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

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 175355" data-attributes="member: 143">Book IV, Part 5“Where are we?”It was Lok who finally answered that question, once they had explored the ruins above the sunken chamber and moved to its outer edge.  It was late in the day, the sky above an unbroken expanse of gray, and the cold wind only intensified as they pressed on.  The companions drew out stashed cold-weather clothes and fur-lined cloaks, most of which had been kept in Lok’s bag of holding for most of their time on the Isle.  Once they had left the immediate area of the battle with the lamia and her ogre servants they paused in the shelter of a crumbling wall for food and drink, a meal hastened by their need for answers.  They knew that they were back in Faerûn, both by the renewed connection of the clerics to their gods and by the familiar tongue used by the lamia, but other than that, the cold was their only clue to their current location. The ruin was situated on a bluff that sat on the shoulder of a range of massive, snow-topped mountains that ran to the north and west.  Winter had just been beginning on Faerûn when they had first been transported to the alternative prime plane of the Isle of Dread, and now it had to be in full flower, as they had spent several tendays exiled in that strange land.   The ruin wasn’t especially large, perhaps half the size of one of the city blocks back in Waterdeep, but it held about it an air of advanced age, as if it had stood there on that lonely bluff back in the time when the human empires were not yet conceived.  What purpose the place might have once served was lost now in the destruction that untold ages had wrought upon it.   Once they emerged from the edge of the ruin and gained a clear view of the edge of the bluff, they took in a collective breath as they regarded a broad vista that stretched for hundreds of miles around them.  To the north and west lay an unbroken expanse of mountains, but to the southwest hilly plains could be seen, along with a forest that pressed up against the foot of the range to the west.  To the east, as far as they could see, the horizon was a vast, barren expanse, open land broken only by the occasional cluster of rocky hills naked of vegetation. “This must be how the gods see the world,” Dana breathed, as they all took in the majesty of the grand sight.  It was as if the world was laid out before them, a natural tableau.  “I know where we are,” Lok said, finally, breaking the spell that the view had cast over them.  Five pairs of eyes turned immediately to him, seeking the answer that had thus far eluded them.  “Anauroch,” Lok said, indicating the waste.  “Beyond yon waste lies the High Ice, a glacier that makes the desert seem verdant by comparison.  These mountains behind us are the Ruathym, occupied by orcs, dwarves, and other hardy races of the farthest ranges.”“Well, friends, it looked like we started in the West, and have found our way to the North,” Cal said.  “Found our way home,” Lok said to himself, too quietly for those around him to hear.  * * * * * The identification of their surroundings replaced some of their uncertainty, but it did not provide answers on what to do next.  Lok’s knowledge of this particular region was entirely second-hand, as his people had lived more to the west and north of this barren place.  Indeed, as they headed down a narrow track that led down from the bluff to the southwest, it seemed as though they had the world to themselves this day, as even the natural beasts that lived in the mountains seemed of a mind to give the bluff and its forsaken ruin a wide berth.  The path led them along their desired course, for the route to the southwest offered the best prospect for leaving this isolated place and returning to some vestige of civilization.  It was a long road, for it was a goodly hundred miles or more to the nearest settled area, the remote dwarven fortress of Citadel Adbar.  Beyond that lay an even longer road to Sundabar, and the other cities of the Silver Marches.  A long hike indeed for the companions, but few alternatives presented themselves on this cold, blustery winter day.While the ruin offered ready shelter from the elements, none of them had been willing to tarry there.  Instead they made their camp for that night within a rocky dell some miles away from the bluff.  They sent a vigilant watch, but for once no enemy emerged to threaten them.  With the morning came the same cold wind and darkened sky, the gray above showing a more malevolent shade that promised a storm before too long. “Looks like rain… or snow, perhaps,” Cal said.“Yeah, it just gets better and better, doesn’t it?” Benzan said grumpily, still wiping the sleep from his eyes as he sat down to their meager breakfast.  While they were still above the treeline, Lok had found some dried out scrub brush that he had coaxed into a small fire with the help of Delem and some of the oil left among their stores.  It wasn’t much, but at least they had hot coffee.“That’s the last of the coffee,” Lok said.  “All right, that’s it,” Benzan said, standing up suddenly.  “I’m lodging a formal protest with the forces running this multiverse.  Why couldn’t they just let us travel back to Baldur’s Gate, where right now I could be sitting in a nice, warm tavern with a mug of ale, a sideboard of juicy beef, perhaps a saucy wench bouncing on my knee…”He trailed off wistfully, oblivious to the daggers in the looks he got from both Dana and Elly.“All right,” Cal said.  “We’ve got a long road ahead of us, that’s for sure, but we’re together, and at least we’re back in Faerûn.  That’s something.”“Yeah, but at least it was warm back on the Isle of Dread,” Benzan said, subsiding with a final huff of justified indignation.  The scanty breakfast left them all hungry, but it was the best they could do with the limited supplies they had remaining.  Dana suggested that they would likely find game and edible plant life once they reached the forest, but it looked like a few more days of hiking remained before they made it there.  They all felt particularly conscious of the absence of Ruath, who’d had the power to conjure up foodstuffs using the divine power of Tymora.  Now the halfling woman was also stored in the bag of holding with their other gear, preserved by a spell of gentle repose from Dana.   They spent the day marching along the trail, making slow but steady progress.  The clouds above seemed content to withhold their wet cargo for now, a small blessing but one welcomed by the tired companions.  Around noon (or their best guess, as the clouds continued to shroud the sun quite thoroughly) they paused for a brief rest and another small meal at the base of a steeply sloping ridge.  As they rested Dana came over to where Delem was sitting, a short distance separating him from the others.  “You’ve been quiet, lately,” she said to him.He looked up at her, not certain what to say, although his feelings were written clearly on his face.  “I’m sorry,” she said.  “I know this must be tough on you.”“No, I’m sorry,” he finally said after a minute’s awkward silence.  “I’ve been acting like a little child, and it’s not fair to you… or to Benzan.”At the mention of the tiefling’s name, Dana suddenly looked uncomfortable.  But she hid it well, and an instant later a wry smile had fallen back into place across her face.  “Benzan’s got nothing to do with our friendship,” she told him.  “I know this is awkward, but… I don’t know.  My life has changed so much since I met all of you, I’ve discovered things about myself and the world that I never knew were there.  I met a follower of Selûne, once, when I was young—he seemed… strange… somehow, like he wasn’t quite part of the world you and I live in, that he possessed a sort of deeper connection to… to life itself, I guess.  To the universe, and its secrets.  He said that he was a ‘mystic wanderer.’  I guess that’s what I am, now.”“I… I understand, I think,” Delem replied.  “My own understanding of things has changed a lot, too.  Each time I think I understand a little more, I’m reminded of how much I don’t know.  I mean, I have this power, power to destroy.  And yet, at the same time, my connection to Kossuth gives me the power to heal, to save lives.  Strange, how destruction and renewal are two sides of the same coin.”“See, this is why I like talking to you,” she said with a more genuine smile.  “Of all of them, you really do understand.”  She stood, seeing that the others were making preparations to continue on their march.  Suddenly, though, she looked around, uncertainty crossing her expression.“What is it?” Delem asked.  “What’s wrong?”“Something’s not right here,” she said.  “It’s gotten quiet all of a sudden…”Delem stood and looked around, and so he was the first to see the four flying creatures that darted low over the crest of the nearby ridge and swept down toward them.  They looked like giant eagles, if eagles could have the heads of feral elk with multi-pronged, sharp-pointed antlers.  He barely had time to shout a warning to the others before the things attacked.</blockquote>

Verification