May 26th, 2006
The fire was burning hot, the fort was in chaos and we still had not found Hugh, the leader of this entire bandit operation. Mort and I stood at the top of the tower, disguised as Suul by Schmendrick’s illusion, hoping to see something that might reveal Hugh’s location. The only conclusion that could be reached is that Hugh was in the other tower.
We proceeded down the stairs, hoping to find a way to advance toward the other tower. Once we got to the base level, Mort grabbed one of the goblins running by and inquired of Hugh’s position. The stupid little creature could only respond with a single word, “down.” Fortunately, that was all we needed to know.
I hadn’t realized it before, but there were stairs that extended below the surface level of the keep. We ventured down the stairs and into a long hallway that stretched on to a passage leading to the other tower as well as an alternate route that reached some sort of council room. It was in that room that we found Hugh, three goblin shaman and what I suppose were four elite pygmy warriors. Hugh and the shaman appeared to be ignoring the commotion above and were conversing among themselves of what I presume to have been plans for the raids on passer-by caravans.
Griswold was intent on destroying the small group with the most potent spell he could conjure. Friar Oskar, likewise, was excited to invoke the name of his deity so that he might blast our foes with intense explosive flames. Kess and I were to be there backup.
I moved into my position and Kess moved into his. Things went a bit awry at that point. Kess must have felt threatened by Hugh because he let an arrow fly into his general direction before our mages were ready. I was a bit surprised with his spontaneous action. I mean, even if Hugh did see our position, we were disguised as his men!
Having seen what magic can do, I immediately took aim at one of the shaman. As I was doing so, Griswold and Oskar moved in and did their thing. Griswold let out the most impressive burst of energy I’ve ever seen him generate. It didn’t hit a specific target but exploded into a violent rush of air that completely tossed the table near Hugh upside down, slamming two of the shaman to the ground. The other shaman was knocked to the ground by the outburst of air.
Oskar released a ball of fire that also exploded, dealing severe damage to one of the shaman and the remains of the table. In the meantime, I continued aiming at one of the shaman. Oskar had stepped into my path to launch his attack and I had a hard time aiming past his shoulder. Regardless, I was able to step into an ideal position and discharged an arrow right into the heart of my target. Prior to my attack, the creature had been trying to recover from Griswold’s attack but was quickly obliged to go straight back to the ground with which he had become so familiar. Next time, I'm just going to shoot the man that steps in my way.
The rest of the battle was quick and brutal. Mort advanced beyond the rest of us, fully taking advantage of his disguise, and was able to trick Hugh long enough to dispatch the other two shaman and even provide the human leader a bit of trouble. In the end, Mort was forced into unconsciousness.
Meanwhile, the goblin warriors had rushed us and forced Kess into melee combat. He took a nasty wound and I thought it best to release him from his assailant as quickly as possible. I pulled my own sword and delivered a sizeable wound across his chest. I gave the goblin everything I possessed and was rewarded with one of the most devastating blows my body has ever been forced to endure. The whole world went black.
A few moments later, I came to and felt surprisingly well, considering what had last happened to me; above me stood Oskar. I was fairly annoyed with him choosing to interpose himself between me and my target in the beginning of the battle but was now quick to forgive him. He was the one that was responsible for my speedy and supernatural recovery. How could I possibly be angry with him now?! Still, I'm shooting him next time.
I pulled myself back onto my feet and retrieved my bow from where I had dropped it. A few seconds later, the battle was over. Pip demonstrated mad talent with his knives and single-handedly downed several of the goblins, even finishing off Hugh! I remember a day when I said “he won’t be adding to our capabilities in combat.” I was completely wrong.
These new friends of my mine have proved to be extremely talented. Sure, many of them lack experience, but I don’t doubt that I will be hearing many of their names in the near future when someone might be speaking of great and noble heroes. In such a short amount of time, we’ve been able to accomplish so much together!
Following the conclusion of the battle, one of the most curious things happened. Hugh’s body actually began to disintegrate! His blade that he had been wielding also began to glow red as if it had been heated in a forge. Crespin, who I don’t remember really being a part of this last battle, decided the sword must go with the gauntlets. After putting on the gauntlets, he lifted the sword which slowly began to cool down. Apparently, he found a matching set.
