That… oh, that, the present, my present, it’s mine. Got from. GOT FROM! Mine. Heeee.” A trickle of blood ran from one nostril into his big toothsome grin.
Orthos pulled the canvas away. It was a tall mirror in an oval shape. Its edges were rimmed in black and veined with gold. What captured everyone’s breath was the fact that someone was trapped within it. A frozen form, human, was standing within the mirror’s glass with his mouth half open. His hands were held up in a gesture of warding. Fear was in his eyes. His clothes were ragged and his hair was filthy. Though bearded and grizzled, he looked to be maybe twenty-five years old.
“I’ve heard of these,” Ziad said as he stepped forward. “Mirror of life-trapping, or something like that. Suspended animation. This man is alive. All we need to do is smash the mirror… if what I’ve heard is true.”
“Do it,” Kizz said.
Ziad cracked the glass with the pommel of his sword, and the mirror shattered outwards. The man spilled out onto his face, then gasped. The spellsword knelt by him and said “Easy. You’re in the wizard Myriachus’s black tower. We’ve just freed you from the mirror. How do you feel?”
The man coughed in reply, hacking his breaths in and out. His scared rabbit eyes turned around the whole room, looking at every face. “Nuh. No!”
“I am Ziad. This is the lady Kizzlorn. Over there, that’s Orthos-“
“NOO! WHERE AM I?? KEEP ME SAFE!!!”
Orthos cast a calming spell on the man and his breathing returned to normal. “What’s your name, boy?”
“Uh… I don’t know. I can’t… wait. Garren. My name was Garren.”
“What happened to you, Garren?”
“You tell me, please… I’m sure you’ll understand if I’m more than a little confused.”
They brought him up to date, at least as far as how they came to find him in the tower. They didn’t happen to mention that they were now greatly interested in plumbing his memory for any details he could give as to the people who’d imprisoned him. It seemed that Garren couldn’t remember anything, really. His memory was damaged from the deep freeze the mirror had put him in. He knew his name and what he’d been doing at the moment he was imprisoned. Everything else was a blur.
“I remember running, tripping, jumping into a stream to swim away. I was hunted down like a dog. They surrounded me on horses, and one of them- big one in a robe- got off and held something up. Then I was here.”
Kizz and Orthos exchanged a glance. They were on the right track. The person who'd imprisoned Garren was clearly the same person who'd come to Gorgoldand so many years ago.
The man was too flustered and frightened to bother with the questioning much further. He needed time to pull his head together and remember what he could. They gave him a sword and decided to bring him along with them, as he surely couldn’t recall who he was or where in life he belonged. Kizzlorn turned to question Myriachus and found him dead and smiling at her.
“The wizard died. How?”
Ziad spoke with little compassion. “Maybe his brain boiled in madness. Who knows.”
“Who cares, more like,” Orthos said. He found a large stack of rolled parchment pieces. “Hey, scrolls.” He unwound one and tossed it aside. “Pfeh! Sleep. No wonder he left these in a dusty pile.”
Ziad picked up another and unwound it. His eyes widened. “Kizz?”
“Yes Zi.”
“Your last name is Spellforge, am I right?”
Her head turned with interest. “Yeah. What’s that?”
“Your father’s name was Rafflorn?”
“Yes,” she ran over and looked down at the parchment.
It was a deed to a castle called Spellforge Keep, in a town called Verbobonc.
More to come…
Last edited:
Malachai_rose
First Post
WoOoT !!!
So the question is why Rafflorn didn't leave the deed to the keep with Lord Belthor. Then they would not have been penniless... ahh well, I am not to question only to enjoy a fine story
keep up the great work, and Kizlorn a Spell sword, tight, thats always looked like a fun prestige class. Also I thought th way you explained how she was higher in level by naming places (modules) that they had been before was cool.
So the question is why Rafflorn didn't leave the deed to the keep with Lord Belthor. Then they would not have been penniless... ahh well, I am not to question only to enjoy a fine story
keep up the great work, and Kizlorn a Spell sword, tight, thats always looked like a fun prestige class. Also I thought th way you explained how she was higher in level by naming places (modules) that they had been before was cool.
