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BOOK SIX + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1992 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + * Flint Firelips (guest) dwarven warrior + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/22/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: morning + + Place: some mountains somewhere + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + "I've got a baaaaad feeling about this." + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ XCI. Dinner is Served The party has finally escaped the subterranean caverns and emerged onto the surface world. They have been resting for a good two days, healing and recuperating from their recent battles. Belphanior: (looking around the mountain trail) Where in the hell are we? Mongo: Don't ask me. These are great mountains, but I've never been here before. Ged: Logic says that we couldn't have travelled too far while underground. Alindyar: Aye, but the Underdark has been known to skew normal time and space. Peldor: (thinking about how great it would be if the party had been catapulted several years into the past or future) Rillen: Well, it is time to get going. Wherever it is that we are going. The party set out, following the mountain trail as it wound through the lightly forested peaks. Presumably, it led to civilization. A chilly wind blew upon the nine adventurers, and some four days later, they emerged from the trees and rocks into a grassy plain. The mountains stood behind them, looming, seemingly touching the sky. They followed the trail into the plain, moving slightly downhill. At one point, a wall could be seen ahead; the trail led directly into a gate within the stone barrier. By looking around, they determined that the wall ringed a large mansion, at a distance of about 300'. The rusty gate squeaked as the wind moved it back and forth. A single light was visible in one large window inside the structure. Belphanior: Hey look, somebody's home. Mongo: Who the hell would want to live all the way out here? Ged: I don't know. Rillen: (notes that the mansion is somewhat sunken with respect to the surrounding land) A sunken plain... Alindyar: Who indeed would want to live here? Belphanior: C'mon, let's go find out. Rillen: Maybe there are horses here. They moved along the path, toward the big house. The grass around the place was high and untended, and as the group approached the large front door and its steps, they could see that the mansion was in a state of disrepair. Peldor: Maybe there's something worth stealing here. Belphanior: (walks up the steps, and strikes the metal knocker several times) We'll see. There was a long moment of silence, and then heavy footsteps could be heard approaching, on the other side of the door. Abruptly the wooden door creaked open... huge human: (dressed in a black suit) Yeeeeeeees? Peldor: Hi, we're taking up donations for- Belphanior: Greetings, large one. We are but weary travelers, seeking rest and shelter. Rillen: And maybe horses. butler: (looks at the party quizzically, his drawn face pale and chalky) Enter. The master will be pleased to have guests for dinner. Mongo: dinner! All right! (the party enters the house one by one) Peldor: Come to think of it, I am pretty hungry. Rillen: (silently walks by the butler, noting that the big guy stands head and shoulders above him) Hmm. They were led through an entryway and into some kind of antechamber. The mansion was quite different on the inside, with lustrous wooden floors and walls, all sorts of antiques and curios, plush carpets and tapestries, and that sort of thing. The ceilings were high and vaulted; the hallways were wide. The general impression was one of considerable wealth and luxury. They saw all manner of furniture, ranging from a strange mirror to a plush couch, from a large antique desk to a recliner. butler: You may leave your equipment in the hallway. Mongo: To hell with that! My armor will not be left anywhere! Ged: Yea. We'll see about it later, maybe. Rillen: (without armor, he is not too worried about this issue) butler: Very well. Shortly, the butler showed them into a dining hall, complete with a large central table of solid oak and a dozen chairs of some rare wood. The table was set for a great feast; several large roasted birds, many bottles of fine wine, steaming loaves of bread, a big block of cheese, two bowls of fruit, four bowls of some fruity gelatinous stuff (Jell-o, something not yet known to the adventurers), silk napkins, golden silverware - these were but some of the many features of the fine dining table. Several servant-types stood at attention around the chamber, but attention was drawn to the well-dressed noble at the head of the table. The man stood up, and opened his