The Realms of Enlightenment: The Grey Companions

[Jon Potter]

Anyone having regrets that there's no cleric after that encounter?

It's worse than you know. Nobody's even got any ranks in Heal. Ledare has a high enough wisdom that she's got a +2, but poor Vade has a -1. Or maybe I should say poor Morier.

Actually... Karak IS a cleric although you'd be hard-pressed to get him to admit it. According to his back-story, Karak was initially trained to become a temple guard but failed the spiritual test that would have allowed him entry into the priesthood. His brother, Malak, was the cleric in the family, and it's only after Malak's death that Karak has found himself in touch with his spiritual side... such as it is. His player's concept was to have him unaware that he's making things happen magically-speaking.

To that end, I'm using the Reflexive Spellcasting rules found in Green Ronin's "Denizens of Freeport" - essentially putting his spell-casting in my hands until he comes to grips with the fact that: "Yes, Karak. You are a cleric." He can set himself up to cast a spell (such as the whole 'This is how my brother always did it' thing) but he's not consciously casting spells until someone convinces him that he's already doing it.

His character is a real mixed bag: Barbarian 1/Fighter 3/Cleric 1 utilizing several variants from Unearthed Arcana including: Whirlwind Rage, Spontaneous Divine Casting, and the unnamed variant that grants clerics the paladin's Smite Evil and Aura of Courage abilities in place of the normal Turn Undead. He's an interesting character, to be sure despite the fact that this player has run two other priests of this same deity already in this campaign.


Note to self: I really need to update the Rogue's Gallery thread.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #262a] The 1,000 Yard Dash

Mad with unreasoning fear, Feln, Vade, Ledare and Morier sped off into the trees. There was only one obvious path leading out of the clearing and they all made a dash for it, colliding with one another a few paces in, for it was a narrow path and the trees pressed in close on both sides. Ledare and Morier clanked against one another and Vade ducked low beneath a tangle of legs to pop out the far side. But Feln, unencumbered by weighty armor, merely vaulted over the knot of steel-plated limbs, landed amidst a cluster of bright red mushrooms a few paces further on and sped off down the path. He never looked back, and it didn't take him long to leave the others far behind.

Not that they didn't try to keep up, mind you. They were all single-mindedly intent on putting as much distance as they possibly could between themselves and the ruined shrine. But both Ledare and Morier were burdened by armor that prevented them from moving as fast as they otherwise might, and Vade's legs were quite simply half-as-long as the others'. So they trotted along in a tight knot, none of them pausing to speak to their fellows, the only thought in their heads being to run! Get away!

At times, Ledare would lead, until her foot would snag on a root and Morier would push her down to get passed. Then he would lead for a time, until a low-hanging branch would strike him in the face and send him to his knees. Then Ledare would knock him aside and push onward. Once, Vade planted his foot squarely in Morier's eye as he clambered over the eldritch warrior.

At last, after what seemed like an hour but was more likely only a couple of minutes, Ledare could go no further and she pitched forward onto her hands and knees, her breath coming in ragged, wheezing gasps. She crouched there, panting, unable to catch her breath, a stitch stabbing sharply into her side.
Morier skidded to a stop a few paces onward and Vade slammed into his backside, nearly sending them both to the ground.

"Sorry," the halfling apologized, grinning nervously up at the eldritch warrior. Then, abruptly, Vade's smile grew broader and more genuine. "Hey!" he cried. "I'm not scared anymore!"

"Yes," Morier said breathlessly, his hands planted on his thighs. "The spell seems to have run its course."

Vade looked around at the thick forest. The path continued on in both directions before being swallowed up amidst the trees. "It looks like we did too," the halfling joked but neither of the others laughed.

"Are you alright, Ledare?" Morier asked, noticing the Janissary wheezing on her hands and knees. He approached her fearfully, but she sat up on her haunches and waved him off while she wiped away a string of saliva with the back of her hand.

"Armor's. Heavy," she panted. "Not. Used to. Running."

"May I help you up?" the albino asked and Ledare shook her head and peeled off her helmet.

"Just gimme. Minute," she said. "I'll be. Alright." Her coppery hair was plastered wetly to her head and Vade scowled at her.

"Aww, Ledare," he groaned. "And your hair was just starting to look really nice. Maybe if you had a nice brush." he shrugged off his pack and started to rummage. "I think I might have one in here somewhere."

Ledare just glowered at him and said nothing.

"Say," Morier began, looking concernedly up and down the empty trail. "Didn't Feln run off with us?"



Feln plunged around a bend in the trail and stopped short quickly. The trail he had been following had ended abruptly and another path intersected it leading off to his left. He paused and looked up the new path until it was swallowed by the gloom of twilight several dozen yards away. He paused and listened in the manner that Windstryder had instructed him over and over during their time together. He had never truly developed the skill at woodcraft that seemed to come so easy to her, but he had picked up a few of her tricks along the way. Listening to the wood was one such skill, but he heard nothing apart from the rustle of branches and the crackle of tumbling leaves.

Sighing, he turned back the way he'd-

The path was gone.

He turned back to look down the path leading left and then back toward the spot where the path he had followed to reach this spot should have been. There was a tree there now. He looked behind the tree, but there was no path there either. He could see his footprints in the soft loam, but they just appeared out from beneath a layer of last autumn's fallen leaves. He cleared them away, but the tracks disappeared after only a few paces.

He listened again for any sign of his companions, but heard nothing save tree branches rattling against one another in the night breezes.

Feln shook his head. "Sh*t," he said.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #263] Dazed and Confused

"Hmphhh," Karak grumbled as he watched Feln, Morier, Ledare and Vade slam into one another as they all vied for position on the narrow path leading out of the clearing. Ledare and Morier went down on a tangle of limbs, but Vade ducked low between their legs and Feln easily vaulted over them. After a moment, they were gone, swallowed up by the trees.

Ixin groaned and started to get to her feet, but Karak thumped to her side and put his hand on her shoulder, urging her to the ground.

"Hold up, 'ere an' let me look at those bites," the dwarf growled. "Are they still bleedin on ya?"

