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| fooberichu |
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www.seeleyware.com
Joined: 6/29/2007
Posts: 148
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5/26/2006
19-20 Icetide
Last I recall, we had just barely taken out the necromancer at the
Brotherhood cabin… events after that have been fuzzy, yet somehow
not as bad as my last episodes of memory loss.
I snapped out of my episode inside a tower within the enemy
fortifications that Hugh was reconstructing as his bandit base of
operations. Most of my comrades were disguised as goblins while
Mort and Vance were disguised as some despicable Suul. Even though
I had been under my episode of memory loss, somehow I knew they were
my companions and was not startled into attacking them.
I recall that Mort – usually a moral being — had finally reached the
soldier's snapping point and mercilessly dispatched one of the
goblins along our way, and brutally murdered two Suul whom he and
Vance were now impersonating. I fear that my hardness is rubbing
off on the lad and while I like to see him less weary in face of
violence, I also do not want to see him become like so many soldiers
whom I have served with. I agree that all foes must be brought to
ultimate justice through death and I am by no means opposed to
violently torturing and maiming them prior to releasing them from
mortal bonds… it's just that this young farm-hand had the essence of
innocence about him that reminded me of a good that I thought non-
existent in this trying time. It is strange for me to feel this
way, yet I feel that I must not let him defile his innocence and
become like me – a heartless bloodthirsty soldier.
From the tower, Schmendrick, Mort, Kess, & Drokk decided to descend
into the subterranean portions in search of Hugh as the goblins
feebly attempted to douse the fire Friar Oskar fiendishly sparked.
The rest of us decided to wait to see if Hugh would surface and I
could obliterate him with a nasty concussion bolt larger than I used
to end the necromancer's evil existence. Unfortunately, it would
not be so easy.
They returned to gather us, having found the shaman leaders and Hugh
in a war room planning their next actions. The idea was to have
Kess and Vance prepare themselves at the end of the hallway, Oskar
and I preparing a large fireball and concussion bolt respectively.
We were still disguised as the goblins so things should have gone
smoothly. Considering what happened, things still panned out nicely.
Kess was noticed by Hugh and, fearing that Hugh would recognize us
for what we really were, he let loose an arrow but missed widely.
Knowing out moment had expired I let my bolt loose hoping to land it
in the front near the larger concentration of shaman's but the shot
went high and actually landed near Hugh. The blast was large and
deafening, sending the table smashing into a couple of the shaman
and stunning the rest. A very quick and bloody battle ensued where
Pip summoned the courage to take down three of the shaman's (though
not to the death) and managed even to fell Hugh. Prior to Pip
coming to the rescue, Mort ran up under the guise of "Jack" and
deceived Hugh, then turned on him and the couple shaman who had been
smacked by the table. He was able to drop the two shaman, but Hugh
dropped him quickly.
I was able to take down two of the shaman myself with some nasty ice
daggers… although I'll admit that one of them was a dead man… er…
goblin anyway. He was one that Pip had dropped (though not killed)
and I finished him off with a nasty ice dagger to the head. It was
messy.
One shaman was able to escape and we were unable to locate him in
searching, though we found a well where he was most likely to have
gone. We searched Hugh's room but found nothing, absolutely nothing.
Returning to the main room, Schmendrick defecated on the dais near
the back of the room. That had to have been one of the more foul
things I've seen this day, and that is saying a lot. I was tempted
to freeze his nuts or something whilst he squatted… though I
refrained. He has the ability to retaliate.
I must say that these kids are proving to be much more formidable
than I had previously given them credit. We were able to subdue a
room of this bandit camps leaders in less than 30 seconds and
without taking any casualties. Oh sure, Vance, Drokk, and Mort had
all taken some nasty hits in the process, but leaders are supposed
to be the elite in a group and these ones had hardly put up a fight.
