Back Issues of the ongoing saga...
Chapter 14
Chapter 15Chapter 16
Chapter 17Chapter 18Chapter 19Chapter 20
Episode Thirteen
Dag recalls.....
Chapter 15Chapter 16
Chapter 17Chapter 18Chapter 19Chapter 20
Episode Thirteen
Dag recalls.....
Unfortunately, us mages are drained of our magical energies. We badly need a few hours of rest to recharge ourselves. We convince the other members to a short rest before we continue. The party wants to rest in this room, in spite of the demon corpses strewn about. We strike up a work detail of Garon, Valguard and Ruby to drag out the bodies.
When the bodies are removed, Valguard tries to see if his sword will be able to absorb and remove the curses from Hunter. As Valguard unsheathes his sword, Gorac stands up and growls. Valguard, tactfully hands the sword to Hunter hilt first. Hunter gently touches the sword to his ears, shakes his head and hands the sword back to Valguard. Gorac glares coldly at Valguard until he hears Xorn unpacking his lunch. Gorac goes over, stares and begins drooling as Xorn eats his food. Ruby comes over and offers to feed Gorac some "nice" pebbles that she found. Gorac asks,"What flavor?". Ruby responds, "They're pebbled flavored". Gorac just grunts.
After a few hours of meditation, I awake to see Ruby playing with her lockpicks and Loki writing in a journal. As we get ready to move out, I sense a change in the party. With Hunter deaf and Valguard discredited, there is a sudden lack of leadership. I wish for Andros to finally step up and retake charge, but he just sits there silently waiting for us to go. Most of us agree that we should continue up the passageway that we were on.
As we start to discuss the party order, Gorac impulsively walks out of the room ending our discussion. He marches up the passage and stops at a wooden door. As we struggle to catch up, he swings his mighty axe and breaks down the door. Unfortunately, this triggers a trap. A dagger flies across the doorway and cuts off his ear. Ruby and Hunter ask if he would want them to look at it, but Gorac grunts. He picks up his ear, puts it into his pouch and walks into the room, bleeding as he goes. Hunter and Ruby shrug their shoulders and follow him into the room.
As I enter the room, I am excited to see what looks like a very large library filled with old books. In the center of the room are three large tables surrounded with chairs. In one corner of the room there is a rope suspended from the ceiling. In the opposite corner of the room there is a wooden door. I send two of my servants to scout for monsters. Not finding any, I settle in to search the books. First, I scan the room for any magic essences. Any magical tome would be a great find. Unfortunately, these books are all non-magical and a little moldy to boot. Kiley and I look through a few books and find they are written in an old tongue. A lot of the books deal with ancient history, which is of great interest to me.
As I start to page through one of the books, I am deafened by an explosion. I see Gorac hurled across the room, Andros gets thrown from his chair, and Kiley gets slammed into a bookcase. I look in the corner of the room and see what is left of the rope. It seems Gorac decided to check out the rope hanging from the ceiling. I would say he has an interesting way of disarming traps.
As Gorac lies stunned on the floor, Hunter finally convinces him to have his ear looked at. Ruby packs his ear with spider webbing and bandages it to his head as Hunter casts healing. I try to explain to Gorac to have Ruby look at things before he touches them. Gorac says that he is tough and not hurt. I explained that his carelessness could hurt other party members. He gave me a confused look. ( I really do not think he cares.) I wish for Andros to have a little talk with the orc to straighten him out, but he just sits at the table staring.
As I walk back to the bookcase, I hear an axe thudding into a wooden door followed by a splashing sound. Thinking about water demons, I rush my water and air elemental to the doorway. Xorn walks away from the doorway as I send the air servant up into the top of the chamber and the water servant under the surface to search for demons. I really wish I had a clue that another idiot was messing with things before the party was ready for it. I could imagine a group of demons leaping out of this room and attacking us before any of the party members knew of the danger. Someone really needs to get some control of them before some people die.
Immediately upon the elemental entry into the water, there is an explosion of air that cripples my water elemental and heavily damages my air elemental. Apparently, this is not water but a large room full of acid. Great!, The acid just about destroyed two of my servants. My servants can survive against demons, but are susceptible to careless party members. That's it! If the party wants to be careless and get into trouble, let them get out of it by themselves.
As I try to return my attention once again to the books, I hear that Gorac has left the room and is tromping back down the hallway. As the group decides to hurriedly leave and follow the orc, Kiley and I agree that when we are done with the dungeon, that we will return here to pick up a few books. Disgustingly, I follow the party back down the passageway. There is a good chance that one of these books may have helped explain about this dungeon and about the numerous dangers we will soon face. If we survive, I guess we will find out if I was right.
We return to the area where the map shows a long hallway. Finally, Ruby is put on point to look for traps. When we guess that we are about two-thirds of the way down the hallway according to the map, Ruby perceptively finds a large sink hole cutting off our path. I send two of my elementals down to search the hole for danger. As they descend, Valguard casts a spell on himself and jumps down. Gorac, then followed by Ruby, starts climbing down the near vertical drop. It might be more appropriate to say Gorac falls to the bottom. His fall looked like it hurt, but the orc did not seem to notice it. Hunter follows down shortly after, while Garon flies down.
About this time my servants find a rock shelf. It leads back to a three foot diameter tunnel that goes back as far as the servants can sense. With a foreboding sense of danger, I cautiously fly the servants down the tunnels. Looking through the servants, I can see something blocking the tunnel ahead. As they approach, I see what appears to be an eel like head that is about three feet wide. As I slowly back the elementals off, I warn the party of the danger. Ruby quickly climbs back up, while Garon flies up. The remaining members already down there decide to continue climbing up the other side. I let everyone know that the creatures seem asleep and we should be careful and quiet as not to awake them. Kiley uses a spell to look a few minutes into the future and only sees the party members climbing up the other side. Thankfully, she did not see any sign of these snake like creatures. I keep my servants back a ways from these monsters. I want to give my servants a head start in case they start to move. I am keeping them just in eye sight with orders to quickly move away if they awaken.
I can see Hunter and Xorn struggling to climb the other side. Their asthma is taking a big toll on them. They are barely making any headway. Valguard is helping as much as he can, but they will be in poor shape when they get to the top. Gorac just made it to the doorway. In typical Gorac fashion he axes the door. As should be expected, there is a large explosion that throws the orc down as the fragments from the door fly over him. The explosion rocks the earth and the eel creatures awaken. They start to move very quickly down the tunnel towards us. My servants however, had a head start and should beat them to the pit.
