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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wraithdrit" data-source="post: 881278" data-attributes="member: 10820">Session 7 - PrologueHome of Randal MornDagger FallsEleint 28th, 1372Early Morning(The morning following the drow raids) The fire had already been burning in the fireplace for several hours, despite the very early hour. It had been lit by servants after the entire household had been roused near midnight. The drow had attacked the town this time, things were getting very serious.Randal Morn walked into the room wearing his leather armor, his sword strapped to his side. His three advisors had gathered to discuss the morning events. Nearest the fire sat the tall broad shouldered form of Tunfar the Stout. The High Priest of Tyr was dressed in a full suit of chain and plate armor. Beside him lay his shield and mace, neither of which had seen battle in a few weeks. Standing near the door was a skinny middle aged man with weathered skin, also clad in leather armor. He was Dulwar the town's leatherworker. Unknown to most he was also an accomplished scout and spy. He stood up from the spot where he was leaning on the wall when Randal entered.Seated across from Tunfar was Shevaril Starcloak. The half-elven abjurer was well known in town as one of the most powerful wizards in the parts. That was what she spoke of first. "My lord, young Will Farseeker has been busy. The spells he used today... they are out of even my reach." She seemed downright worried.Randal was able to quickly connect the dots, "And he barely survived his encounter with the drow. Which means we have a very large problem.""The drow only went after the Farseekers, m'lord. They seemed very deliberate." Dulfar held a small leather working tool in one hand, he spun it at the end of each sentence, absent mindedly playing with the tool while he spoke. "That leaves three conclusions. Either the Farseekers have something the drow want, the Farseekers have done something the drow wish to avenge, or..."Tunfar knew the third answer, "Or the drow know that Will Farseeker is the biggest threat to them in this town and are trying to take him out to make the town easier to subjugate."Randal frowned, "I'm not sure which it is, but I don't think it matters. The Farseekers are well respected members of this community. If the drow wish a fight, a fight they will have. We will stand by the Farseeker family through this."Tunfar frowned, "I might know what they are after, m'lord. Young Farseeker brought me an amulet, a holy symbol of their spider goddess. He wanted it properly disposed of."Randal raised his eyebrows, "Did you?""Not yet.""Do so as soon as possible. The last thing we want is them getting their hands on it, or worse ransacking the temple trying to find it. Who all knows that you have it?""Us and Farseeker.""Good. We need to work a bit more on the plan for the next time the drow decide to make a visit." Randal walked over to a side table and poured himself a glass of water from a pitcher that sat there.An unfamiliar voice cut through the pause, its dark tone, and otherworldly feel sent fear racing through each of the room inhabitants. "You have another problem to worry about." A black figure stood in one corner, barely visible. It seemed unarmed and unarmored, but it was hard to tell."All four of the room's inhabitants reacted quickly. Fuses were short, sleep had been lacking, and the stress had strained all of them. This intrusion, but something so dark was not taken lightly.Tunfar snatched up his mace and kicked his chair out at the figure as he stood. Shevaril stood and pulled a long slender wand from her belt. Randal drew his sword and called out for his guards. Dulfar slipped to one side, switching his tool for a short sword hidden behind his cloak.The shadowy form, the Prince of Shade Calriburnus shook his head and waved one hand in front of him, conjuring up a dark black disc of a shield, "Don't be foolish, I wish you no harm."Tunfar did not seem to want any of the Prince's explanations, "Skulking around in the dark! Spying on our meeting, after what you people did in Cormyr you think we will believe that?" He growled and lunged at the shade, but by the time his mace arrived where the shade had been, the shade was gone. Shevaril spoke a soft word and globes of energy arced toward where the shade had been, flying from the tip of the wand. As the shade slipped into shadow to avoid the cleric's mace, he reappeared on the otherside of the room and the missiles changed course, arcing back toward him. They impacted his shadowy shield and dissappeared harmlessly. Randal turned and strode toward the shade, "I suggest you leave now, there are only so many places in this room for you to hide." The four were fanning out.Clariburnus was losing his patience. "I suggest you wisen up, Morn! I have information you need." Tunfar grabbe up his holy symbol and began to mutter soft words to Tyr. Clariburnus threw a hand toward the cleric and the magic the cleric was summoning was dispelled.Shevaril had waited for that, she started her spell then held a hand out toward the shade. Nothing happened, the spell energy just flowed off the shade with no effect. A spell designed to harden his muscles and render him immobile had no effect whatsoever. Randal and Dunfar flanked the shade, bothing holding thier swords at the ready. Clariburnus had enough of this game. "I warned you." He took a half step toward Randal, and when Dunfar reacted Clariburnus was ready. The prince spun in mid step, grabbed Dunfar's wrist and slammed it against a wall. His free hand had pulled out some sort of shadowy dagger. The shade plunged the dagger into Dunfar's wrist. The scout screamed as his wrist was pinned to the wall. He dropped his weapon and was grabbing at his arm with his free hand.Randal tried to take advantage of the situation. He lept forward striking at the prince's back. Randal's blade cut deep, but Clariburnus just spun, his black blood fading into nothingness as it flung from the open wound. The shade slapped aside the Mayor's weapon and then spoke a few dark ancient words of magic.Shevaril screamed out, "No!" She recogonized the deadly spell. One touch and Randal would be killed instantly. Clariburnus grabbed Randal by the throat and slammed him against the wall, his other hand glowed blackish blue with the deadly magic. Randal's eyes went wide as the prince thrust a finger at him, the deadly magic crackling softly.But Clariburnus stopped an hairs width from Morn's forehead. The magic energy snapped and crackled, playing between the finger and its