Before we left, we decided to search Hugh's room again and managed
to finally find an invisible ladder leading outside the
fortifications. We used that to make our escape. Mort collected
the heads of several of our downed foes as proof, good idea
considering we'll need to prove we found the bandits. Schmendrick
picked up the remnants of the map, as well as two of the goblin
wands and I decided to keep one of the shaman staves that hinted to
something magical. Crespin decided he'd like to keep a souvenir
too, much like our old friend Chivalry, and put Hugh's gauntlets on
in order to hold the sword (the sword had superheated upon Hugh's
death and caused Hugh to completely incinerate into nothing more
than dust). We thought that unwise, likely a cursed set of
equipment, but Crespin has never appeared to be much of a thinker.
The gauntlets must have imbued Crespin with great strength, however,
because on our way back to town he was able to very easily move a
large log as if it were mere paper.
Speaking of town, there had been some mischief happening in our
absence. When we arrived to town, a patrol stopped us and asked
Mort in particular where he had been. He stated where he had been
and showed them the heads to prove it. They accused him of some
troublemaking in town and send him to see Captain Edmond of the
guard. We followed along and learned that Mort is accused of
murdering one of the Thurston twins and kidnapping the other.
Obviously that couldn't have happened because he has been with us
the whole time, but nonetheless he was to be questioned.
While Mort was being questioned, Crespin and Vance went off to do
some investigating of their own. Apparently they learned a few more
details and learned that some Slaine might've had something to do
with it – Slaine is some boy in the town that has long plagued Kess
and other smaller kids in town, a bully through and through – but
that Slaine had skipped town. Crespin resorted to bullying to
acquire that information, knocking the breath out of some tall bully
kid who was trying to intimidate him. Those gauntlets – which he
had handed over to Schmendrick to take for identifying –
had "returned" to him (he doesn't remember taking them) and he had
them on when teaching the tall kid a lesson.
Mort went to the scene of the crime and through some good tracking
found tracks leading away. He sought out Vance to get his help in
tracing the tracks and he, Crespin, and Vance followed them to a
cave a ways out of town where they located the living twin –
Melanie. Crespin ran her to town while Vance and Mort waited for
the evil-doers to return. Crespin returned the girl to her family
and had the rest of us join him running back… we arrived to find
three younger men bound, two of them with arrows sticking from their
legs. Apparently Vance and Mort got the drop on them and disabled
the two, then Mort ran forward and slapped down the third one with
the flat of his axe. Ouch.
Long story short, the boys admitted to wrong-doing and cleared
Mort's name.
That night, I went with Schmendrick to meet with the Brotherhood and
received a slightly more formal invitation to return in a couple
nights to join. Schmendrick's payment was five solid gold bars – a
King's ransom! – I definitely need to be in this business. I also
hope to learn something of my memory loss episodes that have been
occurring frequently of late. I have seen it reach fullness in
Schmendrick (he has lost 3 years and didn't even know he was
married, nor remembered anything about actually being a member of
this brotherhood). Perhaps they have the resources to learn what it
is that caused Schmendrick's memory loss and will be able to prevent
it from hitting me in the magnitude it hit him.
I find it hard to believe all that I've accomplished with these
young men in the past weeks. I recall vividly how much I detested
the thought of working with them, and more importantly, feared my
own life because I doubted they could hold their own in a fight. I
have been proved wrong in my initial judgments time and again. Yes
it is true that they make mistakes that a seasoned soldier wouldn't
make (like stepping into a mage or archer's line of sight), but
given their shortcomings they are remarkable in overcoming the odds.
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| fooberichu |
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www.seeleyware.com
Joined: 6/29/2007
Posts: 148
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7/7/2006
I came to at some inn or somebody's house, or something of the
sort. The individual was named Erik, and he had apparently hired
out our party to track down the source of evil in his township –
whom turned out to be a mage with the ability to shapeshift. It
appears we arrived to this town delivering goods for somebody else.
I do not know what it is that has been causing my periodic memory
loss. I assume I operate normally during these episodes, though I
cannot ever recall anything that happened for a day or two at a
time… sometimes even longer. I fear something is terribly wrong and
hope to research its cause and hopefully a cure.
It appears as if there has also been a Fallen terrorizing the area
looking for something, a stone, a book, or something. He completely
leveled an entire town in his anger. It appears that it has
something to do with our friend Schmendrick, though he isn't of much
help seeing as he has suffered much greater memory loss than I
have. However, related to that turn of events, Schmendrick wants us
to locate some fort – he called it Urassia – that has some sort of
special stone he thinks the Fallen is after. He also believes it
will hold some clues as to his past and help jog his memory.