hands in a gesture of welcome. man: Greetings, and well-met! Belphanior: Who might you be? man: I am Baron Albert, of the Sinking Plain. You must be my dinner guests. Mongo: Yeah, sort of. Albert: It is fortunate for you that you arrived before sunset, (gestures to a window, where the sun is setting on the horizon) for many malicious creatures roam this area after dark. The wise traveller does not venture out after sunset. Belphanior: Well, that's god to know. Albert: Indeed. Please, be seated. After all...it _is_ dinnertime. Rillen: Hmm. (the party sits down in the chairs) Alindyar: (thinking) Mongo: (eyeing the food hungrily) Ged: (eyes the butler) Alindyar: (to Lyra, in drow) Something is amiss. Lyra: How is that? Alindyar: How could he have known that we were coming? (reagrds the table, its contents, and the room) Hmmm. (concentrates, relying on his superior intelligence to discern what might be out of place) Peldor: (looks around, then slips a golden knife into his pocket) Mongo: (grabs a loaf of bread) Let's eat! (due to his heavy, bulky plate mail, he just stands there instead of sitting) Ged: We can't eat with armor on... Belphanior: Why not? Alindyar: (opens his eyes suddenly, and recoils in great horror) BEWARE! 'Tis illusion! (leaps from his seat and draws his wand) Ged: Eh? (sees through the illusions) Boccob! Albert: Oh, very well. (snaps his fingers) Suddenly, things changed, getting really bad really fast. The roasted birds became live ones, leaping up and flying about, squawking maliciously as their eyes glowed red. The loaves of bread became large slugs with drooling maws; they headed for the nearest adventurers. The block of cheese floated into the air, now a spherical thing with numerous eyes and a gaping fanged mouth. The fruit bowls rolled around the table, transforming into slime-heaps with all kinds of mouths, eyes, and ears. The bowls of jell-o were now large carniverous jellies, oozing across the table in search of flesh. Albert himself stood, suddenly cloaked in swirling black garments, his skin a tone of grey. The four servants now floated above the floor, wraithlike. A door swung open as the huge butler strode into the dining room, even more pallid now as his fangs gnashed in hunger. Even the silverware had changed, writhing around in the form of pale larvae. The total effect of all these things was quite hellish. Belphanior: Oh, shit! Mongo: (looks at the slug he's been holding) Ya! (hurls the thing into a wall, where it rebounds, heading for the table) Fuck! Ged: By Boccob! (grabs his fire wand) Albert: Hah hah! I told you it was dinnertime... Alindyar: (fires a viscous glob from his wand, pinning one of the birds to one of the fruit-mouth things) Friends! We are outmatched here! We must escape! Albert: Not likely. (begins spellcasting) Peldor: (goes invisible) Albert: I see you, thief. Rillen: (dodges a beam from the cheese-block-turned-eye- thing in the air) I knew something was cheesy. (bashes a slug with his staff, knocking it off the table) Ged: Hey, that's a beholder! Don't joke at it, kill it! Belphanior: (ignores a bite from one of the slugs) Thank the gods for Stoneskin...(slashes a bird, lopping off a wing) Peldor: (invisible, he hurls a dagger at Albert) Albert: (though he could see the invisible thief, this attack takes him by surprise, and the dagger pierces his hand, interrupting his spell) Curses! Lyra: (begins spellcasting) Arnold: (hacks one slug into two halves) Thad'll show you, slimey thing! Aaa. Ged: (points his wand in the general direction of Albert) Cspan! (small fireballs sally forth, hitting not only the Baron but also one bird, one slug, two jellies, and a servant-wraith) Take that! Albert: Agh. (snaps his fingers again, and a swarm of vampire bats flies into the room from somewhere) Belphanior: Yie! (dodges the bite of one of the bats) Rillen: (swats another bat) This is batty. Mongo: (faces off against the butler) I'll smash you into monster mash, buddy! butler: I do not think ssssso. (swings at the dwarf, and misses, splintering a chair into small bits) Mongo: (bashes the man-thing, knocking him back against a double doorway) Hah! How's that feel? butler: (glares at Mongo) I ssshall kill you and feed upon your sssoul, dwarf. Mongo: Yikes. Lyra: I say nay. (casts a Lightning Bolt at the butler, knocking him through the double door along with one servant) Mongo: Nice shot. (belts an onrushing slug with his war- hammer) Lyra: Thanks, I thought so too. (notices that her spell ignited some curtains) Uh-oh. Ged: (attempts to turn some of the undead in the room) Boccob! Grant me power to dispel these vile ones! (he watches in horror as virtually every vampire and wraith ignores his incantations) Hell. Some great evil power must be at work here. (dodges a vampire