Three Hundred Years - updated 09.02.2003

[carpedavid]

10.12.2002 - Session 2, Part 5

Before the soldiers get a chance to unsheathe their swords, Laurel draws her short sword and, in one smooth motion, opens a deep gash across the face of the guard standing closest to her. Immediately after her blow lands, Taminnyd looses the fireball he had been preparing, and it engulfs the general and three of the guards. Quara follows up by drawing her bow and firing an arrow that passes within an inch of the general's ear. He barely flinches, affording the arrow as much notice as he would a gnat.

Shoji moves up to one of the now smoking guards and collapses him with a kick to the midsection. The river of rage inside Scarlet breaks its levy and, screaming unintelligibly, she nearly decapitates the guard standing nearest her. Though wounded, the man manages to return the blow, but Scarlet neither feels the blow, nor cares.

The guard who was slashed by Laurel wipes the blood from his brow, snarls angrily, and retaliates with his own blade. Another guard moves to flank her, then sinks his long sword deep into her side, eliciting a yelp of pain. The two remaining guards flank and attack Shoji, and the one facing him looks deeply pleased as a long red line appears across Shoji's chest.

The general rolls his eyes and sighs heavily, then yells, "I'm needed on the ground, I don't have time for this! Fine! Kill them all!" He points at Taminnyd, "Especially him," then gives Laurel a leering look, "Try to make sure the elf woman is still warm when you bring her to me, though." He then pushes past his guards, and jumps head first over the railing of the ship, plunging toward the masses of ground troops over a thousand feet below. Taminnyd suddenly realizes where he's seen the man before: he's the man responsible for destroying his guild and slaughtering his master. He rushes to the railing, spouting every profanity he can think of, and sends another burst of fire at the fleeing general.

From his position on the Unicorn, Danklar sees the general leave the Displacer Beast, and suggests to Erendil that they should move to trap the flagship. Erendil agrees, and orders the pilot to bring them alongside the Darklorne. Wrayce grins mischievously, as the ship begins its maneuver, and thinks to himself, this'll be fun.

Back on the deck of the Displacer Beast, melee continues. Shoji and Laurel both take significant damage from the guards flanking them, but Scarlet manages to smash the brainpan of the guard she is fighting. Feeling her strength ebb, Laurel draws her long sword, calls upon the strength of all the Oakenblades who had gone before her, and runs her ancestral blade through the heart of the guard in front of her. A crimson spray coats her face, and stains the golden leaves that form the Oakenblade's hilt.

Taminnyd turns his attention back to the guards threatening his companions, and looses three golden bolts from his wand, which streak across the deck of the ship and slam into the back of the guard flanking Shoji. Quara sends arrows of her own into the neck of the other guard attacking Shoji, and they hit with such force that they nearly send his now-lifeless body over the railing of the ship. Scarlet sees nothing but red as she finishes off the guard who was flanking Laurel

As the Unicorn moves into position on the other side of the Darklorne, Erendil launches two arrows in a high arc. His expert marksmanship is evident as both arrows sail past the riggings and sails of the Darklorne and loge themselves in the head of the remaining guard, who collapses with a very surprised look on his face. With the immediate threat taken care of, the group looks up to see the Unicorn tossing out grappling hooks to reign in the Avengardan flagship.

On board the Unicorn, Danklar surveys the groups of archers visible on the deck of the Darklorne. He sees three squads of four, one at the bow, one at the stern, and one at mid ship, with half of each squad facing him and half facing the Displacer Beast. He thanks Dominus that they decided to cluster themselves together, and thanks him again as he calls upon the sacred light inside himself, and directs a burst of pure sonic energy to explode in the middle of the group at the bow. He thanks Dominus yet again as he watches another of Taminnyd's fireballs explode in the middle of the squad at the stern.

Laurel figures that she can't do much where she is, so she moves up to the railing of the Displacer Beast, to determine whether she can safely jump to the Darklorne. Quara eyes the Displacer Beast's ballista of lightning, and wonders if she can use it effectively at the short range between the ships. She smiles broadly when a crackling bolt of electricity through the squad of archers at mid ship.

Erendil plunks away at the archers with his own bow, while Wrayce follows Quara's lead, and uses the Unicorn's ballista to send lightning across the deck of the Darklorne. Scarlet, still blind to fear and reason, takes a running jump and lands squarely on the deck of the flagship. Shoji follows, but catches himself on the railing of the Darklorne, and has to spend a moment awkwardly freeing himself.

Unfazed by the arrows and ballista bolts being fired at them, the remaining archers target the two visible spellcasters. Both Taminnyd and Danklar are hit with multiple arrows, though Danklar is more severely damaged. Danklar reacts by sending a second sound blast at the squad at the bow of the ship. The sonic energy rips through their already injured bodies, shattering bone and tearing flesh; it leaves none standing.

Laurel decides to make the jump and takes a running leap over the railing of the Displacer Beast. As her feet leave the deck, though, she realizes that she has misjudged the distance, and begins to fall much sooner than she should. At the last possible second, she reaches out and manages to grab the bottom of the railing on the Darklorne. Trapped between the two giant ships, hanging by her fingers over a thousand feet above the ground, with arrows flying through the air above her head, Laurel feels a moment of panic.

The combined missile weapons of Quara, Erendil, and Wrayce manage to knock out the squad at mid ship, as Scarlet and Shoji lend a hand to Laurel and pull her up on deck. The remaining squad of archers, at the rear of the ship, all target Danklar. His body jerks as it is filled with arrows, and he slumps to the ground in a rapidly forming puddle of blood.

Now on the deck of the Darklorne, Laurel, Shoji, and Scarlet advance on the remaining archers. With magic missiles from Taminnyd and Wrayce, and arrows from Quara and Erendil, the archers fall with no more damage to the party. Wrayce runs over to Danklar and finds him still alive. He closed his eyes and places his hands on Danklar's brutally battered frame, and a soft golden glow fills the air. When the glow fades, Danklar opens his eyes.

"Damn," Danklar remarks with sly grin, "I was almost about to meet Dominus."

On the deck of the flagship, Scarlet slumps against the railing as the adrenaline flowing through her system wears off. Ugh, I always forget how much this sucks, she thinks to herself as she begins to feel pain again. Laurel and Shoji easily convince the rest of the crew to surrender to them, though the pilot refuses to cooperate.

While Laurel and Shoji try to decide what to do with the pilot, Taminnyd carefully climbs over to the Darklorne. He walks up to the pilot and says, "You're my new friend," while making subtle arcane gestures with his hands.

"Oh, hi!" the pilot replies, smiling.

"How'd you like to pilot this ship for us?" Taminnyd asks, while smiling smugly at Laurel and Shoji.

"Oh sure. Where'd you like to go," the pilot responds.

"Oh, I don't know, we'll let them decide that," he smirks, and points to the two captains.

Laurel shakes her head in disgust, but can't dismiss Taminnyd's implication. Laurel waits for the other members of the group to congregate on the Darklorne before asking a very pointed question, "So, we've just attacked an Avengardan general and taken over his flagship, on the wrong side of the front! By Ehryssa's grace, what do we do now?"

 

[carpedavid]

Session 3, Part 1 - 11.9.2002

After a hasty discussion, the group decides to split into three: Taminnyd, Danklar, Dew, Scarlet, and Wrayce take the Darklorne; the six soldiers take the Unicorn; and Erendil, Shoji, Quara, and Laurel take the Displacer Beast. They decide the following: the two attack ships will sail north toward the prison, taking separate routes, while the stolen flagship will head northwest in an attempt to divert any potential pursuers. They all hope to meet up in a week back in New Charleston.

Goodbyes are said, and then the three ships set sail in different directions. After an hour, the crew of the Displacer Beast looses sight of the other ships, and begins to feel very alone. The next two days are nerve-wrackingly uneventful. They pass ship after ship, holding their breath each time, preparing themselves to be stopped, but end up encountering no resistance. As Dominus begins to set over the western horizon on the second day, Erendil, Shoji, Quara, and Laurel are all nervous wrecks.

Twilight fades, and as Dominus disappears, the rest of the gods appear in the night sky. Tyn, the third child of Nox, hovers over the horizon, casting a pale light on the mountains below. The weather that the crew of the Displacer Beast left behind was typical for a Terrelian spring - mild and somewhat rainy. The farther north they traveled, however, the farther the temperature dropped. By now, the pine forests that cover the mountains below them are covered in a soft, wintry blanket. Snow tumbles through the air, sliding and skittering across the deck of the ship, and catching in Laurel's hair. She pulls her cloak tightly around herself and shivers.

