The Realms of Enlightenment: The Grey Companions

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #276] The Second Test, part II

It was still raining outside when they bedded down, and despite the fact that they'd been up for only half-a-day, they had little trouble falling asleep. The sound of the rain was almost hypnotic as it fell upon the sward outside, but the precipitation trailed off sometime before midnight. By the time they were prepared to head out, it had stopped entirely. They climbed quietly over the wet wall and headed for the trees.

"I'll take point," Feln growled and moved toward the woods in the direction the water-women had indicated. As he approached, the trees parted before him almost like a curtain, revealing a clear and open trail heading off into the darkness. The half-orc paused, reconsidering. "If the trees are going to cooperate, I guess I don't need to blaze a trail," he shrugged.

"The way will be made clear," Ixin said, repeating the water-woman's words.

Starday, the 23rd of Wealsun, 1269 AE​

The followed the trail all night, passed buckling towers of stone that reeled drunkenly amidst the trees, and out of the ruins entirely. The canopy of foliage dripped rainwater on them as they went, the trail bowing slightly to skirt the jutting base of a rocky cliff before resuming its northeasterly course. They heard the stealthy creep and nighttime calls of animals, but the sounds seemed to come from far away and nothing threatened them as they went.

So it was that dawn found them hidden at the treeline, peering toward the base of another set of cliffs that thrust up defiantly into the brightening sky. A dark opening like the yawning maw of some great titan marred the base of the cliff between two jutting buttresses of stone, and it had been painted with the ocher whirls and bloody lines of goblin artistry. Many crude totems - spindly poles which bore the skulls and pelts of animals and men - had been driven into the bare earth around the entrance. A narrow trench had been dug between the two stone buttresses, creating a moat of sorts to guard the goblins' lair.

Between the trench and the treeline was barren earth. Nothing grew upon the sandy soil; not so much as a single blade of grass. The ground had a pale, drained look, as if the very vitality of the soil had been corrupted and sucked away. The trees and underbrush that abutted the barren section were withered and twisted with a sickly brown and yellow tinge that was quite at odds with the vibrant green that pervaded elsewhere in the forest.

Of the goblins, there was no sign.

"Let's go see if'n anyone be home," Karak muttered with a dangerous grin. He took a step forward and Feln grabbed his vambrace to stall his advance.

"How about if Vade and I scout ahead first?" the half-orc asked. "If we can catch them unawares, perhaps we can end this quickly and quietly without facing the entire tribe."

"That'll be tough to do with you clanking over there," Vade grinned and poked the dwarf playfully in the thigh. Karak harrumphed.

"I ain't scared o' nae gobbos!" he asserted.

"We don't know how many are in there," Ledare reminded.

"Or even what we're looking for, really," added Ixin. "The 'Great Evil' might not even be a goblin."

"Fine. Go then," Karak grumbled, crossing his arms across his great chest. "But be quick about it. Me axe be gettin' restless."

Vade turned invisible and Feln melted into the shadows. He headed a ways west through the trees before cutting silently across the blighted landscape to the cliff. There he pressed his body against the stone and edged stealthily toward the cave entrance, stopping only when he reached the trench. He could see now that it was at least ten feet deep and bristling with stakes at the bottom.

"I don't think I can jump that," Vade's disembodied voice whispered beside him.

Feln was confident that he would be able to, but not without making some noise. He looked up at the cliff and grinned. "Use the Slippers to climb along the wall," he suggested. "Bypass the trench entirely."

"Good idea," Vade chirped and Feln heard his small companion scuttle up the wall.

On the other side of the trench, the ground was featureless, scoured down to bare stone that showed considerable sign of foot traffic. Still invisible, the halfling crept toward the cave entrance which was clotted with darkness to his eyes. It was early morning, so he wasn't totally blind, but Orin's Shield was rising on the other side of the hill, and the buttresses of stone to either side of the cave mouth cast considerable shadows. Within the cave was darker still, and-

Furtive movement caught Vade's eye. One or more shadowy figures no larger than himself darted away from the cave mouth, disappearing quickly into the interior of the lair.

Feln saw it too, and jumped nimbly across the trench. Clearly the goblins were aware of their presence although whether they had heard Vade, spotted Feln, or had some way to defeat the halfling's Invisibility, he couldn't say. If he could get into a good position, though, maybe he could still do some good.

His train of thought got that far and he got about a dozen paces from the edge of the trench when a deafening roar exploded out of the goblin's lair, followed a heartbeat later by the biggest bear that the half-orc had ever seen. It paused only long enough to swivel its great head in Feln's direction before it charged, its claws rasping wickedly against the stone as it came and promising death to whoever fell victim to their embrace.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #276] The Second Test, Part III

Feln could do little to avoid the bear's charge. During his time at the monastery he'd trained extensively to dodge attacks, but he was caught so completely by surprise that he just stared in horror as the half-ton animal thundered down on him. It's paw slashed outward almost contemptuously and raked across the half-orc's torso, shredding his tunic as easily as it did the flesh beneath.

"Vade! Get out of here!" Feln blindly warned his companion even as he rained a flurry of blows on the bear with his quarterstaff. They may as well have been actual rain for all the effect it seemed to have on the animal.

The bear reared up onto its hind legs, poised for another slap from its paw and then faltered. A bellow of pain ripped its way out of the great beast's gullet and Vade suddenly appeared on the bear's flank, his invisibility spoiled by his sneak attack. A bloody shortsword was clutched in his hand. He grinned fearfully at the half-orc.

At the treeline, Karak shook his shaggy head and took off for the trench at a full run. Morier was at his heels, and his greatsword flashed like blue lightning in the early morning light.

Ledare stood her ground and drew her repeating hand crossbow. She squeezed off two quick shots at the bear, but only one bolt found its mark. The other cut a bloody groove in Feln's shoulder before shattering against the cliff wall.

"Dammit!" the Janissary cursed her fumbling attack.

Beside her Ixin moved her hands through the gestures of a spell before intoning the words, "Magicus telum!" She pointed at the bear and two crimson-tailed missiles of pure force lept from her fingertips and sizzled into the animal's ribs, drawing forth another yelp of pain from the beast. Grinning with satisfaction, the sorcerer moved forward toward the lip of the trench.

