The Realms of Enlightenment: The Grey Companions

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #279a] The Scene of the Crime

Grisham was broken. He sagged forward so that his face rested nearly on the ground as sobs wracked his body. The sudden display of tenderness was so unlike the caustic attitude that they had come to expect from the barbarian that for a few moments nobody acted. After an uncomfortable pause, Vade disengaged himself from Ledare and eased up to Grisham's side.

"I am sorry for your friend, Grisham," the halfling said, his voice dripping with sincerity. He laid a hand on the barbarian's shoulder and Grisham's body stiffened. He looked up abruptly at Vade, studying the halfling's face with bloodshot eyes.

"Would you mock my weakness, hobbit?" Grisham growled and dragged his forearm across his dripping eyes. A smear of trail grime spread across his forehead. Vade withdrew his hand as if he'd just touched a hot stove

"No," Vade replied and took a step backward. Grisham kept pace with him, creeping like a predatory cat.

"Plonius was my friend!" the barbarian snarled. "Am I not entitled to my grief?!"

"Of course you are," the halfling answered, uncertainly. "I've lost some friends too and-"

"Enough, Grisham!" Ledare commanded, coming to her companion's defense. "Vade was trying to offer you consolation and you turn on him? I respect the fact that you are are hurt by this discovery, but that is no cause to attack someone who is offering you aid!"

Grisham glared up at her without saying anything. His eyes challenged her and she didn't back down from it. She held his eyes as she went on.

"We should search the area and see if we can determine how this man died," she said. "Plonius is beyond our help now, but perhaps his name may yet be cleared."

Grisham looked at her for a moment longer and then his face softened. He nodded and turned away, busying himself with an examination of the ground. After he was no longer staring her down, Ledare let out a relieved sigh.

"Thank you, Kitten," Vade whispered and by the tension in the Janissary's eyes he could see that they had probably avoided bloodshed by a narrow margin. She waved at the body in the bushes.

"Let's take a look," Ledare said and they moved in closer to investigate.

Up close, the death smell was worse, but several interesting things presented themselves at once. The first thing Ledare noticed was that the man's leather armor was very well-made and she remembered it from her previous encounter with The Hound. It had distinctive and intricate tooling across the chest and shoulders as well as a curious lattice-work of leather straps on the arms and legs. Grimacing, she rolled the body onto its side in order to see the back. There wasn't a mark on it anywhere.

"It wasn't sword or arrow that killed him," she announced as she lowered the body back down. Vade's hands moved deftly over the body, but discovered little of interest. A dagger with a curved blade and a brass handle cast in the shape of a cricket was concealed in the left boot, but other than that and the weapons that they had already seen there was nothing on him. He had neither pouches nor pack, nor any sign that he'd carried either prior to his death.

"What do you make of this?" Ledare asked, pointing to the body's wrists. There were several bloody grooves cut into both arms just above the hands. Leafy material was lodged in the lacerations. Vade grimaced and unconsciously rubbed his own wrists.

"Looks like restraint marks," the halfling observed darkly. "Maybe he was tied up with vines before... You know." His voice trailed off.

"There's blood on these bushes, too," Ledare added, turning her attention to the shrubs in which the body lay. "And this mark around his neck looks like a necklace or something was ripped off." She grimaced again and got to her feet. "Ixin? Is there anything magical here?"

The sorcerer stepped up and cast her spell. "Sword. Armor. Knife," she observed. "There's a slight dweomer on the body itself, but it's too weak to identify. I think he was killed by magic." The Janissary nodded.

"That would explain why there's no mark on the-" Ledare started to say when Karak interrupted.

"Wha' be this?" he asked, nearby and Morier stooped down where the dwarf was looking. He reached down to the ground and produced a lump of dusky glass.

"Lightning strike," the albino told him after sniffing the glass. He pointed to other nearby disturbances in the soil. "There's another one there. And there. And there."

"There be other tracks here, too," Karak observed. "Nae jus' the man we been followin'. A might smaller, like an elf or a half-elf."

"Here's where our killer went," Grisham called from the cliff edge where he crouched beside a gnarled old tree. "The tracks lead from the body to this tree. There's a rope tied off that trails down the cliff."

Feln looked over the edge of the cliff and could see the rope, swinging slightly in the breeze. It descended down into the mysterious darkness of the forest below. "He went down?" the half-orc asked and Grisham nodded.

"Within two days," the barbarian announced. "And he didn't come back up."

 

[Funeris]

Ok...I've read all thirteen of the pages you have up here...and I may go back and read what came before. Keep writing, man. Its good stuff.

I was quite happy when Windstryder left the party and Karak joined. Karak seems to deal better with the group. And its all about the party. Plus Karak is
just more humorous and the rivalry between Vade and he definitely lightens up
the hopeless tone often imbued in the story.

One question though, am I reader #4 or 5?
Keep up the good work.