The pilot brings the ship in low over the treetops and the four adventurers gather to plan their course of action. They know that the prison is about an hour's walk along the only road in the region from the tiny village of Beannacht, the only populated area in the region. The village's primary industry is providing support for the prison in the form of food, goods, and labor; and very few people that aren't destined for the prison ever pass through.

"We could try to gather information in the village," Laurel suggests.

"I think that'd be too suspicious," Shoji replies, "What about bluffing our way inside?"

"Too risky," Erendil concludes, "Which means that fighting our way in is probably out."

"Captain…" Quara begins, but then stops short as Laurel, Shoji, and Erendil all turn to look at her. Oh, this is way too confusing, she thinks. After a deep breath, she continues, "I think we should stake out the prison and see that their patterns are: who comes and goes, what their guard detail looks like, that kind of stuff. Maybe they're vulnerable at some point."

"Yeah," says Laurel, happily.

"Ok," Erendil says.

"Sounds good," Shoji comments.

With their plan in place, the three captains direct the pilot to stop over the forest midway between the village and the prison. He holds the ship in a hover as the group climbs down into the Avengardan wilderness. Laurel uses her highly developed sense of direction to lead them through the woods toward the prison, stopping periodically to check whether they are being followed. After half an hour of trudging through knee-deep snow, Laurel stops when she hears a noise coming from behind a tree to her left.

Suddenly, a cone of ice and frost tears through the air and catches Quara and Erendil. The shards shred skin and clothing, leaving bloody red welts in their wake. Following the ice cone is a giant white wolf, over eight feet from snout to tail. Three other wolves appear, and Laurel curses herself for letting them ambush her.

Shoji, directly to the right of Laurel, steps forward and slams his fist into the snout of the winter wolf threatening him. He feels cartilage snap, and blood sprays from the wolf's nose, staining the white snow beneath. Erendil, standing directly behind Laurel, lets out a cry, takes a step back, and fires an arrow at the wolf that used its breath weapon.

Laurel steps left, and then slashes at the wolf that appeared in front of her. The Oakenblade bursts into an orange-red flame as it slices through the wolf's flesh. The scent of burning fur assaults Laurel's nose, but she smiles as she realizes that the legends about her ancestral sword are true.

The bright flame from Laurel's blade casts an eerie glow on the snow covered trees surrounding the group, and Quara, to the right of Erendil, can't help but notice its orange reflection in the eyes of the wolf in front of her. She decides against drawing her bow, and instead steps back and draws her sword. Her gaze is drawn from its eyes to its jaw, however, as it lunges at her. She twists, and the wolf's ivory fangs pass inches from her face.

The wolf in front of Erendil closes, and misses with its own bite, but succeeds in blasting the two archers with another cone of ice. Laurel winces as the wolf in front of her retaliates, and clamps its jaws down on her arm. With its fangs firmly embedded, it yanks its head to the right, and Laurel is pulled off her feet. She lands hard in the snow, and screams as the pain of tearing flesh runs up her arm and through her shoulder.

Shoji deftly avoids both the jaws and breath weapon of the wolf attacking him, and throws a roundhouse kick into its side. Erendil fires again at his wolf, but the arrow glances off of its thick hide. Laurel jumps to her feet, and in the same motion, pulls out her short sword. With the short sword in her off hand, and the flaming Oakenblade in the other, she lunges forward. Both swords slice through wolf flesh, and the smell of burning fur now hangs thick in the air.

Quara swings at the wolf that narrowly missed her, and succeeds in opening a large red gash along its side. It attempts to retaliate, but is slowed by its new wound. Erendil, weakened by the two cones of ice, succumbs to the wolf in front of him as it pounces upon him and sinks its fangs into his neck. He crumples into the snow, unconscious and bleeding.

The burned wolf snaps at Laurel, and manages to catch her on the leg, while the one in front of Shoji misses with its own bite attack. Shoji is more accurate though, as he catches the wolf with a palm heel to its already bruised ribs, hearing a satisfying crunch as his blow lands. Laurel's dual blades cut deeply into the winter wolf in front of her. Blood pours out of multiple wounds, and it stumbles as it turns toward her.

Quara gets another good hit in on the wolf attacking her, but it deals as good as it gets, and Quara thinks she feels something snap as it clamps its massive jaws around her midsection. The wolf that felled Erendil quickly flanks Quara, and she feels yet more pain as it too takes a bite out of her.

With a feral look in its eye, the burned and battered wolf grabs Laurel's already damaged arm in its jaws and yanks, rending flesh from bone. Both wolf and woman are covered in her blood, and she nearly passes out from the pain. With an inhuman scream, Laurel brings the Oakenblade down on the wolf's head with full force, cracking its skull, and sending its massive bulk straight into the snow. She turns and stumbles through the bloody snow toward the wolf that felled Erendil.

Shoji again deftly avoids the wolf in front of him, dodging from side to side as dagger-like fangs slice through the air around him. He lands a one-two punch on the side of the massive wolf's skull, and its eyes visibly gloss over, dazed from the blows.

Chironex, guide my blade, Quara thinks to herself as she uses the last of her strength to slash the wolf in front of her across its muzzle. The wolf, however, simply growls at her, and grabs her once again in its jaws. The pain causes her to pass out immediately, and she is quite unconscious before she hits the ground.

The wolf flanking the now disabled Quara turns to attack Laurel, but misses, as does the wolf desperately trying to get a grip on Shoji. Shoji, in turn, dispatches a flurry of high kicks straight into his wolf's front legs, drawing a howl of pain. Laurel takes comfort in making the wolf in front of her howl as well, but she becomes very worried about Quara when she looks at the condition of her unconscious body. She knows she doesn't have much time before the girl passes into the realm of the gods.

The wolf that felled Quara moves to flank Shoji, but misses the fast-moving monk. The wolf that had been trying to attack Shoji finally hits, and tosses the Tanayaran half-elf into the bloodstained snow. He jumps back to his feet, lashing out with a powerful kick, but loses his footing in the slippery slush. The two wolves surrounding him take advantage of his misstep, and both tear at his flesh with angry jaws.

Laurel's blades flash through the air, and the flame of the Oakenblade finishes off the second wolf of the day. She turns, and, before the wolf in front of Shoji can react to her presence, slides the Oakenblade deep into its ribcage. It turns to snap at her, but misses wildly.

The wolf flanking Shoji does not miss, though, as it sinks its teeth into the monk's side. The shock of the bite knocks Shoji into unconsciousness, and he falls to the ground in a crumpled heap. Laurel panics for a moment as the two battered wolves turn to look at her. Blood drips from their jaws in long strands, but she isn't sure how much belongs to them, and how much belongs to her friends.

She grits her teeth, makes sure that she has a good grip on her blades, and plunges forward. Fiery steel meets bloodied fangs in a whirling confrontation. Laurel twists to her left, narrowly avoiding having her neck ripped out by powerful jaws, as she slices upward with the Oakenblade. Even as she feels her swords end the life of one wolf, she feels white-hot pain as the other clamps its jaws down around her head from behind.

She twists, wrenching herself from its grasp, and swings her swords wildly, screaming at the top of her lungs. Adrenaline and desperation propel her forward, and every blow that lands reverberates throughout her entire body. Each of her nerves scream along with her, and the only thing she can feel as she cuts down her foe is pain.

More to come...

 

[carpedavid]

11.9.2002 - Session 3, Part 2

With four dead winter wolves and three rapidly dying companions lying in the snow around her, Laurel wonders how much worse the day will get. She wipes blood from her eyes, sheathes her swords, and fumbles in her backpack for healing potions. The warm, red, cinnamon-flavored liquid revives Quara, Shoji, and Erendil, and keeps her own wounds from overcoming her.

"Ow. Everything hurts," comments Shoji, who fishes a Tanayaran balm out of his pack and begins rubbing it into his bruises.

"I think we need to find shelter," Quara says through gritted teeth. "We'll never survive the night out here in our current condition. Maybe there's a cave somewhere."

Laurel nods in agreement, then sets out to look for shelter, thinking to herself, please let there be no more wolves. After a few minutes of searching, she finds a small cave opening in the side of the hill, and then directs the battered party inside.

"How deep is this cave?" asks Quara, "I don't want anything sneaking up behind us in the middle of the night."