Garon casts an illusionary pile of rubble blocking the right hand tunnel. This also traps in my water elemental, not that it is worth much now anyway. As the tunnel widens, I have the elementals fly up out of the way and come back to hit the eels from behind. After they attack, I fly them back in an arc and hit them from the opposite direction. Hopefully, this keeps them off balance and busy, while leaving us alone. The servants do the hit and run tactics for a little while. They have hit them very hard a few times, but do not seem to have had much effect on them. I believe that these creatures are much bigger and stronger than my elementals or our party will be able to handle. Sooner or later, the eels will get in a strike that will finish off my elementals. Then it will be up to us. With our party split with the fighters on one side of the ledge and the others on the opposite ledge, the eels can have easy pickens. Well, we made our bed, now we get to lie in it.
Seeing all, knowing all, the Gamemaster himself remembers.....
Loki, Ruby, and Kiley found a safe place to watch the action and are ready to either jump in and help or turn around and run. Garon is flying high above the action; he had placed an illusion on both sides of the cavern openings. These illusionary stonewalls are doing a great job of keeping the eel creatures at bay while Dag has his elementals whacking away at the creatures. Meanwhile, Garon lands down next to Dag and prepares a shock bolt. The moment he sees any part of any eel, he's going to let it rilp. Dag's elementals manage to stun the creatures, which gives his elementals the chance to attack twice per round. Dag's water elemental, now only the size of a coconut (after it took an acid bath), is sent up into the eel's nasal cavity. At this point, the elemental just goes nuts. Before you know it, the water elemental is in the lungs raising holy hell. At some time, part of the eel's slithering body passes through the illusion and Garon lets his shock bolt fly.
Meanwhile, Hunter and Xeron complete their exhausting climb up the other side of the cavern. As they pull themselves up onto the hallway floor, they see Goroc jump to his feet, grab his axe, and go charging down the hall. Just the thought of charging makes Hunter and Xorn tired, so they get to their feet and stroll down the hall towards the room. As Goroc heads down the hall, he sees Valgard just inside the room. Goroc thinks to himself for a second, "That bastard cut Goroc with stupid little sword and make me mad."
Going back about thirty seconds, Valgard braced himself for whatever may happen when Goroc threw his axe at the door. After the explosion that shook everyone and threw Goroc back twenty-five feet, Valgard charged down the hall to the entrance of the room. Looking through the settling cloud of dust, he saw a small alter with tall candlestick holders on each side. Valgard noticed that the brightly burning candles didn't light the ceiling. A thick black smoke, or something, was hovering above the alter. Just then, four gargoyles came swooping down from the blackness. Valgard instantly swung his sword twice, damaging a gargoyle, but the odds were clearly against him. He took damage from the gargoyles and his best choice was to take a defensive position and leave the room.
As Valgard turns to head back down the hall, he sees the Orc headed right for him with his axe drawn high. For a split second their eyes meet. Valgard, unaware of Goroc's intentions, watches as he charges right past him and runs into the room. Valgard heads down the hall to inform Hunter and Xorn about the gargoyles. Then Valgard runs to the edge of the cavern and yells across the cavern to the rest of the party to let them know what is going on. Hunter and Xorn enter the room and see Goroc three quarters of the way through the room. "What the hell is that idiot doing?" thinks Xorn. Gargoyles are approaching Hunter and Xorn when Hunter casts waterwall in front of himself and the dwarf. This stops the gargoyles for about a second. Three more of these creatures come down from the darkness while the others make their way around the waterwall. Xorn gets hit pretty badly and Hunter casts shock bolt. Then they both try to back out of the room, but the gargoyles are closing in. Suddenly, the gargoyles all freeze like statues and fall to the ground with a loud crash. After Hunter dispells the waterwall, they see an injured Orc leaning against the wall on the far side of the room. All he says is, "I break it good!" As they look around they see fifteen or so gargoyles littering the floor. On the wall right next to Goroc is a smashed glass dome. The ceiling seems much higher now that the blackness has disappeared. Hunter, Xorn and Goroc's attention turns to a large, ancient, beautiful book up on the alter. Goroc remarks, "Oh, nothin but a stupid book." As Hunter begins inspecting the book, Valgar comes into the room and tends to Goroc's injuries. Valgard then informs them that the eels were just killed. At this point, an army could not have stopped Goroc - HE WANTED EEL. Valgard heads back to let the rest of the party know it is safe to climb across if they want to.
Hunter, not making heads or tails of the ancient text, notices that in it are many pictures of dragons. Moments later, Dag comes flying into the room. He is shocked to see so many gargoyles lying around. Dag flies over, lands next to Hunter, and motions to him that he would like to look at the book - maybe he could read it. Upon examining the book, Dag figures it is some sort of dragon instruction book. Meanwhile, Kiley, Loki, Garon, Ruby, and yes, even Andros, climb down to the cavern floor. While they cross the floor and begin climbing up the other side, Garon stops for a second to closely inspect these eel creatures. He is happy to see Goroc enjoying the "tasty" eels. Garon then joins the rest in their climb up the other side. Once joining the rest of the party in the gargoyle infested room, Ruby and Loki begin scouring the place for any treasure or secret things. Kiley goes over by Dag to see what he is looking at so intently. Hunter is unsure about the nature of the ancient book, but he can't hear a word anyone is saying. And the adventure continues ……..
crazily revolve again/
And which among us/
can say what reality truly is?
2214 A.E.The universes out of joint and out of phase/
- Andorian Poetmistress L'iludra
Gordon passed the cups around, but those who took him up on the offer did so with suspicious glances at the cups. Lisa, Keith and Lexa waved him away completely. Brent took one and contemplated it meditatively... as one might suicide. Laura accepted the cup, but stared at it as if it might have recently drowned some adorably cute creature and decided to forego tasting it for now. "Cheers!" Gordon announced as he set down Kevin's at his empty place and threw back his coffee. "Ahhhhoooooo... that's good stuff, I'm telling you!" he announced.
Finally Kevin entered the room... last, as usual. Executive privilege. "Okay people!" he shouted as he threw his briefcase on the table and slumped in his chair, "We got a lot of work to do today, so let's get started. I want to begin with a quick recap and then I want to get us through this whole search-for-the-artifact thing before we call it a night, okay? Everybody with me? Oh, whoever did the coffee, thanks. Okay, who wants bring us up to speed here?"
Laura, happy to have a distraction from the cup in front of her, picked up the steno pad and took him up on the call. "Okay," she said, "Last time, you'll remember we found a library..."
"...which was their best hope so far of finding the book," Keith grumbled.
"...which we still haven't established even is a book," Lisa reminded him shortly.
"We said a book before. Why wasn't the book thing good enough?"
"Look, it might be a book. We don't know that yet. All I'm saying is keep our options open."
"And all I'm saying is what kind of blithering fools would wander into mortal danger to find something, not even knowing in advance what it is they're looking for? How will they know when they've found it for God's sake?"
"Ahem!" said Laura, and then waited for them to settle down, "Like I was saying, they blew stuff up in the library. Then they went somewhere else and blew stuff up there a while, then they fought some snakes and some gargoyles, and Goroc did some weird thing that nobody quite understood which killed all the gargoyles while the others focused on the snakes, which also died..."