Without further ado, Erik helped us locate a townsfolk who happened
to know of some nearby ruins that met Schmendrick's description.
She was sure to let us know it was haunted nowadays as she led us
there. We arrived without incident and proceeded to enter.
As we walked around these ruins, Mort took to kicking every last
skeleton he came across – fear of the undead I suppose. Crespin
located a fresh body, some man who had the unfortunate demise of
falling through a hole in the weakened roof. He was carrying
Moonroot, an herb used in preparing a salve of fire protection. We
found the main level to not hold anything of importance and
proceeded to the sublevel where we had previously heard footsteps
and shuffling about of some creature.
In the basement we found the source of the sound, a massive red bull
that, while in Schmendrick's presence, left us alone. We found a
room with a pentagram and all entered it for protection while
Schmendrick continued to investigate further. He came back after a
short while apportating a ball of curious design – many reflective
facets. He decided to head back to where he found it and a short
while later came back again without it. He said he found what he
was looking for so we left.
Upon exiting the fort, Drokk suddenly sprung towards Schmendrick and
knocked him to the ground, unfortunately a split-second too late as
a crossbow bolt impacted Schmendrick's leg. Pip was quick to act
and nailed the would-be assassin with a quick knife to the face,
causing the would-be assassin to disappear in a puff of dust and
smoke. Oscar and Schmendrick tended to the wound and we hightailed
it out of there.
After recovering the evil mage from the town and spending a night,
we headed out back towards Tristen. After making camp and during
Vance and Mort's watch, a man approached with four arrows protruding
from his back. He informed us that he had been attacked by the
undead in a location where he had frequented many times previously.
Oscar healed him up and we decided that seeing as they were so close
to our own location we would go clean up.
Vance and I exchanged knowing glances – this was our specialty! I
never tire of destroying the undead and am saddened that the
military discharged me on completion of my term of service. The
only way back in to the military is through rank and I have no
desire to lead. I am more comfortable in the artillery line, firing
barrages of magical attacks and dropping the legions of evil.
I decided to use my newfound ability with the staff to charge up an
exceptionally large concussion bolt. Forewarning my comrades of my
intention (so they didn't flat out charge this time around), I
prepared myself for the merciless combat that would quickly ensue.
I blasted out with a massive display of energy and was dismayed as I
stumbled just upon letting loose and watched my bolt fly high and to
the left. It crashed harmlessly against the rock wall near the cave
entrance, sending shards of rock and shrapnel in all directions.
The blast was enough to get the attention of every last skeleton
whom all turned to see what had just happened. Without the element
of surprise any longer, my comrades surged forward to do their deeds.
I cannot believe I missed! I was one of the few battle mages in the
Imperial service who scored hit after hit after hit. I was even
once awarded the marksman trophy for landing a concussion bolt right
in the midst of a gathering of Phoenix's officers. I wonder if this
memory loss that has been affecting me might also be affecting my
aim? Perhaps it is the sheer power I wield due to this staff and I
have not yet learned to master it? I still have the bitter taste of
missing from our battle with the goblins and Hugh in my mouth, this
only worsens the taste.
After a couple more seconds of preparation, I made a second attempt
to subdue scores of skeletons. This time was even worse than the
first! I had a muscle spasm exactly the moment I released the bolt
and it fell but 10 feet in front of me. The blast was enough to hit
me with a weak rush of air, not enough to hurt nor knock me off my
feet, but enough to damage my pride. Worse yet was the fact that
the blast deafened several of my comrades in the worst possible
moment.
Crespin was swarmed by the skeletons who piled on top of him in an
attempt to smother him under them. It was at that exact same moment
that I noticed a wraith exiting the cave… I have only ever
encountered wraiths twice in my military service and both times the
result was horrific. Scores of my servicemen have fallen to the
wraiths and their evil abilities. I was torn between the decision
to draw the wraith's attention or to attempt to rescue Crespin. On
a whim, I decided that the enemies had strength in numbers and I
could do much to change that. I tossed a decent sized explosively
charged lightning bolt his direction and enjoyed a gruesome display
of fireworks; these skeletons were the variety that exploded on
death, spraying bone shrapnel and bits of flesh in all directions.