Ixin looked over Ledare's handiwork with makeshift bandages and shook her head. "I think it's stopped," she told Karak and after a few moments spent examining them, he nodded his agreement.

"I say... Ixin, your name is, eh lassie? Where do you be thinkin' the others run off to, eh?" he asked once he'd gotten to his feet. He planted his axe haft on the ground between his furry boots and rested his arms across the broad blade. The ornate runes and filigree etched into the steel axe seemed to glow in the dying light of Orin's Shield.

"A Fear spell would be my guess," the sorcerer told him as she stood up.

"Well now is not that a fine welcome to this ere spot?" the dwarf mused as his steely gray eyes scanned the gathering darkness for any sign of threat.

"The effects shouldn't last too long. And my hope would be that when it does wears off, everyone would gather back at the last place we were all together," Ixin went on. She dusted herself off and gestured expansively to the crumbling ruins. "That would be here. What say you, Karak?"

"I say we wait 'ere a spell while you an' I get a look see at our surroundings," he told her, hefting his waraxe in one hand. "Then we go off and fetch the others."

"Shouldn't we wait for the others?" Ixin asked. "Won't they return here once the spell-"

"Th' others might slow down once they be outside the sphere o' the spell, aye," the dwarf concurred, but his attention was on their surroundings, not on Ixin. "But if'n they encounter trouble out there in the woods? Then that, lassie, be another story. If'n ye get my meanin'."

She did.

"Now that you bring it up, let's not wait here too long as I am worried about the spell getting us too," the mage said as she too looked around nervously. "At previous portals, we've always been safe once we got away from the immediate area."

"Hmm," Karak said noncommittally as he looked around.

"What about heading off in the direction they ran and getting to a high place so we can see better?" Ixin asked as she unfurled her cloak and released Martivir from his pocket. The owl hooted its appreciation, drawing a wary look from Karak.

"Don't be gettin' ahead o' yerself," the dwarf grumbled. "Let's be checkin' out this 'ere ruin first. Then if'n they're not back by the time we finish, then we 'ead out after 'em."

"Agreed," Ixin said as she lifted her familiar above her head, releasing the owl into the twilight. "I'll have Martivir recon the area and find everyone while you and I search here."

"Avoid lookin' at the faces o' the statues as ye search. I think they be the cause o' the other's fright," Karak muttered as he headed for the altar in the back of the crumbling shrine. He could tell at a glance that no dwarven stonemason had laid chisel on the altar. It was a simple thing built of fitted stone and carved extensively at one time. Now however, the weather had eroded most of the carvings and caused some of the stone blocks to begin separating from one another. Here and there he could make out a leaf or an acorn carved into a block, but most of the details had been lost to time.

"Let's find out if you're right about these statues," Ixin said as she wove her hands through the simple gestures of a Detect Magic spell. Even as the drakeling's eyes began to glow with the dweomer's power, the eyes of the statue to the altar's right flared with a light of their own. Ixin felt the effects of a spell wash over her, but she seemed to shrug off the effects. In its wake, however, the enchantment left a hot, boiling rage in the mage's belly.

"Those statues!" she thought. "Those statues were the cause of so much ill for her and her friends! They had to be stopped from further spreading their cruel mischief!" She reached into the folds of her cloak, drew forth her morningstar and charged at the stone lizard.

Karak had just spotted the hidden panel in the back of the altar when Ixin's first blow rang loudly against the lizard's stone snout. The dwarf looked up with a start to see the mage draw back for another swing. She was holding the morningstar above her head with both hands and her face was a snarl of anger.

"Lassie!" Karak cried out. "Are ye daft? What are ye-?"

"YOU!" Ixin bellowed. "This is all YOUR fault!" She swung the morningstar at with all of her might, but Karak was behind the altar and the weapon never even came close to striking him. Angry that she'd missed, Ixin darted around the statue on the left, coming for the dwarf. "I'll KILL YOU!!" she roared in frustration as she came.

"You're mad!" Karak shouted back as he swung his axe at her, easily knocking the morningstar from Ixin's grasp. Unperturbed by the loss of the weapon she slashed at Karak with her claws, but they glanced ineffectually off his plate armor. The dwarf hefted his axe again hesitantly, uncertain of the sorcerer's motives, but ready to strike if he had to. Ixin turned away from him, however, covering her face with both hands and muttering incoherently about lizards and dwarves and some conspiracy betwixt the two.

Karak kicked her morningstar off to the side, well out of her reach should she turn on him again. It was unnecessary, however. She crouched down against the shrine's wall, curled herself into a ball and cried about the injustice of lizards and dwarves working together to bring about her downfall. The dwarf approached her hesitantly, his waraxe readied to strike her if she made any sudden moves.

"Lassie, I think ye may have been ensorcelled," he said and she looked up at him with mad, tear-filled eyes and leapt to her feet. Or she tried to, at least. The butt end of Karak's axe found her forehead about mid-way through her leap, sending her quite handily into unconsciousness.



"I don't like it here," Vade whined and gripped Ledare's shield hand tightly as they trudged along back along the path. "This place gives me the heebee jeebees."

"I think you are safe with us, Vade," Morier said from up ahead. To the halfling's straining eyes, the albino looked like a pale ghost in the near-darkness. The length of his silvered greatsword glimmered in the first hints of starlight.

"We should be back to the portal in a few minutes," the Janissary said in a soothing voice. "Everything will be alright."

"That's easy for you to say. You can see!" Vade quipped. "Can't I light this sunrod?" The halfling waved the tiny rod that Ledare had given him as a reassurance.

"Bad idea," Morier hissed in the darkness. "We'll be spotted easily if there are enemies about."

"Enemies?" Vade trembled and Ledare squeezed his little hand.
"Save the sunrod for if you really need it," she said. "Otherwise, trust Morier and I to lead the way."

Vade sighed. "I wish Feln were here," he whispered under his breath.

The three companions marched back along the trail toward the ruined shrine, the portal, and - they hoped - Ixin and Karak. It grew darker as they picked their way through the trees, and the noises of the forest (which normally held no fear for Morier) began to take on a sinister sound as they went.

"I don't like it here," Vade repeated and Morier started to speak when something dove from the sky above and slashed him across the cheek. It was gone again with a fluttering of wings before anyone could be sure of anything but that it was a bird of some kind.