Karak reached the trench and jumped. Now, dwarves, as a rule, are not known for their tremendous jumping skills, and Karak was no exception. He reached the midway point of his leap and seemed to hang there for a moment while his short legs paddled uselessly against the air. Then he drifted down into the pit, saved from a sharp and painful landing by his Ring of Feather Falling. He landed atop the stakes at the bottom and cursed venomously at the trench, its diggers, and the diggers' mothers.

Seeing the dwarf's spectacular failure to make the leap across brought Morier up short. He lingered on the far side, his greatsword in one hand, and drew the Wand of Burning Hands from its wrist sheathe. He pointed it at the bear, being particularly careful not to catch either Feln or Vade in the area of effect and spoke the command word: "Irakulos!" A cone of fire erupted from the wand, catching the bear broadsides and narrowly missing both of the eldritch warrior's companions. The bear roared in frustration and pain.

Whisps of smoke rose from its hide as it struck at the two attackers within reach. It's jaws snapped shut on Feln's arm and narrowly missed getting a firm grip on the half-orc. But Feln's instinctive training had kicked in by now and he twisted out of the beast's grasp, leaving a scrap of bloody fabric in its jaws. It back-handed Vade with its paw, sending the halfling staggering back with a burning pain in his chest. He could taste blood in his mouth as he regained his footing.

Feln saw the blow Vade had taken and realized that the halfling could stand little more of this punishment. Drawing back his quarterstaff, he delivered a resounding two-handed blow to the bear's right foreleg. The impact was tremendous, and the sound of breaking bones was audible for the brief moment before the bear roared in agony.

Ledare trotted forward toward the trench, her crossbow levelled at the bear as she came. Reaching the edge, she fired point blank into the beast's shoulder, drawing blood. Overwhelmed by the pain in its foreleg, the bear seemed no to notice the tiny quarrel in its side.

Karak, cursing and sputtering in dwarvish struggled without success to climb out of the steep-walled trench.

Morier and Ixin repeated their magical assaults on the bear, searing the creature with Burning Hands and Magic Missiles, and by now the beast's injuries were beginning to tell. It moved with slightly less speed and strength than it did at the beginning of the melee, but it clearly wasn't done yet. And it directed its fury at the two tormentors who were within reach.

It took another swipe at Feln that the martial artist couldn't avoid in time and the impact lifted the half-orc off his feet and slammed him against the cliff wall with bone-jarring force. Feln slid limply to the ground, knocked senseless by the blow.

Vade fared less well.

The bear whirled around and snatched the halfling up in its slavering jaws before he could reactivate his Ring of Invisibility. Vade screamed weakly and writhed about like a mouse caught in the jaws of a hungry tomcat. The bear shook him viciously, sending droplets of blood spraying onto the stones before casually tossing the little Rogue aside. Vade thudded to the ground in a broken heap and did not stir.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #276] The Second Test, part IV

Ixin and Ledare both looked at the trench and then at each other. Without a word being spoken, the Janissary stepped back and the sorcerer spread her stunted wings. They were still far too small to allow for true flight, but they were large enough to provide the drakeling with a significant boost to her jumping ability. With a convulsive flexing of her muscular thighs and a massive downsweep of her wings she sailed up and over the trench, landing lightly beside the tattered remains of the halfling.

The bear roared in protest at this new interloper, but the sorcerer paid it little mind. Vade looked even worse up close than he did from afar and she knew that he wasn't long for this world without some immediate magical aid. A pool of blood was spreading beneath his ruined body and she thought that she could see some of the halfling's organs visible within the raw wound tore into his belly. Choking back her revulsion, she produced a healing potion from her Cloak of Many Pockets and poured the contents over Vade's wound, suffering an opportunistic slash from the bear's one good claw as she did so.

Vade's body arched upwards violently as the magical elixir knitted his guts back together. He moaned, coughed up blood and opened his eyes which glittered brightly like two polished copper pieces.

Ledare fired two more bolts into the bear and Morier finished it off with another gout of flame from his wand. Vade was obliged to take shelter behind Ixin as the cone washed over them, but the drakeling was highly resistant to fire and provided him more than adequate cover.

"Is everyone okay?" Ledare asked, breathlessly after the mamoth bear dropped at last to the ground.

"Nae! I'm nae okay, lassie!" Karak bellowed from the bottom of the trench. "Somebody throw me a rope or something! I smell gobbos!"

"And look at my poor buddy, Feln!" Vade cried out, rushing painfully toward the unconscious half-orc. He drew a vial from his pack and administered the contents to Feln.

"Somebody help Karak!" Ledare said as she holstered her crossbow and backed up to take a running jump across the trench. She faired little better than Karak and clanked into the far side; she managed to grab onto the stoney ground and prevent herself from falling down onto the stakes, however.

Morier cleared the trench without trouble and offered the Janissary a hand up while Ixin went toward the cave entrance and peered inside. She only just noted the four small figures stirring in the shadows before they raised blowguns to their lips and peppered her with darts. Only one managed to pierce her naturally tough skin, but she felt the burning sensation of poison take hold of her at once, stiffening her joints and filling her with lethargy.

"Poison!" Ixin hissed as she gritted her teeth in concentration and began summoning mana to power a spell.

"Nothing they could tell us, huh?" Feln groaned as he downed his only potion of Cure Moderate Wounds and felt the magic heal some of his many hurts. "They could've said, 'the goblins have poison darts', couldn't they? It would've killed 'em?"

"Wouldn't want them to make it too easy for us, would you?" Morier grinned wolfishly as he helped Ledare to her feet and moved toward the cave. He carried his greatsword awkwardly in one hand and quickly re-sheathed his wand with the other.

"I'm just saying that they could've warned us," Feln replied as he moved in step with the eldritch warrior.

"Sopio!" Ixin commanded and sent her magic into the goblins' midst. Two out of the four visible goblins succumbed at once to the Sleep spell and the sorcerer thought she heard the thud of several more bodies hitting the ground behind the ones that she could readily see. The last two goblins standing clutched their pathetic blowguns uncertainly and fumbled for darts in the small pouches at their hips.

"Somebody throw me a rope for pity's sake!" Karak sputtered as he again tried unsuccessfully to scale the wall of the trench. "I be missin' all the action!"

"Vade!" Ledare instructed as she moved up behind Morier and Feln. There was a wry smile on her face as she said, "Throw Karak your slippers!"