"Making Goroc very happy because he hadn't had a meal in some time," Brent pointed out.
"...and that's pretty much where we left it."
"Okay," Kevin said, nodding sagely, "So... where do our entrepid heroes go from here?"
"Rest," said Keith. "They've been up continuously since they entered the tomb. Let's face it, when you're in a lair packed wall-to-wall with deadly monsters, and you've finally cleared out a good spot to stop, you rest while you can. Exhaustion would be a long term liability."
Gordon hooted. "Okay. That's just pure genius. We'll have a big scene of them sleeping and meditating. How much screen time should we devote to that? Twenty, maybe thirty minutes?" He nodded seriously and pretended to be noting this on his pad.
"Well, it's more realistic than the general lack of strategy they've been following up until now. Wandering blind. Not using their seer's abilities. Having no idea what they're looking for. Attacking everything in sight 'because it's evil'." Keith shook his head in disgust. "Okay, so let's just say they rested well for a change, Goroc ate well on eel, and they decided to move on."
"Which way?"
"There is only one way --- back the way they came," Lexa pointed out, pulling out the greasy napkin on which her original concept sketch of the tombs was scribbled.
"Aw come on, let's put a door, trapdoor, secret door, something in this room." A long discussion ensued, with Lexa defending her sketch while Gordon argued against having to loop everybody back over their previous path again. In the end, everyone decided back was good, since the party had left so many unexplored options behind them anyway. Gordon argued that if the artifact could change, why couldn't the napkin sketch, (gaining a grunt of approval from Keith), but Kevin swooped in and pulled executive decision on them, so it was decided: Back.
Brent held up a hand. He swept his (as yet untouched) coffee mug aside for the moment and commented, "The mages should split off at this point. I still think they would be happier in the library. I find it hard to believe a whole library might exist without there being even so much as one good or useful book present."
"No good," Keith snapped. "Mages alone in an isolated group. Targets!"
"No, they have Dag's elementals for guardians --- and they already cleaned out this area. It's safe enough for mages."
"Okay, good," Kevin commented, raising his coffee, "So they get to the crossroads, and Dag says... uhhmm..." he raised his cup and took a sip. His face recoiled more in shock than in distaste. "Holy crap! What the hell's in this coffee?"
"I don't know, chief. Do they even have coffee after so many days on the road?"
"Smartass. That's what I say, not Dag."
"Warm sake," Gordon confessed in answer to the original question. "You've heard of Irish coffee? This is Japanese coffee. Good, huh?"
"Uh huh. Next time, just warn me is all. Well, anyway, Dag says..."
Dag: "I still want to see what's in that library."
Valguard: (disgusted) "Great, so now, not only can I not sleep properly with the light spell use as you sit up reading all night, now I suppose we all have to stop (again) while you and the other literate types heroicly read."
Andros: "He's got a point. And no, we don't all have to stop. It should be safe enough to leave the mages here. "
Valguard: "Safe for who? Us or them? What if we need spell cast?"
Kiley: "I want to see the library too... I'm sick of tagging along looking 3 minutes into the future just so I can see how many bandages you dorks are going to need when you pull your next stupid stunt."
Garon: "I also want to see this library in better detail."
Valguard: "Alright, alright. We'll leave the mages. Anything just we can get moving again."
Andros: (aside to Goroc) "Methinks the brightblade grows impatient with the pace of our quest."
Goroc: "If that mean he don't stop and think much, me thinks that's a good thing in a fighter. Thinking only get you into trouble." (munches happily on an eel strip he brought along)
Valguard: "Alright. Let's go. Hunter..." (waves the deafened paladin on) "...let's split."
Hunter: "WHAT?" (but follows Valguard).
With that, the party headed down the passages the way they had come before, except for Dag, Kiley and Garon who split off to the library. The scene will come back to the mages eventually, but for now, it follows the fighters, nightblade, and thief, whom the script shall refer to as the blade party.
The blade party continues, winding their way back to the secret doors they left unexplored before. Ruby argues that they should try right first, hoping it will meet up with the fragment of map she has. They follow it down to a locked door, which Ruby picks open and the party enters a long narrow hall with crates stacked along one wall and weapons hung from the other. The weapons are all rusted and unusable, including an axe, which Goroc angrily breaks over his knee in a show of disgust. Valguard gives a solid tug on a plank from one of the crates, which breaks loose in his hand and smacks him in the face. Ruby drops into hysterics briefly. The others learn from his mistake and open some other crates more carefully.
"Hang on a minute," said Keith, "I don't know. Isn't that pointless slapstick?"
"The best kind," Gordon proclaimed. "You know how hokey it is when you try to have a point to slapstick?"
"Leave it," Kevin said, waving away the objection, "We can always make it go the way of the sock puppet later if we decide not to use it."
The contents of the crates are almost as bad as the useless weapons. The boxes contain rusty, and/or mildewed and half rotted materials of various sorts as might have once been used to outfit a militia.
Andros: "What's with the military stock, anyway? I thought this was a tomb?"
Xorn: "Even tombs need protecting."
Loki: "From what? The place is full of monster guardians."
Valguard: (rubbing his nose) "Well from people like us, for one thing."
Loki: "I don't know, I think the monsters have done pretty well protecting it."
Xorn: "Then why are they dead, and us alive?"
Andros: "So far, you mean?"
Beyond, another locked door, which Ruby makes short work of. She goes first, which is good, because she discovers a very narrow, fine wire tripline that numerous less cautious members of the party would certainly have set off had they gone first. She points it out, the party very carefully steps over it instead. At the end, another door, Ruby opens it and is about to turn and say something when Valguard pushes her aside throws open door and charges down the hall beyond. Hunter, deaf and having no idea what Valguard sees, also shoves Ruby aside and runs after.
Ruby: "What the HELL?" (Takes Andros' hand as he helps her back to her feet).
Meanwhile, Valguard to his disgust comes to a dead end about 30 feet down and comes within half a foot of slamming into it face first. He turns, frustrated, and nearly collides with Hunter who was chasing quickly behind.
Valguard: "Damn it!"
Hunter: "What? What is it? What did you see?"
Valguard: "Nothing." (mutters as he shoves past Hunter) "This place is rediculous with its twisting passages and dead ends."
Hunter: "WHAT...?"
Loki: (aside to Ruby) "I'm starting to think it's something in the air down here. First Andros' weirdness, then Xorn and his sock puppet, now Valguard's acting weird."
"Hold it," Lisa complained, "I thought we said the sock puppet thing never happened. Didn't we all say that? Come on, whose with me here? Can we just strike the damned sock puppet?"
"Alright, alright," Gordon said, "I thought we could work it into a larger pattern if maybe there was something about the place that was making everybody crazy, but fine. No sock puppet."