bat's swooping attack) Albert: Of course. That would be me. Heh heh. Rillen: (uses his staff to vault over some opponents, and lands near a large bay window) Whew. (hits the glass several times,shattering it and letting in a strong wind) Companions! We are leaving! Belphanior: Retreat? (evades the attacks of a bird, and it collides with a slug, turning the latter into stone) Holy shit! Cockarice! Yeah, time to go! Flint Firelips: (pulverizes a fruit-mouther thing, but gets overrun by one of the roaming jellies) Aaaargh! (he runs into a burning curtain, trying to get the thing off of himself) Aaaargh! (leaps past Rillen and out the broken window, ablaze) Mongo: Wow, look at him go. Peldor: (backstabs a servant-wraith, but only angers it) Yie. (flees, hasted, and somersaults through the window after Flint) Even the bravest thief must know when to leave... Ged: (dodges a slug's attack) Yea, but you're hardly the bravest thief. Come on, Arnold, let's get out of this unholy place! (he leaps through the window) Arnold: Yah! (he follows his liege, shouting bettle cries all the while) Alindyar: (aims another viscid glob at a bird, for good measure, and then pushes Lyra through the window, only following after she is safely out) Time to make our exit. Rillen: Come on, Mongo! Mongo: (ducks a wraith's deadly clutches, and leaps out the window) Geronimo! Belphanior: (he backs up to Rillen's location, next to the windowframe) Ready to leave, eh? Rillen: Count on it. (they back out simultaneously, and sprint after the others) The adventurers fled the house, which was blazing in one whole section by now. No one stopped to look back until they were well past the gate and the stone wall. Mongo: <huff puff> Wait up, guys! Belphanior: (stops, breathing hard) What kind of place was that, anyway? Rillen: Definitely _not_ one to look for horses and food at. Ged: I could have turned those undead. Or at least some of them. Mongo: (coughing) We were doing okay. Arnold: Yah! I cut dem up good. Alindyar: Nonsense. We would have been overrun ere much longer. Ged: Yea, I think so. We'd better keep moving - we don't know if they'll follow us or not. (points his fire wand back at the house) However...I refuse to leave without a parting shot. Knec! (a huge fireball sails toward the place) Chew on that, undead slime! Peldor: Let's get the hell out of here. (those who had slowed their running resume it) At least we've left that horrific stuff behind us...(he fails to notice a yellow worm as it falls out of the pocket he secreted the gold knife in; the thing lands on the ground and happens to get trampled into juice by Mongo's heavy boot) The group struck out in a random direction, in the dark, in a strange land. Distant howls and other such sounds could be heard, and they dared not stop for anything. next time : barking at the moon ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : This was sort of my "horror adventure" for the campaign...let's just say that the party did well to flee... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1993 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + + + + Thomas Miller + + tmiller@cimmeria.gatech.edu + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + * Flint Firelips (guest) dwarven warrior + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/26/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: the middle of the night + + Place: some plains somewhere northeast of the Yatils + + Climate: quite chilly; clear skies + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + "There are more dead people than living, and their + + numbers are increasing." + + Eugene Ionesco + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ XCII. The Evil Dead The party has fled from an old mansion full of bloodthirsty monsters and undead. Having no horses, due to the recent escapades in the Underdark, they are travelling on foot, as rapidly as possible. Mongo: <huff puff> Geez, I'm beat! (slows down) Running while wearing plate mail isn't something to do for long. Peldor: (looks around) I wonder which way we're headed? Belphanior: (looks into the night sky) North, by the stars. Ged: Yea, by Boccob. Maybe northeast, but we're definitely headed "up". I wonder what land we're in now? Rillen: (looking around for a good defensible place to stop and make camp) Me too. As they marched through the plains, the distant howling and wailing noises grew less and less distant... Peldor: I hear wolves...