The halfling nodded and sat down by the edge of the trench to remove the magical footwear. As he worked, he occasionally glanced down at Karak who was fuming among the stakes at the bottom. "You wouldn't have fallen if you weren't so fat," he told the dwarf which sent Karak into a momentary fit of apoplexy.

"Ye'd best pray to the god o' skinny runts tha' I dinna get me hands on ye when I get outen this pit!" Karak growled, exercising every shred of self control he had to keep himself from flying into a rage. Vade could hear his teeth grinding with effort as he spoke.

"Do you want the shoes or not?" Vade taunted, waving the purple and red slippers over the dwarf's head. "Because I could just go help the others." Vade saw a ropy vein pop out on Karak's purpling forehead and dropped the shoes. He rolled away from the edge before the dwarf could respond.

As Feln advanced on the nearest goblin who was struggling to reload his blowgun, he gave his Gelgian multi-staff a twist. The weapon split at the center into two well-balanced clubs. The twin bludgeons reduced the goblin warrior to lifeless meat in seconds. Beyond him, the half-orc's darkvision revealed that only one goblin remained standing although she looked considerably different than the others. For one, she was female and festooned with withered fetishes of bone and hair. For another, her skin was pox-covered and her cracked-and-bleeding lips gave her chin the illusion of a beard of blood. She snarled at the martial artist, baring teeth that were nearly rotted from their gums.

There were two more goblins lying unconscious at her feet and she kicked one of them roughly, growling something in gobbledy that Feln didn't understand. When she made some powerful gestures with her gnarled hands and produced a ball of greenish fire between them, he got the picture. She drew back her arm and hurled the flame at him before he could react properly and the small fireball burst against his shoulder, singeing his skin.

Morier advanced on the other goblin, closing the distance to hand-to-hand combat and ending the creature's life with a single thrust of his silvered blade. Ledare followed in his wake, her longsword making short, unpleasant work of the goblins that had been rendered unconscious by Ixin's magic.

For her part, the drakeling wasn't wasting any time agonizing over the stiffness in her joints and the aching in her muscles. She advanced toward the cave mouth and as she went, her hands moved through the somatic components of the Magic Missile spell. With a harsh cry in the tongue of dragons, she sent two bolts of raw energy into the she-goblin's wrinkled chest. The gobliness hissed in response and looked in Ixin's direction even as a second ball of fire appeared between her two hands.

"You'll pay for that!" she said in gobbledy; the Persistant Tongues spell active on Ixin's magical cutlass effortlessly translated her words into something that the mage could understand.

Feln made to close with the goblin witch, but the goblin that she had kicked stirred at the half-orc's feet. As he started to rise, Feln brought one of his clubs down on the creature's head, crushing the top of his skull and sending him dead back to the floor. Even as the goblin dropped, Feln's other club was swinging in the witch's direction, but she was able to avoid the clumsy blow.

"You'll not touch me!" she wailed. "None of you will touch me!" And she hurled the ball of fire in her hand at Ixin, striking the mage full in the face. It had absolutely no effect on the fire-resistant drakeling.

"Ha. Ha," Ixin said with a grin. The witch's shriek of frustration was quickly drowned out by the clanking juggernaut of steel that charged her on daintily-slippered feet.

"Shaharizod! Guide me axe!" Karak bellowed as he charged with his waraxe held above his head in a two-handed grip. He felt a swelling of Divine Favor as he came and put considerable strength behind the swing that followed. It was a blow on a scale similar to ones that Ledare, Vade and Ixin had seen Draelond deliver on a regular basis and it split the witch from jaw to crotch. Her putrescent guts uncoiled into a noisome pile at her feet moments before the rest of her body collapsed atop them like a marionette whose strings had been unceremoniously cut.

"Tha' be another fer me, orcblood," Karak panted, as he stood over the body. "And she be a spell-caster ta boot. That' be worth double, methinks!"

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #276] The Second Test, part V

Feln ignored the dwarf's words and trotted cautiously into the cave. The entrance opened onto a ledge running along one wall of a natural cavern about five feet off the ground. Two floor-to-ceiling pillars of stone supported the vaulted ceiling. Another ledge on the opposite wall sported an arched tunnel entrance leading deeper into the earth. That entrance had been fortified with jagged bits of stone and wicked-looking stakes mounted on the wall below the entrance. A pool of stagnant water stood in the corner to the half-orc's right and another tunnel went off into darkness at that point. To Feln's left, the ledge gradually dropped down to the level of the cavern floor as it curved along the wall, forming a ramp of sorts up to the main entrance. There were six giant rats scurrying along toward the ramp.

Feln motioned to the others that they were about to have further company and then dropped quietly off the ledge landing lightly on the cavern floor. He pressed himself against the nearest column of stone and peered around it. Three of the rats had broken off from the others and were heading straight for him.

Karak had already dropped onto his backside in order to strip off Vade's Slippers of Spider Climbing by the time that Feln gave his warning gestures so he could do little other than struggle with the footwear more quickly. Morier, however dropped down from the ledge with a clatter of mail and took up a position beside the half-orc, his greatsword readied to strike.

Ixin started forward but was drawn up short as Vade wrapped himself around her right leg. He planted half-a-dozen kisses of gratitude on her thigh before she could pry him off. "Thank you for saving me, Ixin!" he said without any guile. "Without your help, I might never get to see my family again!"

"If you don't let me get in there you still might not!" the mage replied. The halfling relented and thrust a healing potion into Ixin's hand.

"For you arm," Vade said, indicating the bear scratches. "You got those helping me, so it's only fair." Ixin nodded and downed the elixir.

Ledare, meanwhile had sheathed her hand crossbow and drawn her silver-iron longsword. She advanced through the cave entrance and moved along the ledge until she reached a point where she could see the three yard-long rats coming at her. She grimaced. "I've just about had all the filthy stinking rat crap I can handle!" she cursed as her sword dealt a swift death to the nearest vermin.

The trio of rats threatening Morier and Feln came finally within weapon's reach and Feln swung one of his clubs at the first. It split open like an overripe piece of fruit beneath the blow. "That's one more for me, dwarf!" the half-orc growled.

Morier's sword licked out like a lightning bolt and the second, but drew only sparks from the cave floor.