"Hey, aren't we forgetting something? What happened to the mages all this time?" Laura asked.
"She has a point," Brent commented. "This is obviously going in circles. We've got the brightblade jumping up and attacking dead end alleys. Maybe we need a creative break on this one. Let's do a scene in the library."
"Oh boy, that sounds exciting," Keith mumbled.
"Alright," said Kevin, "The library. Meanwhile, in the library..."
Dag has directed his various elementals to positions at the door, except the light elemental which is giving illumination for reading. He had pulled down a pile of volumes and is skimming through them trying to get an abstract view of a couple of volumes on the history of the land they are currently travelling through, hoping for something relevant to their current quest.
Kiley and Garon had split up and gone their own way, each with their own more mundane light sources. Kiley concentrates her search for anything that looks like a spell book that may be the artifact they are searching for. Her efforts are less than fruitful, however, and after an hour of reading (and sometimes translating) titles on the spines of books, she decides to see what the others are doing.
She approaches Garon who is holding a book in one hand and making odd one handed motions with the other.
Kiley: "What did you find? Is it a spell book? You rat! I've been looking for spell books, but I haven't found any."
Garon: (startled) "What... er, oh, no. Not a spell book."
Kiley: "Well than what are you doing this for?" (immitates Garon's hand motions)
Garon: (grins, holds up the book for her to read the title)
Kiley: "'How to Juggle Like a Fool'. What the hell? You've been reading a book on juggling for the last hour?"
Garon: "It's the performer in me! I've always wanted to juggle like a fool. Juggling fools make a killing at festivals."
Kiley: "Daaaag, will you talk to this fool? He's wasting valuable time."
Dag: (under his breath) "What now?" (louder) "Uh, guys, I'm right in the middle of something here."
Kiley: "Really? Did you find something?"
Dag: "Sort of. There's a lot of local history books. I think it could be relevant if I could just get an overview, and maybe find something that tells us who built this tomb and why. If we know whose tomb it is and some of the history behind how it got built, maybe it'll give us a clue how its laid out and why there are so many demons and monsters everywhere."
Garon: "Oooh, yum. History. Just the sort of reading I was looking to do."
Kiley: (grabbing Garon by the collar) "Me too. Come on. Let's help Dag... unless you're too busy juggling."
"Okay... that was exciting. Can we get back to the blade party now?" asked Gordon.
"Why? What were they doing that was so interesting? When last we left our mighty heroes, they were bravely attacking the wall at the other end of a dead end hallway." Keith complained.
"Are we not paying you people the big bucks to come up with ways out of situations like this?" Kevin asked. "Come on, they attacked the wall in the dead end hallway and then..."
"Okay, it's not that hopeless," Lexa said, "Look at the sketch. There's a hidden door here, and some space beyond."
"Again with the hidden doors?"
"Hidden doors inside of hidden doors. Okay, that's weird."
"Alright, so not a hidden door," Lexa conceded, "The point is there's another space behind this hallway. Maybe someone walled off the space. Hey, that's not bad! If someone wanted to hide something pretty damned important, walling it off at the back of an already concealed area is a good way to do it."
"So how does our ... er, less than intellectual crew find it?"
"Wait a minute," Brent said reflectively, "They attacked a wall. Attacked... a wall. Get it?"
Nobody got it. Brent had to spell it out for them...
After the group had cleared out and Ruby and Loki had gone over the hall looking without success for a hidden door release, Andros took his Mace of Impact off his belt and walked down the length of the hall tapping solidly on the wall, listening for changing in the tone as he struck. All the way down the righthand wall there was nothing. Then along the left wall he found a hollow sound on his very first tap. Winding up, he takes a good sized strike and the mace's magic crushes the stone neatly, and before long, stones held only by now damaged ancient mortar cave in.
Xorn: (startled by the sound) "What the...?"
Ruby: (who had been studying the tripline back up the hall) "What the...?"
Valguard: "What NOW?"
Hunter: "WHAT?"
Andros: "Uh, guys, I think I found something. Someone want to bring a light back here? I haven't got infravision you know."
After a little more smashing and shoving, there's a human sized hole in the wall and Andros is leading the way back into a hidden area. Two more hallways. One hallway dead ends again, and the other ends at a door. Andros listens at the door, but hears nothing, however, there's a padlock locking it, so he calls for Ruby. Ruby, unfortunately is near the back of the group now and has to do a considerble amount of pushing and maneuvering to make it front.
Ruby: "What you'd find?"
Andros: "Locked." (shakes the padlock in a test of its solidity) "Can you open it?"
Ruby: "You betcha I can boobilah. Just stand aside."
"Nononononononononononononononono," Laura complained. Gordon noticed her head was shaking in nearly perfect 4/4 time. Crazy man, that must take some practice. "I'm sorry," she said, "I just don't think Ruby says 'boobilah'."
"What's wrong with 'boobilah'? It's an old term of endearment. I kinda like it."
"I agree with Laura," Lisa asserted, "She's never used the phrase before."
"Maybe she heard it from a passing merchant last time they were in town and she's been looking for a chance to try it out ever since."
"Sounds more like something she heard from a Russian bar whore last time they were in town."
"Hey, come on. People try out new phrases all the time. I tried out one on you earlier today, remember?" Gordon asked with a leer.
"Yeah, I remember. That's why I slapped you. I'm sorry, it's just not Ruby."
"She's right. Strike the boobilah."
"OK, boobilah's out."
Ruby studies the door and finds (big surprise) that there is another exploding door trap around the doorframe. Although the padlock comes off easily, something must be done about the trap. Hunter, although he can't hear the discussion, recognizes the hand gestures that signify an explosion and understands from previous examples during this campaign.
He muscles his way to the front of the line and removes a waterskin. Working with Ruby to point out where the explosive powders are hidden within the frame, he squeezes out generous portions of water between the cracks of the door until he's thoroughly soaked the door, doorframe, and, they hope, the powder.
Andros: (mouthing for Hunter to read his lips more easily) "Nice work, but now you have a whole skin less water..."
Hunter: "S'alright, I have wine yet." (he grins).
Hesitantly, Ruby opens the door.... (dramatic, suspenseful pause)... Nothing happens. Everyone breaths a sigh of relief. Within, there is a small room, wherein they find four wooden treasure chests in immaculate condition. Somehow the chests have been perfectly preserved. Inside the chests they find...
"OK, 'nuff said. Lunch break!" Gordon shouted.
"We're just going to leave them there? What? What do they find?" Laura asked.
"Come on I'm starving here. We've been at this all morning, in case you hadn't noticed."
"We could order in."
"Ahhh.... I'm sick of chinese, and the pizza place we called last time came up with that idiotic excuse about running out of cheese. Now me, I want steak. This is tough work, you need tough food."
"I prefer my steaks less tough."
"Ha ha."
