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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Paka" data-source="post: 1350787" data-attributes="member: 100">The Riddle of Midnight - Into the Pits - Post # Unlucky 13DM's Note:  Yes, Karhoun has gone in a different direction than the rest of the party again.  We talked about it as a group and I was more than happy with the idea of each character going in a different direction but that didn't happen.  Baau and Vorden went north while Karhoun looked to the south, towards home.  JJ, player of Karhoun, made up Jurez, an introduced but not much fleshed out NPC.  For those familiar with the Riddle, when they made up an NPC, they got to keep their Insight points towards their main character.  For those who are fans of Karhoun Esben, you are not alone.  Yesterday on the phone JJ said, We have to game again and get this Elfy stuff out of the way, get back to Karhoun.  I agreed.  The Return of Karhoun will be an amazing game.  I know I'm looking forward to it.  Thanks for reading.  Enjoy.They road the Storm King’s clouds over the harsh northlands.  Even the far-ranging Snow Elves had never traveled to these lands.  They passed over Orcish villages and Vorden asked the King to snow on them harder.  Finally they came to a vicious cleft in the earth that was the Breeding Pits.  “They say this was made when Izrador fell from heaven to earth but I’m not sure if I believe such tales,” the Storm King said.They were left a few miles from the gorge and the Storm King told Vorden, “When you wish to summon me, merely strip to the waste, as when I found you.  I’ll come when you do so and then take you to the Kaladrun Mountains so that you might do my bidding there.”The Storm King’s passage had left these lands covered in snow and they found a pristine white path to the gorge.  Jurev took great care in covering their tracks, using a branch from a fir tree.  He and Hishaya left no tracks in the snow but his southern Elven cousins did not tread delicately on the snow as Erunsil did.  There was one road to the pits and many smaller paths.  They tread around the road with caution and finally came within sight to where the road descended.  The gorge was a jagged cleft in the earth and at the bottom of it were the pits, where the Shadow bred horrors for his armies and for his amusement.At the entryway to the gorge was a sturdy wooden plank with another plank crossed so it appeared like a small “t”.  Upon the plank was a crucified man.  His hands were nailed to the plank above his head and below him his feet were nailed likewise.  To the outward planks the Shadow had nailed the creatures wings.  It was obvious that once the wings were made of soft white feathers but now they were gray and ragged, like a diseased bird.  Above the crucified angel floated two banners.  One was the sigil of Vorden Qell’s father, Sorcerer of Shadow, blessed Night King of Izrador.  The other banner held the moniker of King Jhazir, the Shadow’s Sword, general of the Shadow’s Armies, anointed king of all Eredane.Vorden Qell’s mouth dropped open.  “That is an angel.”  He quickly looked in his lorebook and found a lengthy passage.  “That is a god’s servant.  He could tell us of life in Eredane before the Sundering.  He could aid us against Izrador, spreading hope to all who saw him.”Vorden turned to Baau and looked him squarely in the eyes.  “I am sorry, Baau, but this quest has taken on new meaning.  Your love is no less important to me but now rescuing that divine being has become just as important to me.  I will not leave without him.”Baau nodded.Hishaya snorted.  “Prince, we will be lucky to leave here alive at all.  If anyone touches that thing there is no doubt in my mind that the Shadow’s hordes will follow them to the ends of Eredane, or less the Shadow wouldn’t have put the creature out here.”“He was put here to torment us.  He was placed right in our view so the Shadow knew that he had us where we wanted him.  No, we are going to get that creature down and we are going to spread his hope to the poor people who have lived under Izrador’s yoke,” Vorden retored sharply.Hishaya warned him, “Then think of a plan to get his wife out and us away from here with the crucified creature.  I would like to hear it.”Jurev added, “I could scout the entrance, perhaps talk to the creature.”Vorden looked at the banners.  “My father is down there,” he said, the banner’s sigil had been burned onto his forehead, hidden by his skullcap.  His father had pushed his signet ring onto his son’s brow and branded him with the seal of a Night King.  “Baau, my friend, I hope my father had no plans to wed your bride…or turn her into something  unnatural.”Baau looked at the ground, all of the others looked away, not saying what they thought.  If they wanted to turn her into something, she would already have been transformed into something unnatural.After a discussion, Jurev and Hishaya crept up to the crucifiction.  