A thunderous clank like someone dropping an anvil signalled the arrival of Karak on the cavern floor, but the dwarf was only just maneuvering himself into position when the two remaining rats began to convulse. They each made phlegmy hacking sounds as if they were sucking air through a lungful of putrid custard. Then they both vomited steaming projectiles of mucous, bile and who-knew-what at Feln and Karak. Feln ducked to avoid the putrid wad directed his way, but Karak was struck full in the face by his and it stopped him dead in his tracks since it not only burned his eyes, but clogged his nose as well.

Ixin could made her way into the cave, but could see no obvious place to ply her magic since the situation seemed well in hand. She assumed a defensive posture against the column of rock and waited for her skills to be needed.

Ledare meanwhile stabbed twice with her longsword, dropping another of the mangy rats that faced her. But then the last made that horrible retching noise and coughed up a stinking missile. She was able to avoid the worst of it, however and the sticky mass which had the unfortunate consistency and odor of rotten cottage cheese splattered across her breastplate and dropped down her chest. The stench was ungodly.

Before the rat could celebrate its victory, however, it lurched backward with a sling bullet lodged deep within its left eye socket. It twitched once and fell dead. "That's one for me!" Vade cheered as he waved his sling in victory. "Can I play now?"

Morier didn't answer as he dealt with the last of the rats, but Feln chuckled at his little friend's enthusiasm. Karak, who was blindly scooping vomit out of this eyes just grumbled.

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

Fiendish Bile Rats?

Good work Jon.

 

[Jon Potter]

Fiendish Bile Rats?

Good work Jon.

I'm glad you approve, but I don't think my players would share your enthusiasm.

They were visibily disturbed by my attempts to recreate the sound of a dire rat retching.

And for the record, the rats weren't fiendish since they were the goblin druid's animal companions. I'm getting some good use out of Mystic Eye Games' Blight Magic. Well, maybe "good" is the wrong word; perhaps "corrupt" would fit better.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #276] The Second Test, part VI

Ixin unfurled her wings and floated gently down from the ledge. She moved toward Feln, Morier and Karak who were clustered together in what Drake Thuulsias would have sarcastically called "Fireball Formation". Karak was still working at clearing his eyes, while the others were prodding the dead rats.
"Are you all right, Karak?" the drakeling asked and the dwarf harrumphed.

"Nothing a dwarf can nae handle," he assured her. "The worst sting be to me pride."

"We should press our advantage while-" Feln said before a dart stung his neck. Two more struck Morier, although his mail repelled one harmlessly. Another pinged off of Karak's breastplate. Feln growled as the poison dart sapped his strength, leaving his joints stiff and aching. Morier remained unaffected, however. He drew his Wand of Burning Hands and turned, pointing it in the direction that the darts had come. Four goblins stood in the mouth of the arched tunnel above the fortified ledge. He spoke a command word: "Irakulos!" and a cone of magical flames engulfed the quartet as they busily reloaded their blowguns.

They were immolated at once.

"Wow," Vade said, as he watched the flaming goblins collapse one-by-one. He looked up at Morier and blinked. "Wow," he said again.

"We should press on," Feln repeated as he tossed the dart that had struck him to the floor.

"Perhaps we should wait here and let them come to us," Ledare countered. "We don't know how many of the creatures remain or what awaits us beyond. We're at least familiar with this area and there's only so many directions they can come at us."

"An ambush?" Karak challenged, stepping in front of the Janissary. She nodded and the dwarf's bearded and slime-streaked face split into a grin. "I like the way ye think, lassie!" he laughed and pulled the Wand of Regeneration from his belt. "Now who be needin' a whack from this 'ere magic stick?"

Only Feln and Vade availed themselves of the healing and while the magic did its work on them, the others spread out to examine the cave. It was mostly empty although it showed obvious signs of habitation by goblins. Their primitive "art" adorned the walls, there were a few woven straw mats on the floor amidst bits of broken crockery and carved wooden vessels. A set of large war drums dominated the area between the stagnant pool and the smaller tunnel leading deeper underground.

"Okay," Feln suggested once he no longer felt that he was standing on the brink of death. "I'll take Vade's Ring of Invisibility and scout ahead to see what I can see. You stay here and ready the ambush." It was decided that he would try the unfortified tunnel and Vade reluctantly handed over the ring. "I'll bring it back safely, little one," Feln said and promptly vanished.

It didn't quite work out that way.



Feln crept into the irregularly-shaped side tunnel and as he went he heard Vade behind him whisper, "Be careful." Then he focused all his attention on the area ahead. The tunnel was narrow and low-ceilinged so that he had to stoop his head in places, and it curved around to the left. Eventually, it worked its way around to connect with the fortified passage and at the point where it turned at a near-right angle, there was a side spur.

At the intersection of the three passages skulked a solitary goblin. It was dressed in oft-patched leather armor and clutched a glassy-sharp dagger of polished obsidian in one hand. Its features were wizened, and its hair seemed to be silver or gray - although it was hard for Feln to tell with certainty using only his darkvision. The goblin seemed to be watching and listening down both of the passages.

Feln clutched his nunchaku in his hand and crept in for the kill, but something betrayed his presence to his quarry. The goblin stiffened and jerked its head around nervously before creeping noiselessly down the small spur passage. There was no indication that it had pinpointed Feln's location, but it was wary.

Feln went to follow and found the goblin pressed against the wall with its dagger ready to stab. It was watching the passage for any intruder prepared to plunge its knife into the interloper's back. It gave absolutely no indication that it was aware of Feln's presence although the half-orc moved within an arm's reach of the wrinkled goblin.

The martial artist grinned and moved into a position to dispatch the sentry. That was when his foot snagged on a hidden trip wire and the ceiling dropped down around his ears.

As he dodged falling chunks of stone he thought, "Traps! Why does it always have to be traps?!"



The sound of falling rocks and a screaming half-orc alerted the others to an unravelling of their ambush plan. Cursing, Karak set off down the tunnel after Feln; Morier set out after him and quickly caught up to the dwarf. The others followed close behind.

Feln dodged a slash from the goblin's hewn knife and returned a glancing blow from his nunchaku before Karak even rounded the corner. Snarling, the dwarf swung his axe at his racial enemy, slashing the goblin's shoulder. The creature doubled over in pain with blood streaming freely down its arm, but it did not fall.