"What was that?" Vade cried.

"Was that a bird?" Ledare said at the same time.

"What in the nine hells?" Morier grimaced, touching the bloody scratch on his cheek.

"There!" Ledare shouted, pointing with Ravager at a shape that swooped down again at Morier. None had seen her draw the weapon; it was just suddenly in her hand.

Morier instinctively mouthed the words to a spell and gestured at the bird, hurling sparks of electricity at his assailant. The bird let out a hoot of pain, but continued to dive straight for the eldritch warrior's face. It scratched him again and disappeared up into the branches overhead.

"What's going on?!" Vade shouted, preparing to strike the sunrod.

"It's a bird," Morier cursed, touching the painful scratch to his opposite cheek.

"An owl, I think," Ledare added as she scanned the foliage overhead. "But I don't see it anymore."

"Perhaps my Electric Jolt scared it off," the albino guessed and Ledare sheathed her sword.

"Perhaps," she said. "But let's keep moving just the same."

"Maybe we could move a little faster?" Vade urged.



The owl attack was an aberration on their journey. It didn't show itself again, and nothing else assailed them. Still, they warily approached the ruins containing the portal and found Karak waiting for them. The dwarf was chewing on a piece of mutton jerky and keeping a close watch on the bound and trussed Ixin.

"Ye lot aren't much for sneakin' about are ye?" the dwarf grunted as the trio crept out of the forest. "A deaf man could've heard ye comin' from half-a-league away."

"What's goin on?" Ledare asked, ignoring Karak's comments. She nodded at Ixin.

"There was another spell," the mage groaned. "Confusion, I think. But it made me... do things."

"She attacked me!" the dwarf spat. "For no good reason I can fathom."

"It was the statue, I'm telling you," the mage retorted but Karak just harrumphed.

"Whate'er the case," he told Ledare. "I decided to wait until you lot showed up before I let her loose. I wouldn't want to have to kill her if she attacked me again."

"I'm sure that's very comforting to her," Morier said sarcastically.

"Ixin are you in control of your faculties?" Ledare asked and the drakeling nodded vigorously. "Then let her up."

Karak shrugged and did as he was asked. "Oh, and I found a tunnel back behind the altar," he told them as he worked the knots. "There was this locked panel what needed a wee bit o' coaxin' to get open, but it leads to a nice little tunnel that heads off into them hills over there." He pointed to the wooded hills rising up behind the shrine's rear wall, opposite the only path leading out of the ruins.

"So that's north," Ledare said after doing a little mental calculation.

"Actually, I think it's east," Morier countered and they began to debate which direction was north until Karak finally grunted, "Oi! What ever happened to your half-orc, anyways? Did ya lose him in the woods?"

"There's only one path in or out," Ledare said. "He'll find his way back here."

But after an hour's wait, he still hadn't returned...



He must have gotten turned around. That's what Feln kept trying to convince himself of. The path he was on had to be the same path that he had run down. Paths didn't just disappear, after all. In his ensorcelled state, he must have gotten turned around on the path so that it had seemed like the trees had moved around behind him. That was the only explanation.

He had climbed one of the immense trees to get a better look around, but from above, one patch of forest looked very much like another and he could see no sign of his companions. He did spot some hills to the north, what looked like a small lake or large pond to the south and another larger body of water just visible in the distance to the southeast. But other than that, it was just trees for as far as he could see in the gloom of evening.

So he took the only path available to him and tried to convince himself that it led back the way he'd come although he was quite certain that it didn't. He trotted along until he saw the path dip down toward the edge of the lake or pond he had seen from his earlier vantage point. It was fully night by then and the glimmer of the Handmaiden Moon was reflected in the waves ahead. It was then that he knew he'd gone wrong.

But by then of course, it was too late.

Something brushed against his face as he walked toward the water - something sticky that clung to him tenaciously. He tried to back away, but it was no good. He was stuck in the gossamer threads of an enormous web that was draped across the path, probably to catch creatures coming here to drink. He struggled for a moment and then heard the low, slurping chuckle from the branches above.

"Yessss," it hissed wetly. "Orc-flesssh. Much tassstier than sstringie old goblinssss."

There was movement in the dark canopy and then Feln saw it. A grotesque cross between a man and a spider was moving along the upper edge of web. Its arms and legs were long and emaciated-looking compared to the swollen, fleshy lump that was its body. Its head was a size too small, and shaped like a spider's with glittering black eyes and twin mandibles that dripped venom.

"Tassssty!" It hissed again as it tested the edge of its webbing. "Tasssty morsssel for my larder."

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #263a] Come into my Parlor...

"My flesh is niether tender nor succulent, great beast," Feln told the creature as he struggled to reach the flask of bladefire Vade had bought for him in Hillville Junction. If he could set the web on fire, he surmised, he might have a chance. "I have lean muscles because of my martial training. I could help you gather some food in exchange for information or company."

A blob of venom splatted down on the half-orc's shoulder as the spider-thing rubbed its mandibles together and chuckled to itself. "Food gathersss food," it laughed, rubbing its claws together. The sinister noise sent a shiver up Feln's spine despite the balmy evening. "Sssso hungry," it added and made a smacking sound.

"My name is not food. It is Feln," the martial artist replied. His fingers worked around toward his pack, and he heard a tearing sound as the web - or maybe his jerkin - gave a little under the strain. "And what is your name, great beast?"

"Namesss. Namesss. All the sssamesss to me," it reflected. It plucked at the edge of the web above, testing its strength and sending vibrations through the half orc's body in the process. "Food you are, Hungry I am."

"This is a magnificent web," Feln flattered, the words sounding hollow to his own ears. "Did your mother teach you to do this?"

The spider-thing made a chittering sound that might have been more laughter or a sigh. It was difficult to tell. But it gave no answer to Feln's inquiry.

"No?" the half-orc asked as he felt the web give again the tiniest bit. "Where you not born a spider?"

"Noisssy food. Alwaysss yapping. Like goblinssss," the spider-thing hissed. "Noisssy food triesss to essscape. No essscape from my larder." And then it lunged downward toward Feln, its mandibles snapping at the half-orc as it came.