While I effectively wiped out all thirteen skeletons that were
attacking him (and managing to only barely hit Vance with a couple
sparks), I was dismayed to see Crespin's smoldering remains devoid
of any article of clothing (save the magical cap and gauntlets he
sports). Even in all my days of a soldier, that was one of the more
gruesome sights I have been called upon to see. Believe it or not,
I even felt a little bit bad for what I did. Even as much as an
idiot he is, always running straight to the source of trouble and
not thinking before his actions, his camaraderie has been
appreciated and I have cherished his uncanny ability to pull through
the odds. Not this time, or so I thought.
I immediately turned my attention to the wraith who had come within
a few yards of my party. I could see that several of them had
already succumbed to its aura and were stunned in fright. Last time
I faced up a wraith I had four other battle mages at my side and
even then it was difficult to drop the apparition. I know I have
become more powerful but even so, I know I am not the equivalent of
four battle mages. Yet, here I was preparing another lightning bolt
and hurling it straight towards the wraith. I was pleased to see it
hit squarely, yet very displeased to have attracted the wraith's
undivided attention.
The wraith turned immediately and glared at me with those lifeless
features and seemed to grin as it flew towards me. I had never seen
an undead creature show any emotion so the fact that it grinned made
me realize my folly. I managed to retain my composure and just as
the wraith came within range to do me harm, I teleported 10 yards
away so that Schmendrick, Mort, Oscar (and Crespin's remains), and
Kess were all between him and me; later they were somewhat angry at
me for doing that but I explained to them that I was confident in
their ability to hold it while I prepared another barrage of magic.
My faith in my comrades was not unfounded. As I came out of my
teleport, I noticed Crespin was to his knees and had not a single
open wound on his naked and hairless body. He somehow managed to
survive one of the largest explosions I've ever caused, a huge feat
of luck for sure. Schmendrick also pulled off the impossible and
managed to affect the wraith's mind enough to reduce it's abilities
to uselessness. About the same time that happened, Schmendrick's
floating scimitar caught up to the wraith again and scored a couple
more nice hits. The wraith must have been reduced enough to be
near "death" for it shot past Schmendrick and I before I could
release my next volley. As it passed us, Oscar fired off a volley
of puke as the wraith frightened him and I narrowly jumped aside to
avoid wearing his lunch.
Turning to face the wraith, I took note that Mort had finally
regained composure and came swinging. He managed to connect causing
the wraith to fall… and keep falling. He managed to finish it off,
something any soldier should be very proud of. I hope when the
wraith comes back to him he will do the right thing and release it
to its rest. When last I was given that opportunity, I almost told
it no. I am glad to have had the mind about me to release it back
then.
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| fooberichu |
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www.seeleyware.com
Joined: 6/29/2007
Posts: 148
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8/18/2006
I am somewhere I never thought I would find myself—the city of
Phoenix. I have just "awoke" from another one of my sessions… the
longest one yet. I am uncertain how long I have been in my stupor,
though the last thing I remember was our combat against the
skeletons and the wraith. I am starting to fear these episodes.
They seem to be gaining in strength and I cannot even recall minute
details of my passing, whereas previously I was able to remember
portions as if they were dreams or visions. Now, all I remember is
blackness.
The city of Phoenix is an interesting city. All my life (or at
least, the last ten years of it) I have been taught to hate
Phoenix. I was trained in the art of warfare with the express
purpose of destroying the undead and their evil masters. Yet, here
I am in their midst and frankly enjoying myself.
We have spent the better part of our time here shopping, both to
acquire items not readily available outside of Phoenix, and also to
sell items that would otherwise be taxed and gouged to the point
where it would be better hold on to them than sell. On the one
hand, it is high treason for us to sell some of these items here in
Phoenix, but on the other hand it is only logical. Anything we have
to sell (save my staff, and I'm not parting with it) is of lower
quality than what the vast army of enchanters here can create. I
realize I am trying to justify my treason to the point that I don't
feel guilty, but I think I truly believe what I say.