(draws his sword) They're coming closer. Alindyar: Perhaps we should search for a place to camp. Lyra: Camp?!? You meant fight, didn't you? ALindyar: Err... Rillen: Yes. A good defensible area, where we can make a stand like men. Lyra: Pardon? Belphanior: Yeah. I say we stop running and fight those who are howling. Mongo: Shit, yeah. No more running like dogs! Ged: By Boccob, you're right! We should fight! Arnold: And we shaaaaaal! Aaa! (swings his sword around) The party stopped, and sat upon a short hilly area as they prepared for battle. Those who could fight best - Mongo, Rillen, Arnold, and Flint Firelips - formed a ring around the others. Peldor and Belphanior filled the gaps in this circle, the latter casting a few spells upon himself while there was still time. Ged and the two drow prepared their magic hastily. The howls and other weird noises drew nearer. Belphanior: (sheathes his sword) Hmph. (to Peldor) I will of course enjoy meleeing, but I have a nasty magical surprise for our foes first. Heh heh. Rillen: This is no time for snickering. Look! From all directions, forms approached in the darkness. Red eyes glowed and toothed jaws gnashed, as a pack of very large wolves closed their circle of death. Belphanior: Fuck 'em. (casts Melf's Minute Meteors, and five blazing projectiles whiz toward some of the wolves) wolves: (those hit by the meteors howl in pain and begin to burn) Hoooowwwwwl! Belphanior: Heh heh. Ged: For Boccob! (casts a Flame Strike upon a dense part of the wolfpack, igniting several wolves but also, more importantly, providing much-needed illumination for the party) Take that, wolfen! wolves: (many are burned) Hoooowwwwl!!! Alindyar: (casts a Web upon some wolves, near the burning members of the pack) With luck, this will soon ignite as well. There was no more time for spells, as the wolves tore into the party. Even the magi had to draw their weapons and fight, to avoid being torn apart. Mongo: Shit! (bashes a wolf, breaking its neck) The damn ring isn't holding! (watches as a wolf leaps over his head and bowls over Ged) Look out! Rillen: Hold fast! (he skillfully swats two wolves at once, knocking both back) If we fall, they will be all over us! Belphanior: Like they're not already?!? (slashes off a clawed paw after it digs shallow grooves in his leg) Flint Firelips: Damned furballs! (chops a wolf in half with a mighty axe stroke) Arnold: Wulfies die! (hacks at several of the animals) wolf: (snaps at Ged) Snarl! Ged: (bashes his assailant with his silver morningstar) Take that, you! Wha- (he watches in amazement as the weapon's head begins to glow, and the wolf reels back, its face ablaze with white light) Boccob! This is a holy weapon! morningstar: Of course, what did you expect? Ged: Hey! Peldor: Back, foul furred ones! Peldor commands you! (slices a wolf in the side) I'm warning you! Rillen: I do not think they will listen. Mongo: Especially to him. Peldor: Bah. (blocks a bite with his sword blade) Eat sharp steel, dog-breath! Belphanior: (fighting three wolves at once now) Die, you sons of bitches! Alindyar: An accurate analogy... Lyra: Look out! Alindyar: Eh? (uses his staff to block the gaping jaws of a big wolf) These creatures are quite ferocious. Lyra: (stabs at the wolf carefully, but misses) Yes. Not that there are wolves in the Underdark... Ged: (to his weapon) You can TALK?!?!? morningstar: Indeed. Ged: Who - what - are you?!? (regards the brightly glowing weapon in wonder) morningstar: I am called Lightbringer. For obvious reasons. But, enough talk. There is battle to be done! Ged: Battle? Oh, yea. (bashes an onrushing wolf with the weapon, and the animal howls in pain) Boccob! Mongo: (grimly smashing wolves with his hammer) Belphanior: (notes that some of the wolves are much larger and more aggressive than others) Come on!! Come forth and DIE! (throws two wolves from himself and punches the third) Fuck you! Fuck you! And so the battle raged for several minutes. Though short, the conflict was savage and bloody. One moment there were wolves and weapons moving all around, and the next, all was still. More than two dozen wolves lay scattered about, gutted or broken. In addition, there were numerous charred wolfen corpses in the area where Ged used the flame strike. The adventurers stood triumphant, but not without injury. Mongo and Rillen were bleeding from numerous gashes and bites. Arnold, Flint Firelips, and Belphanior lay unconscious, bloody and battered. The elf was the worst of these, for his skin was paler than usual due to blood loss. Peldor had somehow survived the assault, though he bled from several wounds; he wandered around in a daze. Even Ged, Alindyar, and Lyra were seriously wounded. All healing spells and items were employed immediately. Peldor: (stops Ged, who is about to heal Rillen) Uh, hold on a sec. (produces a small silver bell and begins ringing it) Ged: What, am I supposed to be impressed? Peldor: Now cast your spell. Ged: Stop playing the fool. (casts the spell upon Rillen) Rillen: (healed for quite a bit more than expected) Aaaaah. Peldor: See? The bell enhances your