But Feln reacted a fraction quicker and gave a lunge of his own. One of the clasps keeping his jacket closed popped free and he rolled forward, leaving his jerkin, his hat of disguise and more than a few strands of his own hair fluttering in the webbing. With practiced ease, he tumbled forward along the trail and came up in a fighting stance with his staff held ready.

"My food!!!" the spider-thing wailed from its perch in the middle of the all-but-invisible web. Even knowing where it was, Feln could barely make out the sticky strands and it gave the creature the appearance of floating in mid-air.

"You should have taken my offer to talk," the martial artist grunted. "Once I have defeated you, how do I get out of these woods?"

The spider-thing hissed in reply and thrust its hips in Feln's direction and released an expanding ball of webbing from the spinnerets in its crotch. The half-orc was able to easily avoid the attack, and whirled forward with a strike of his own. The leading end of his staff struck a glancing blow to the monster's head.

It shrieked in pain and indignation a moment before it exploded in a flurry of slashing claws and snapping mandibles. Feln's body moved sinuously to avoid the attacks, and only one claw managed to connect. A bloody line appeared across the half-orc's right knee. Feln grunted and smacked the creature in the side of the head a second with his staff. Hissing, the spider-thing scampered up its web, disappearing into the branches overhead before the martial artist could react to strike it again.

He could hear it moving around overhead, but lost sight of the creature immediately as the foliage seemed to swallow it.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #264] The Wandering Trees

The half-orc peered into the branches above but could see nothing of his opponent. He listened and heard the clear sound of sharp claws scrabbling along rough bark. The noise came from his left and Feln was able to turn just in time to spot the creature as it ejected another ball of webbing at him from its position in the tree on his flank. The martial artist spun and dodged by instinct, but it wasn't enough, and the web fell over him like a net.

Or a shroud.

Thankfully, he had his quarterstaff in hand and the weapon acted almost like a tent pole, keeping the worst of the sticky mess off of him. He managed to toss off the web and turned to face the spider-thing just as it jumped down upon him. Bracing on his staff, Feln kicked his opponent solidly in the thigh, eliciting a yelp of pain and foiling its attempt to grapple him. It seemed to land awkwardly, but the half-orc's attempt to attack it with his staff was met with an elegant dodge, and his weapon whistled through the air without effect, over-extending him in the process.

The spider-thing seized the opportunity to slam into Feln, clearly trying to force the half-orc back into the strands of the web strung across the path. Feln tried to bring his elbow around into the creature's right eye, but the blow was too high and Feln was too off-balance to prevent the inevitable. He sagged backward into the web with the full weight of the spider-thing pressing against his chest.

Fortunately, his shirt was just loose enough that he was able to shed it with ease and slide free of the pin. He dropped down beneath the snapping bite of the creature's mandibles and rolled up behind it. His staff cracked loudly against the thing's spindly left leg and it shrieked again in pain. It scurried back up the web so quickly that Feln couldn't react, and vanished once more into the canopy above.

Once again, Feln listened and watched, but this time he neither heard nor saw anything. Hesitantly, his body quivering with anticipation of an attack, the half-orc reached out and plucked his Hat of Disguise, his shirt and the torn bit of his jacket from the sticky net. He then backed away from the water's edge, his eyes and ears alert for any sign of his foe.

There was none, however, and after he'd moved sixty or so feet from the ambush site, he turned around and resumed his course at an easy jog. He kept alert for any more webs strewn across his path.



"It certainly doesn't take us long to land ourselves in a predicament!" Ledare grumbled as she cleaned the fresh scratches to Morier's face with water from her drinking skin. "We've been here, what? An hour? And already we've been subjected to spells, random attacks from wildlife and lost one of our own."

"Yeah...," Ixin said with a look of embarrassment on her face. "About that owl attack... I think that Martivir may have suffered the effects of the same spell that got me."

"That was your familiar?" Morier asked, incredulous. Ixin nodded and the albino touched his cheek where the bird's talon had opened his flesh.

"Your owl's a feisty one, and brave to have selected Morier as his target," Ledare told Ixin with a smirk on her lips. "Let's hope we don't have to shield ourselves from him again."

"Oh, you won't. He feels just awful about doing it the first time," Ixin told the eldritch warrior and once again, Morier found himself happy that he had performed the Ritual of Independence rather than bond himself to an animal. When he'd done it, the decision was based more on defiance of his father than on careful planning, but he had yet to regret the choice. Why mages sought to dilute their personal power with what amounted in many ways to a magical parasite was beyond him.

"I hope that the owl was not hurt too badly by my Electric Jolt," Morier said.

"Just his pride, mostly," Ixin assured the elf and raised her arm above her head. Her familiar dropped noiselessly out of the sky and landed on her fist. "And Karak, you have my sincerest apologies for what happened between you and I."

The dwarf harrumphed and waved off her apology. "Regrets dwell in a candle's flicker, lassie," he said. "But I will be watchin' me back."

"I've heard of such spells before and I don't think you'll have anything more to fear from Ixin," Ledare said. "But let's be wary of these statues just the same. They may reset themselves and be capable of more mischief."

"What do we do now, Ledare?" Ixin asked as she carefully checked the burned spot on Martivir's shoulder where Morier's spell had struck him.

"We need to find my friend Feln!" Vade asserted. "Let's go back and look for him!" Ledare sighed expansively and turned to look at the halfling.

"No, we're not going to look for him!" she said sternly. "That makes no sense."

"I am not going to lose another friend!" Vade whined, stamping his little foot. Thinking of Ruze, the halfling began to cry. "I will go by myself to find him if I have to," he sniffed.

"Let's remain here a while longer, Vade," Ledare said in a softer tone. The rogue's emotional display touched her; she had lost the same friends that he had - and several more that he'd never known - and she could well understand his desire to not lose another.

"You don't find gold by licking the rock," Karak stated suddenly and everyone turned to look at him, their faces knotted in confusion.

"What?" Ledare asked in an exasperated tone.