Last edited:
Dr Midnight
Explorer
Hmmm... Malachai_Rose, the spellsword is actually Ziad, but the first three paragraphs were written in a way that made it look like it was Kizzlorn. That's been changed.
Do you know that almost every time I begin to type "Kizzlorn" I start typing "Katya"?
Thanks, Horacio, but I'm not fooled... you talk to all the story hour authors that way. What kind of girl do you think I am?
Phew. Only four more chapters to go!
Do you know that almost every time I begin to type "Kizzlorn" I start typing "Katya"?
Thanks, Horacio, but I'm not fooled... you talk to all the story hour authors that way. What kind of girl do you think I am?
Phew. Only four more chapters to go!
Dr Midnight said:Thanks, Horacio, but I'm not fooled... you talk to all the story hour authors that way. What kind of girl do you think I am?
Hey, Doc, it's not my fault if this forum hosts some of the most talented fantasy writers I've found.
Seriously. I prefer your stories to lots of published fantasy crap.
Dr Midnight
Explorer
Hey there peeps-
Just put up the long overdue Song Parodies page. I'm still missing some from the first three messageboard threads, but most of them are here:
http://dr-midnight.com/kotsq/songs.htm
Including these smash hits by Johnathan Richards:
Doctor Midnight
Gimme Four Cards
That Smell
Stupid Thing
A Hard Day, Knights
The Knights are Back
Also featuring:
Meepoium (guest song by "Grim", message board reader)
ACT NOW! Operators are standing still!
EDIT: Also, anyone want to take a poll? There are three up at the KoSK site... just hit refresh and you'll get to the others. http://dr-midnight.com/kotsq/
The poll topics (and available answers) are:
Who would win in a fight?
Vek
Dartan
It would be a draw
Which actor would provide the best voice for Vek Mormont?
James Earl Jones
Jack Nicholson
Christopher Lee
John Goodman
Kevin Spacey
Andy Serkis (Gollum from LotR)
Tim Roth
Patrick Stewart
Orson Welles
Someone else
Would you pay to join a KoSK contest, with all proceeds going to the winners (and not the author)?
No, I wouldn't.
Yes, I'd give $1.
Yes, I'd give $5.
Yes, I'd give $10 or more.
Just put up the long overdue Song Parodies page. I'm still missing some from the first three messageboard threads, but most of them are here:
http://dr-midnight.com/kotsq/songs.htm
Including these smash hits by Johnathan Richards:
Doctor Midnight
Gimme Four Cards
That Smell
Stupid Thing
A Hard Day, Knights
The Knights are Back
Also featuring:
Meepoium (guest song by "Grim", message board reader)
ACT NOW! Operators are standing still!
EDIT: Also, anyone want to take a poll? There are three up at the KoSK site... just hit refresh and you'll get to the others. http://dr-midnight.com/kotsq/
The poll topics (and available answers) are:
Who would win in a fight?
Vek
Dartan
It would be a draw
Which actor would provide the best voice for Vek Mormont?
James Earl Jones
Jack Nicholson
Christopher Lee
John Goodman
Kevin Spacey
Andy Serkis (Gollum from LotR)
Tim Roth
Patrick Stewart
Orson Welles
Someone else
Would you pay to join a KoSK contest, with all proceeds going to the winners (and not the author)?
No, I wouldn't.
Yes, I'd give $1.
Yes, I'd give $5.
Yes, I'd give $10 or more.
Last edited:
Broccli_Head
Explorer
Yah! How come daddy Raffalorn didn't leave the deed with the Lord who fostered the Spellforge's?
Oh well, maybe daddy had a bigger plan.
Really enjoying the narrative and the creative liscense to examine the passage of time for young Kizz and her companions.
What about Acceiswall? Hasn't he kept up on his enemies' legacies? I guess when they find Snooky's master, then the white dragon won't stand a chance....
Oh well, maybe daddy had a bigger plan.
Really enjoying the narrative and the creative liscense to examine the passage of time for young Kizz and her companions.
What about Acceiswall? Hasn't he kept up on his enemies' legacies? I guess when they find Snooky's master, then the white dragon won't stand a chance....
Blood Jester
First Post
I voted 'Other'
Christopher Walken
Creepy...with style.
Christopher Walken
Creepy...with style.
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