Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 3436917" data-attributes="member: 1210">2 p.m.Barouk and Kifla sit bored over Allyendra’s unconscious form. They have made camp without ever moving, knowing that neither of them can carry the big girl for very long. As always, Barouk is grumbling; as always, Kifla is being annoying, singing gnomish songs. They snap at each other half in jest, and it rains briefly in the afternoon (as it does on most afternoons in the jungle). Slowly, throughout the day, Barouk removes splinters from Ally’s throat from where the plant monster bit her. Night falls, and Barouk watches all night. Kifla snores, her large gnomish nose vibrating happily. When morning arrives, the gnome searches out some coconuts and feeds some of the milk to the unconscious barbarian. She revives briefly, but is too wounded to travel and soon lapses back into unconsciousness. The girl is feverish, but starting at about 3 pm it rains heavily, which helps sooth her. When night falls again, Barouk insists that Kifla share the watch, and the gnome agrees readily enough. But when her watch comes, she is constantly distracted, and as a sentry she is fairly poor. By morning the heavy rain has turned to a light sprinkle. Ally gets up to go pee, using a stick to lever herself, and spies a group of people on the trail the party is camped near. “Look!” she cries, pointing. Her companions follow her finger and see a covered wagon and a group of traveling pilgrims. The wagon is pulled by a bosoch, a type of giant beetle used as beasts of burden by dwarves and other races.“I can’t fight right now,” Ally groans. “I’m still too weak.”“They look like pilgrims. Maybe they can help you. I’ll talk to them,” Barouk says gruffly, and steps out onto the road. Behind him, Kifla whispers, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” –but it is too late. “Hail, travelers,” Barouk calls.The wagon’s bosoch keeps plodding forward. The driver nods to the dwarven monk even as he picks up his crossbow. One of the men walking beside the wagon quickens his pace, smiling and nodding at Barouk. “Hello, friend,” the man returns. “We are humble pilgrims. Who are you, fine dwarf?”“My name is Barouk,” harrumphs the dwarf, “and I and my companions are in these woods seeking to defeat and capture bandits.”“Well, we are not bandits,” the other replies. “Of course not!” Barouk chuckles. “But you do appear to be pilgrims.”“Indeed,” the man nods. At this point, the wagon draws up, about 10’ short of Barouk’s position. “We are followers of Galador.”“Of course,” Barouk answers. “I myself follow the teachings of Saint Spadron.” He pauses, licks his lips, and plows ahead. “Hey, one of my companions is wounded. Is there any chance that you could, ah, heal her?”“Perhaps,” the man allows, “if your friend is not evil.”“Oh, no,” Barouk assures him.“We shall see.” The man- Finneas- begins casting a spell.***A few minutes later, Ally blinks and gasps as many of her wounds close and knit together. She is not in perfect health, but she is in fighting shape.Finneas heals Barouk as well, but in return he demands that both Ally and Barouk donate 50 gp each to the church of Galador. They agree gamely, and soon the considerable wounds that he has taken on this trip close up as well. “Say, do you think you could use your magic to make our broken weapon whole?” suggests Kifla.“No,” Finneas replies. “We are pacifists. We will not help you do harm to others.”Disappointed, Ally picks up the head of her axe to store in the hopes of affixing it to a new haft later. Then the party debates resting a little longer. “Yes, let’s,” Ally insists. “I can stand and fight now, but I won’t be able to take any hits. I need some time to recoup my resources.” The others agree, and in the evening, the pilgrims move on, bidding our heroes farewell. The party goes hunting; in the end, a couple of birds, a possum, some mushrooms and some bananas make for a fine dinner. The night holds three watches tonight, as Ally feels up to the task. A cool light rain allows the party to fill their skins with fresh water. They are still fairly wounded, so they elect to rest another night. That night proves uneventful, and when the next morning comes and, though antsy, the party heads further along the trail. It takes only about half an hour for the group to reach the edge of the jungle and to emerge abruptly into the Dead Grass Lands. And, when they emerge from the canopy, they are awed. Far away in the distance, thousands of miles away at least, thunderous booms so loud that they are reaching our heroes are booming. Flashes of light so bright that, even this far away, our heroes can see them are flashing. Jaws dropped, our heroes can only stare. The low growl of the distant conflict is a constant background.*All around, the Dead Grass Lands spread as far as the eye can see. Tall clumps of foul grey grass grow all around. The long grey blades are nastily sharp. Here and there, a clump of brambles interrupts the dominant grey grass. It is a dusty area, far different from the jungle immediately behind our heroes.“What is that?” wonders Barouk, staring at the flashes. The rumble of the distant, desperate battle are audible as a low growl through the air. “Who cares?” Ally retorts. “Let’s go find this bandit, so we can get paid.”“She has a point,” Barouk nods to Kifla.The gnome shrugs. “I don’t care so much about the money as I do about pleasing my master.”“That gnome in the Night?” Ally snorts. “Did you even catch his name?”“It doesn’t matter,” Kifla mumbles. “Suuuure,” Ally laughs. “Come on.” She starts walking, annoyed with her companions, and given her long stride, she is soon significantly ahead of both of them. Barouk puffs and sputters, but Kifla only smiles wanly.The party continues forward for about a mile before Ally reins herself in and lets the others catch up. When they do, she gestures. “Look,” she says, “it’s the pilgrims’ wagon.”Indeed, up ahead, the group can see the top of the wagon. Slowly, they approach it, and find the driver full of arrows, but no other corpses.”They were pacifists,” Barouk states. “They wouldn’t have fought.”“There are lots of tracks,” Kifla opines.“What happened?” Ally wonders. “Could it have been the bandits? Maybe they came and took the wagon, and are holding the pilgrims hostage or something.”“Maybe,” Barouk answers doubtfully.“Well, we have to look for them,” Kifla says. “Especially because they’re pacifists.”“Help!” gasps a voice from behind the party.Next Time: Bandits at last! But our heroes are getting into more trouble than they know!*Readers of the epic story hour (Great Conflicts, link in sig) will see the cause of this rather directly when the current battle culminates in a few updates.</blockquote>

Verification