Morier came up behind the dwarf, but seeing that Feln and Karak seemed to have the situation in hand, he turned to look up the adjoining passage in time to spot another goblin rounding the far corner. It raised its blowgun while the eldritch warrior fumbled with his wand. The dart struck his armor and ricocheted off to strike the wall.

Three of the goblin's compatriots were on its heels and they rounded the corner, raised their blowguns and sent their missiles at the albino. Morier was standing in the center of the tunnel without any cover and he made an easy target. Somehow, all three goblins managed to miss him, however.

He saw that all four goblins were bunched tightly together at the corner of the tunnel and quickly assessed that he'd be able to catch them all within his wand's area of effect provided he moved a bit closer; so he did. He trotted right in front of the arrow slit carved into the side of the passage.

Herruk, kublaj-zenkal of the Habozargar clan had been patiently waiting behind cover of the wall. He spoke an arcane word and fired his ray gleefully through the slit as Morier went passed.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #276] The Second Test, part VII

The curuscating ray sliced through the air and struck Morier in the side; the eldritch warrior felt its cold touch even through his armor. His father had drilled into him the value of Spellcraft to determine a spell being cast, and to recognize one from its effects, and Morier had spent more days and nights than he cared to remember poring through old books that stank with age. It was an easy matter for him to determine that he'd been the victim of a Ray of Enfeeblement, but that did nothing to ease the drain on his vitality that he suffered.

He cursed himself for being greedy. If he hadn't moved forward to encompass all four of the goblins in his Burning Hands spell, he wouldn't have put himself in a position to be targetted by the ray. But he had moved forward and there was no going back without risking another attack from the arrow slit. So he pointed the Wand at the quartet of goblins as they drew obsidian hand axes. The magical flames turned them into smoking husks in seconds.

Ledare moved forward to join Morier, but the eldritch warrior shouted a warning, "There's a narrow fissure here with a spellcaster on the other side!" The Janissary drew up short and shot the albino a stricken look. "Wait there," he advised and dashed around the corner.

Karak and Feln had handily dealt with the lone goblin and they moved up to join Ledare. Ixin (who was leading the very-blind-in-the-dark Vade by the hand) followed at their heals and they all heard the grunt of exertion followed by the sound of steel stiking flesh, followed by a wet thud. A moment later, Morier appeared around the corner and beckoned them forward.

"All clear," he said and the others could see a few drops of blood spattered across his chalky features.



That lone spellcaster, Herruk, had been the last line of defense for the paltry goblin tribe. All that remained beyond the passage he was guarding was a communal living area in which huddled a terrified group of non-combatant women and chldren. They wailed and prostrated themselves before the group, pleading in gobbledy to be spared, and it was no difficult task to convince one amongst them (a hoary old gobliness named Gorguul) to speak to the VQS on the promise of leniancy. Ixin put her super-human charisma to work and, aided by Ledare's considerable skills at diplomacy, was able to piece together the Habozargar tribe's recent history - or at least in so much as the less-than-intelligent Gorguul knew it.

The goblins had lived simple - if not always peaceful - lives, content to farm and hunt in the forest for many generations. Their greatest threat in those days had been the occassional encounter with the spiderfolk who lived in the forest and preyed upon the goblins for food.

Then Sheesek came. At first, the tribe welcomed her because she brought considerable magical power with her - she could make their crops grow large, make the game more plentiful, and protect them from the spiderfolk. Herruk, the chief (and a mighty spellcaster in his own right) named her as the tribe's medicine woman and often took her counsel on matters of spiritual import. But her benevolence didn't last, and it was only after she had swayed many of the clan's best warriors to her way of thinking that Herruk realized that he had let a viper into their den.

But by then it was too late. Sheesek provided her warriors with weapons and armor of steel bought from men, she withered the crops, and summoned "The Great Bear" to slay all who opposed her. Herruk was deposed and retreated from his private chamber to live with the others in the main cave.

"So you're saying that this Sheesek is a great evil?" Feln prompted, hopeful that they had completed their task.

"Gorguul show you," she said and led them to the front entrance of the cave. She pointed to the barren soil on the opposite side of the trench. "Once that our food," she explained. "Beans, squash, potatoes. Then Sheesek come and steal life from the ground. Crops turn to dust. Nothing grow here now."

Morier looked at the blighted earth and his crimson eyes narrowed. Malcolm would have been mad with fury over such a desecration.

"I think we've taken care of the tree's second test. Don't you?" Feln asked the others and there were nods all around. "Let's check for anything worth salvaging from these bodies and get back to the ruins."

"Oh boy," Vade said clapping his hands together. "Treasure!"

"What do we do about the women and children?" Ixin asked once the Rogue had gone to work. All eyes turned to Ledare.

"Their threat is broken," the Janissary told them. "They'll be lucky to survive as they are now. I think we should just let them go."

"Do you have a problem with that, dwarf?" Feln asked and Karak harrumphed.

"There be nae honor in killin' women an' children," he said and turned away from Gorguul. "E'en if'n they be filthy gobbos."



A thorough search of the many goblin corpses yielded a not-inconsiderable amount of booty. Most of it was in the form of potions, scrolls, and some loose coins. The she-goblin, Sheesek (who they surmised was some kind of dark druid), bore a wooden shield and a sickle - both of which Ixin determined were magical in some way, as well as a slender wand that Vade tucked away for later examination. Herruk's body held little of value, but Vade's clever fingers discovered a small clay flask of liquid, which wasn't magical, but probably held some value. It disappeared into the halfling's pack.



Sheesek's lair, a concealed cavern letting onto the entry chamber, spoke of a swift decent into evil madness. The place stank of stale sweat and urine and the musky closeness of large animals. The floor was strewn with filthy straw and gnawed bones. The walls, floor and ceiling were a riot of disturbing symbols and designs painted with blood, feces and other substances that none of the group cared to identify. No one was very surprised to find the rat-and-snake symbol of Aphyx figuring prominently in the insane scrawlings.

"These 'ere be symbols o' Chaos," Karak announced in a somber voice as he pointed out a many-pointed arrow on one wall and a disturbing green spiral on another. "I saw 'em before, in me youth when we took back Helzak delve from the skaven. Nasty folks, them Chaos cultists."

"Ya think?" Vade asked sarcastically as his eyes roamed over the unsettling images adorning every square inch of the cave.