puny magic! Ged: Where'd you get that?!? Peldor: Treasure share. Of course. You didn't think I'd steal it, did you? Ged: The thought _did_ come to mind... Lightbringer: (pipes up) Hey, who's this thief? Why haven't you introduced me to him yet? Ged: He's nobody. Just a foolish pickpocket. Peldor: Hey, Ged, now you have someone to talk to! Ged: Quiet, fool. Peldor: Someone who has no choice but to listen... Lightbringer: Who are you, rogue? Peldor: I? I am Peldor, king of thieves! (sticks his chest out) Master of dimensions! Lord of men! Paragon of nobility! Sultan of- Lightbringer: (to Ged) You were right. He _is_ a fool. Peldor: Bah. I listen to no talking weapons. Lightbringer: Don't even think of stealing me. Peldor: Why would I want to do that? Ged: Enough. We have more important things to do than argue with fools. Lightbringer: Yea! Peldor: (still ringing the tiny bell) Okay, well, where's the next victim to be healed? Hey, what about me? (notices that he doesn't feel as faint as he did a few moments ago) Hmm. Hmmmmmmm. Mongo: (meanwhile, using his strange healing rod on Belphanior) I think he's gonna live! Ged, where are you? Lyra: The grey elf attends to one of the others. Mongo: Belphanior really got fucked up this time. Look at these wounds! Alindyar: Methinks he relied upon stoneskin overmuch. Belphanior: (half-conscious, mumbling) Lycanthropy... wolves...get the herbs... Rillen: He is addled from his wounds. Mongo: Frankly, I'm surprised he's still awake. Alindyar: A bit daft, but yet, we should worry. The wolfpack may have contained werewolves. Mongo: (healing the elf's cuts with his magical rod) We'll just have to wait and see. Soon, all the healing that could be done was done. The party was in decent, if sore, shape. Belphanior was yet unable to walk on his own, so a makeshift gurney was put together by Rillen and Ged. Needless to say, the party's travel rate was slowed significantly by this, but they forged onward. It was still dark, and several hours yet until the coming of dawn. The adventurers moved slowly through the plains, chilled by the cold wind blowing from the north. Perhaps an hour later, Peldor sighted a small stone tower ahead. The structure, resting upon a short hillock, was perhaps a half mile away. Ged: How in the hells can _you_, a mere human, see that far - in the dark?!? Peldor: My innate mightiness...well, actually, my sword provides me with night vision of surpassing excellence. Ged: Night vision? Sword? Lightbringer: What foolery does he speak of? Where is this sword? Is it intelligent? Ged: Who can know? But, if he says he sees a tower in the area ahead, we must believe him. Peldor: Hmph. As they trudged slowly toward the tower, strange wails began to rise from the ground (!) nearby. Then, rotted hands clawed their way out of the hard earth, and grimy, half-decayed heads poked up and regarded the party! The dead rose from every direction. Flint Firelips: Holy shit. Rillen: The dead are alive. And they do not look happy. Mongo: We're cut off! They've completely surrounded us! next time : Will the adventurers suffer from the lack of Belphanior's sword in the battle? Can the mob of living dead be defeated? Will the party ever find out what's in the stone tower? ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : As you can see, the horror continues! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1993 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + + + + Thomas Miller + + tmiller@cimmeria.gatech.edu + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + * Flint Firelips (guest) dwarven warrior + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/26/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: the middle of the night, shortly before dawn + + Place: some plains somewhere northeast of the Yatils + + Climate: quite chilly; clear skies + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + "The graveyards are full of indispensable men" + + Charles de Gaulle + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ XCIII. The Evil Dead II (Dead by Dawn?) The party is being attacked while trudging through the wilderness. Various undead have sprouted from the ground like broccoli, and surrounded the group. Flint Firelips: Holy shit. Rillen: The dead are alive. And they do not look happy. Mongo: We're cut off! They've completely surrounded us! Ged: For Boccob! (hefts his morningstar and charges a decaying zombie-like thing) Lightbringer: (screeching in exultation) Death to the undead! (Ged's swing brings the morningstar into rather forceful contact with the zombie) <splat!