Without responding, Laurel lights a torch and begins looking around. Shoji helps her search, and they find a tunnel in the back, hidden behind a large stalagmite.

"I'm not happy about that tunnel," Quara muses, "I think we should check to see where this leads."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, in our current condition," Laurel replies.

"I know we're pretty hurt, but I'd still rather see what's down there," says Quara.

"I think I would too," says Erendil.

"Ok. Let's go," Laurel says as she walks into the tunnel entrance. With the rest of the group following, Laurel leads them through the cave system. After a minute or two of winding through cave passages and small chambers, the tunnel empties out into a larger cavern. Laurel begins cautiously moving forward, her torchlight gradually revealing the features of the chamber. The bumpy, limestone floor is littered with small, broken bones that crunch and snap underfoot as the party moves forward.

"Oh crap," Laurel exclaims as two giant scorpions are suddenly revealed. Their glossy, black carapaces glow an unholy red in the torchlight as they turn, stingers raised, and begin skittering toward the group.

Arrows fly from Erendil and Quara's bows and pierce the thick exoskeleton of the lead scorpion. Its eight legs twist beneath it as it crumples, crushing piles of rat skulls and bat carcasses. Laurel drops her torch and hits the other scorpion with an arrow from her own bow, while Shoji pelts it with a stone from his sling. Laurel's arrow penetrates deep into the scorpion's flesh, while Shoji's stone bounces off relatively harmlessly. It does, however, draw the scorpion's attention to him.

Oh great, now I made it mad, Shoji thinks to himself as the scorpion snaps at him with its claw. Fortunately, additional arrows from Erendil and Quara drop the giant arachnid before it can do any more damage to the monk.

"Well, that wasn't so bad," Erendil says happily.

"I wouldn't say that yet," Laurel flashes her torch around the chamber to see if anything else is waiting to eat them. She notes that the tunnel continues on the other side of the chamber, but, seeing nothing of immediate threat, begins a more thorough search of the cavern. Quara also searches with her own torch, and stumbles upon a small spring at the far end of the chamber. As she peers down into it, she can see a small iron ring, glistening in the bottom of the spring.

Hmmmm, I've heard legends about this sort of thing, she thinks to herself. I wonder if I should pick it up? She looks at the ring for another moment, decides that it looks an awful lot like the one on her right hand that provides her a magical shield of force, and then reaches down and picks it up out of the water. She waits for a second to see if an overwhelming urge to don the ring comes over her, and sighs in relief when it doesn’t. "Hey, I found this ring," she says as she turns back to her companions, "Do you think it's magical?"

Erendil mumbles a few words under his breath and looks intently at the ring, which begins to glow a soft blue. "Yes, it looks magical," he says, looking more closely, "some sort of protective magic, I think."

Quara looks at Erendil suspiciously. "I didn't know you could do that." Erendil just shrugs, and smiles mysteriously at her. "Hmmm," she grumbles, "I'll hang on to that until we can get examined more closely."

Laurel finishes her investigation and points out two items of interest to her companions: a pile of bones that are obviously humanoid, and a large hole in the western wall of the chamber, about five feet above the ground. The humanoid bones make the group nervous, but the hole in the wall makes them more nervous.

"What do you think is in the hole?" Quara asks.

"It's probably the scorpion nest," Laurel replies, "But I can't tell from down here."

"Ok," Quara sighs, "I'll go in and check." She drops her backpack and bow and lifts herself up into the small opening. Squeezing in head first, she waves her torch around the small chamber. It does indeed appear to be a nest, as she can see a large egg sack stuck to one wall, and the remains of another humanoid unceremoniously dumped against another. She punctures the egg sack with her sword, grabs a belt pouch she sees near the remains, and quickly evacuates the nest.

"Well, we've got one tunnel left," Laurel says, gesturing to the chamber exit.

"I'll go first this time," Quara volunteers. Everyone nods, and she begins leading the party down the tunnel. Laurel follows immediately behind Quara, with Shoji behind her, and Erendil bringing up the rear. They carefully make their way deeper and deeper underground, following the tunnel as it twists and turns. After what seems an eternity, the tunnel opens into a small chamber, and then continues on the other side.

Quara stops them before entering the chamber. Two large stalagmites on either side of the tunnel entrance make it impossible to see the entirety of the chamber, so she cautiously moves out into the center of the chamber. "Oh gods, what's that stench?" she exclaims as a blast of rotten air hits her in the face. The rest of the group reacts with similar disgust as the overwhelming scent of mildew and rotten meat invades their noses.

The source of the stench is quickly revealed as four emaciated figures emerge from behind the stalagmites and advance toward Quara. The figures look like they might have once been human, but have since been twisted by something dark and terrible: mottled blue-gray skin pulled tight over skeletal frames; fingers ending in long black claws; unblinking eyes black as pitch; and faces frozen in a terrible, maniacal rictus.

Realizing that Quara is now surrounded, Laurel drops to one knee, pulls out her bow, and fires at the closest ghoul. The arrow pierces its leathery flesh, but doesn't stop it. Instead, it turns and rushes her, raking her across the face with its claws. She gasps audibly as the breath rushes from her lungs. All of her muscles seize up, and she feels a wave of cold wash through her body, like ice water running through her veins. She collapses, unable to move, but aware of the goings on around her.

The other ghouls swarm Quara, covering her with deep gashes and tearing hungrily at her flesh with their fangs. She, too, feels the numbing cold wash over her, and she finds herself unable to even scream as she collapses, unmoving, to the ground.

Shoji leaps over Laurel and attempts to knock one of the ghouls off of Quara. He does not succeed in knowing the ghoul anywhere, but he does succeed in drawing their attention. The three ghouls that swarmed Quara now swarm him, and their bites succeed in paralyzing him as well. Erendil hits the ghoul that attacked Laurel with two arrows from his bow, and manages to disable it, but the other three move off of Shoji and begin down the tunnel toward him.

He starts backing down the tunnel, trying to suppress the ghouls with his bow. They ignore the impact of his arrows, though, and charge him. The lead ghoul pounces on him, pulling him to the ground, even as its teeth sink into his flesh. He tries to yell, tries to pull himself from its grasp, but the paralyzing wave washes over him as well. Oh gods, help us, he thinks, as the rest of the ghouls stand over him, salivating.

More to come...

 

[carpedavid]

Brannaugh Proudclaw

I thought I'd post the stats on Brannaugh Proudclaw, who featured prominantly in Session 1, Part 3.

Proudclaw, Brannaugh
Male Terrelian Dwarf Barbarian 9/Keeper of the Beasts 10; CR 21; Medium Humanoid; HD 19; hp 217; Init +7 (+3 Dex, +4 Improved Init); Spd 30; AC 24 (+5 Leather +3, +6 Lg. Wooden Shield +3, +3 Dex); Att +26/+21/+26/+11 melee (1d8+10 Battle Axe +5); SQ Uncanny Dodge; AL NG; SV Fort 18, Ref 9, Will 12; Str 20, Dex 16, Con 20, Int 12, Wis 15, Cha 16

Age: 150 (389 6C - Present)

Current Location: Devonshire, Terrel

Skills, Feats, and Languages: Animal Empathy +16, Climb +9, Handle Animal +16, Hide +8, Intimidate +3, Intuit Direction +8, Jump +9, Knowledge (nature) +8, Knowledge (religion) +12, Listen +13, Ride +7, Sense Motive +7, Spot +7, Swim +11, Wilderness Lore +14, Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical, Improved Initiative, Leadership, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Track

Possessions: Battle Axe +5, Leather Armor +3, Lg. Wooden Shield +4

 

[carpedavid]

Session 4, Part 1 - In which the characters do not get eaten by ghouls...

Erendil is rather surprised when the ghouls do not, in fact, eat him, but begin dragging him and the rest of the group deeper underground. They emerge into a chamber over a hundred feet across that is filled with dozens of ghouls. Erendil begins to panic as the ghouls strip him of both his equipment and his clothes, and then bind his arms and legs. Though the paralysis prevents him from looking around under his own power, he catches glimpses of his companions suffering a similar fate as the ghouls jostle him around.

Now paralyzed, bound, weaponless, and completely exposed, the group is hung upside down by their feet on a rope strung between two stalagmites. The blood rushes to Erendil's head, blurring his vision, creating an audible ringing in his ears, and inducing an extreme headache. After a minute or so, he notices that the numbness in his body wears off, and he whispers to his companions, "Hey, are you guys still paralyzed?"