"Aye, wee one," Karak said gravely. "I do." He drew the little vial of Malak's holy water from his pouch and yanked the cork free with his teeth before splashing the contents across the largest symbols. There was no spectacular sizzle or the hiss of steam, but the symbols began to dissolve and run into one another. They watched the designs slowly deface for a moment and then Karak thrust the flask away and turned his back on the cave.

"Let's be gettin' back to talk to that tree," he said gruffly.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #276] The Second Test, part VIII

"You have passed the second test," the first water woman said.

"You may well be the ones for whom he has waited," chimed in the second.

"You have earned the right to stand before The Great Oak," they said together and gestured toward the door of the cold shrine.

"Err. Thanks," Feln said. "But how do we get in?"

They said nothing but continued to point. Morier ducked outside and then quickly darted back in. "I think you should probably see this," he told the group.



It was nearing sunset and the shadows were long inside the walled compound. The vibrant green branches of The Great Oak stood out vividly against the rose-colored sky. But their eyes were drawn immediately to the hedge that girded the tree. Directly opposite the doorway to the shrine in front of which they were clustered the thorns seemed to be glowing as if someone had painted an archway on them in silvery light. The VQS hesitantly approached the hedge and as they came, the thorns in the doorway of light receded until there was an actual arched passage through the barrier.

They entered and found themselves immediately in the hushed presence of The Great Oak. The area within was quite dim since the tree's vast canopy blocked nearly all light from reaching the ground where the group stood feeling quite like insects. It was like being inside a great cathedral coupled with a sense of being swallowed by a living thing; there was a quiet and stillness in the air, but the very ground seemed the thrum with energy. For a moment, they could do nothing but stare in awe, then an owl hooted and Martivir fluttered down from one of The Great Oak's branches.

"Marty!" Ixin cried and caught the bird on her fist. She nuzzled against his downy breast with her nose and tears of joy were hot and wet on her cheeks. "I was so worried..."

"This is a good place," the owl told her. "It's safe here."

"You have done well," a voice said - or rather didn't say. Not exactly. There was no sound save for the rustle of leaves in the wind and the creak of ancient, wooden limbs. But each of the group felt words form in their head and knew without being told that it was the voice of The Great Oak. "As I hoped you would."

"So Sheesek was the great evil?" Feln asked after he overcame the fact that he was speaking to a tree.

"Sheesek was the instrument of a great evil," the tree answered after a pause. "Her magic came from a corrupt source that has long been absent from Orune. Its reappearance signals that the wheel is turning once again."

"Chaos!" Karak grumbled, his fist and teeth tightly clenched.

"In part, Karak, son of Kignar," the Oak answered. "But only in part. The power of Blight Magic comes from Chaos but its evil is far darker than the desire for mayhem. It is destruction incarnate. The dissolution of all that lives. The lure of the void."

For a moment, Karak's mouth opened and closed like a fish drawn from water and his beard wagged over his chest. "How- How do you know me name?"

There was another pause and the tree said, "My roots go deep and far into the earth. They touch many things and places. I know much."

"Could you answer some questions?" Ledare wondered.

"If it is within my power to do so," replied the Oak.

"Is this Myth Drannor?" the Janissary asked at once. She'd clearly had that question in the forefront of her mind.

"No," answered the tree and Ledare's face split into a relieved grin.

"Then what is it?" Feln asked. "A temple?"

"Once," the tree told him. "It was a place to learn and worship known as the Aronerai School where favored souls were trained as druids and priests. But the wheel had turned and what once rose ascendant now has fallen to ruin and decay."

"Is that Aphyx's doing?" Morier asked.

"The fall of the Aronerai School?" the tree asked and Morier nodded. "No. The school fell to a barbarian warlord aptly named Bargol the Wicked. He came seeking the Dridanis priest's treasure and his followers laid waste to the school in their fruitless search. I destroyed them once they tried to leave."

"Destroyed them?" Vade squeaked. "Are you a... a god?"

"No, Vadenhuffer T. Briarhopper IV," answered the Oak. "But I was planted here as a seed by the hand of Dridana herself."

"Well, do you know what the "T" stands for in my name?" Vade asked and several of the others shot him dirty looks. He shrugged. "What? I'm just testing."

"Trouble," answered the tree. "You were named after your grandfather who himself earned the name due to his many brushes with the law and frequent incarcer-"

"Okay! Okay!" Vade shouted, hold his hands up in submission. He grinned uneasily. "No need to tell my whole family history, right?"

"So this is... or was, at least in part, a temple to Dridana?" Feln asked trying to make sure he understood things completely.

"Yes," replied the tree.

"But Aphyx killed her, right?" the half-orc went on.

"No," came the response. "The Queen of Filth imprisoned the Fruitful One, stealing her spark and binding it to a gemstone so that Dridan's essence could not be reborn to stand against her in the future. For Aphyx knew, as I know, that the wheel of life grinds ever onward and her time of ascendence would come again."

"And that's now?" Ledare asked.

"Soon," said the tree. "What once was crushed beneath is drawn to the apex once more. Such is the cycle of things. It is as it should be. But Aphyx has sought to disrupt this balance. During her last great rise to power, Dridana and her brother, Brogine, stood at Flor's side to defeat Lady Pestilence. This time Aphyx has imprisoned Dridana, and Brogine has fragmented his own power, giving bits of his own essence to each of his Beastlords. Even the power of Flor is at an ebb on Orune. With the world in such a state, it is unlikely that Aphyx can fail to break the cycle."

"And what happens then?" Ixin asked.

"The cycle stops progressing from birth to death to rebirth," the Great Oak told her. "Orune is blighted. Undeath reigns. The wheel stops turning. It is the end of things."

There was a pause during which the VQS absorbed the import of The Great Oak's words. Finally, Karak broke the silence. "An' just how can we put a stop to all o' this?" he asked.

"Aphyx acts subtly, creeping into the world measure by measure," the tree responded. "Her influence is too easy to overlook. The followers of Flor must be warned. They must see what you have seen here."

"What about freeing Dridana?" Feln asked. "You said she's not dead, right?"

"She lives. I can still feel an echo of her power," answered the tree. "But only the Keepers of the Grove of Renewal know the secrets of Dridan's imprisonment and you are not ready to face the challenges of The Grove."

Karak harrumphed. "So where can we find some followers o' Flor?" the dwarf asked and there was a pause.