As we were settling down for the night, we were approached by an
unkempt man by name of Johnny. He was a tour-guide, or so he said,
and wanted to show us the city. His offer stood by day or night,
free of charge. While it was a strange offer (and quite likely a
trap of some sort), I was in awe of the city and wanted to see
more. I had the feeling that even if this was a trap, the man and
his comrades probably could not stand up to us if we all traveled
together so I was eager to go. Enough of my comrades decided to go
that we swayed the rest in to joining us and were off to see the
city by night.
Most of the city was like any other – save the masses of undead.
They had their nightlife surrounding the bars and party centers,
full of booze and dirty women. They had guards at regular
intervals, but something out of the ordinary (according to Johnny)
was a mass of soldiers near a particular building. He thought that
something must be amiss, but not enough so to close off the city.
Amongst the sights in this city was a beautiful crystal tower,
residence of one Saradin. I have heard of him in my studies and
have always been impressed by his power. I stared in awe at his
tower and wondered what sort of magic I might learn from a mage of
his stature but quickly caught myself and returned my thoughts to
loyalty to my nation and my newfound "employer" – the Brotherhood.
I must not let myself be swayed by the enemy nation, no matter how
intriguing it may be.
We continued our sojourn through the city and came across a portal
leading to the old city. Some of my friends were uneasy about the
possibility of entering the ancient city of Aerith what with its
ghostly inhabitants, but I felt strangely drawn to it and its
magical presence. We entered the portal and began to explore this
old city.
It was noted after a few moments that one of the ghosts had taken
interest in our little group. When confronted (Johnny mentioned
that the ghosts seem to ignore most everybody and everything and
rarely interact with humanity) the ghost looked straight at me and
said "the destroyer has returned."
I was quite baffled with that remark. I mean, I know I have killed
plenty a Phoenix soldier, but most of them were already dead in the
first place. I don't think I could be considered a destroyer
because of that, but who knows?
He then proceeded to come nearer to me and speak to me. Looking
straight at me, he said "Grumby?" I was surprised he knew who I was
and thinking if this apparition looked familiar, I answered.
Looking over my friends, he asked if they were my "slaves". Not
knowing exactly how to answer that (did he want me to say yes? Was I
supposed to answer in negative?), I impulsively answered "yes" to
which he said "figures." He then started talking about how I
destroyed the city and asked if I cared about them. Thinking the
best answer was to say "yes", I said just that and he drifted
forward to take a swing at me.
Without a second though, I easily teleported away (and popped out
behind Schmendrick) and seeing that "ghosty" had drawn quite a crowd
of other apparitions, I decided the best course of action would be
to get the hell out of there and think about coming back later when
I know more of what is going on. I ran for the portal and was
satisfied to find that they didn't follow me.
Afterwards, I was told that they all chased after but didn't come
through the portal. When I stepped through the portal, all the
ghosts watched for a few minutes, but when I didn't return, they
began moseying all around again like nothing ever happened.
On my side of the portal, I was a little concerned when my
companions didn't come out right after me. I wasn't about to go
back through to investigate, so I just sat and waited, pondering
what had just happened. I know my genealogy a little ways back, and
I have never heard of any Edward before… let alone that any of my
family had obliterated a city as an act of treason (or frankly, at
all).
I was very relieved several minutes later when my companions stepped
back through the portal and let me know what had happened and then
we continued on our tour.
The tour took us to the city library, a huge establishment full of
all sorts of books. I don't think there is any library in the world
that rivals this one, and I am most pleased with it. I don't recall
who it was that asked, but somebody inquired about Edward Grumby.
The question received a bit of pause on the librarians side,
wondering if we really wanted to learn about him. With an
affirmative answer, she retrieved a huge book that detailed history
of Old Aerith and had a rather large section about "the Destroyer."
I was shocked to see an exact image of myself in that place—staff,
robe, likeness—with the name Edward Grumby below it. I paid a
handsome sum to have the book copied because I must know who this
man is and what the circumstances are leading up to his treason.
We returned to the inn shortly thereafter and I had much difficulty
sleeping that night. I kept having nightmares about the ghosts and
eventually got myself extremely drunk with the intent to pass out.