"Okay, people," Kevin decided, "Obviously we're not going to get anything done until we break for lunch. Be back here in an hour, damn it. I'm sick of waiting for one or two people who just thought it was too nice a day to rush back to work." But by the time he'd finished saying it, the staff room was empty. Kevin sighed.
"I wish once in a while they'd remember I'm supposed to be in charge here."
From the great mind of Valgard
The axe seems quite peculiar to me. The entire weapon is black as night and the handle does not appear to be made of wood but of something I’ve never seen. No sooner then I could ask for it to be checked for curses, Ruby hands it off to Gorac, who took it with immediate happiness. Great, Ruby just gave a possibly cursed or powerful weapon to the person we know almost nothing about. He also has detailed knowledge of an evil tomb from which no one has supposedly returned from alive. And if that is not bad enough, I accidentally attacked him a few days earlier and he would probably love nothing more than to take my head clean off. But too late now, I’ll just have to keep a closer eye on him.
Ruby and I go to the next chest. Again she opens it with little trouble. In this chest she finds four everyday average cloaks. She hands them to me and says, "hold onto these."
Finally, the third chest is opened and it contains an assortment of jewels and coin. Ruby then asks me to swoosh my sword around in the chest. Probably in fear that this may be cursed like the last chest of coins we opened. Nothing happens so we divide it all up amongst the present party members, which excluded Dag, Kylie, and Garon.
Anxious to find out if what we had found was magical or cursed in any way, I ran back to get the rest of the party. Once there, I tell them what we have found. Then Dag and Kylie start squabbling about who gets to look at the cloaks. Finally Dag wins and identifies them as cloaks of insignificance. He said the wearer of the cloaks would hardly be seen and soon forgotten after being seen. I quickly pack them away and tell them to hurry back to look at Gorac’s new axe. If the cloaks are magical, then surely the axe will be too.
As we all make it back to the room I see Gorac standing there playing with his new axe, grinning and looking at me. Hunter tells me he does not sense evil in the weapon. This makes me feel a little better. Dag checks it out and senses that it does have strong magical essence. This worries me. Kylie then identifies the axe to be what is called a death blade or slaying blade. Oh that’s just f***ing great. She goes on to say that the legends of these weapons are infamously powerful. They are capable of killing almost any foe on the first swing by using magical essence to increase the damaged received to the foe. The weapon is only capable of using the magic six times a day. Well that’s a little better. Now Gorac only has six tries to kill me in a day. What the hell. The whole time Kylie is explaining this, the grin on Gorac’s face keeps getting bigger and bigger. She also explains that there are only a few known to exist, and suggests that he hide it whenever we go into a town in fear that someone will steal it. This sounds like a pretty serious weapon. Maybe, if I’m lucky, he forgot all about the incident between us.
Oh well, off we go to the room across the hall. Ruby and I are in the lead. She checks the door and then unlocks it. I proceed to open the door as Ruby steps aside. I prepare for anything but to my surprise nothing tries to kill me. Could this be true? After opening two rooms nothing has tried to kill us. As I proceed into the room I see a large tapestry to my left spanning the entire wall. It is enormous. I would say a good sixty feet wide and ten to twelve feet tall. Also, in the center of the room, there is an old desk and chair rotting away. As I proceed toward the desk, the rest of the party enters the room and begins to inspect the tapestry and walls for secret doors and traps. After close inspection of the desk, I find nothing particularly interesting about it. No drawers of any kind. Just a plain rotting desk.
Something then catches my eye and I look closer. I notice that on the side of the desktop there is a piece of wood separated from the rest. I pried it off from the rest and toss it to the ground. I then see a small sliver notched out and in the notch a key is tucked away. I pop the key out and shout to the party that I’ve found something. Ruby and the others report that they cannot find a door anywhere. We then begin searching behind the tapestry. After a few moments Ruby finds what appears to be the outline of a hidden door. She calls Gorac to give the wall a shove.
The wall slides back and moves aside. A cool breeze comes from the open doorway. There is a long stairway leading down to a second level. Before we venture down, Dag tells the party what he discovered in the library. While searching through the books, he discovered that the tomb was once a kind of dragon research center. Apparently the mages who occupied the tomb were trying to raise and control dragons. And that somewhere below could be where the dragons may have been kept.
After hearing the story we decide to venture down anyway. As we descend the stairs and came to the bottom, the floor was covered in water. Having faced some water demons before, Ruby drew her sword and probes the water to see how deep it was. Just as she was doing this, Dag sent an elemental down to inspect the water. As she stuck her sword in, she found that the water was a mere two to three inches deep, but not before the elemental went into the water and bounced off the floor. Dag became annoyed that he was not informed of how shallow the water was. We proceed down the hall leaving Dag and the water-terrified dwarf behind. Dag sends his elemental ahead to inspect the hallway. We proceed cautiously down the hall only to be stopped by the elemental. It moves aside and we come to a doorway leading into an immense quarter sphere room. On the opposite side of the room stands a large double door. On either side of the door stands a large centaur statue. They looked to be about twenty feet tall from head to hoof.
Hunter proceeds into the room and as he does, the two statues animate into living centaurs. Hunter readies his bow and fires a shot. Having little affect, he switches to his morning star. Gorac rushes to the one on the left and takes a swing at it's legs. I then proceed, followed by Andros, to the one on the right. Attacking the creature’s legs, I manage to break its foot. It begins to fall but not before Andros gets a shot in with his sling. I scramble to get out of the way, but I get knocked over by the falling beast. Out of the corner of my eye I see Gorac and Hunter take another swing at the creature’s legs. Hunter manages a good blow to its legs while Gorac cleaves the chest of the creature and kills it. I then manage to get to my feet to finish off the other beast lying on the ground. As I run towards it, Dag’s elementals swoop down to attack and kill the centaur with a shock bolt. The creature’s eyes pop out the their sockets.
While Gorac begins to carve up some centaur meat, Ruby proceeds to the double doors and finds a keyhole. She calls to me and I walk to the door. I take out the key I had found earlier and slide it into the lock. As the doors unlock, I swing them open and we enter into another room. This room is oval shaped and appears to be magically lit as there are no candles or torches in sight but a light is illuminating the room. In the middle of the room stand four large pillars that formed a square. From the pillars chain is strung down to connect in the center of the square, which is then connected to a metal ring. On the ring rests what appears to be a very large egg. Under the egg shines a bright light emanating from the ground. At this point I can only guess that we have finally found what we were looking for.
Entry from Hunter Derekson's Mission Log
High Bishop of the United Combat arm
The Church of the One True God
I continue to strive for an accurate recital of this holy mission for the glory of God and the honor of the church, but I find myself asking questions about this mission, questions about the assortment of adventures that accompany me.