"Three day's march southwest along the Eginnion Road lies a settlement called Flavonshire," the tree said. "Therein is a shrine dedicated to Lady Mercy."

"Then that's where we'll go," Ledare said and then squinted up at the darkening sky. "May we stay here tonight and head out in the morning."

"Sleep beneath my branches and I will offer you what safety and succor I may," the tree said.



That night, as they prepared to bed down, Ledare was whistling one of the jaunty tunes that Geneviève the Fair had sung at Arundel Manor. It seemed more than a little out-of-character for the normally serious Janissary.

"Why are you so cheery, kitten?" Vade asked and the half-elf shrugged.

"It seems as though our path is clearer now than ever before," Ledare answered. "We travel three days' time to the southwest in search of followers of Flor. When's the last time you felt like you knew - I mean really KNEW - what we were supposed to be doing?"

"Too long," Ixin answered for the halfling and Ledare nodded.

"Exactly!" she said, still grinning. "And since this woodland ruins turns out NOT to be Myth Drannor, then it is still possible that the members of Grey House are in the actual Myth Drannor. And they can shed further light on what it is we should be doing."

"I like to make my own choices," Vade told her and then his face darkened. He clutched weakly at his stomach and grimaced. "Of course, that's gotten me into some trouble lately."

"You mean the bear, Vade?" Ledare asked and the halfling nodded. "You shouldn't let it worry you too much. I've seen more than my share of men die and been very close to it on occasion myself. It was not your time."

"I guess," Vade muttered, but he didn't sound convinced. Ledare knelt down and put a hand on the halfling's shoulder.

"Do you know what I was thinking while I was hanging over that trench by my fingertips?" she asked quietly and Vade shook his head. "I thought about my initial test with the rock in the road and my first appearance before the king. I thought about how I'd left things with an old friend of mine named Delaroux, about talking religion with Soriah around a fire late at night, and enjoying supper at Grey House with Ruze, Finian and Kirnoth before all the badness happened. I thought about about all those things and resolved to survive for the sake of what had gone before but more importantly about what I had left to do."

"Do you understand, Vade?" the Janissary asked. "I had to survive so I could finish the tasks we have before us. Perhaps you too have yet to serve some great purpose in this world."

Vade smiled up at her. "Maybe," he said. "Thanks for the talk." He went and sat down on his blanket, pulled out the Wand of Cure Light Wounds they had found on Sheesek and ran his fingers experimentally over the magical device.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #276] The Second Test, part IX

Moonsday, the 25th - Waterday, the 27th of Wealsun, 1269 AE​

​

The day dawned bright and cool, promising excellent weather for the start of the group's journey. They bid farewell to The Great Oak and headed along a winding forest path that eventually met up with a wider track that could well have been a road at one time.

"D'ye reckon this be that Eginnion Road the tree was goin' on about?" Karak asked as they stood in the middle of the track and looked up and down it.

"Perhaps," Ledare told him. "I've never heard of the Eginnion Road."

Morier looked up at the sky and then pointed down the road to the left. "That way's southwest. Even if it's not the right road, it goes in the right direction."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Feln asked and set off down the road with the others following behind.



After about half-a-day's march along the disused road, the VQS reached the downward slope of a wide river valley and the forest fell away behind them as they descended into a land of grassy hills freckled with heather. Vade smiled broadly, sucking in the scent of home through his nose and tumbled off into the tall grass.

"Quit yer, foolin' 'round, hobbit!" Karak scolded. Vade popped up from the grass and grimaced at the dwarf.

"Oh, come on, Karak!" he said playfully. "Don't you ever miss your homeland? I haven't been here in so long..." Vade did a cartwheel and landed back on the trail.

Karak harrumphed. "Dwarves do nae roll around on the ground!"



The good weather didn't hold and they did some marching in cold drizzle. It turned the trail into mud and spoiled spirits. But the light rain was the worst that they had to contend with; they encountered not another soul on the Eginnion Road (for they did encounter weathered signposts at various crossroads along the trek that identified the path as such).

There were several aging waystations - relics from another time when merchant traffic traveled this way - built at intervals along the trail with roughly a day's march between them, but they were all unoccupied. Of course, given the fact that they were simply square compounds bounded by wooden palisade walls without roofs of any sort and therefore offered little protection against the elements, it wasn't surprising. There were ancient firepits within each and countless signs of past occupation, but nothing recent. Even so, sleeping with the massive double doors closed and barricaded made everyone feel safer than simply sleeping by the roadside.



On Waterday morning, they spotted columns of smoke in the distance and by mid-day crested a hill and laid their eyes on Flavonshire.It was a tiny settlement consisting of a half-dozen weathered, sod-roofed log buildings clustered around a square that was really little more than a widening of the muddy Eginnion Road. A few sullen-faced commoners moved about the place, and many more were visible in the surrounding fields. All the usual buildings were evident; a trading post, a tavern, and a smithy were all obvious at a glance. But the eye didn't linger long on the drab settlement, instead traveling beyond to the distant edge of another dense forest rising up over the foothills of the Altan Tepe mountains which lurked misty, purple along the horizon.

"Look there," the keen-eyed Ixin said pointing at a modest building that looked newer than the rest. A sign hung above the door on which was painted the ring of white flowers that they all recognized as the symbol of Flor.

"At last," Ledare said and they hurried toward the structure.

"Can we go to Thumble after this?" Vade asked as they went (for what seemed like the hundredth time). "It's not too far from here if we go back to that fork in the trail leading toward Redwood. We can be... Oh, crap!"

They all saw what Vade did. A strip of yellow cloth was tacked to the frame of the door leading into the shrine. It was the universal symbol for plague in The Realms. All but Karak drew back from the door. The dwarf harrumphed and pushed the rickety barrier open with one hand.

Inside the shrine was dark and warm. Two rows of wooden benches were arrayed before a raised wooden altar painted bright white with a blue teardrop on its face. There was a human-sized figure laid out between the altar and the first bench; it was draped with an old hide blanket. The body swarmed with fat flies. The air in the place was fetid.

Undaunted, the dwarf approached the body and drew back the edge of the blanket with his axe blade. Beneath was a horror of putrescence. Little remained of the body save discolored bones thinly veiled with liquifying skin. Yellowish curd dripped from the corpse's open mouth, nose, the sockets of its eyes. Karak shook his head, let the blanket drop and stumped back outside.