While that helped, I still had the nightmares.
The next day I awoke somewhat late only to find the party had gone
on some errand for our tour guide. From what I could gather, he
came fairly early and left somewhere with them. Finding them gone,
I assumed it was to continue the tour so I returned to the library
with intent to learn more about Edward. Ironically, I encountered
some of my comrades there and learned that they had been hired to
hunt down and banish a demon.
While usually demon hunting would interest me, it left nothing more
than an ashen dry taste in my mouth. I decided I would continue my
pursuit of knowledge concerning Edward and collected as many books
as the librarian would allow me and entered one of the private
rooms. I studied the books for hours, making notes of anything
interesting I could learn, trying to make sense of my ancestor and
what had happened.
Amongst the interesting tidbits of knowledge I gleaned from the
books, I learned that he was assassinated in the town of Tristen not
long after he destroyed the city of Aerith. I filed that knowledge
away in my mind and intend on finding his tomb to see if I can
uncover any more knowledge about him.
When I returned to my room at the inn, it was shortly after
Schmendrick and Mort had banished the demon. Apparently the wrong
one...
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| fooberichu |
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www.seeleyware.com
Joined: 6/29/2007
Posts: 148
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9/1/2006
We decided it was time to move on from Phoenix, a decision that I
felt was a good one. I have learned some information about my
ancestor and supposed destroyer of Phoenix, and have a hard time
coming to terms with the history. My family has long served in the
military as protectorates of Aerith, apparently from Elisar on down
to me… yet I couldn't understand how one of us could possibly have
defected.
Upon leaving the city, Mort and Crespin stayed behind to finish up
some business, so we had to wait outside the walls for their
return. When they returned, Mort seemed pretty pleased to find his
armor had been fixed up really nice by a mage in town (due to
Schmendrick's generosity), and even more pleased to find Crespin was
able to have some books they recovered from the Sentinel's "office"
(a ghost house at this point) in Phoenix all repaired. Among the
books was also an ancient map detailing all the outposts and
locations of the Sentinels, and seeing that one of them was on our
way to the witch, we decided we could stop in.
The location we stopped at was hailed the "Second Largest City in
Phoenix", which, plainly enough, was also the only other city in
Phoenix anyway. Like Phoenix, they had their own little "ghost
town" section which was a nice little tourist attraction. In
addition, they mentioned we should check out the town well. We
started with the ghost section.
It was little surprise to me (or my companions, apparently) when the
ghosts attacked me immediately upon entering their compound. I
deftly teleported a short distance and was mildly surprised when
Mort yelled out "Sentinels" and actually got one of the ghost's
attention. He commanded it back to it's post, which even more
surprisingly, it obeyed. The other pressed the attack only to be
attacked by Crespin (who had thankfully picked up a weapon of "ghost
slaying" just before entering Phoenix). Crespin managed to dispatch
the ghost and attacked Mary (some ghost who likes to "kill" herself
over and over again in differing ways each day). She ran away.
Continuing our tour (after secreting my staff in Schmendrick's hat
and having him put an illusory disguise over me), we met Mary and
began speaking to her. We learned that Edward had also came here
with a Suul army and attempted to kill her, and that John the
Sentinel is up on the roof watching for the army's return. On her
side, she had apparently murdered her husband and his mistress,
though she wouldn't admit to it; upon questioning her about it, she
decided it was time for another one of her suicide attempts and
jumped out the window. Crespin went downstairs and we went upstairs
to talk to John the watcher. Upstairs we had a good view of
everything else and noticed Crespin attack the inert Mary and kill
her out of cold blood.
The soldier Mort had previously called off came and demanded justice
on Crespin so we took him to the town justice, la-de-da, we
explained everything and moved on to the well.
The well was interesting as well. It had recently dried up and they
discovered a cavern within the well. Shortly after discovering the
cavern, and before they could really investigate, 12 homes in the
area collapsed in, blocking the cavern. I promptly moved the earth
and reshaped the tunnel so we could investigate. We heard a child's
voice inside asking for help and, like the impulsive idiot he is,
Crespin charged in without doing any preliminary investigation.