"Ye shouldna be too hasty to dismiss the wee one, lassie. Perhaps he's right," Karak offered sagely. "In any case, I do believe we should be makin' up our minds as these statues seem to be ensorcelled. We should either go down below in the tunnel I found or go fetch your orc."

"We can't follow the secret tunnel without Feln. It would be foolish of us to follow it without somehow telling him," Ledare said flatly and Karak nodded again and stroked his voluminous beard.

"I do say, we of the dwarf clans never leave a clan brother alone," he said. "Although I also have to admit, Feln, be no dwarf. So why should I care?"

"Feln is a good person!" Vade told the dwarf, wiping tears off his cheeks with his sleeve.

"So ye say," Karak replied, hefting his axe up onto his shoulder. "And he did fight me good in hand to hand combat. I thought him a tough fighter then. I would hate to think he be outnumbered in a fight or down in a pit somewhere out there and be needin' our help."

"See?!?" Vade said to Ledare while pointing at the dwarf. "He could need our help."

"I still think it is best to wait for a while longer," Ledare explained. "Let's give it another hour."

"No! We need to go now," Vade asserted. "I hate this place! Let's go! I do not need a Fear spell to convince me to run as fast as I can away from here." Karak walked over to the halfling and put a heavy hand on Vade's shoulder.

"Why not we have Vade, here, scout just a little ahead since he be so willin'. And we go down the path looking for him," the dwarf suggested. "In the state you all ran outta here, he should have left a trail even a blind wizard could follow."

"Vade can't see in the dark," Morier reminded and Karak put a hand on his chin as he pondered. At last he turned to Ixin.

"Maybe that owl of yours, lassie, could be our eyes in the sky," the dwarf began and then his own eyes grew wide as he thought of an even better plan. "As I think of it, could that owl of yours not just go look for Feln? Then we could know what is up. Maybe, if Feln is lost, the owl can lead him back."

"That plan makes the most sense, I think," Ixin admitted. "Let's get Feln first and if we can come back and search the tunnel when the party is all together, we will. I will use Marty to scout ahead as we go, if he's willing." She asked looked at the owl and Martivir tested his wings before hooting his agreement. With a soft flutter, the bird took again to the air.

"I am not sure how long we should stay in sight of these statues," Karak added as he started after the owl. "I'll be followin' the orc's trail by ground. You lot can do as ye please."



"Marty's not having any luck finding Feln," Ixin announced after she'd spoken briefly to the owl. "He does say that there's something strange about these woods, though. He says that the trees are moving."

"Moving?" Ledare asked, confused. "Like the wind is blowing them?"

"Or like something big is moving through them?" Vade added, gulping audibly with fear and clutching Ledare's shield arm tightly.

"No," Ixin asserted. "Like they're changing position."

"The Wandering Trees!" Vade said suddenly, his voice full of excitement. "I've heard of this place! We're not too far from Haddonshire, where I was born."

"I've heard of it too," Morier added. "It's supposedly sacred to the druidic cult of Dridanis. Malcolm mentioned it a time or two over the years, but he wouldn't speak of it further."

"Supposedly the trees move around of their own accord," Vade said in his best spooky voice. Then he choked and let out a little whimper. "People get lost and never make it out again."

"Well as foolish as that all sounds, I think it might be the way o' things," Karak grumbled and got up off his hands and knees where he'd been examining the ground. "According to these tracks, your orc ran smack into this 'ere tree. Course I can't find any other sign that he did. It's like he ran straight through it. Or like the tree moved across his path after he came through."

"We'll never find him," Vade whimpered, pressing his cheek against Ledare's thigh. "The trees won't let us."

"Well, Marty also says that there's another trail that runs at cross paths to this one a little ways ahead," Ixin offered. "If these trees indeed blocked Feln's return path after he came through, he may have made it as far as the connecting trail. Maybe we could find his tracks there."

"That be a mighty big 'if', lassie," Karak grumbled as he peered off into the thicket of trees ahead.

"Trouble is, I don't think we've got much of a choice," Ledare said. "Without a return path, there's little chnnce of Feln finding his way back to us without some help."

"We can't just leave him," Vade protested.

"Nae, lad. We can't just leave 'im," Karak agreed as he bent back a branch and ventured off the narrow path. "Stick close together like. I don't want anybody else gettin' lost."

"Fly ahead and wait for us at the other path," Ixin whispered to Martivir and tossed the bird high. She was confident that she'd be able to use her connection to the owl as a sort of compass to keep them from wandering off course as they trudged in the dark through the thick underbrush.



If moving along the path had been frightening for Vade, movement straight through the forest was even worse. The trees pressed in all around them. Branches seemed to claw at them as they passed. Exposed roots sought to trip the unwary. A pervasive rustling and creaking filled the otherwise still night air. At one point, a large branch dropped suddenly from above in such a way that it fell on everyone. Only Karak and Vade managed to avoid the deadwood timber, and the others cried out in alarm as the branch bore them all to the ground. The damage to each of them was minor, but unsettling, and in the case of Morier - who had suffered greatly at the jaws of the ant swarm - enough to bring him nearly to the point of unconsciousness.

"I get the feeling we are unwanted here," the albino mused as he got unsteadily to his feet.

"The feeling is mutual," Vade whispered under his breath, fearful that the trees might somehow hear him and understand his words.

"Martivir is just up ahead," Ixin encouraged and they plowed through the clutching branches and thorny nettles to reach the intersection path.



He heard them long before he saw them, and it was a simple matter for Feln to step into the shadows as Karak and the others clawed their way out of the underbrush. The dwarf looked both ways up the path and then bent to the ground.

"His tracks head off that way," Karak said after a moment's examination. He pointed in Feln's direction.

"West," Ledare asserted after she looked the opposite direction up the path and then at the patch of sky just visible through the dense foliage overhead.

"I think it's north," Morier countered and there was another heated debate over which direction was north - or more importantly, which direction was south. As they argued, Feln stepped out of the shadows and leaned against a tree in plain sight to watch them.

Even so, it was several moments before anyone saw him. And even then it was Ixin's owl that spied him first.

"My, but you're a stealthy bunch," Feln mused with a rueful shake of his head.

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

When good familiars go bad......

 

[Jon Potter]

When good familiars go bad......