They moved in total stealth, anyone watching would have seen nothing but wind bustling over the snowdrifts.  The creature had his eyes closed and the banners of two of four Night Kings fluttered in the wind above him.  The angel spoke.  “Whoever you are, turn around and find more hospitable lands.  These lands are cursed and damned.  Mine eyes have been replaced with a demon’s.  Please, go away and pretend you never saw this place.“If I see you, the demon will see you and your life will be forfeight.”Jurev asked, “How long have you been here?  What is your name?”The crucified responded, “I have been here for a long time.  I don’t know how to reckon time anymore.  I don’t know my name, only that I was once a chronicler.  Please go.”They left, returning to the southern Elves with their findings.After much discussion they decided that Vorden would enter the pits freely, as a son of a Night King.  None knew of his actions these past months and so he would gamble with his life.  Once below the Crimson Prince would tell King Jhazir of a band of Snow Elf Assassins on the far end of the gorge, here to murder the king.  Vorden would attempt to ride with the King, so that he could divert him if it looked like Baau and his Snow Elf companions were to be uncovered.Once Jhazir went to the other end of the gorge to find his would-be assassin the remaining Elves would climb down the gorge’s cliff walls and enter the Breeding Pits on foot.  If they survived they would meet at the spot where they planned and make their way from this place.Holding his head high, his overconfidence like a weapon, Vorden Qell proudly approached the angelic creature on the cross.  The Chronicler begged, “Please, fair Elf, leave this place.”Vorden replied, “I will free you.  But before that, open your eyes and tell my father, Ardherin, the Sorcerer of Shadow, that his son, the Crimson Prince has arrived.”The Angel opened his eyes and they were black as the stones of Theros Obsidia.  “They Eye Demon is coming, Crimson Prince.  It is coming.”Vorden was greeted by the so-called eye demon.  He recognized it instantly from his Lorebook.  The creature was a Beholder, created in the libraries of Highwall to remember books and scrolls, so that fire would destroy no information.  Izrador had tainted the beast, so Highwall’s greatest minds and lore were destroyed by the beast they had created to preserve just that.  It was a great floating skull-like head with one central eye above a great maw of jagged teeth.  Eye stalks crowned its head and two of those eyes glowed with a bright light.The beast beheld Vorden with its many eyes and bade him to follow.  Having no other choice, the Prince descended the path, into the pits below.The three other Elves stayed far away, hiding in the snow, waiting for Jhazir to begin his search.  They held their breaths and their bows, hoping Vorden would be safe and they would all meet him, free the angel and leave with Baau’s bride, the Gem of the Muransil.They knew Vorden had baited King Jhazir successfully when his unholy host thundered up the side of the gorge where no road had been apparent.  The King’s steed was a demonic steed.  Fire rose from its hooves and main and smoke bellowed from its nostrils.  Every one of Jhazir’s host of 12 Shadow Knights road a steed like that but Jhazir’s must have been especially bred for size.  His steed was immense.  The host sped past the angel and left the King’s own banner on the crucified chronicler’s face.The three Elves left their hiding spots and made their way to the gorge.  Just before climbing down, Baau turned to Jurez.  He took out the arrow, Shadowsbane and gave it to him.  “Jurez, take this,” Baau said simply.  Not asking why, or what had possessed him to do such a thing at a time like this, Jurez took the arrow made by the best magics of Elf and Dwarf for slaying creatures of Shadow.  He remembered the Dragon’s words, “I’m not sure what it will do.  Just make sure you fire it at a creature of Shadow.”When the king and his company were on the other side of the gorge their trail was obvious.  Their steed’s hooves and main were signal fires and it was easy to tell that Jhazir and his host were far away.  Stealthily, Baau led the Snow Elves to the edge of the gorge.  Together they climbed down, always keeping one eye on the king and his knights, whose steeds were creating steam as it melted snow.Jurez was pleased by the fires, it covered their trail to the gorge easily enough and made the king easy to spot.  Using rope, they descended.  When they hit the bottom of the gorge it didn’t feel like they were truly down so easily.  That is when the King sounded a note on his terrible horn.  The horn’s note sounded like a thousand babies crying or the strangled cry of a dead god.  It was the very music of horror.Jurez’s knees buckled and he fell to the ground, into a shallow stream at the bottom of the gorge.  