The rest of the group, namely Schmendrick, was worried about some of Hugh’s equipment being cursed and immediately scolded Crespin for his impulsive stupidity. I chuckled to myself a bit internally but decided not to get involved. Haven’t they realized that Crespin really doesn’t care about the consequences he brings upon himself?
We explored the remainder of the council room and a few hallways that branched from it. All we found was a well, a storage room full of robbed goods and what might have been Hugh’s room. Oh, we also found a trap door that led to the surface outside of the walls of the keep. Our job was done so we left. Thank goodness, too! I really was sick of those illusions that Schmendrick had placed over us. Feigning a mindless goblin is bad but actually pretending to be a Suul? That’s simply maddening!
The trip back to Tristen was relaxing and gratifying. In just a few days, our small band of men succeeded in what would have cost several lives in a military movement. Furthermore, we did it without a single casualty to our forces!
Our sense of victory was short-lived. When we arrived in Tristen, Mort was confronted by some guardsman that were impertinently demanding to know where he had been. He was relieving one of the highways of vile bandits you fools!
Mort seemed to have more patience with those soldiers than I did. He ever so courteously cooperated with them and was even willing to go with them to be questioned by one of the guard captains, Edmond. The rest of us weren’t about to leave him behind so we decided to tag along and see what this was all about. Apparently, he was being accused of the murder of some teenage girl and the kidnapping of her sister three days ago; the Thurston twins.
The thought of Mort killing and kidnapping teenage girls is absolutely absurd. I mean, this man was feeling bad after killing a couple of Suul in combat! Honestly! How could someone even begin to accuse him of harming innocent girls? Plus, he was with us in the forest three days ago and has a large group of witnesses to prove it. Even so, there were accusations against him. Supposedly, there were even witnesses that “saw” him at the scene of the crime.
Crespin seemed pretty disturbed about the situation with the twins. Come to find out, he actually knew them pretty well. So, as any concerned friend would do, he decided to set out to find some answers. I’ve been with Crespin long enough to know that he shouldn’t do anything alone. He’d get himself into too much trouble. As a worried friend, I went with him.
Our first stop was the house of the Thurston twins. The family wasn’t there but a guard was. He referred us to The Merchant’s Last. From there, we were taken to a house not too far from the inn by some little messenger boy. This is where the family was staying. I guess they didn’t want too many people to be bugging them under such circumstances. Strangely, they allowed Crespin and me to come in and talk to them; he must have been a really good friend of the family.
Some sentimental words were exchanged, Crespin got what little information he could from the girls’ father and we left. It wasn’t really my place to get involved at that point so I just stayed out of it.
From there, the two of us ventured off to the courthouse with a specific request from the Thurston twins’ father requesting that we receive any information we ask for on the case. The guards were a little confused about whether they should give us any information or not on the crime (since we were directly affiliated with Mort) but decided to honor the family’s request. We got the name of one of the “witnesses;" Slaine.
I continued to tag along with Crespin as he played the role of detective. He knew who Slaine was and decided to take a look for him. To make a long story short, all we could find was one of Slaine’s friends. The kid was kind of being a prick and was really pushing Crespin’s buttons. Well, he got what was coming to him. Crespin nailed him right in the stomach with his fists! Oh, did I mention that those gauntlets Crespin found from Hugh appear to make him outrageously strong? Yeah, he was actually able to move a log in the woods with little real difficulty. You can imagine the expression on this kid’s face after getting pegged with them.
The teen was a bit more willing to divulge some information on Slaine’s whereabouts at that point. Still, all he really knew was that the kid skipped town. That sounds a little suspicious to me.
After babysitting Crespin, we finally got back to The Merchant’s Last where the rest of the party was hanging out. I had been thinking about getting myself a new bow so I decided to take that opportunity to ask Kess where I could find one. After all, he often talks about how he’s a bowyer. As expected, he was just the person to talk to. I got my hands on a really, really nice new bow and even added a few bodkin arrows to my collection. Those will be very convenient when I need to take some heavily armored opponents down.