"No, but I've got a really awful headache," Laurel replies.

Now able to look around under his own power, Erendil watches the ghouls move around upside down - the blurry vision and inverted perspective create a surreal atmosphere.

"You know, the Tanayarans actually hang people upside down as a method of execution," Quara volunteers, "They'd actually bind them up, a lot like we are, and then hang them upside down in a covered well. They'd die all alone in the dark, when the buildup of blood in the head causes a massive stroke. The only problem is that it's too effective. People would die too quickly. So they slit the veins behind their ears to relieve the pressure."

Laurel gives Quara a horrified look.

"Oh yeah, it's awful. The blood drains slowly enough that it clots, but as the pressure builds up, the clot bursts and the bleeding begins again. That happens over and over again until the person dies," Quara says excitedly.

"Why do you know this?" Laurel exclaims.
Erendil ignores his companions' discussion and eavesdrops on the conversations of the ghouls around them.

"What does the master want with them?"

"I don't know, but I hope he makes it quick. I haven't seen meat this juicy in years."

"I'm not particularly fond of elf flesh, myself, it's too gamy."

"That human girl looks plenty tasty."

"Have they gone to fetch the master?"

"I hope he makes it quick, I hunger so."
Erendil groans inwardly - hanging upside down, naked, in preparation for being eaten by ghouls was not how he wanted to end his adventuring career. A commotion near one group of ghouls attracts his attention, and he spots a translucent figure emerge from behind a stalagmite and begin to glide toward them. Erendil shakes his head, trying to clear his vision, for he is certain that he can see right through the middle-aged human male dressed in aristocratic clothing. As the man approaches, Erendil sees that every visible area of skin is covered in bruises, welts, and cuts. Suddenly, the man's translucent status makes sense.

"What have we here," the man muses as he examines the four naked, upside-down adventurers. "Tell me, son," his Avengardan brogue is light and barely noticeable as he addresses Erendil, "why is it that you and your companions are trying to work your way into the most horrific prison on the planet? Most people I know would rather go in the opposite direction."

"Well," Erendil says hopefully, "we're actually here to try and break someone out of the prison."

"Really?" the man smiles wryly, then turns to his ghoul companions, "Cut them down." The ghouls look at each other in confusion for a moment, then sullenly begin to cut the adventurers down. The ghost continues, "I am Lord Willem Armitage, twenty-fifth Earl of Caelenburgh. Or, at least I was until the Emperor's men came in the middle of the night and dragged me from my bed because I wouldn't bow down to his bitch-goddess."

"Oh. Well...pleased to meet you," Erendil manages as the blood that had built up in his head suddenly empties as he is righted, leaving him even more disoriented than before. The groans of Laurel, Quara, and Shoji echo his own discomfort as he slumps ungracefully to the floor. After a few seconds, his vision returns, and he regains his feet.

"I'll assume you want your equipment returned," Erendil hears Armitage say as his ears stop ringing. As he is handed his clothing and equipment by a ghoul, he notices a glimmer of resentment in its unblinking eyes. Good, he reasons, as long as they resent us, they aren't eating us.

Once the party is dressed, Armitage continues, "I can offer you free passage into the prison. These caverns lead right under the central shaft."

"Can you tell us what kind of opposition we'll be facing?" Quara asks.

"Well, the warden of the prison is a priestess of Dominique who has six or so acolytes under her command. There is also a prison guard, which consists of six men plus a captain, and a kennel."

"That seems like a very small number to guard such a large prison," Quara says questioningly.

Armitage sighs and frowns, then says softly, "Most of the people who are brought here are in no condition to cause trouble." He pauses for a moment, "And no one ever lasts long enough to improve their condition."

"Oh," Quara looks at her feet for a second, then, "Is there any chance you can lend us... um... some of your... uh... men?"

"No, I can't do that. As much as I despise this place, my men," Armitage motions to the ghouls surrounding him, "depend on the prison for food." He notices the horrified expressions on the adventurers' faces, and then says firmly, "We do what we need to survive."

The group looks at each other, then back at Armitage. "Thank you for your help," Erendil says finally, "I think we should attempt to continue our mission now." The aristocrat ghost nods, and instructs two of his ghouls to lead the adventurers through the caverns. The group moves out, and after a few minutes of climbing over boulders and squeezing past stalagmites, they spot a light filtering through a crack in the wall. The ghouls point them toward the light, and then head back.

The group files into a single line, with Shoji in the lead. As they creep closer to the light, a horrific stench begins to overwhelm them. Rotting flesh, mildew, bodily waste, and death all mingle to create an odor that is far fouler than each of them taken separately. Shoji pokes his head through the crack in the cavern wall and sees a thirty-foot wide pit filled with humanoid bodies... and body parts.

Meanwhile, on the deck of the HMS Darklorne, Wrayce, Tamminyd, Danklar, and their companions are having fun flying their stolen flagship around the northern territories of Avengard, provoking warships, and then outrunning them. Wrayce is standing at the railing trying to spot more ships to spook, when a small bird lands on the railing in front of him.

"Peep!" it peeps. He looks down at the bird and notices that it has a small scroll of paper wound around one leg.

"C'mere," he says gently, holding out his hand. The bird looks at him, then at his hand, then back at him, then back at his hand, and jumps into his palm. The bird holds very still as Wrayce gently unwraps the scroll and unrolls it with one hand. It reads:

To those who stole my airship,

I'm a bit busy at the moment, but when your emperor's head is on a pike outside your castle walls, I'm going to hunt you down, torture you, kill you, and then defile your bodies.

Ta for now,

D

Wrayce looks at the message, looks at the bird, looks at the message again, and then looks back at the bird, which promptly explodes in a puff of feathers. A bright silver light fills his vision, and the world disappears.

More to come...

 

[carpedavid]

Session 4, Part 2 - in which the characters invade the prison

As Shoji moves in through the crack and peers up the central shaft, he sees a bright flash of silver light about thirty feet up, then watches Wrayce plummet head first into the charnel pit. The impact sends debris flying, and awakens something within the pit. Shoji snaps to attention and motions to his companions as four large tentacles erupt from underneath the rotting bodies.

Wrayce scrambles to his feet as the creatures attached to the tentacles emerge. Aw, crap...otyughs, he thinks to himself as he dodges one otyugh's tentacles. The other catches him on the side of the head, leaving a red welt on his cheek.

Laurel draws her bow and fires an arrow past Erendil and Shoji's heads, hitting the otyugh that missed Wrayce. It grumbles in pain and shambles toward the group, even as Wrayce backs away from it. Shoji steps through the crack in the wall onto a small ledge that runs the perimeter of the charnel pit, pulling out his sling as he goes. Erendil lets loose two arrows of his own, which hit the shambling creature at the same time as Shoji's sling bullet.

The otyugh turns its attention to Erendil, and tries to sneak its tentacles through the crack in the wall, but misses with both. The other otyugh continues its assault on Wrayce, and grabs the druidic wizard with the massive paddles on the ends of its tentacles.

Quara draws her own bow, and sends an arrow past Laurel and Erendil, which strikes the otyugh grappling Wrayce and explodes in a burst of flame. Laurel follows with another volley from her own bow, which distracts the creature long enough for Wrayce to wrap his arms around its tentacles and pin it. Wrayce smiles to himself as an expression that can only be described as utter surprise crosses the otyugh's ugly maw.

Erendil fells the shambling monster with two arrows from his bow, while Shoji moves up to the pinned otyugh and dispatches it with a devastating punch to the creature's skull. Wrayce drops the now-lifeless creature into the other dead bodies covering the ground, then looks around as Erendil, Laurel, and Quara join Shoji inside the pit. "Wow," he says in disgust, "I feel dirty."

Shoji speaks for the rest of the group when he looks at Wrayce and asks, "How'd you get here?"

"I'm not sure," he replies, and then proceeds to explain about the exploding bird and the message from the general. "...And then I fell into this pile of..." he looks down, and finally realizes what he's standing in, "of... oh dear. Does anyone have a rag I can use?"

"No, but this might help you feel better," Laurel says as she pulls out a slim wand made of white ash.

"Very nice," Wrayce nods in approval, "You mind if I use this on everybody?"

"That's what I have it."

"Great," Wrayce smiles, "So, who needs to be healed?"