Yeah. That was stretching the "Share Spells" rule a bit, but I thought it made it a little more interesting.

I rolled very high for Marty's attacks. Of course, when his attacks do 1 point of damage, he could have rolled criticals without seriously endangering Morier.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #265] Hunting Party

"These woods are full of trickery," Feln grumbled. "I have learned a bit of tracking from Windstryder but this damned forest has me turned all around."

"We know," Ledare said and Vade piped up.

"The trees move around!" he said and Feln grunted in reply.

"There are creatures about as well," the half-orc added, holding up the torn remnants of his jacket as an example. "Watch out for spiders webs."

At the mention os spiders, Ledare let out an audible gulp and Vade tightened his grip on her shield hand. She looked down at him and whispered, "Vade, do you remember what I told you about watching for spiders? Be vigilant."

"It is okay, Kitten," the halfling replied, stroking her mailed gauntlet reassuringly. "I'll protect you."

At that, Karak harrumphed and rolled his eyes - not that Vade could see him do so in the darkness. He turned and said in a conspiratorial whisper, "She is afraid of spiders, you know."

"If we stay a bit apart we should be able to keep each other safe," Feln offered but Ledare cleared her throat.

"I-," she began, searching for an easy explanation for Vade's statement. "I had a bad experience once." Marier laid a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her comfortingly.

"No one faults you for your reluctance to relive past hurts," the albino said, and the tone of his voice reminded the Janissary that of all her companions only he truly knew what she meant when she said 'bad experience'.

Karak spat into the bushes, tiring quickly of all the spider talk. He fixed his eye on Feln and pointed at the martial artist with a thick finger. "Oi, Orc-Blood! Where've you been at, eh?" he challenged. "It be seemin' tha' even tho we be lookin' for you, instead you be the one ta find us!"

"What's the matter, Karak?" Feln shot back. "Are you still sore that I beat you in that contest?"

"Beat me?!" the dwarf roared and raised his waraxe to chest level, his fingers white-knuckled upon its haft. "You beat me? Why you fungular, sliver-witted goblin-spawn! I'll show you who-" Karak's tirade was cut short by a calming word from Ledare and a plaintive look from the halfling.

Vade stepped forward cautiously and looked up at Feln. "Are you okay?" he asked in a small voice.

"Would you like your sacred knife back?" the half-orc asked in reply, his eyes studying the little rogue's face intently.

"What do you mean 'my knife'?" Vade asked, patting himself down. "Do you mean the one that is really yours? 'Cause I didn't take it. I promised I wouldn't unless I asked first and you haven't been around to ask so-"

Feln crouched down and opened the flap of his torn jerkin to show Vade the handle of the knife in question (although Vade had only the vaguest idea what what the half-orc was doing in the darkness). "I am just being paranoid, my friend," the martial artist explained and Vade sighed with relief and gave the half-orc a big hug. "It seemed a bit convenient just bumping into you all on the trail."

"Convenient?" Ixin mused as she painfully worked burrs out of her hair. "Clearly you haven't been off the trail."

"And had a tree fall on you," Morier added weakly.

"Well, I do be admittin' to you all tha' I nae be likin' these woods," Karak grumbled. "I feel like a youngun trapped in a bad dream in this 'ere forest."

"A good analogy," Ledare said. "Karak found a secret tunnel back in those ruins. I suggest that we all stay together and return that way."

"Our options are becoming more limited," Ixin announced, pointing in the direction that Feln had just come.

The path was no longer there.



Thanks to Ixin's familiar, they were able to find their way back to the portal without getting lost. The return trip took much longer than the trip out had since the path that they had followed had disappeared entirely now. Still they shouldered their way through brambles and undergrowth without suffering any lasting injuries although they were all - even Karak - tired by the time they spotted the clearing in the woods ahead.

"Mazkurbak murgelm hermotmararn || Larigrulnosnar," Karak said to each of them in dwarvish before they stepped back out into the crumbling ruin surrounding the portal. Only Vade, who spoke dwarfish, and Ixin, whose magical cutlass endowed her with a permanent Tongues spell, understood the meaning of the words: 'I promise you safety and peace against magic. We conquer fear with our courage.'

Only Vade recognized the words for what they really were.

"Now!" the dwarf said, slipping once more into the common tongue. "All gather around. Remember those statues are set to have us run from this place. Keep your wits about you and dig down into your fortitude. If ye be gettin' funny thoughts to hurt yer companions, speak up first so's we don't be hurtin' ye."
And with that, he turned and walked defiantly into the clearing. But nothing waited for him and the statues remained inert.

"Mayhaps the statues've run out o' power," Karak suggested, but Ledare pointed toward the rear of the ruin, urging him and the others toward that area.

"Just the same, I'll feel better once they're not staring at us," she said and the dwarf couldn't argue with the logic of her statement. He followed her, muttering under his breath.

"I do nae know how those elves can be likin' these parts," he groused. "Gives me the creepies. Give me a nice deep dark cave any day."



"I did find tha tunnel but I do nae ken if there be any traps," the dwarf said, pointing at the smashed panel in the rear of the timeworn altar. Let's go down and out and find tha' Apprentice ye be after."

"How about we get a little rest," Ixin suggested, rubbing her aching neck. She smirked, "I feel like a dwarf's been beating on me with his axe."

"Oh ho!" Karak laughed. "An' well ye should, lassie! Well ye should!"

"I agree with Ixin," Vade said. "My feet hurt from all this walking."

"I have several healing draughts that I purchased from Maerwynn back in town," Morier said releasing the clasps on his finely tooled potion belt. He held it up for them to see even as he eased his battered frame to the ground. "I'm not eager to be rid of them all in one night, but those that need magical curing to get out of danger should make use of them." Taking his own advice, the eldritch warrior pulled out a vial, but Vade stayed his hand.

"Save your potion," the halfling said, rummaging through his prodigious backpack. He pulled out a gnarled shaft of black wood tipped with a red gemstone and waved it in the air mysteriously. "Your dad told me this wand is supposed to heal people. But none of us can work it." He turned to Karak and thrust the wand at him. "But you can!"