I am of mixed feelings about this "item of power" we have found. A live dragon egg. I have, with the most humble of apologies, never heard of a situation like this. In all the histories, the Church knight sallies forth to do battle with the Dragon, no chant I have ever heard tells of the Brave Church knight who lays his life on the line for the baby dragon. But there it is.
I examined the egg from all angles, testing for any hint of an evil aura. Unable to detect any, I reluctantly stood back and allowed Dag to proceed with the ceremony he has explained will hatch the dragon and bind it to his will. I told him in no uncertain terms that, should the beast have any evil aura whatsoever, I will kill it immediately, and without warning.
Somewhat grumpily, he nodded impatiently and ushered the rest of the party out of the chamber, explaining that the beast must not see anyone but him upon it's hatching.
Enlightened Lordship, I must admit that my training and instincts fought with me briefly at this time. I made no outward sign, but mentally I fought a fierce debate over whether to enter immediately while the magic user was involved with his dragon and destroy them both before a great evil could be unleashed upon the world. Ultimately, my training and discipline overcame my instinct to destroy the potential threat, so I waited calmly with the others.
Finally Dag opened the door. Looking somewhat disheveled, he announced that it was done, and that he was getting some sleep before travelling further. I entered the room and examined the beast closely (and somewhat suspiciously). It had no obvious aura of evil, but I retain my judgement. For the time being and in the interests of accomplishing the mission for the glory of the Holy Church of the One True God, I decided to let the creature live, although again I warned Dag (who seemed too tired to pay attention) that any evil acts or traits will result in their abrupt meeting with the one True God.
After a period of rest and meditation we repacked our equipment and readied ourselves to depart. We watched with distasteful fascination as Dag fed the creature strips of eel and centaur meat, which it toasted with puffs of minuscule flame before devouring.
It is at this point that an unusual conflict arose. Ruby, Garon, and Kiley were in favor of leaving as rapidly as possible, while Valguard and Goroc wanted to return to the rooms with the Slog beasts and finish cleaning this evil lair. I weighed the options and threw my voice with the warriors. The mission awaited, but evil creatures were nearby, an abomination on the face of Creation.
Andros, our party leader (who, it seems has defeated whatever internal demons he has been fighting with) reluctantly agreed to destroy the creatures, on the grounds that it was better to have a dead enemy behind our backs than a live one. Ah, Andros. Ever the soldier.
Hastily we formed a plan. We built up thick layers of shield from the rotted ones we found in the armory and covered ourselves with mouldy cloaks of heavy cloth from the ornate tapestries. Ruby would unlock the door and throw it open, the bow wielders would fire immediately into the beasts before they could react. Hopefully we would wound them enough to throw them off balance as we charged. From Kiley's description they would be a dangerous foe. I cast light on the shields as we readied ourselves, and Ruby pushed hard on the door, rolling out of the way.
The beasts were a true glimpse of evil. Heavy, hunched bodies supported two snakelike smaller appendages, each with the ability to spit a fearsome acid with tremendous force. The main heads were armed with sharp teeth, strong enough to rend steel. They turned as the door opened, caught by surprise but instantly ready for battle. Our arrows sank home in the two beasts and we charged. I headed for the closest, drawing my sword. Goroc followed, bellowing a war cry that raised the hair on the back of my neck. Andros and Loki charged the one on the right.
To our surprise another lay directly behind the door. Xorn charged it fearlessly, shouting Dwarven war cries as he shed a shield and cloak which were suddenly melting in acid.
The battle was short and fierce, but in the end were victorious, to the greater glory of the One True God. We dispatched the beasts without suffering any major injuries, thanks to the heavy covering we wore.
Enlightened Lordship, I will continue to monitor developments and maintain this journal for the glory and knowledge of the Holy Church of the One True God. With His blessing and guidance we will continue on this mission, despite my doubts, and return victorious with the artifact we seek. I also must humbly ask that the Church consider cloistering Dag and his dragon for study upon our return. This is ancient magic indeed, and although it is necessary to accomplish our mission, the long term effects of binding with a dragon must be carefully studied.
I close with the most humble of thanks to the One True God for our success thus far. May He guide our footsteps, may He wield our swords, may He grant us His wisdom in our judgments for His greater glory.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
"Deep Thoughts"
by Goroc Jaggedtooth (son of OG and 'new' wielder of the "DeathBlade")
That silly Valguard has good idea for once. He thinks we should go take care of the last deemons. Silly girl says these things are no deemons. Says they just extraterenial creatures... whatever that may be. Me no eat extrathingymajiggys before. Maybe they taste good. Hmm... these thingys supposed to spit acid. Must mean they spicy!!
Andros have good idea, he say we should get old shield from down hall and use them to block spit. He even suggest to put some magiks on it to make them glow. Now we have no trouble seeing extrawhojamawhats. Andros says to have a few of us in front with shields, and let others shoot over top with bows. I not bad with my crossbow, but rather be able to rush into battle without much worry. Me not know why they want me put on torn up piece of big wall blanket, but me do what it take to get into battle. After those big horse people, me really like this axe.
Me take front wall with girl and Andros, as the little girl unlocks door. Now is chance to kill. As soon as little girl out of way Goroc kick in door. Me happy Goroc no get hit by people behind. Me so proud of axe!!! First swing against extrathingys and Me shatter it's skull!! Shame me no can use it as trophy. Thingys spit off to my side, and it time for Goroc to crush some more! Thingy spit at me as I rush up, and anger Goroc. The dwarf gets in a good stroke and cleaves into the thing with first swing and second takes off the little heads. By time Goroc turns around, the Thingys are all dead and squirming on the ground.
Back of room has another small hall. Another room filled with more shiny medal. At least this one has a weapon. It's only a morningstar, but it is something. The strange girl looks at it and calls it a Dwarven Morningstar... now dwarf can play with something else. They also find some medallion or something. Oh well!
Back to the room, and wait as MagikMan reads his book.
After a short nap, they tell Goroc to drag the rest of the eel in here. Me no hungry, but guess me can share eel with everyone.
Now MagikMan wants us to lower this egg. Once it down he tells us to leave. Me wonder what he do with egg by himself. He to small to eat whole thing.
So we wait.
And wait.
And wait.
Finally MagikMan want door open, and we get to see that egg hatched into a big orange dragon. Me no kill a dragon before.
Hey!!! Dragon eat all my eel!!! Great! Now me have to find another source of food. Maybe dragon can be trained to fetch and kill. This could be good thing.
OK... Now we have a dragon. What next?!?
Further entries in the Diary of Ruby
Let me recap our party's battle wounds.... Hunter fell upon some curses. He is color blind; (okay, that is not too bad), but to be deaf and asthmatic upon it; it does not leave him in a good situation for a man of the cloth. Xorn is cursed with asthma - it is hard for a primary front line fighter to have a condition like this. What is he going to do during battle?... Tell the enemy: "Time out!!!... I need... to catch... my....breath..." I don't think so. And there is Andros, somewhere during his state of delirium, his shield arm was shattered in battle.