When I got back to the inn, Mort approached me and asked me if I could help him investigate the scene of the crime. He had found some tracks out there but was having difficulty following them. I was more than obliged to help my friend out in his dilemma. Crespin wanted to come, too.
The three of us went to a slightly forested area not far from town. Mort showed me the tracks he had found and I immediately began to examine them. What I found was actually quite impressive. There were clearly no less than two people involved in this murder and kidnapping. At least one of them really knew well how to cover his tracks, too. Unfortunately, he could only do so much and I was able to stay hot on their trail.
After following the tracks for something like forty-five minutes, we finally came to a small cave. Crespin and Mort stayed at the entrance of it while I went to investigate.
I followed a short tunnel to a dead-end with some thick furs woven together that had to be concealing a small passageway to another chamber. I pulled the furs back ever so slightly and peaked beyond them. Sure enough, there was a small room back there. Inside it was Felicity, the kidnapped Thurston twin, tied up and completely naked. There were also a few bedrolls around the room but no one else was there. I stepped in and she immediately awoke.
Fear immediately entered her eyes as she softly pleaded for me not to hurt her anymore. I must say that I felt very bad for the girl. She was only a teenager and was being forced to undergo some of the cruelest tortures through which a woman could possibly endure. This girl will be scarred for life. Whoever did this to her needs to be taken in and dealt with appropriately. Furthermore, her sister didn’t need to die.
I did my best to comfort her by replying that I wasn’t there to hurt her. I quickly weighed in my mind what I should do next. Should I attempt to cloth her or should I cut her free? Well, she probably wouldn’t feel very comfortable with a complete stranger touching her and there wasn’t really anything nearby I could use to clothe her. So, I decided to cut her loose and called for Crespin and Mort. After doing so, I crouched down over one of the bed rolls and started cutting it up to see if I could fashion something for her to use to conceal herself.
I didn’t get very far with the cutting of the bedroll before my two friends entered the room. Upon seeing Mort, the girl immediately screamed in fear and rushed into Crespin’s arms. Mort, realizing that she must have been brainwashed by some sort of magic, immediately removed himself from the scene. Crespin gave her back what little dignity he could by wrapping his cloak around her and consoling her.
The four of us left the cave and discussed what would need to be done next. It was determined that Crespin would take this girl back to her family and Mort and I would lie in wait to see who comes to the cave. We couldn’t risk letting them discover Felicity’s escape and fleeing so we planted an ambush.
Mort and I waited concealed ourselves nearby for what must have been a little more than an hour. Finally, three boys came walking into view and proceeded toward the cave. Mort and I knew this was our chance. I let an arrow fly into the lead boy’s leg and Mort launched an arrow into another’s. Those two collapsed in pain and the third froze in astonishment. I loaded another arrow to take him down but Mort had already emerged from his hiding spot and slammed the guy with the flat of his axe. All I needed to do at that point was step from my cover and demand surrender. The command was a little pointless because it was pretty clear that those disgusting perverts weren’t going anywhere. We tied them up and bound there wounds.
As I was doing so, I couldn’t help but notice the severity of the damage our arrows did. My arrow took the guy directly through the thigh and left his muscle undoubtedly torn in two. Mort’s arrow was placed in a very, very painful location of his victim’s knee. Those two will never be the same.
Right about the time we finished binding the three criminals, Crespin came running into view, followed by several guards and a large crowd. Mort and I turned over the culprits and willingly turned ourselves in for questioning.
After some investigation, it was discovered that they had been using some sort of alchemical elixir that causes its consumer mild delusions. The delusions tend to result in the subject seeing familiar people in complete strangers; this is why Mort was targeted. Also, the killing of Chastity, the other twin, was an accident according to the three kids. Once captured, they fessed up to pretty much everything.
In the end, Mort’s name was cleared and Felicity was restored to her family. Now we only need await the verdict of those three fools (one of them was the kid that Crespin nailed in the stomach). Speaking of verdicts, Chivalry was sentenced to death. It was a strange experience seeing him get executed. I mean, I realize it was his fault he snatched a cursed item but it wasn’t really him that performed such senseless murder. Still, he is not the same person he was and had to be neutralized. And thus another life is wasted.