 

[Jon Potter]

Ok...I've read all thirteen of the pages you have up here...and I may go back and read what came before. Keep writing, man. Its good stuff.

I'm glad you like it. It's a labor of love for me, but it's also nice to hear that others appreciate it as well.

I was quite happy when Windstryder left the party and Karak joined. Karak seems to deal better with the group. And its all about the party.

Yeah! I think that the party as a whole is better off with Karak (with the possible exception of Feln who lost his only friend other than Vade). But it's funny that the guy playing both characters decided to switch from the elven ranger right before the big outdoorsy adventure tracking a killer through elven lands. :\

Plus Karak is just more humorous and the rivalry between Vade and he definitely lightens up the hopeless tone often imbued in the story.

If you think the tone is hopeless now, you really should read the stuff when they were 1st level.

One question though, am I reader #4 or 5?

Other than Hairy Minotaur, you're the only one I've had in... oh, 10 pages or so.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #280] A Mighty Wind

"Is there only a single set of tracks?" Ledare asked and both Karak and Grisham nodded.

"That's good," Vade sighed. But Ledare wasn't so sure.

"I don't know, Vade." she observed. "It's certainly significant if one individual was responsible for this murder. The Hound was no easy target for slaying. Right, Grisham?"

The barbarian nodded grimly and there was a note of pride in his voice when he spoke. "At the second battle of Aquae Sulis he left two score gnolls dead on the field before he sought healing. I've seen many men cross blades, and I can count Plonius' equals at swordplay on one hand... with fingers to spare."

"It was magic that killed him, though," Ixin reminded gently and Ledare nodded.

"And if these other tracks belong to a magic-user with the intention of killing him, why bother with binding the hands and all that?" she asked. "The lacerations match these very bushes, so clearly he was killed here."

"What does it all mean?" Vade mused and scratched his head.

"Bah!" Karak grumbled. "Give me somethin' I can sink me axe into! Nae all these questions!"

"The dwarf is right," Feln said reluctantly. "I say we go down now!" He moved over toward the rope.

"Now hold on," Ledare cautioned. "I agree that we need to go down, but let's be smart about it. We don't have any idea what's down there."

"I could cast Dancing Lights and send them down to the bottom of the cliff," Ixin suggested. "That should give us some idea what's down there."

"Good idea," Ledare said with a nod and the sorcerer went through the necessary evocation, agitating the ether between her hands until the normally-invisible mana coalesced into four globes of ruddy light. They bobbed in the air above her palm until she mentally directed them down into the valley.

The others peered over the edge of the cliff, watching as the globes went in a tight cluster that swirled and pulsed as the individual lights orbited one another. Ixin sent them down to the floor of the valley and out to the maximum range at which she could sustain the spell, but there was nothing of import to see. No foes crouched in ambush on the shadowy forest floor, and it was much too far to spot any tracks below. The trees and shrubs below rustled in the breeze, but concealed no enemies that they could see. After a minute, the spell ran its course and the lights abruptly winked out as if the hungry darkness swallowed them whole.

"Well, that wasn't particularly helpful," Ixin apologized and Grisham grunted.

"I'll go down and find-" he started to say and Ixin forestalled him.

"No! I should go first," she told him. "I have a spell that can tell us something about the last person who used this rope, but I need to be the first one to step into the area. If I follow you down and then cast the spell, all it'll do is pick up echoes of you."

"Maybe we should wait until morning," Morier suggested. "We can move on with some light to see by and less weary from the trail. But sleeping here carries with it a certain... I don't know, call it a concern if you will... I hate to use the word fear."

Ledare looked at Morier and then out across the canopy of the forest below. The last fading rays of Orin's shield were glowing over the thick sheets of webbing that were strung there. "Not a bad idea," she admitted. "But we'll need to take some precautions."

"I can string some alarms," Vade said eagerly. "I learned how to make them when I was younger. We used to have this problem with yappies coming in and stealing the village chickens so we-"

"Vade," Ledare interrupted. "Maybe you can tell Feln about it while the two of you set some up."

"I'll get us some food," Grisham said before he lurched off into the surrounding forest.

"Let's the rest of us put Plonius to rest," the Janissary suggested. "He deserves a burial at least. And I don't much fancy the thought of his rising as undead."



Vade took about twenty minutes to carefully set up broken bits of used potion bottles in several likely approaches to the group's campsite on the cliff edge. He also spent another twenty minutes setting up tripwires cunningly affixed to the two thunderstones he carried. The rest of the time before dinner called him was spent in setting up the classic "porcupine's kiss" trap - a tripwire affixed to Ixin and Karak's loaded crossbows. He was quite happy with his work, although he really wasn't sure that the crossbow trap would go off as he hoped.

They ate without joy, huddled around a small fire in a vast dark night. The sky was clear and stars glittered there like diamonds strewn across black velvet.