When we reached the main cavern section, the horrendous stench we
had been smelling all along worsened and we found the place littered
with bodies. A little child sat in the very center perched atop
some of the bodies, stroking a little teddy bear, asking for help.
I noted that the teddy bear exuded magic and made sure my companions
were aware of it. We also noticed that Crespin was twitching on the
ground a short distance from the girl.
She notified us of a large snake somewhere behind us, and that she
couldn't move because she was afraid of the snake. I asked Mort to
put on his magic goggles and make sure she was as she seemed… she
wasn't. By this time Schmendrick had slowly approached the girl and
asked her to put down her bear, which she did nervously. He asked
her to approach him, which she couldn't, she said, because she was
lame. All this pricked the hairs on the back of our neck and we
knew we were entering an ambush. I prepared a large lightning bolt
and not a moment too soon as Schmendrick was suddenly hit by
something, the teddy bear morphed in to a massive grizzly of sorts
and then the girl sat still.
I lashed out with my magic but the bear moved with intelligence and
speed I had never before seen and easily evaded my lightning bolt.
It exploded heavily against the back wall, bringing portions of the
cavern down. The next few moments had a massive melee ensue.
The bear smashed Mort in to unconsciousness, and destroyed
Schmendrick's magic scimitar, causing an explosion which wrenched
the girl from whatever stupor Schmendrick placed on her and blasting
her disguise away revealing a succubus. Seeing the bear easily
dodge most attacks directed at it, I decided to teleport behind the
bear and the girl to get a good shot (this all happened the very
moment the sword exploded, so the succubus didn't notice me
disappear). I had the unfortunate luck of finding that there really
WAS a snake back there, a massive hooded snake.
Luckily it missed when it lashed out at me, unfortunately so did I
as I shot a small lightning bolt at it. Turning the luck again,
Vance dropped the succubus in one single well-placed shot and Kess
dropped the bear in the same moment. Everybody helped dispatch the
snake quickly, and we tended to our wounded.
Interestingly enough, the majority of the bodies down here were
duplicates of an original 14 Suul soldiers, all without equipment.
The succubus had been using a magical bracer that fired death bolts
at her prey, that which she had hit both Crespin and Schmendrick
with.
We certainly encounter the most interesting circumstances, don't we?
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| fooberichu |
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www.seeleyware.com
Joined: 6/29/2007
Posts: 148
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9/15/2006
Having just finished off the succubus and her bear, we searched the
bodies for anything of use (aside from the ring and bracelet we took
from the succubus prior to dispatching her). While searching, I
noticed a muffled coughing and started trying to find it's source.
Crespin was of no help because he started coughing along with it to
distract me so, when we noticed somebody entering the cavern, I
suggested he go talk to them and see what they needed.
We were so intent on searching we only barely noticed Crespin leave
with this female and after a little while and not finding the source
of the cough, but instead, finding a new crop of bodies that looked
like Crespin. We realized that this woman who came and collected
him was in some way connected with the succubus and raced to find
him.
Knowing Crespin like we do, we all assumed he was at the inn and
were glad to track him down. He had gone up to his room with this
woman and we found the door locked. Mort called out to him and he
answered, but wouldn't (or later, as we found, couldn't) open the
door. Mort hacked it down with his axe and we all poured in and
surrounded Crespin and the woman.
Crespin was shackled and stark naked on the bed, in the middle of
intercourse. We instantly recognized her as the demon from Phoenix
(the one we were hired to banish, but instead banished another).
Schmendrick immediately began drawing a pentagram to hold her, all
the while she was trying to entice us with her voluptuous chest and
wonderful body. We attempted to trap her in the pentagram but she
easily left it so we put Crespin in there to hold him instead.
I prepared a lightning bolt, Kess prepared an arrow, and we were
speculating about killing her. She mentioned that if we did so, it
would hurt Crespin more than it hurt her. Being a demon, I didn't
believe her.
Not knowing what to do, it was suggested we cut off Crespin's
hands. Mort and Crespin both had a hard time following through with
it, but they did. At the last moment, the demon threw herself in
front the blade and took the full brunt of a heavy swing from Mort's
axe. At the exact same moment, I fired off my lightning and, as has
been my bane of late, missed horribly. Kess fired off one of his
arrows and took her through the eye, then suddenly everything went
deep black.