intended target. But the touch was not made. The attack was held back. Clariburnus growled, "Do I have your attention yet?"Randal choked from the grip on his neck but managed to whisper, "Yes.""A fairly large contingent of Zhentarim are travelling along the road toward Tethyamar. Your friends will be overrun easily with such numbers. Call your troops up, ambush the Zhentarim in the mountain pass."Tunfar stood back but gripped his mace tightly, "If we do that, we will be defenseless against the drow!""If you don't do it, your friends, the only people in these parts capable of taking on the drow, will be killed. You stand no chance against the dark elves, not with out the heroes of Tethyamar."Randal swallowed, "Alright... we'll do it."Clariburnus released Morn, turned and stepped into the shadows dissappearing as he said, "Good, and know this. Those heroes are the kingdom in the stone that they are carving out is the only thing that stands between you and the Empire of Shade. They are also the only thing that stands between you and certain destruction at the hands of the drow. I suggest you remember that." With that the shade was gone. At the same time, across town, in the home of the dwarf Gregor Stoutbeard... Gregor looked at Nileger in disbelief. "He did it then?"Nileger nodded, his beard flapping about, "Aye. Or rather he is about to. Me Mara does work at the temple. They say that Farseeker, who went with Alepounder, was seen at the temple, and at a couple of the shops in the merchant ward. Was trading ancient coin. Dwarven coin, for services. They are doing it Gregor! Alepounder is truly the one."Gregor nodded. He remembered Alepounder from a few days earlier. He knew the boy, or rather, knew of him. He looked much like his father had, and his grandfather before him. It was obvious that the boy didn't know the truth though. He would have to fix that. "Very well then Nileger. Send out the call. We will need to be leaving as soon as we can."Nileger smiled, "I already did, sir. I already did. Your pony awaits and the lads are all ready to go."Gregor was mad at first. How dare Nileger make the call without him commanding it? But if what he said was true, then the outcome was inevitable. His frown slackened and he smiled at Nileger. "Out you fiend, I need to gather me things. Then I will join you and the boys outside."Nileger smiled and nodded and was out the door fairly quickly. Gregor turned and walked over to his chest. He pulled out the key and unlocked it, then lifted the sturdy lid and looked down at the contents. He pulled out his warhammer, smiling at the feel of the haft in his hand after so many years. He swung it back and forth a few times then looked down at the armor in the chest. The breastplate looked just like the one Alepounder had been wearing, only his was merely steel, where Alepounder wore one crafted of Adamantine. As he pulled on the armor he glanced down and saw the small box. He swallowed away the lump that grew in his throat. He lifted the box out and slowly opened it. The light of the fire glinted off the item inside. It practically lit Gregor's face. He softly stroked one finger along the edge and nodded. It was time. He closed the box, latched it and tucked it under his arm. Gregor turned and strode out, seeing the boys waiting for him, "Alrighty boys! Lets go home!" The cheer the crew let out woke a few people in the surrounding neighborhood, but the dwarves could not care less.Later that afternoon, in the mountains west of Dagger Falls... Captain Lowe grunted in pain, the arrow had pierced his armor and tore into his shoulder. Below in the pass the fight still raged on. His own archers, what were left of them, were trying to pick out Zhentarim targets toward the back. The Zhentarim archers in the back of the melee were returning fire. The Zhentarim infantry had formed a nearly impenetrable wall of shields and was slowly dispatching the Dagger Falls militia with practiced ease. Lowe shook his head. "We need to call a retreat..." He looked at his second in command. "Call the retreat."The young female Sgt Serin nodded and lifted the small horn to her lips, she inhaled sharply and was about to blow out the notes to retreat when a deep low horn sounded below. She let the horn fall from her lips a bit and stared down in the pass, trying to discern where the noise came from.Lowe frowned, "What you waiting for, call the retreat!" He snatched at the horn. Serin shook her head and kept the horn out of reach, "Captain, look!" She pointed at the back opening of the valley, behind the Zhentarim line. A group of at least twenty dwarves all riding war ponies came pouring out of the opening, the leader waved his warhammer and then let it crash down atop the head of a fleeing Zhentarim. The head popped like a melon. "Reinforcements, sir!" The deep horn that the second dwarf carried blasted its note again across the battlefield.The back of the Zhentarim line started to collapse. A few of the Zhentarim were still fighting, but as their missile and magic support started to wane their line began to crumble even faster.Serin smiled and quipped, "Congratulations sir, we did it!" She looked over at the slumped form of her commander. "Sir?" She pushed the captain back and he fell onto the ground, a crossbow bolt buried in middle of face. Serin frowned then turned to archers beside her, "Time to mop up boys." She lept from her perch and began striding toward the battle, stopping every few feet to loose an arrow into a Zhentarim combatant.After the battle had finished Serin met with Gregor and Nileger. Gregor nodded, "Fine ambush ye had going lass, sorry about your captain."Serin nodded, "He was a fine man, and will be missed. So you are headed back to Tethyamar?""Aye, gotta see if the lad needs any help mopping up the mess the hordes left so many years ago. You and yours are welcome to come with us. We could use the help."Serin fidgeted a little. "We should get back to Dagger Falls, they will be needing us there. The drow could attack at any time."Gregor shook his head, "And miss all the fun? Come now lass, we could use a few good archers to help out, me boys is good with axe and hammer, but bows just aren't our thing."Serin thought back to her orders. Randal had told her to stop the Zhentarim at all cost. He had said that helping out the Heroes of Tethyamar was paramount to the survival of Dagger Falls. "Very well, I will come, and I will ask for volunteers who wish to join us, but I will not order anyone to come.""Fair enough." Gregor grinned and looked over to Nileger and nodded.</blockquote>

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