"Me?!" the dwarf recoiled from the device like it was on fire and he was made of paper. "Are ye daft, wee one? I be nae wizard!"

"Nope," Vade stated with confidence, forcing the wand into the dwarf's hands. "You're a priest."

"Ye're thinkin' o' me chalak," Karak asserted, thrusting the wand back at the halfling. "Malak be the one in The Queen's graces, nae me!"

"I saw you heal Morier," Vade accused and Karak harrumphed in reply.

"What of it?" the dwarf grumbled. "Did ye nae see the half-elf do the same thing to the wizard?"

Ixin didn't bother correcting him.

"I also saw you cast another spell on us before we came into the clearing," the halfling persisted.

"What?! That?!" Karak was more amused than anything else by this. "Tha's nae magic! Tha' be an old dwarven blessin' the tunnel wardens taught me back when I was your size. 'Course I was already helpin' to defend the delve from gobbos by then."

"Try the wand," Vade insisted.

"I do nae ken how to use this 'ere gnarled stick," the dwarf grumbled, swinging the wand around like a club. "It be nae big enough to hit someone with. Look 'ere, see." As an example, he tapped the halfling on the head with an audible thwap and the gemstone on the tip of the wand began to glow vermilion in the darkness. The ruined shrine was quickly filled with a ruddy glow.

Vade yelped and clutched his scalp in mock pain, but it only lasted an instant. He could feel the magic working its way through his body, and although he had no injuries to be healed, he was sure that it was healing magic. "See! I told you!" Vade cried, pointing to the wand as the gem's glow began to fade. Karak looked at the wand too.

"Well, I'll be an elf's uncle," the dwarf muttered, shaking his head.



The wand did indeed heal all those who needed healing, but it was of a slower sort that worked over the course of a minute rather than curing them all at once. All in all, they settled down feeling a good deal better than they had arrived in the clearing. It was, of course, short lived.

Morier and Karak took the first watch and neither warrior saw or heard anything out of the ordinary. Feln and Vade were next up and after an hour, they were more or less at ease in their duties (although Vade still repeatedly cursed the fact that he was completely blind in the dark).

"Use your ears, my friend," Feln told him, shifting his weight a little on the cold stone. The martial artist had opted for a bird's eye view of their campsite and the clearing as a whole, so he had scaled the remains of the rear wall and crouched there as still as a gargoyle. Vade didn't like being alone, and thanks to the Slippers of Spider Climbing had no fear of falling even though he couldn't see to climb. So he had joined the half-orc in a duty that was normally a solitary one for Feln. For some reason, he didn't mind as much as he thought he might.

"I'm glad I do not have to be on watch alone," Vade whispered loudly. "It is kind of scary."

"Hmmm," Feln murmured in agreement. "In all my time with Windstryder I have never encountered a place like this. The forest itself seems to want us-"

He was cut short by a jar of alchemist's fire shattering against the side of his head. The noxious goo inside burst into flames on contact with the air, peppering Vade with burning splatter. Not that either of them saw the second flask, but it arced up out of the trees and crashed squarely on Ixin's chest, splashing both Morier and Ledare with flaming syrup.

Vade distinctly heard the tittering commands of someone speaking gobbledy out in the darkness, and the voice was telling their archers to spread out.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #265] Goblins in the Night

Thinking quickly Vade shouted in his most authoritative voice, "Gej-jez! Kot rargad!" He then vanished from the wall beside the slightly dazed Feln. Ledare heard the halfling's words and, since she spoke gobbledy herself, understood that he had just shouted the command to stop shooting and charge the enemy.

"Zozgat!" another voice from over the wall protested. "Jez rargard!" Moment's later, another flask of alchemist's fire sailed out of the darkness shattering on the ground beside the Janissary, coating her in a sheet of liquid fire. She couldn't hear any more over the sounds of her own cries of pain as she began to roll furiously in the dirt.

"Oi, from wherst dost those fire globes be fallin'?" Karak grumbled as he scrambled to his feet, instantly awake. He slammed his helmet onto his shaggy head and hefted his waraxe. "Let's ready all, up and up. We are being attacked."

As if to lend further credence to his warning, an arrow lanced out of the darkness and buried itself in the dwarf's left calf. Karak looked down at the shaft and scowled.

Ixin awoke to find herself on fire! Of course, this was of little concern to her since she carried the blood of red dragons in her veins and was therefore resistant to all but the hottest of flames. Still it was startling and she looked around at her companions. Ledare had already rolled well away from the sorcerer, but Morier was rolling back and forth ineffectually beside her. Ixin reached out with her bare hands and began to beat at the flames that were burning the eldritch warrior.

"Take cover, Ixin!" Morier warned even as they worked together to smother the flames burning on his chest and shoulder.

Karak reached down and yanked the arrow out of his leg and sniffed it once before tossing it aside. "Poison!" he growled. "Gobbo poison! Seems like there be 'ere gobbos in these 'ere woods. I will attempt to snuff 'em out." He cast a single glance back at Morier, Ixin and Ledare before charging toward the nearest breech in the crumbling wall. "Watch me back, lads. I be goin' in!" and with that, he disappeared into the underbrush with his waraxe gripped tightly in both hands.

The nearest goblin let out a warning yelp and fired an arrow at the dwarf, but it struck the tree a full foot above Karak's head.

Ledare managed to put out the fire that was threatening to consume her only set of decent sleeping garb. Without getting up, she looked back toward the camp, spied Ravager and her shield balanced against her shiny new breastplate near where she'd been sleeping. She started to belly crawl back toward her equipment even as an arrow thudded into the ground where she'd laid moments before.

Finally regaining control of himself, Feln slipped into a state of eerie calm. Without a word, he back-flipped off the top of the wall and landed on his feet below where he proceeded to slap out the flames that were blistering the flesh on the side of his head. The smell of burning hair was horrible. He had time to see, but not react to a goblin who popped up from the underbrush long enough to lob a flask of alchemist's fire in the half-orc's direction. It shattered harmlessly against the wall to his right.

Ledare had just reached her weapons when another arrow struck the ground a few feet away, but who it was aimed at was unclear.