I awoke to a series of shocks to my armpit and slapped at it.
Schmendrick's familiar was attempting to wake me, having just
moments previously woke Schmendrick. My ribs hurt a little, I think
Schmendrick tried to wake me with a kick but unsuccessful, asked his
familiar to wake me.
As I roused, I noticed two things out of the ordinary: Crespin had
a huge gaping gash in his chest, and an arrow through his eye; and
we were in the same camp we had been the night prior to entering
town. I helped wake the party after first assisting Schmendrick in
healing Crespin. His eye was obviously a loss, though luckily
Schmendrick has been trained in the arts of restoration… so Crespin
would at least be growing that back in the next month.
We deduced that we experienced an extremely real dream, especially
considering Crespin was lying stark naked with morning wood, Kess'
bow was lying where he normally wouldn't have it (and it was
obviously his arrow penetrating Crespin's socket), Mort's axe was
caked it blood, and the items we had acquired from the succubus was
missing.
We had a decision to make – continue to Bristol, or avoid it.
Curiosity runs in the party, so we went to Bristol. Our findings
were strange… the town looked exactly like it had been in the party,
with minor differences. The Apple Inn didn't exist, the ghost house
was in better repair and under the care of an elderly couple, and
the well had not collapsed in to an underground cavern.
Mort, Kess, and I went to the ghost house (I was interested in
seeing if there were ghosts there that thought I was Edward). It
was indeed the old Sentinel's fort, though the lady of the house had
sold all the books to the town historian and discarded the rest.
She had heard of Edward Grumby, but nothing more. We continued to
the historians place where we found Crespin already interrogating
her. We learned that she no longer possessed the books, and that
she knew of Edward – he had saved the town from an army just prior
to Aerith being destroyed.
We decided to wait until night to investigate the well – the
townsfolk probably wouldn't take kindly to somebody swimming in it –
and I gave Mort the ability to breathe water while Schmendrick
levitated him down the well with a small magical candle. Upon
returning, he advised us that the cavern was just as we had before
seen, save no bodies that he could see. We called it a night having
nothing else to do.
We were rudely awakened the next morning by an excited Mort.
Apparently the farmfolk have been attacked time and again by some
wyverns and, being a Sentinel, his sworn duty is to protect the
innocent and hunt wyverns. Obviously, he wanted to fulfill his duty
(and I'm sure it had nothing to do with the doe-eyed farm girl
crying in his room), so we agreed. It was rather early in the
morning, so Schmendrick agreed to heal her brother in exchange for a
few hours more of sleep, and then we'd go hunting. He did so.
We concocted a brilliant plan in which we would be "attacked" by the
wyverns and thus free to kill them in self-defense. We went to a
pig-farm and, with consent of the farmer, laid out an ambush
involving his pigs as bait. It wasn't too long (a couple hours I
believe) before the first wyvern decided to take a pig. It didn't
last long. Mort initiated the attack (we were to all wait for him
before firing) with a harpoon, I followed through with a massive
blast of lightning, Crespin with his swords (not entirely certain
how he managed that), and of course Kess with a well-placed arrow to
the wyverns eye.
After quickly dispatching the wyvern, Mort dragged it to the barn
(holy crap he has got strong, even without Schmendrick's magical
buffer). We laid in wait for the next one.
Two arrived but didn't come down. We waited longer, and two more
arrived and one of them came down in the same arc as the first. We
erased it from the land of the living, this time I decided to use an
ice dagger but the rest of the pattern followed suit. The remaining
wyvern, now aware of some danger, came straight at the tree we were
under, though didn't last long enough to do anything about it. We
dropped it quickly though it fell in an arc and narrowly missed
plastering Crespin against the tree.
It was obvious now that we would be assaulted by a larger force as
Schmendrick's familiar—who had been scouting for a while—notified
Schmendrick that the remaining wyverns at the nest had all taken
flight. Schmendrick ordered his familiar to destroy the eggs, and
we began preparing for a nasty fight. It didn't take long before
seven wyverns (including the larger red male) arrived.
I hope we make it through this one alive…
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