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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 3549566" data-attributes="member: 1210">“Ally!” shrieks Kifla. “NOOOOO!!!!”Kain doesn’t have time to mourn the fall of his busty companion. He is fighting desperately, two short swords in his hands. His left hand twists as he parries a blow, sending the bandit’s blade out of guard position, and Kain lunges with both swords, impaling the man! With a gurgle, his foe falls. A crossbow bolt- launched by Kifla- whizzes past him and hits the raging half-orc that just slew Ally in the thigh.He only howls again, spittle spraying from his mouth. Barouk kicks out at another of the bandits- Are there more behind those bushes? he wonders- but misses. A spear jabs him in the side. Gritting his teeth, he stumbles forward at the half-orc, giving a wild jab- but the half-orc knocks his blow away, then chops down, slashing deeply into Barouk’s shoulder. The monk collapses in a bloody heap.“Oh no,” whispers Kifla. Fear washes over her. This could be the end for all of us. She glances at the mad half-orc. And we’re supposed to take one of them alive! She casts expeditious retreat. If nothing else, maybe I can make it out and bring word to my master, or to that guy Bors who sent Kain with us...“Coward!” screams Kain. “You can’t leave me alone like this!!” Desperately, he faces the half-orc and the other remaining bandit.The half-orc roars and rushes forward at him, greataxe whistling. At the same instant, the other bandit leaps at Kain as well- and, through a stroke of incredible good fortune, the axe cleaves through the bandit!* Kain grins fiercely, leaps up through a spray of blood and viscera, drops his off-hand weapon and thrusts at the half-orc, trying to land a stunning blow against his head.He misses, and finds himself face to face with a huge, raging, froth-at-the-mouth, foul-smelling half-orc barbarian bandit. “Gnome- HELP!!!” he screams again.Kifla is backing away, but when Kain yells for help again, she suppresses a sob and moves forward. Only one spell left, she whispers to herself. If this doesn’t work, I have to flee, or we’re all dead! Her expeditious retreat becomes an expeditious advance as she moves up and to the side, to where she can cast without catching Kain in the area of her spell. Then she begins chanting the mystic syllables, linking her fingers together in weird positions- and a color spray hisses out, catching the half-orc in its cone of clashing hues! The bandit leader (?) gives a great roar, stumbled a few steps... and falls unconscious!“Oh thank the gods!” bursts out Kain.“Quick!” Kifla exclaims. “We have to make sure that Barouk is okay! And that will only keep the half-orc down for a few minutes- we need to bind him before he awakens!”“Right,” Kain agrees. While Kifla is distracted, Kain surreptitiously reaches into the belt of Allyendra- poor, deceased Allyendra- and filches the adamantine dagger that she had been given by the traveling merchant on the road earlier. The two of them bind the half-orc before he comes around. Kain has more expertise with ropes, so Kifla leaves that task mostly to him; meanwhile, she digs out the pink potion that the party found, crosses her fingers and pours it down Barouk’s mouth. The dwarf splutters and coughs, but some of his wounds close, and his eyes flutter open. “Did we take one alive?” he groans.***When the party searches Ally’s body, Barouk notices a distinct lack of Ally’s new dagger. Kain does not confess to taking it, so the dwarf eyes him suspiciously but lets the matter drop for the moment. As soon as Barouk and Kifla have their backs turned, Kain slips the dagger into the half-orc’s belt, and as the party searches him, they discover it. Barouk harrumphs, but the mystery appears solved- at least for the moment. “We have to bury her,” Kifla sniffs, indicating Ally’s body. For once, no one argues, and everyone starts digging. But after a few moments, they realize how poor the prospects of making a good grave are, and they change their plan (at Barouk’s suggestion) from a grave to a funeral pile. They begin gathering what dry wood they can find.“Hello,” comes a new voice.Everyone drops their firewood and whirls. Another half-orc faces them! Barouk adopts a fighting stance. Kifla whips out her crossbow. Kain draws both shortswords.“Whoa!” the half-orc exclaims, raising his hands to show that he is unarmed.“State your business,” Barouk barks. “We’ve just had a rather bad encounter with another half-orc- a bandit- and it cost us dearly!”“Whoa,” the newcomer repeats. “I’m no bandit! I am a traveler, seeking aid for my homeland, where we have a goblin problem, and I heard voices... so I thought I would investigate.” He glances at Ally’s body, laid out atop the beginnings of a funeral pyre. “Maybe,” he offers, “I can help you guys gather wood for your friend’s pyre.”Barouk and Kifla exchange a glance. Kain shrugs. “Sounds good to me,” he snorts. So it is that our heroes meet Grom, the half-orc. He tells them his tale as they dig: he is from the Elsir Vale to the north, from a town called Drellin’s Ferry. Recently his folk have been harassed by goblins, and although this is nothing new to them, the goblins seem bolder than usual. Moreover, the usual tactic of the local folk is to slay a few, send some pursuit to frighten the goblins and let them know that their incursions will be met with swords and arrows, and not tolerated. This time, however, the usual approach does not seem to be bearing fruit. Though the town has only had a few of its folk slain (and several more injured), the goblins are worrying in their persistence. So they sent Grom as a representative to the nearest big city, Alathion, for aid.“But the local troops said they already had too much on their hands,” Grom sighs. “They said that the city has a bunch of problems with gang violence, as well as bandit activity going on around it. So they left me pretty much on my own. I figured that if I could find some independent adventurers that were interested in helping us, my town might be able to pay some coin to them for their help.”Kifla, Kain and Barouk exchange looks.“Well, we need to go back to Alathion first, to speak to my master,” Kifla says solemnly. “Yes, we’ve finally just about finished our first real mission,” Barouk grumbles. “If we can get a live bandit back to town this time!”The pyre is finally finished. Kifla says a few last words: “She was our friend, though she didn’t talk much. Well, grunted, really. Allyendra, we will miss you!”She begins singing a gay, happy gnomish song while Barouk gravely lights a brand and thrusts it into the wood of the pyre. Several pieces are soaked in pitch, and the flames catch rapidly. Soon Ally’s corpse begins to burn, the fire licking upward at the night. Barouk sighs. You may have been a silly human girl, he thinks, but you were a hell of a warrior! ***A night’s rest sees our heroes back on the road to Alathion, with their half-orc captive bound within a large sack. When they reach the trade road that parallels the Alathion Canal, the traffic again picks up, and soon the party is stopped by a sheriff mounted on a kocho, searching for someone. However, the sheriff releases them when they show him the bandit that they captured: he is not the bandit the sheriff is looking for. “Who are you looking for, then?” asks Kifla. “The daughter of someone important,” the sheriff says vaguely. “Keep your eyes open and report anything you come across. There is a reward for her safe return.”By evening they reach the walls of Alathion, but the gates are closed for the night. With an eloquent shrug, Barouk begins setting up camp again. Next Time: Back in Alathion! Will our heroes finally turn a live bandit over to Kifla’s master? Will the party follow Grom? Will they learn anything about the missing girl? Find out- next time!*This is a great example of a fumble (yes, I use fumbles) turning the tide of the battle. If that half-orc’s blow had hit Kain, that would have been it for him- he’d have been written in the dead-book for certain.</blockquote>

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