Ironically, I am appointed to accompany our injured party members on a journey to Scarboro. We are in need of having these curses lifted, bones healed, and OF COURSE... my "healing supplies" replenished, among other things. It is amazing how an "expert treasure hunter" is the best bargainer of this party. Now, let's take this into prospective. Hunter would give all of our money away to the church. He calls it "donating". Andros may spend it wisely but may give all of it away in desperation to have his arm fixed. And Gorac, what can I say, he knows no value of a gold piece, yet alone a gem...or should I say from his point of view "shiny round metal things and funny looking pieces of glass". I have risked my life undoing these traps and locks. I am not going to easily depart with my findings.
Valguard volunteers his services to stay behind and "guard" the rest of the party (or should I say closely watch Dag's - no I mean - the "king's" dragon) while the rest of us journey into Scarboro. Wow, this is the first time since I met Valguard that he did not want to be my private escort. I guess our blooming relationship can use some time apart. He is trying to exert his masculinity since the dragon poses more of a threat then I do. It seems that Draco the dragon is growing bigger and bigger by the day from all the eel food. On that note, it is best to leave this dungeon before we cannot get Draco out.
The five of us; Hunter, Xorn, Andros, Gorac, and myself took what coins we can comfortably carry along with some gems, just in case we run short of gold. As we approach the exit (the entrance as known before) I notice that it is night. We decide to leave for town right away. We have a long journey ahead. It will take at least a day and a half of travel on foot until we reach town.
Even though it is nighttime, I had no problem navigating our way back on the over grown path that leads to the main road. Right before meeting up with the main road, we hear wagons approaching at a fast speed. All of a sudden, Gorac pushes me aside and tries to intercept them. Well, guess what, Gorac was shot with a cross bow. That's what happens when all brawn and no brains. What did he think would happen? The wagons would stop after a dark figure charged out of the brush??? I don't think so. If I were the wagon driver, I would be thinking — AMBUSH !!! We have the honor of having another casualty; a broken weapon arm. As Hunter tends to Gorac's arm, he does a sleight of hand trick while casting healing and yanks the bolt out. He then bandages his arm.
We continue to journey on through the night. Dawn arises. We notice wagons parked at camp sites and their attendants preparing their morning meal. Further traveling down the road, a few hours later, we see wagons approaching us from behind heading in the same direction we are. Since my traveling companions are not in the best of shape, I think this will be a good opportunity to bum a ride to town. I was able to hail one of the drivers, explain that my friends need to seek medical attention in town, and ask if we may have a ride. He agrees to take us into town; for a hefty price. Reluctantly I agree. We are able to make it through the guard towers in the back of his wagon. Unlike the last time we visited this town. From what I remember of the last visit, we had sorcerers posing a threat to us. We divided into two smaller groups to make us somewhat unnoticed to the sorcerers following us. We also had to endure a grueling question and answer period from the town guards. This time entering was a lot easier being in the back of a merchant's wagon.
After departing from the wagon, I thought it would be best to seek lodging. The inn we found was ironically called "The Dragon's Flame". It has a bar/restaurant on the lower level with room accommodations on the upper floors. The price of the room with dinner and our morning meal included was relatively inexpensive; we've booked the night. Hunter commented that the price we've payed is cheaper then the local church would charge.
We decide to pay the local church a visit to see if we can get the curses removed. As we were leaving past the bar area, Xorn rushes over and orders an ale. Surprisingly he was able to leave with us after only one ale. I think it is in our best interest to stay together as one group just in case our sorcerer friends are waiting for us.
We arrive at the church. Hunter announces our entrance. The church official immediately recognizes Hunter and ask of our travels. Unfortunately Hunter is unable to hear him and I interject that we seek help in having curses lifted for Hunter and our friend Xorn. I explain how and what curses each has. The official leads us to a room behind the main alter and tells us to wait hear. Moments later an old woman with straw gray hair appears (a.k.a. a witch.). She leads Hunter and Xorn to a back room and preforms her ritual before them. A few moments later Hunter says he sees color and can hear us. That also mean that the asthma should be gone. We pay the price of 400 gold for her services and our "donation" to the church. We ask the official about healing for the broken bones that Andros and Gorac both have. He recommends to visit a healer for those services. He gives us directions to 207 Pivot Road, the location of the healer. We thank him for his services and leave to find the healer.
Xorn wants to go back to the inn but again I stress that we must stay together as a group. Last time Xorn was left unattended in a bar he was wanted for murder. I don't want to be banished from this town too. I am NOT going to jail for a drunk dwarf!! We make our way to 207 Pivot Road. It is just a house and the curtains are drawn tight. Without anything to loose we knock at the door. An old man answers the door through a tiny little window on it. We explain that the church official gave us your address and that there is a healer who live here that will help us. He closes the little window and unlocks the door. He invites us in. We tell him about Andros's shattered arm and Gorac's broken arm. He leads Andros and Goroc to another room while Hunter, Xorn, and myself are told to wait here. His wife, Mildred, offers us tea and cookies while we wait. Xorn asks if she has anything stronger then tea. She goes into the kitchen and returns with a cup of something and hands it to Xorn. By the smile on Xorns face you can tell that it must contain some type of alcohol. The healing process seems to take a long time. Eventually Goroc make a reappearance. There is still a lapse of time before Andros reappears. Eventually he does. We thank the healer and pay him for his services. There goes another 500 gold. I ask him where is the best herb shop in town. I need to replenish some of my supplies and in need of other types. He describes the location of the shop and it is the same one I was at before. I just hope that the shop keeper was able to replenish his wares. It's only been a week or so since I last visited his shop. We thank the old man for his services and make our way back to the inn.
The inn keeper greets us upon our return to the inn and leads to a table prepared for our evening meal. We have plenty of meat and potatoes to feast upon. I make a special request to the waiter to bring my friend Goroc meat "extra" rare. He looks at me funny but returns with a nice cold slab of meat. All thoughout dinner I am preoccupied thinking about what I must do tomorrow in town before leaving. Valguard requested some sort of magical helm and Loki requested grieves to protect her arms. The entire party needs to restock our supply of rations. I especially need more healing herbs especially since we are prone to broken and shattered bones. I also need some sort of cutting device for wires that is better then my utility knife.
Dinner was absolutely delicious. I will have plenty to dream about tonight, especially my shopping list at the herb shop.
From Loki
I really should have gone to town. It is great to be out of the tomb, but hauling stinky eel meat around for this dragon is not my idea of fun. There is no action around here, except for the scary lake. Everyone got freaked out because it was getting closer to us. What could the water have done to us? After an uneventful night, Dag, Kiley, Garon, Valgard, and myself are just sitting around waiting for the others to return.