Hishaya took Jurez, throwing his arm over her shoulder but as they continued the hoofbeats could be heard, echoing off of the walls of the cliffs.  Baau looked at Hishaya.  Jurez was her kinsman.  She hid him well between a stone and a bush.  “I am sorry, cousin.  Please forgive me,” she said, leaving him as hidden as she could, using no glamours in fear of a astirax, or sniffer demon, smelling the Spellcraft and hunting them down.Together, Hishaya and Baau decided on one of the many caves and entered, hoping Jhazir would not catch their trail.Jurez came out of his state of comatose horror, not understanding where he was.  In front of his face, not ten paces from where he lay, a fiery hoof struck the shallow streambed; steam rose.A voice rang through the night, like fire through a maiden’s hair.  “When I next see that Princeling, I will put him to the sword, Sorcerer be-damned!”Another voice responded, “M’lord, there was a camp.  We found sign of Elves, about the same number as the Sorcerer’s Princeling spoke of.  But I lost their trail.”The first voice barked, “How?  How could you be so incompetent!”“Our steeds don’t leave much sign left in the snow, m’lord.  Our chase was less than subtle.”The King responded coldly, “If you think as much of our steeds you can join the prince on the end of my blade, then.  I’ll kill that fool Elf, his son and his fool bride if I wish it.  “I care not if the Dragon and the Priest scheme in the south.  Tis all the south’s good for anyway.  The north was made for blood.”They cantered their horses down the stream, away from Jurez, towards the main entrance of the pits. Jurez gripped his bow tightly and silently strung his bow.  Kneeling he took Shadowsbane in his hand and pulled the string to his ear.  The knights and their king were shadowy figures in the starlight.  Very little moonlight reached the bottom of the gorge but their steeds’ manes were unholy fires.  The king’s sillouette was the largest of the thirteen Shadowspawn.  Jurez’s breath caught in his throat as he realized that Jhazir must be nine feet tall.  His blade was a dopplehander that he wielded in one hand alone.  Jurez aimed for the throat, just between where he assumed there was a gap between where the armor and the helm met.  If his target was a normal man, Jurez would be correct but his quarry this night was a Night King.  Jhazir’s armor covered him like skin, an unholy black plate.They were moving but in a steady pace.  Jurez took a moment to familiarize himself to their motions, their rhythm before firing.  When the Snow Elf let the arrow fly, Shadowsbane lept from the bowstring like an ivory hawk.  The arrow seemed lit like a pillar of light.It pierced the Night King, King of all Eredane, General of Shadow and he fell to the ground with a terrible clang.  The white arrow stuck in Jhazir’s throat, as if it was destined to be there.  The twelve knights responded swiftly, as if they had trained for such an event, as if they always knew someone would try.  Three knights gathered around the king, in case of a more arrows.  One dropped from his horse and tended to his liege, while the others put their shields up, harboring their king against further attack.The nine other Shadow Knights, personal honor guard of the Night King, wheeled around towards the attacker.  The Shadowsbane arrows were not made for stealth, their crafters had not forseen a day when an Elven archer would need to fire upon a Shadowspawn like an assassin in the night.  The arrow left a blazing trail of light in its wake and the trail led directly to Jurez.  The Snow Elf desperately began climbing the cliff face.  He made it up a few body-lengths, ignoring ice and snow when he looked behind him.  The Nightmares of the Shadow Knights road up the sides of the cliff.  The steeds were galloping full tilt up the sides of the gorge as if it were a grassy hill on a sunlit day.  Their horses were snorting furiously as they spurred them with their cold iron heels.  Barbed lances were leveled at the archer who had felled their lord.Jurez knew he only had a moment or two to react.  Quickly, he jumped.  There was a cave on the other side of the gorge.  He could see it by the starlight.  If he made it insight, perhaps he could take the knights one at a time, or even two.  Anything was preferred to being run down like a dog by armored men on horse with lances.He jumped across the gorge from an impossible height.  The fall broke his ankle with a terrible snap and he hobbled a few desperate steps before falling.  A few minutes later, the knights found him.  Jurez had no last words, only his knives out, ready to die fighting.The first knight’s runeblade devoured the Snow Elf assassin’s soul.  After that they took his head, hoping that bringing it to the other Night Kings would save their lives, should Jhazir perish.</blockquote>

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