After liberal use of Laurel's wand of cure moderate wounds, the party turns their focus to climbing out the pile of steaming, stinking, rotting body parts that they're currently standing in. The rough-hewn walls of the pit rise thirty feet above them, at which point an iron catwalk rings the shaft.

"I guess we go up," Laurel says to Shoji as she looks up at the catwalk.

"Yep. Got rope?"

"Yep."

"Ok, then. Let's go," he says as he walks to the wall and begins climbing. The rogue and the monk scamper up the walls of the pit, then climb hand over hand to the edge of the catwalk. They pull themselves up, and, after checking that no one is about to put a sword through their backs, tie off a rope so that the others may climb up.

Once the rest of the party is out of the pit, they examine their surroundings. Four large steel doors radiate from the central shaft in the cardinal directions. Between the north and east doors is a stone stairway that leads up to the next level, where another iron catwalk hangs above them. Above that, more catwalks mark each of the twenty stories of Áit ar Chúl Éaga.

"Ok, needle in a haystack time," Shoji quips.

Laurel nods in agreement, shrugs, and quietly moves to the east door, which she finds locked. After a minute with her picks, the door swings open, revealing a dimly lit corridor lined with iron doors. She shakes her head in frustration, "This is going to take forever."

"Let's start looking," says Quara, as she pushes past Laurel. She quickly spots a small view port located on each of the forty doors in the corridor, which enables her to quickly check each room. "It doesn't look like anybody is in any of these cells," she observes as she moves down the hall. The rest of the party joins her in the search, and they finish checking the entire hall in a matter of minutes.

With shrugs all around, the group continues their search through the southern, western, and northern corridors, each time finding nothing but empty cells. As they emerge from the northern door, Laurel and Shoji both spot a guard walking along the catwalk three floors above them. They quickly motion for silence, and then watch as the guard unlocks a door, goes through, and shuts it behind him.

"We need to take him out," Quara whispers.

"I agree," Erendil replies, "we can't risk capture this early on."

Laurel and Shoji nod to each other, dash up the stairs without making a sound, and flank the door. After a quick listen at the door, Laurel motions to the others to join them. Once up the stairs, Wrayce and Erendil join Laurel on the left side of the door, and Quara joins Shoji on the right.

With everyone doing their best to stay out of sight, Laurel crouches down and listens at the door again. When she hears the guard walking back toward the door, she signals the group and draws her longsword. As the iron door opens and the guard steps out, Laurel steps forward and swings her sword at his midsection. Unfortunately for her, he turns to close the door and narrowly sidesteps the blow. As the sword passes by the guard's torso, he suddenly notices the presence of the five adventurers, and a look of alarm crosses his face.

Wrayce points at the guard and a golden bolt jumps from his fingertip and strikes the man in the chest. Shoji tries to harness his chi to perform a stunning blow, but loses focus at the last moment and ends up tripping on his own robe. Laurel draws her short sword and swings at the guard with both blades. He is aware of her now, though, and actively dodges his her blows.

Quara tries to shoot past Shoji, but her aim is off, and the wooden arrow smashes into the stone wall, sending splinters everywhere. The guard pulls a large silver whistle from around his neck and blows. Everyone stops for a moment as the sound of the whistle echoes up the central shaft. The adventurers glance at each other uneasily as they realize that reinforcements are only moments away.

Then the guard breaks the silence with a bestial scream as he draws his sword and lunges at Laurel. His face twisted in rage, the guard slices into the shoulder of the beautiful elven ranger, who mouths a curse as the pain shoots through her body. Then, in the space of a heartbeat, the guard is hit with another magic missile from Wrayce, an arrow from Erendil, and a crushing fist in the kidney from Shoji. Laurel slides her Oakenblade through the stunned guard's armor, piercing his heart. He collapses in a heap at her feet.

"Mother f-----!" Wrayce exclaims as he grabs the dead guard's body and hurls it over the side of the catwalk into the charnel pit fifty feet below. He turns to his companions, "We need to hide." They all nod in agreement as the sound of iron doors slamming shut and hastily barked orders echoes down from above.

The group hastily moves up the stairs and, after Laurel picks the lock, down the east corridor. At the end of the corridor, Laurel picks the lock to one of the cells, and the five adventurers pile inside. Each tries to blend into the available shadows when he or she hears the door at the end of the corridor open. The sound of footsteps slowly makes its way down the corridor, punctuated by the sound of view ports being opened, then slammed shut. A collective breath is held as the view port of their cell is opened.

Quara realizes too late that she hid directly in the line of sight of the view port. The small sliver of light that pierces the darkness reflects brightly off of her silver armor. Before the guard can react to her presence, though, she lifts her bow and fires an arrow directly into the man's eye. He screams in pain as he steps back, and the rest of the group bursts through the door to silence him as quickly as possible.

A golden bolt from Wrayce's finger starts the melee, with a stunning palm from Shoji quickly following. Laurel tumbles through the open space, which allows her to flank the guard and shove her longsword deep into his midsection. An arrow from Erendil later, and the guard collapses.

The damage has already been done, though, and the five adventurers turn to look down the corridor. The iron door is slightly ajar, and from behind it, they hear a multitude of footsteps, and the sound of swords being drawn.

Stay tuned for session five...

 

[carpedavid]

Interlude

Oil and wick's child, lamplight, skips across sheets of parchment, splashing in puddles of shadow and scattering droplets of darkness over graphite-covered battle plans. General Talvyn of Arios, Commander of the Northern Armies, rubs his eyes and yawns; sleep was a comfort he had been able to enjoy little as of late. He stands and stretches, eliciting cracks and pops from his joints, and groans and creaks from his tendons. Red-hot bursts of pain shoot through his lower back, protesting the hours spent hunched over parchment covered tables, moving little wooden troops from one end to the other.

A movement at the flap of the tent distracts him, and he turns to see his favorite guard, a former salamander wrangler from Arial's Forge, enter the tent. "My Lord General" she begins, bowing deeply, "I present His Grace the Duke of Gryphalia."

"My Lord Duke," Talvyn says, dropping to one knee, as an elderly lizardman hobbles past the guard, supporting himself with a wooden cane.

"Get up," the lizardman says in a voice faded with age, "You know I hate it when you do that."

Talvyn smiles at his boyhood friend as he stands back up. "Of course, why do you think I insist on doing it?" he replies with a laugh.

The lizardman smiles back, "Care to offer me a chair? I am not as good as standing as I used to be."

"Oh, of course," Talvyn says, abashed, then tosses a fur over the back of an otherwise-uncomfortable wooden chair. He watches his friend unsteadily lower himself into the chair, and is struck with a wave of melancholy. Forty years ago, they played soldier in the courtyard of his father's estate, whacking each other with sticks, trying to emulate the motions that they saw the soldiers of Gryphalia practice on a daily basis.

Nature's cruel trick, though, was to make lizardmen age faster than humans, and while Talvyn's back ached when it rained too much, his friend was nearing the end of his life. He knew that, in less time than it would take to end this war, his friend would be strolling through verdant, celestial fields, basking in the warmth of Dominus' glorious light.

"How's the family, Qatsaketh?" he asks as he sits down across from his friend.

"Mirielle is quite well. She is still as spry as the day I met her. She has been quiet, lately. I think she knows how little time I have left."

"Yes, well, we can't all have the lifespan of elves, can we?" Talvyn says with a forced laugh. Qatsaketh's marriage to an elven chanteuse came as a surprise to nearly everyone who knew him, especially Talvyn and his family. The lizardman's family had held the Duchy of Gryphalia for hundreds of years, and Talvyn's family had led the Duke's armies for just as long. Qatsaketh's marriage to an elf meant that no heirs could be produced, and since he was the only child of an only child, any ties the families had would be forever severed.

The only thing that distressed Talvyn more was his eldest daughter's choice to enlist in the Duke's army instead of accepting the officer's commission that was her birthright. Quara's decision meant that his family's dynasty would end as well.

Qatseketh breaks Talvyn's reverie after a moment, "I have brought the bow, as you have asked. I hope this does not mean that you will be going back out into the field."

"No," he shakes his head sadly, "I've become too old for that sort of thing. It's to be a gift for Quara. She's proven herself, my friend. I just wish her path to doing so had been different."

The lizardman pats his friend on the shoulder, "We must all make our own choices in this life. It is too short to do otherwise." Talvyn gives a grudging smile, and continues, "I have another gift for your soldiers, assuming that they return. Dominus knows that I wouldn't want to be where they are right now."