Andros is driving the leading cart with Hunter ready to defend. The second cart is driven by Ruby with Gorac at her side. Xorn is sitting in the back of her cart. In the road ahead Andros spies a large mud puddle in the middle of the path. He slows the horses and carefully starts through the mud. Suddenly, the cart comes to a dead stop. Ruby, driving the second cart, quickly pulls the reins to avoid a collision. Andros and Hunter climb down and spot the problem immediately. The mud had turned to solid earth, leaving the two horses and the two front cartwheels stuck 6 inches in the ground. Knowing that Mages were the culprit of this, Andros and Hunter scanned the woods for any signs of them.
Ho hum, ho hum. I wonder what the group in town is doing. I hope they got plenty of healing herbs for the clumsy and careless ones in the group. Kiley saw a deer so there goes Valgard off on the hunt. I hope he doesn't get lost.
Spotted in the woods stood six horses. The group realizes that this means there are six mages after them. Suddenly there was a loud crack. The party looked to see the first cart's rear axle crack and the wheels broken. Gorac spots the horses and starts running through the woods with his deathblade in front of him. Andros follows but at a more cautious pace. Ruby and Xorn get off of their wagon and start firing arrows blindly into the woods. The second cart axle suddenly cracks and wheels break. Out of the corner of his eye, Hunter sees a glimmer on the right side of the cart. He then starts shooting his lightening bow into the wooded area causing the tree to burst into flames. As Gorac is running toward the horses he is suddenly knocked off of his feet. He gets back up and continues racing toward the horses. Andros keeps following but starts shooting arrows into the brush hoping to hit a target. He can see Gorac running ahead of him. Suddenly Gorac disappears into thin air. Back at the cart, Hunter got back on and keeps shooting arrows into the woods making a semicircle of fire around the two carts. Xorn hides in some bushes and continues shooting arrows into the woods. Ruby starts creeping through the woods hoping to catch a glimpse of the mages. Gorac reaches the horses and lets out a terrible snarling growl that sends the horses running in fear. Suddenly a vacuum spell knocks Ruby and Gorac on their feet.
I did not take this mission just to sit in the woods. I can not wait until the next battle. I wonder what is taking Valgard so long to hunt down that deer. I hope he didn't go crazy in the woods playing with that deer.
As Hunter and the others continue shooting, Ruby noticed a mage from the corner of her eye. She ran toward him and managed to give a damaging blow. The mage fell and Ruby went in for the kill. After she killed the mage she bent to see if he had anything worth taking when out of no where she was hit by a fireball, giving her severe burns all over her body. She lay on the ground near unconsciousness and unable to scream for help as the other party members kept shooting arrows into the woods oblivious to the danger Ruby was in. As Hunter continues shooting his arrows, he notices from the corner of his eye someone lying in the brush. He stops shooting and takes a closer look. He breaks out in a run when he realizes that that someone was Ruby. He picks Ruby up but as he does, Ruby cries out for him to check the dead mage for any amulets or items. Hunter reluctantly searches the body for anything that may be valuable. He managed to remove two rings, an amulet, and his boots. Hunter then grabbed Ruby and brought her back to the cart. Ruby had third degree burns on her arms and chest. Hunter gave her some herbs to help with the pain, and then he started to look at the objects taken from the mage. He picked up one of the rings and tried to put it on his finger but it was much too small for any of his fingers. Ruby told him to slip it onto her finger, so Hunter carefully placed the ring on her singed finger. Immediately she disappeared and the mystery of the invisible mages was solved. Hunter removed the ring much to Ruby's unhappiness. Xorn volunteered to hold onto the ring until Ruby is feeling better so Hunter handed the ring over to him. Xorn immediately puts the ring on and disappears. As the party members decide what to do, they keep a weary eye on the woods. It is decided that Hunter will fix one of the carts while Xorn rounds up some horses. Andros and Gorac both worked to free the trapped horses. Hunter and Gorac then decided to ride into the woods to find the horses of the mages so that they could not follow but it was too late. The horses were no where to be found. Soon the party was back on the path riding out of town toward the rest of the party. Behind them was a wall of fire and smoke from what looked like a devastating battle.
Well Valgard finally came back with that deer. He decided to cook up the meat and it smells so good roasting over the fire. I can't wait to taste some fresh meat instead of the old dried meat that I have. Kiley decided that she needed some dreaming time so we are not allowed to disturb her sleep. How lucky she is to be able to sleep in peace without being waken up for any reason. Oh great, what did Garon just say? He saw something in the woods? Interesting, things may start picking up soon enough.
I looked around the woods and did not see a thing. Valgard kept cooking his deer meat and Kiley slept on. Garon then saw the object again. He said that it looked like a human form but was much taller. I wonder what it could be? Everyone was now on alert, except for Kiley of course. We kept our eyes open and weapons ready for any surprise attacks. Over our heads in the branches we saw what looked like a large bird fly between the trees. It didn't look like any ordinary bird. It looked more like a dark shadow flying overhead. Soon we saw a few more circling above us. Dag decided to send the dragon up above the tree line. This looks like it may be a bit more than we can handle. The dragon was able to see over two dozen of these bird-like creatures circling over our camp. Great, we will soon be attacked and the majority of our fighters are on a shopping spree in town. It was time to wake up Kiley. When she woke up she told us that she dreamed of the rest of the party, and they were attacked in the woods. This could not be any good. We asked her about the birds and she was able to tell us that they were called dark wings. They were horrible creatures that stole souls by clawing at their victims. There must be some way to stop these creatures before they kill all of us. Maybe that thing that Garon saw in the woods has something to do with the birds. I am going to have to check things out. As the others stood around deciding what to do I pulled out my blades and slipped into the woods taking off in the direction of the creature in the woods. All of this has to work out. We can't afford to lose any party members at this stage of the quest.
Garon remembers...
I'm an entertainer, I wasn't cut out for all this running about and nearly getting killed...
I understand why my master wanted me to join this party. He wanted me to see the world, get a better understanding of people, maybe sharpen my new found skills a bit... but those birds yesterday were almost enough to make me pack up and go home. I didn't know something that big could fly, although I guess Drako proved me wrong there. As uncomfortable as I am with Drako, I'm glad he's on our side. I would have to say the same thing for Eric. I think he could take down any one of us, even without his birds. I don't know how Loki ever managed to sneak up on him. I feel comfortable that he is on our side though. I know what it is like to lose one's family, he has more of a reason to see this mission through than any of us. At least the party has joined back together now and we can get away from this lake. Although I'm tired of being attacked I am almost looking forward to these invisible mages to meet up with us again, there haven't been too many oppertunities for me to be very helpful. I've been examining the ring that Ruby picked up from one of them in hopes of understanding how they work and could be disabled.
I've been doing pretty well throughout this quest with not completely breaking down in front of the rest of the party... hopefully I will finally get used to this.