Earthday, the 6th of Reaping, 1269 AE​

​

The watches passed uneventfully and the Orin's Shield rose to find Grisham kneeling sadly beside Plonius' grave. His sword was laying across his knees and tears shown wetly on his cheeks. The others knew better than to try to comfort the man and instead went about the business of breaking camp and readying themselves for the decent into the valley below.

Ixin, it was decided, would go first so that she could safely cast Recent Occupant and learn something about their new quarry. She would be followed swiftly by Grisham and Feln. Morier and Ledare would go once the others had safely reached the bottom. Vade, who didn't need to use the rope thanks to his Slippers of Spider Climbing and Karak who didn't need to climb at all due to his Ring of Feather Falling would descend whenever seemed prudent.

Ixin stood at the edge of the cliff, her red hair whipping this way and that in the eddies of wind, the stout rope held firmly in her strong hands. With one last look down into the dimness below she smiled at the others and said, "Here goes nothing."

She'd made it about half way - some fifty odd feet from the valley floor - when the air attacked.

Her only warning was a whistling sound that grew rapidly louder and shriller. She looked over her shoulder toward the apparent source of the noise and saw... something. A vague, misty shape came at her with incredible speed. Its form was amorphous and indistinct, but she got the unsettling impression of being regarded by an alien intellect before the wind roared into her with the force of a battering ram. It slammed her roughly against the cliff, sharp stone cutting through her scaly hide like it was silk. She cried out from the impact and managed to maintain her grip on the rope for just long enough to look up at the members of the VQS who were staring down over the cliff edge.

And then she fell.

 

[Felikeries]

i was wondering why the spell level adj for the characters party versus their
foes is never really discussed,you know maybe some question of what the enemy might cast and what they may use to counter,or some similar issue

obviuosley 'detect evil' or 'detect' magic' was a major factor for earlier versions of D&D,which i make the 'story hour' i write from,so if this is used,are there times when the players discuss what they are thinking of using versus the enemy and isn't written etc...

 

[Jon Potter]

WOO-HOO!! Another reader! I'll be darned! Welcome.

i was wondering why the spell level adj for the characters party versus their
foes is never really discussed,you know maybe some question of what the enemy might cast and what they may use to counter,or some similar issue

Well, there are really only three "spellcasters" in the party and all of them are spontaneous casters with fixed spell lists: Ixin (obviously), Morier and Karak. Of those, only Karak isn't a level-adjusted race, so we're not talking about spell casting powerhouses to begin with. Add onto that the fact that Morier is more interested in "burning" his spells to power his Eldritch Warrior powers (his character class is from Malladin's Gate Press' "Forgotten Heroes: Sorcerer") and Karak is in denial about being a cleric (for role-playing reasons) and has only cast two spells so far in the campaign, I think.

What you get is a group that thinks with its swords (so to speak). Magic is never the first thought for them and thus far, I haven't made their foes magic-focused either. Although if you spot the foreshadowing (such as the man in black who killed their prisoner in Strenchburg Junction way back in Turn #226) you know that that's going to change in the future.

obviuosley 'detect evil' or 'detect' magic' was a major factor for earlier versions of D&D,which i make the 'story hour' i write from,so if this is used,are there times when the players discuss what they are thinking of using versus the enemy and isn't written etc...

The short answer is yes. There's already a pretty high discussion-to-action ratio, so I tend to weed out the suggestions that go nowhere. The characters' conversations you read here aren't the totality of the players' conversations.

I hope that answers your question(s).

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

Other than Hairy Minotaur, you're the only one I've had in... oh, 10 pages or so.

Well shoot, I guess I should pop in and say it's been a good read getting caught back up while I was away at Gencon. Came away with some niffty books to torment my group, and on the plus side, I found my notes.

 

[orsal]

WOO-HOO!! Another reader! I'll be darned! Welcome.

If it means so much to you to know -- I've been following for a while, just never saw any reason to say anything about.

Good story. Keep it up.

 

[Jon Potter]

Well shoot, I guess I should pop in and say it's been a good read getting caught back up while I was away at Gencon.

Glad I could keep you entertained. I am surprised that you couldn't find something better to do at Gencon than read my storyhour, however.

Came away with some niffty books to torment my group, and on the plus side, I found my notes.

Does that mean that we might actually find out what happened with Tharhack?

If it means so much to you to know -- I've been following for a while, just never saw any reason to say anything about.

Yeah. It matters to me. I write this for myself and my players, but I wouldn't post it here if I didn't want others to see and enoy it.

Good story. Keep it up.

There's a good reason to break your silence right there.

Thanks.

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

Glad I could keep you entertained. I am surprised that you couldn't find something better to do at Gencon than read my storyhour, however.

Well surprisingly, there's only three things going on at 4:00am friday morning.

1) Vampire LARPers

2) Gencon the LARP (sleeping on concrete, in the hallway, on the grass, on a bench.)

3) Opening gaming with people who've either had too much to drink, or not enough.

Others experiences may vary, this is all I had where I was staying anyway.