"Twas no natural thing what took this man's life," the dwarf announced as he stepped out into the fresh air.

"Aye! Sure enough!" cried a voice from the smithy nearby. A squat, sooty man with bulging arms and a fire-scarred leather apron approached them. He bore a light hammer in his meaty right hand. His left eye was blackened and swollen. "Poor Simon was struck down. Killed by some accursed evil right here in the very street we stand upon." The smithy spit into the mud and Karak returned the gesture.

"Were are the Florians?" Ixin asked, pointing up at the sign above their heads.
"Simon was our only priest," the smith explained. "Started up this shrine last spring. Built most of it with his own hands." Ledare's shoulders slumped at the news.

"What 'appened to 'im?" Karak asked, planting his axe haft between his feet and resting his arms across the blade.

"An unspeakable horror was inflicted upon him!" the smith grumbled and again spit into the mud. "That black-hearted ranger, Plonius, struck him down with a spell!"

Only Feln heard the hushed curse from the rear of the shrine or saw the shadowy figure dart behind it. He motioned to Karak to circle around one way while he went the other.

"Plonius?" Ledare asked the smith, unaware of the events transpiring with Feln and Karak. "The Hound?"

"Aye! The very same! May Garn-Zanuth take his soul!" he cursed in response. After a moment's pause, he hefted his hammer defensively and asked, "He a friend o' yours?"

"I wouldn't call him a friend, but we've met before," she told the man. And Ledare quickly recounted her prior encounter with the ranger on the Riverneck Path during the moonsdance of Planting. At the time, he had seemed rather sinister, skulking about silently in the night, but Plonius had ultimately given them a potion that had saved Finian's life. Of course, Soriah had sent him off in a huff after insulting him badly. Only Finian had accepted the man at face value.

"Hey, wait a moment!" Morier said and pawed through his pack for some of the notes he had taken. While he did so, the smith scratched his whiskery jowls.

"He was trackin' horse rustlers, you say?" he asked Ledare and she nodded. "That sounds like him, all right. Damn shame he's gone evil! He was a regular hero around the frontier with ranchers."

Morier pulled out his notes, found what he was looking for and read the portion aloud. "One who the Janissary did not trust is suddenly not trusted by those who were once his staunchest supporters though the fault of it is not his own. Follow his trail and you will uncover a dark and twisted secret kept from the eyes of good and evil alike for millennia," the eldritch warrior recited the words of the celestial they had encountered in Hillville Junction.

"Where did he go from here after he killed the cleric, Simon?" Ixin asked and the blacksmith gave her an appraising look up and down as if he'd just now noticed how inhuman she appeared.

"H-he rode straight off down the track toward Greenhill Woods," the smith said, pointing away to the south west although his eyes never left Ixin.

"See!" cried another voice. "Plonius was of the Horse Nomads. The horse is a sacred beast to them! He'd never set himself upon one!"

They turned to see a lanky man dressed in leather and pelts standing betwixt Feln and Karak. He was of average height and weight for a man, standing taller than every member of the VQS save Ixin and Feln. His skin was bronzed, his black hair pulled back in a long ponytail that hung to the middle of his back, and his eyes flashed a poisonous green beneath his dark brow. He wore a cloak made from the skin of a large wolf and a necklace of bones and teeth from the same hung over his studded leather armor. A longsword was at his hip and a pair of throwing axes were tucked into his belt.

"We found him behind the shrine, listening to our conversation," Feln explained.

"He is spreading lies about The Hound, calling him a murderer" the man growled, bearing his teeth at the smith in a great snarl. "This killer of yours could not be Plonius!"

"That man's in league with the ranger!" the smith bellowed and back-pedalled away. Pointing to his swollen left eye he added, "He gave me this earlier today!"

"Speak lies of Plonius again, dog, and I'll paint this town with your blood!" the man growled and rested his hands on sword and axe.

"S-s-see!" the smith said, stepping behind Ledare and Morier. "He's as mad as The Hound!"

The stranger started to lunge forward, but Karak and Feln restrained him. "Where was your venom when Plonius and I slew the gnolls who were preying on your women, jackal?" he spat. "Were you spouting these lies while you cowered in your hut, sobbing with fear like a-"

"Okay!" Ixin said suddenly as she stepped up in front of the stranger. No one had seen her do it, but she'd fully exposed her Chainmail Bikini and it caught the light, glittering like quicksilver. The stranger blinked, staring at her chest. "I think that's just about enough insult-hurling. Let's calm down and sort this all out. What's your name, by the way?"

"I am Grisham Freeclaw of the Forest People," the stranger said proudly and the smith spat once more.

"He's one of those barbarians!" the smith said, disgusted. "You can't trust them!"

"Your trader likes my people well enough when they bring him pelts and skins," Grisham said. "When your town needs protection from the gnolls the Forest People are are your friends. Bah! A barbarian would not be so insulting as you lest he find a sword in his guts."

Karak laughed at that and released his hold on the barbarian. "I like ye, Grisham Freeclaw," he said. "Ye speak your mind like a dwarf."

Feln let go of the man's other arm and Grisham collected himself. "The wolf does not hide its nature when it walks amongst sheep," he said, running his fingers over the bone-and-teeth fetish he wore.

"Why were you evesdropping on us?" Vade asked, peering out from behind Ledare's armored thigh.

"To hear what he told you," Grisham said, stabbing a finger in the smith's direction. "I feared he had not told me the whole truth when I arrived earlier today."

"You punched me in the face when I talked to you earlier today," the smith argued, his tone incredulous. Grisham shrugged.

"Your lying accusations could not go unanswered," the barbarian said simply. "There is some deviltry at work here that I cannot see. But no matter! I will track down this imposter and give him a taste of my steel for marring Plonius' good name! And when I do, I'll bring back his head for you to see, smith. Then you will know that Plonius, The Hound, would not slay a man with dark magic."

He started to trot away down the Eginnion Road out of Flavonshire and Morier called for him to stop. The albino looked at the other members of the VQS and repeated the celestial's words once more,"Follow his trail and you will uncover a dark and twisted secret..."

"Should we go after The Hound?" Ixin asked and Vade kicked at the dirt.

"Aw! What about going to see my mom and dad?!" he whined.