"Cover your ears everybody!" Vade's disembodied voice screamed from somewhere above followed by a grunt as he heaved a thunderstone with all his might toward the source of the voices he had heard. The area he was targeting was pretty thickly overgrown, and very dark, but the thunderstone struck against a tree trunk in the area and shattered. A colossal BOOM! resounded in the forest, sending flocks of birds flying from the trees nearby and causing a scream of goblin pain to rise up in its wake. This, of course, prompted Vade to become visible in the process and anyone who had cared to look would have seen a mischievous grin splitting the halfling's face. That is until the arrow whistled passed his head and the little rogue suddenly realized what a nice target he made now that he could be seen. As he went to activate the Ring of Invisibility, a second arrow graced his right hand and he squealed in pain.

"Are you alr-" Ixin started to ask and Morier pushed her away as he struggled to get up.

"Grab your crossbow and take cover behind the wall," the albino insisted as he scrambled over to Karak's bedroll and grabbed the dwarf's light crossbow. "We need to return fire!"

The two of them made there way at a stooped run to the edge of the ruins and fired into the woods, hitting nothing.

As arrows hissed through the branches above, Karak watched as the goblin struggled nervously with its quiver. The dwarf grinned back at the creature ferally and raised his waraxe. "I ask here an' now for the aid of my ancestors. May they guide me," Karak muttered and brought the blade affectionately to his lips. After planting a kiss, he took a step toward the goblin. "Come 'ere, me wee gobbo. I got a present for ye!"

The goblin finally managed to put arrow to string and fired a shaft straight into Karak's torso at point blank range. The dwarf's scowl deepened slightly as he continued to advance on the creature. He didn't spot the second goblin until after the foul creature had sunk a second arrow into the dwarf's already injured leg. It was a much stronger shot than he'd received previously - not enough to truly worry him, but it gave him pause.

Ledare snatched up what gear she could and raced for the cover of the ruin wall. With her back pressed against the cold stone, she strapped on her crossbow belt and secured her shield just in time to block another arrow aimed for her chest. This time, however, she saw the breech in the wall that the goblin was using as an impromptu arrow slit, and her eyes narrowed as she unsheathed Ravager.

In the darkness behind the ruin, Feln popped a healing draught and brought it to his lips. As the elixir eased his pain, he fixed his eye on the goblin who had thrown the alchemist's fire and dove behind the nearest tree.

To Glub, the goblin that had been readying his bow to attack the half-orc, it was as if the forest had drank the martial artist in one silent gulp.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #266a] Exchanging Glances

Vade activated the Ring of Invisibility and did his own disappearing act. Moments later, safely cloaked by magic, he raced down the side of the wall and headed toward Ixin and Morier - the only two of his companions he could see in the darkness. He could dimly make out Ledare moving toward an opening in the ruined wall and saw her bat away another arrow with her shield. Draelond's big, jagged sword was in her right hand.

Ixin worked to pull back the string on her crossbow, and the weapon slipped out of her hands, launching itself up and over her head by the very tension in its bowstring. It nearly clipped her nose as it went flying to land with a thud ten feet behind her.

"Nothing fancy, Ixin," Morier deadpanned and raised his borrowed crossbow. He fired into the trees, hitting nothing.

Karak, had no such trouble. He closed quickly with the goblin in front of him, striking true with every ounce of his strength and every bit of his race's contempt for goblinkind. It was difficult to discern just where the blow had landed on the creature; there was more of the goblin splattered on the nearby trees than was left inside its ratty leather armor.

Ledare saw her quarry dart away from the narrow gap in the ruined wall and she altered her course to intercept. She stepped up onto a bit of fallen rubble and vaulted lightly over the wall, landing easily five feet away from the startled goblin. It didn't get a chance to cry out, however, before Ledare brought Ravager up in a cruel arc. The sword split the creature literally in half, its saw-toothed blade seeming almost to relish the carnage.

"Dakar ot, kez," the goblin who had already injured Karak hissed as he nocked another arrow and sent it the dwarf's left bicep.

"Not today," Karak answered as he fixed the goblin with his steely gaze. The creature moved off into the underbrush and disappeared from Karak's sight.

Ixin cried out as she moved to retrieve her crossbow and suffered an arrow to her left fore arm.

Glub the goblin put down his crossbow and drew his shortsword and dagger. He knew well, the way of the hunt, and knew that the half-orc would be closing with him to engage in hand-to-hand. That was the way of orcs. But Glub was a goblin and he preferred the silent and swift arrow to the messy complication of-

His thoughts were cut short by Feln's foot slamming into the back of his head. The goblin cried out and pitched forward, but recovered quickly enough to slash the half-orc's shin with its shortsword.

Ledare dodged an arrow meant for her head. All it did was mark the archer in her sight and she moved toward the goblin with her sword ready.

Ixin reached her crossbow and was reaching for it when she heard the whirring sound nearby. An instant later, Vade appeared from nowhere with his sling extended in his hand. The sound of breaking glass followed by the horrible wail of a creature in mortal agony alerted her to the goblin archer that had been shooting at her from a breach in the wall. Vade had made use of his last glass sling bullet and the goblin was quickly reduced to a pile of steaming goo by the concentrated acid within the missile.

"That is what they get for messing with my friends," the halfling said grimly.

"Thank you," Ixin said, somewhat taken aback by the halfling's attack. She stooped to pick up her crossbow and then moved to return to her position on the wall when Morier fired an arrow through the throat of the goblin Ledare had targeted.

Suddenly without any obvious opponents, Ledare called out to Karak, who she could see nearby. "Are there more?" she asked.

"I lost one o' the wee buggers," the dwarf crumbled, sweeping his axe through the underbrush in the hopes of drawing the creature out. "It got away."

"Ixin? Morier?" Ledare shouted, moving back toward their campsite. "Are you alright?"

"We're fine," Morier called back. "Battered a bit, but otherwise fine."

"What about my buddy Feln?" Vade cried out and a goblin head thudded to the ground near the halfling's feet. The goblin's head had been twisted off its body.

Feln dropped down from the top of the wall and moved easily toward them.

"That's the last of the ones on my side," he told them before looking pointedly at the halfling. "No more talking while on duty, Vade," he said with a frown.