It's been a while since I've updated - I blame that on the new d20 magic system I've been working on. However, I've finished the first draft of the new system, so I now have time to update. I've got a lot of ground to cover, so you should see fairly regular updates. Session 5 is coming soon...

 

[carpedavid]

Session 5, Part 1 - In which the characters all very nearly die. Again.

"Well," Erendil says solemnly, "I guess they know we're here."

"We need to move before they trap us in here," Quara says as she starts toward the door.

"Right," Shoji sighs, "I'll go first. You guys cover me." With his companions holding swords, bows, and wands behind him, Shoji takes a deep breath, then kicks the iron door open. As soon as he is revealed, four archers, who were waiting in ambush, fire. Two arrows splinter on the stone near his head, but the other two find their mark, puncturing his right shoulder and left bicep. He barely has time to survey the scene before another volley of arrows streaks toward him.

Two archers peek out from the doors to the north and south, while two others kneel in front of the door to the west on the level above. Directly in front of him, floating in the middle of the central shaft, is a devastatingly beautiful woman. Her long ginger hair floats lazily over her shoulders, her ice blue eyes twinkle with malicious glee, and her lightly freckled, milk-white skin provides sharp contrast to her black leather boots, skirt, and bustier.

As Shoji dodges the second volley of arrows, the woman screams at the top of her lungs, "What in the sea of fire are you doing in my prison?" She follows her outburst with a lash of the whip that she holds in her left hand, flooding Shoji's body with intense, blinding pain. A thousand needles tear at his skin while fire floods through his veins, and he immediately begins to repeat a meditative mantra in his head. The pain fades, but his skin burns where the whip touched him. Mental note, he thinks to himself as he rushes the guard to his right, avoid the flying bitch's whip.

Wrayce pushes past Quara, draws the wand that he had picked up in New Charleston, and sends a golden bolt hurtling toward the flying woman. Quara fires her bow through the door, past Wrayce, and hits one of the archers on the upper level. A yelp of pain that echoes up and down the central shaft brings a smile to her face. Laurel follows Wrayce's lead in pushing past Quara, then charges the archer to her left, cutting deeply into his side with her ancestral longsword. Erendil decides that discretion is the better part of valor, and remains hidden, waiting until he can get a better shot.

The guard hit by Laurel recoils from the blow. He staggers backward until he is out of sword range, then lets loose another arrow, managing to graze her leg. The guard who was rushed by Shoji drops his bow and pulls a longsword from his belt, but can't find an opening in the monk's defenses that will allow him to press the attack.

"By Chironex's bow", Quara quietly curses to herself as she sees the archer that she hit quaff a potion, "that's going to make things more difficult." She winces as two arrows from the other archer on the upper level splinter themselves on the breastplate of her armor, and then looks up to see the flying woman swing her whip at her. She just manages to sidestep the blow, feeling the air rushing past as the whip cracks an inch from her face. Right, I'll get to her in a minute, she thinks as she watches another of Wrayce's magic missiles slam into the woman's side, first, though, I've got to take out these archers. Summoning all of her training, she blocks out the chaos going on around her and shoots three arrows at the potion-quaffing guard in the time it takes a quickling to blink. She is rewarded with a gurgle and a thud as the man collapses. "Oh, well, that wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be," she says under her breath.

Her delight is short-lived, though, as a man in black plate mail gently floats down the central shaft and positions himself right in front of her. He has the same ginger hair and ice blue eyes as the flying woman, but stands over six and a half feet tall, and holds a very sharp looking longsword. "That was my soldier you just killed, you whore," he snarls in a nearly unintelligible Avengardan brogue, as he brings his longsword up over his head and buries it in Quara's shoulder, drawing a spray of blood.

While the plate mail clad man slices into Quara, Erendil fires two arrows into the flying warden. She giggles in delight as the arrowheads pierce her flesh, and winks at him as an arrow flies over her shoulder and embeds itself in his sternum.

Laurel, meanwhile, swings at the guard in front of her and misses, ending up with an arrow in the gut for her trouble. Shoji is more successful with his guard, and lands a punch squarely on the man's jaw. The guard responds viciously, though, and nearly slices off the hand that the monk had used to hit him. Shoji immediately hears his old sensei's voice in his head, scolding him. "Don't leave your strikes extended," the old man would say, "It looks flashy, but you'll get a hand lopped off by doing that."

Wrayce, for his part, continues to lob golden bolts of force at the flying woman. He watches her pull out a potion and quaff it, so he sends two more bolts in response. She winces, and then gives him a look that makes him hope that he has enough missiles left to finish the job.

With Erendil behind her, Quara can't retreat from the man in the plate mail, so she simply lets loose with her bow, knowing that doing so will open her up to attack. Three arrows bury themselves in the man's chest, and he lets loose a string of curses as he takes advantage of the opening. Quara winces in pain as his longsword slices into her ribs, but manages a smile when three of Erendil's arrows streak past her shoulder and join the ones already in the man's chest.

"Seamus!" the flying woman screams as the man in front of Quara staggers. She dashes through the air to her wounded brother, and places her hands upon his back. "Great Mistress," she intones, "I beg you to heal this man and share his pain!" A silver light spreads out over Seamus' body, and Quara can see his wounds visibly heal.

Laurel, meanwhile, is inflicting wounds, not healing them. She takes an arrow in the thigh, but ignores the pain and cuts the archer down with a mighty blow from her flaming sword. She steps over the dead man's crumpled body and dashes toward the guard entangled with Shoji.

Shoji dodges the guard's sword as he sees Laurel point to the warden, who is now hovering over the catwalk. Nodding his assent, he breaks off from the guard and moves to engage the woman.

"Now, Great Mistress," the woman intones as she pushes past Seamus, "return the pain tenfold!" Her hand erupts into black flames, and she reaches out to touch Quara's shoulder. As the negative energy pours into the archer's body, the woman cackles with glee. She withdraws her hand just in time for two more arrows to penetrate Quara's already injured torso. Quara attempts to draw back her bowstring, but is so weakened by the warden's magic that she can barely nock an arrow.

Wrayce sees an opportunity open up, so he draws his scimitar and steps between the warden and her brother. He tries to bury his scimitar in the woman's back, but ends up impaled on Seamus' sword. "Ow!" cries the druidic wizard as he stumbles back, blood pouring from his stomach. Ok. Fine, he thinks, back to using magic.

Laurel closes the gap to the guard that Shoji broke away from, and begins trading sword blows with him. She finds this guard much harder to hit than the other, and curses in frustration as her sword repeatedly glances off the man's armor. His sword, on the other hand, finds much better purchase. Though he does little damage with each blow, he manages to find the gaps in her armor each time he strikes.

The warden, too, finds easy purchase in the lightly armored Quara. After drawing a short sword, she steps in and pierces the already weakened archer's torso. The trauma is enough to send Quara into shock, and she crumples into a pool of her own blood. Shoji, seeing his companion in trouble, tries to lodge his fist into the warden's kidney, but slides on the blood-slicked catwalk, and ends up facing a snarling Seamus.

"Get your filthy hands off my sister," he growls as he swings his sword in an upward arc, catching the monk in the center of his torso. Shoji is lifted off his feet by the force, and lands on the back of his head, knocking him unconscious.

Erendil looks at both the warden and her brother, and decides that the man looks to be more of a threat, so he sends two arrows into the fighter's side. Wrayce follows up Erendil's arrows with two golden bolts of his own, and the man visibly shudders. The warden takes advantage of Erendil's choice in targets by healing herself with magic, but screams when one last set of magic missiles slams into her brother, sending him hurtling, dead, into the charnel pit at the bottom of the shaft.

"You son of a bitch!" she screams, charging Wrayce, slashing him furiously with her short sword. Wrayce takes the full force of her blows, feeling the white hot pain of his flesh being torn open, but staggers back and unleashes more magic missiles from his wand. Erendil steps over Quara's crumpled form and sends an arrow into the warden's back.

Realizing her precarious position, trapped between the archer and the mage, the warden retreats by flying up the central shaft. Wrayce pulls out the healing wand that Laurel had loaned him earlier and points it at himself. A soft blue glow envelops his wiry frame, and he no longer feels like he is in danger of collapsing from blood loss.

"Guys, a little help here!" Laurel yells, still trying to defeat the guard in front of her. Erendil sends two arrows into the guard's side while Wrayce stumbles over to Quara's crumpled frame. A touch of the healing wand revives the archer, who immediately rises to her feet and shoots three flaming arrows into the back of the remaining guard, felling him.

