NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 759568" data-attributes="member: 143">Book VIII, Part 3“Are we being fools?” Cal asked. Lok turned his head, but did not respond.  The two of them were riding alongside each other, their horses maintaining a gradual but steady pace across the trackless expanse of the plain.  Benzan and Dana were a good hundred paces ahead of them, out of earshot, the two close together, although they did not appear to be engaged in conversation.  There had been little conversation thus far on this journey, for a cloud hung over them that muted their desire for casual talk.   To the north, east, and west, the vast plain stretched out to the far horizon, quiet save for the wind that gusted over the open stretches of virgin land.  When the winds died the plains baked in the hot sun, and when they blew they drove dust and grit into the faces of the riders.  The plains only looked empty, and dangerous creatures made their homes there, but thus far the companions had not encountered anything that equaled a true threat to their combined abilities.  To the south, directly ahead, the land rose up in a jagged collection of craggy ridges that already looked to be a potent obstacle.  They could get around those, if necessary, although it might mean abandoning yet another set of mounts.  Behind the ridges rose the dark mounds of the Giant’s Run Mountains, within the fastness of which lay their current destination.  The companions had ridden hard the last tenday, since leaving the main east-west road that connected the city-states of the Western Heartlands with the prosperous and crowded lands that circled the Sea of Fallen Stars.  They rode in silence, for the most part, going through the motions of caring for their animals and setting and breaking camp each day, matching the ominous quiet of the open plains in their mood as each dwelled within the deep expanse of their own thoughts.  Those thoughts were grim, too, reflections of the hard questions each faced within themselves.  Questions like the one Cal had just asked.Lok still had not answered.  Cal finally went on, “Sometimes I think on what Cylyria told us.  That were are among the truly powerful of Faerûn, now, and that there are evils here that need fighting.  Evil is everywhere, I suppose...”Lok said, “In my travels, I have heard many speak of heroes, and many tales about them.  My people, who do not give such titles lightly, have called me a hero for the deeds we did in the Underdark.  But what I think, is that a hero is just someone who does what has to be done.”“There are always battles to be fought.  Evil lurks everywhere, for it is born of the selfish desires of the mortal heart.  We things of flesh and muscle and bone all have wants—it is in the nature of what we are.  But we also have free will, and courage, and brotherhood, and love.”Cal nodded, understanding what his friend was getting at. “We do what we has to be done,” Lok added.  “We cannot leave our friend to the fate that has befallen him.”“Even if we ourselves must walk a road that leads to our own deaths in the process?  I mean, we’ve gained power, and skill in our respective arts, but we’re not that powerful, when it comes down to it...”The genasi shook his head.  “We all understand the risks.  We’re not just going to throw our lives away.  We have our skills, and Dana the means to return us here if we find the task impossible.  We seek to go where few mortals have dared to go, and may indeed fail at the very start of the undertaking.  But to never try...”Cal smiled.  “Truly I am blessed to have such a wise friend.”Lok laughed, a rough, gravelly sound.  “Nay, friend, for wisdom, you should speak to Dana.  As for me, just show me where I need to put my axe...”Cal laughed himself, but did not have a chance to respond, for at that moment the two saw that Benzan and Dana had halted ahead.  The tiefling had a hand raised in warning, though neither had dismounted, and so quickly Lok and Cal booted their mounts forward to join their friends.  “What is it?” Cal asked, as they rode up.  Ahead of them the ground undulated as it met the first line of ridges, the hills meeting the plains in an abrupt transition like waves crashing on a beach.  The keen-eyed gnome scanned the terrain ahead, but in the dips, rises, and crags there were a thousand places where a foe could hide.They all looked at the tiefling, but he only stared ahead, his face cold despite the sweat beaded on his brow from the heat.  “Benzan?” Cal finally prodded.“There’s something there, already spotted us,” he replied.  The others exchanged a glance, but Benzan didn’t elaborate on his statement.  “Should we go on, or wait here?” Dana asked. “We’re just as exposed out here as in there,” Benzan responded harshly.  He dismounted, and the others followed suit.  Leading his horse by the reins, his other hand resting close by the hilt of his sword, he started toward a cleft in the ridge that looked passable for horses.  The others, wary, followed.  They had taken up the practice of casting their long-lasting enhancement spells at the beginning of each day, on breaking camp.  Cal and Dana had advanced in power to the point where these enchantments lasted nearly the entire day, and so each day the two spellcasters improved their agility with cat’s grace, Lok was infused with bull’s strength, and finally Benzan was granted endurance.  Their other protections they reserved for direct confrontations, which they expected at any moment.  Their progress was slow in the hills, although they did not immediately encounter any obstacles that they and their mounts couldn’t navigate.  Benzan chose a course that led them as directly as possible straight toward the mountains, which seemed to wait for them in a long line to the southeast.  The afternoon deepened, but it was still several hours before nightfall when Benzan once more called a halt, this time in a broad gorge thick with knots of thorny, browned brush and massive half-buried boulders worn smooth by the action of wind and water.  This time they did not need to ask why he’d called the halt, for they could all hear it, a scrape on stone there, a faint clatter of rocks there.  No threat was visible, but to the companions, veterans of untold dangers, it was as if a sudden tension had risen in the very air.  Quickly they secured their horses to the nearest available location, and prepared themselves for a confrontation.  Benzan strung his bow and stepped forward, his eyes searching the crags and dips that surrounded them.  He lifted his arms wide, and shouted, “Well?  Let’s get on with it!”All around them, along the steep rises that formed the edge of the gorge, the ground seemed to stir.  They came out of cracks and rents in the terrain, forming a broad ring that drew quickly closer.  The creatures had the look of lean, almost skeletal, hounds, although their faces were rent by overly huge jaws and their eyes gleamed with a feral, sinister intelligence that clearly belonged to no simple animal.  As if that wasn’t clue enough, each sported a pair of twisting tentacles several paces in length that sprouted from their shoulders, culminating in a ridge of jagged bone that looked ready to ravage exposed flesh.  Furthermore, the beasts seemed to shimmer and twist as the companions watched, and they periodically shifted in location a pace to the left or the right, their true locations masked by some sort of innate magic. The only sound was the desperate whinny of their horses, who’d been whipped into a panic by the appearance of the creatures, and a huffing growl that came from them, a dark sound that sounded almost like a laugh.  There were eight of them in all, and they moved in concert to block any retreat.  Each was nearly the size of a horse themselves, and one specimen, clearly the leader of this pack, was a good ten feet in length, its lean frame all taut muscle and fell disposition.  “Displacer beasts,” Cal warned, as the things drew nearer.  “Be careful, their magic masks their true location, makes them hard to hit.”“Yeah, I figured,” Benzan said, holding his arrow half-drawn, ready to attack but unwilling to provoke the creatures until his companions were prepared.  The displacer beasts seemed content to slowly close their ring, savoring perhaps the fear that radiated out from the horses.  But that was all they got; the companions were like steel themselves as they formed a defensive square, shielding each other’s backs.  Cal and Dana cast spells, speaking silently as they moved their hands in subtle gestures, and while Benzan did not release his grip on his bow, he too spoke words in the arcane language of power, and a translucent blue plane of force appeared in front of him, a magical shield that he could use without sacrificing the effectiveness of his archery.  The monsters perhaps realized that delay was not serving them further, for abruptly the huge leader coughed, and the pack leapt to the attack, tentacles lashing out like whips ahead of their rush.</blockquote>

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