"Shoji!" Quara yells, pointing to the fallen monk. Wrayce turns and uses the wand once again, and Shoji opens his eyes, groaning with pain. Laurel leaps the now dead guard and dashes back to her companions. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the ghouls in the charnel pit, tearing apart the body of the warden's brother.

"Oh, dear gods, we're in trouble," Laurel says as Wrayce uses the wand on each of them. She looks at her companions, each battered and bloodied, covered in cuts and welts.

"Yes, but we still have a mission to accomplish," Quara manages between gasps for air as she leans forward, hands on her knees.

"Well, then, we'd better make it quick," Erendil says seriously, "because I guarantee that woman's going to be back with reinforcements."

Session 5, part 2 to come soon...

 

[carpedavid]

Takeshi's Fury

In lieu of updating this week, I present the background story for Shoji's magical, leveled kama, Takeshi's Fury.

In the second century after the Fourth Conjunction, the warlords of Fang Yo ruled the country in relative peace. Occasionally, a greedy warlord would feud with another over land or honor, but most remained content with their own lands and station. Takeshi was not one of the content warlords.

The peasants who worked his fertile valley farmland provided him with plenty of money to buy wine and concubines, but he coveted the jade mines that dotted the neighboring Matsuhari clan's mountain estate. Every morning he would watch the sun rise over Matsuhari's lands, and he would fume that those lands were not his. "Why," he would think to himself, "should Matsuhari have those lands and not me? I have seen his concubines, and they do not deserve to wear jade fineries. Those lands should be mine!"

Takeshi resolved to take Matsuhari's lands one way or another. He consulted with his most trusted samurai generals, and they developed a simple plan to assault Matsuhari's stronghold: a surprise frontal assault. Since the Takeshi and Matsuhari clans had been at peace for decades, the generals reasoned that Matsuhari would be caught off guard and easily overrun.

"Brilliant," Takeshi exclaimed, pleased with himself for recruiting such clever generals. "Tomorrow, I will visit the Temple of Thunder and Lightning and ask the spirits for their blessing. Then, our victory will be assured!"

The next morning, Takeshi rode off to the Temple of Thunder and Lightning, accompanied by four of his bodyguards. The peasants who farmed his fields bowed and prostrated themselves as he rode past, and Takeshi felt proud that he would soon have even more lands for his people to work. He rode through groves of cherry trees in full bloom, crossed fields of poppies, and followed the mighty White Swallow river, finally arriving at the temple just as the sun began to set over the mountain peaks to the west.

The Temple of Thunder and Lightning was built on the summit of a very large cliff. The only method of access was a small, steep staircase that wound its way back and forth up the granite cliff to the large red iron doors of the temple. With the White Swallow river rumbling like thunder in the far distance, Takeshi began climbing the three thousand stairs to the temple.

The weather on the first leg of his journey had been pleasant - a typical sunny Fang summer day. As he climbed the stairs, however, the sky began to cloud over, and the air grew cool as a breeze picked up. As he reached the summit, the clouds unleashed their fury and a torrential rain began to fall, which pleased Takeshi, for he was certain that the spirits had noticed his arrival and were announcing their presence.

He banged on the iron doors with his iron gauntlet, and the sound of metal on metal resonated within the bowels of the temple, emanating as a deep, sonorous rumble. The doors swung open, and an elderly monk in white robes and a yellow sash greeted him. "Welcome," his voice wavered as he bowed deeply, "the spirits informed us that you would be arriving. Please come in out of the rain."

Takeshi strode into the temple, quickly stepping past prostrating acolytes. "Show me to the Shrine of the Spirits," he commanded.

"Certainly my lord," the elderly monk bowed again, and then began shuffling toward the rear of the temple. He stopped in front of a great golden door, intricately engraved with clouds and lightning bolts. "The Shrine of the Spirits is through these doors," he gestured.

"Well, then open them!" Takeshi bellowed. A group of young monks stepped forward and pulled on a set of chains that hung from the ceiling. The doors parted just enough for Takeshi to squeeze through.

He entered a small, circular, stone chamber with a standing stone at the far end. Two torches on either side of the standing stone provided a dim light that, combined with the smooth circular walls, made the edges of the chamber difficult to perceive. They seemed to stretch away into the distance even though Takeshi knew that they were less than an arm's length away.

As he approached the standing stone, he noticed that the sounds of the monks chanting outside faded away, and the air became very still. He kneeled in front of the stone, bowed his head, and began to pray. "Great spirits, give me strength in battle," he implored, "lend me your power so that I may be victorious over my enemies."

"Takeshi," a thousand voices swirled around his head, as the spirits answered in chorus. He startled, and looked around in confusion. "Takeshi," the spirits continued, "the power we have to offer is both awesome and terrible. It is potent and can assure you of victory, but it is also dangerous and difficult to control. Only those of a clear mind and a strong will can wield it successfully." Takeshi felt the hair on the back of his neck rise as the air crackled with blue sparks, "Are you worthy to wield this power?"

"Absolutely," he replied, "there is no one who is more worthy than I."

The spirits did not answer this time, but the crackling and sparkling in the air increased, and then a white hot flash filled the room. The light and the heat overwhelmed Takeshi, and he lost consciousness for a moment. When he regained his senses, the room was once again dimly light by torchlight, and the energy in the air had disappeared. On the ground in front of him, however, was an ornately decorated sickle.

The handle was carved from ebony, and engraved with patterns of lightning. The blade was forged from a silvery metal that Takeshi did not recognize. When he peered closely at it, he felt like he was looking through a window into the heart of a powerful thunderstorm. He could see flashes of light in the distance, and the entire surface rolled and shifted like a dark and ominous thunderhead.

Takeshi greedily hid the sickle in his robes, and pounded on the golden door. After a few seconds, the door swung open and he pushed his way out. The old monk bowed to him again, but Takeshi hurriedly brushed past him and strode to the front of the temple. Young monks rushed to open the doors, and he bounded outside into bright sunlight. He squinted as his eyes adjusted to the natural light, and he almost stumbled several times as he ran down the three thousand stairs in excitement. He returned home from the temple in less than half the time it took him to get there.

Gathering his samurai together, Takeshi announced that the spirits had blessed their plan. They agreed to move on the Matsuhari stronghold in the middle of the night, and attack before dawn broke.

While the samurai spent time sharpening their swords and preparing their horses, Takeshi drank several goblets of wine to calm his nerves. He studied the sickle with great interest, turning it over and over in his hands, feeling its perfectly balanced weight, peering into the storm cloud encased inside its blade. He felt certain that before dawn, Matsuhari's soldiers would fall like stalks of wheat to his new weapon.

At the darkest point of night, Takeshi led his noble warriors up the narrow trails that wound through the mountain to the Matsuhari stronghold. The journey was easy at first, but the trails became rocky and difficult to traverse, and Takeshi began to worry that they would take too long to arrive. As they pressed on, the sky began to cloud over, and rain began to turn the steep trails to mud. Takeshi's countenance brightened, though, when he heard the sound of thunder in the distance, and he pushed his samurai even harder.

When Takeshi finally reached the summit of the mountain, the rain had thoroughly soaked his men. Lightning flashed through the sky, however, and a deafening thunderclap roused their spirits. He lined up his samurai and prepared to charge the sleeping stronghold, then pulled out his gift from the Spirits of Thunder and Lightning, and sounded a charge.

Of the one hundred men that climbed the mountain, only nine survived to climb back down. Arrows from hidden archers sliced through the air and punctured the samurai that charged through the sheets of rain. Men spun around like tops as steel arrowheads pierced their armor. Spurts of blood mixed with the torrents of water, painting the whole scene bright crimson. Takeshi looked around in horror and then ordered a retreat.

The eight surviving warriors shielded their leader from the continuing arrow attacks as they began the long trek down the steep mountain. The rain and the blood turned the whole mountainside into a vermilion waterfall, soaking the survivors in the lifeblood of their fellow soldiers as they slid down the slick, muddy trail.

When they reached the bottom of the trail, Takeshi knew that his reign as warlord was over. If the Matsuhari followed them, they would easily overrun his stronghold and slay his remaining soldiers. "The spirits have betrayed us," he spat angrily, "they assured us of victory, and led us into an ambush." His remaining soldiers began to patch their wounds as they listened to their master. "We must avenge our brothers, we must teach the spirits that our lives are not to be trifled with," he raged, "we will ride on the Temple of Thunder and Lightning, and we will show them that Takeshi's fury knows no bounds."

What was once a hundred proud samurai was now a weak and wounded nine. In the pouring rain, they rode their remaining horses through groves of cherry trees, crossed fields of poppies, and followed the mighty White Swallow river, finally arriving at the temple just as the rain began to slow, and the clouds began to part.

Takeshi and his men dashed up the three thousands stairs to the temple. He ordered his men to bash open the doors, and he pulled the sickle from his robes, fully intending to slaughter the monks with their own weapon. From out of the clouds, a bolt of white-hot lightning sliced through the air and struck Takeshi, entering through his helmet and exiting through his boots in less time than it takes a hummingbird to blink.

The sound of a thousand galloping horses filled his ears as he felt the flesh burned from his bones. A great rush of air flew from his chest as his breath was stolen away, and he could see the crackling blue spirits arc into his men and seize their hearts with their white hot talons. Takeshi fell to the ground, and the air was still.

After a moment, the temple doors creaked open, and the elderly monk in white robes and a yellow sash stepped out. He surveyed the charred corpses and shook his head sadly. Stepping over the still twitching samurai, he approached Takeshi's steaming body. He bent down, picked up the ebony-handled sickle with the storm cloud in its blade, and tucked it into his robes. The air crackled with blue sparks, and a deep rumble rolled through the sky as he stepped back into the temple and the iron doors shut behind him.

Session 5, Part 2 coming soon...

 

[carpedavid]

Session 5, Part 2

"She's got to be pretty hurt," Shoji says while he wipes blood off of his arms with the hem of his robes.

"Let's finish her off then," Laurel suggests.

"That's a good idea," Erendil replies, "But where did she go?"

"Up," deadpans Shoji. The rest of the group groans, but takes Shoji's pun as their cue to move on. Laurel takes the lead as they move up the stone stairs. They ignore the floors with cells, hoping to catch the warden in flight. After a few floors, though, the layout changes. The central shaft is still open, but they emerge from the stairs into a large, open, circular room, dimly lit by sconces on the walls.

The room is a summation of all that is wrong with the world. The five heroes stand in shocked silence, struck dumb by the scope and scale of the cruelty that lay before them. The three hundred foot diameter chamber contains examples of every type of torture conceived by mortal minds - and then some that could only have been conceived by immortal ones.

Laurel cautiously approaches a large, frosted, glass tank, in which the figure of a male humanoid can be seen submerged under an orange liquid. Only his hands, which are manacled to the sides of the tank, emerge above the level of the liquid. Laurel hears a faint sizzling as she approaches the tank, and, as she peers over the top of the glass, her fears are confirmed: the man seems to be suspended in acid.

The prisoner's skin is in flux - being dissolved by the acid, but continuously regenerated by some unknown force. His eyes and tongue have been long dissolved, but he seems to be capable of breathing in the liquid, which Laurel fears means that his throat and lungs are in the same shape as his exterior. She looks around and notices that that a dull bronze ring graces one of the man's hands, while a silver-blue ring graces the other.

"Can anyone tell if these are magical?" she asks with a pained expression on her face.

Erendil looks visibly disturbed, but whispers an arcane phrase and looks at the man's hands. "Yes," he manages, "they seem to be."

Laurel takes a deep breath and removes both rings. The prisoner shakes and spasms as the magic that was keeping him alive fails. After half a minute, he stops. With tears in her eyes, she whispers to her companions, "It was the kindest thing to do."

Quara covers her mouth with a trembling hand, "Those inhuman bastards." She looks to Wrayce, "Will healing magic help these people?"

"There isn't enough to go around," he replies sadly. "I've got to conserve what we have to make sure that we make it out of here alive."

Laurel looks around, then says, "The ghost said that there was a kennel in here. I have to make sure that those animals are ok."

"We still need to find the prisoner," Quara says firmly, "That should be our first priority."

"I say we kill that bitch and search later," Erendil interjects.

Shoji and Wrayce both chime in, and the discussion quickly turns into an argument. As the argument becomes heated, voices get raised, and the five heroes begin yelling at each other. After nearly ten minutes of argument, Laurel turns and walks away in a huff. She sits down next to a pile of large wooden crates, and tries to shut out the group, when she hears a groan coming from the crate next to her.

"Shut up! Shut up!" she screams, and the rest of the party turns to look at her. She stands up and points to the crates, "I think there's something in these."

"Well, they are designed to hold things," says Shoji.

"No, I mean, I think there's something alive in these. I thought I heard a moan." The party is suddenly silent as they remember where they are. Laurel looks to her companions, then back at the crates, and decides to see what is inside. Using her sword, she pries the top off of one of the boxes, and then recoils in horror.

"What, what's in there?" her companions all seem to ask in unison as they rush to see what is in the crate. What they see almost disturbs them more than the victims of torture around them. Inside the crate is a woman who is so emaciated that she very nearly looks like a skeleton: her flesh is pale and hangs from her bones, and all of her muscles are obviously atrophied from being confined to such a small space.

"Dear gods!" Laurel exclaims, nearly hysterical, "How can anybody be so cruel?"

Shoji places a comforting arm around her shoulders, as he shakes his head in disbelief. In all of his adventures, he has never seen anything like this. "We need to go, or we'll end up in those boxes, too," he says quietly. The rest of the party nods their heads in agreement, and continues up the stairs.

As she ascends, she hears the barking of dogs coming from above her. "The kennel!" she exclaims, and dashes ahead of her companions. Wrayce is right behind her, though, as they emerge into the kennel. Laurel is relieved to see that the animals are treated far better then the residents of this prison. Each animal is held in a separate stall, and all look to be well fed and watered. She quickly walks through the aisles to check on the condition of each animal, and stops in front of one stall.

"Wrayce, come look at this," she says with a smile on her face.

The druid stops short as he sees what Laurel is smiling about. In the stall in front of her is a large black dog with two heads. "Is that what I think it is?" Wrayce asks.

"It's an argus!" Laurel exclaims happily, "Aren't they so cute?" She opens the stall door and bends down to pet the two-headed creature, making sure to give each head plenty of attention. "Who's such a cute doggie?" she says in baby talk. The argus seems happy for the attention and flops over on its side. Laurel smiles again, "I think this one is pregnant!"

"This is probably her mate," Wrayce says, from the stall next to her, where he is scratching a male argus behind both sets of ears.

"We could take them with us and have little argus puppies!" Laurel suggests excitedly.

After a moment of consideration, Wrayce decides that he likes the idea, and casts animal friendship on both animals. The two dogs look at him with four sets of deep brown eyes, tails wagging wildly, waiting for their new master to lead them.

Quara appears around the corner of the aisle and quickly raises her bow. "What on Trinis are those?" she exclaims, targeting the male dog.

"No, no, no," Wrayce quickly moves to protect the dogs, "they're friendly, and they're coming with us."

Quara lowers her bow and shakes her head in frustration, "We’re here to find a prisoner, not to shop for pets."

"Yeah, yeah," says Laurel dismissively as she walks back toward the stairs, "We know."

The party ascends once again, emerging into a narrow hallway lined with wooden doors. They communicate to each other with nods and gestures, and Laurel checks the first door for traps. Finding none, she nods to her companions and kicks the door in. The occupants of the room, a middle-aged human man and a middle-aged human woman both shriek in terror and dive to the floor, sending a book, some yarn, and a pair of knitting needles flying across the room.

"Don't move!" Quara barks as she storms into the room, "Who are you? State your names!"

Cowering, the man looks at the imposing archer, and stammers, "I'm Seamus, and this is my wife, Mary."

"What do you do here?"

"I'm the janitor and she's the cook. Please don't kill us!"

"You cook people?" Quara says incredulously, pointing the bow at the woman.

"No!" the woman exclaims, "I cook for the guards and the warden."

"Oh, right," Quara says as she lowers her bow. After a moment of thought, she points her bow back at the man, "Where is the warden?"

"I don't know," he manages, unconvincingly.

"Well, then you're no use to us," Wrayce interjects. He looks at Quara, "Is there any place we could lock them up?"

"Yeah, in the crates downstairs," she responds, glaring at the man.

"The warden's on the third floor!" the man exclaims.

"Great!" Quara says as she grabs the man by his collar and drags him to his feet, "You just got promoted to tour guide."

Part 3 of session 5 to follow soon...