> zombie: Uuuurh. (its head splatters apart with the weapon's impact) Lightbringer: Yes! Direct hit! (glowing brightly now) Just aim me at those undead! I shall do the rest! zombie: (its headless, er, corpse meanders about for a moment before collapsing) Ged: Yea! Mongo: That's the spirit! Attack! (he pounds a nearby skeleton with his hammer, shattering the undead into pieces) Fuck yeah! Eat that, scumsucker! Rillen: (bashes at two zombies with his staff, forcing them back) Ugh. They are leaving pieces of themselves on my weapon. Alindyar: They will tend to do that. Flint Firelips: Yar! (chops at a ghoul-like thing, and severs one of its legs) Hah! Arnold: Aaaaaa. (chops a wight, making a huge gash in its side) wight: Aieeee! (hisses and spits at the warrior) Arnold: Come and ged it. (waves his sword) Whad are you waiding for? Peldor: (dodges a zombie's clumsy attack, and uses his magical feather to haste himself) So! (slashes the undead thing twice, slaying it messily) Peldor the champion! Back, foul undead ones! Back, or face the wrath of Peldor unchained! undead in general: (ignore the thief) Peldor: What?!? Why...I'll teach you to ignore _me_! (slashes at a skeleton) skeleton: (claws at Peldor, but misses) skeleton: (claws at Mongo, but does no real damage) ghoul: (bites Ged, drawing a bit of blood) Slurp! Ged: Away, you vile lump of dung! (bats at the undead with his weapon) Alindyar: (uses his wand to fire a viscous glob into some undead) A sticky situation, this. I can do no wrong by making it stickier... zombie: (stuck by the glob to a ghoul, it pushes at the latter, trying to break free) Ghlk. (it is actually attached to the ghoul's arm by the face) Mlmph. ghoul: Hss! (it flails at the zombie in irritation) skeleton: (claws at Rillen, scoring a minor wound) Rillen: Keep your bones to yourself. skeleton: (punches Flint Firelips, knocking him back a few feet) ghoul: (misses Peldor) Snarl! skeleton: (misses Mongo) <clackety-clack> Lyra: (casts a Web upon one section of the undead mob, bringing them all down in a heap of sticky, flailing arms and legs and such) Hah! Alindyar: Good move. zombie: (still stuck to the ghoul, rips itself free, leaving its face attached to the other undead) Rgh. ghoul: (begins eating the zombie's face) Umm. Lyra: How gross. Peldor: Ha! (slashes a zombie, driving it back) Eh? Look! Look there! undead: (many new ones, clawing their way up from the ground; they babble and moan incessantly) Mongo: There must be a hundred of 'em by now! Ged: Boccob! Even if I started turning them now, I'd never get them all before they got us...! Rillen: (bashes a skeleton, shattering it) The tower nearby! We must make a break for it! Mongo: Break?!? (smashes a skeleton with his hammer) Damn straight! Never give a skeleton an even break. skeletons: (three of them swarm over the dwarf, in the process bearing him to the ground) Mongo: Argh! Ow! Dammit! Get the hell off of me! Arnold: Yah! (slashes a zombie, cutting it in half) Rillen: Gutsy. (bashes at a ghoul, knocking it down) Ged: So many undead, so little time...which to attack next? Boccob guide me. Lightbringer: Go for that wight over there. Ged: Uhh...okay. (he swings at a wight, hitting it with the holy weapon) Lightbringer: DIE, FOUL UNDEAD! wight: (shrieks, and dissolves) AIEEEEeeeee..... Ged: By Boccob! It melted! Lightbringer: That is my mission - to dispel undead. Ged: Thanks be to Boccob for bringing you into my possession, then. Let's go kill some undead! Lightbringer: (glowing brightly) Yes! Belphanior: (semi-conscious, on the ground on his gurney) Uhhh... ghoul: (slinks along the ground, toward the elf) Peldor: (slays his zombie) Hah! Peldor wins again! Uh-oh. (backs up, as two skeletons assault him) Mongo: (struggling under the attack of multiple foes) Rillen's right! We've got to get to that tower! Get there and hole up! (tosses a skeleton away) Let's go for it! Rillen: Right. (kicks a zombie aside) Out of my way. Ged: (looking around) Use the webbed area! (to his weapon) Can you ignite things? Burn them? Lightbringer: Of course. You were thinking of- Ged: -those webbed undead. Exactly. (he touches the morningstar to the webs, and they instantly ignite, blazing fiercely) For Boccob! undead in general: (back away from the flaming region) Lightbringer: <sigh> How stupid undead in general are. Peldor: (grabs a skeleton on Mongo and pulls it off) Let's make a run for it! skeleton: (snaps at the shoulder, leaving Peldor with its arm) Chk. Peldor: Ugh. (holds up the still-writhing skeletal arm in disdain) Rillen: Need a hand? (bashes the arm with his staff, sending it flying into the darkness) Peldor: Thanks. Alindyar: (notices the ghoul creeping up on the prone Belphanior) Naughty, naughty. Stop right there. (he uses his wand to glue the ghoul to itself) ghoul: Urrr? (its hand is now glued to its head, thanks to its own mindless groping motions) Lyra: (casts Pyrotechnics in the air above, to light the way) Let's shed some light on things. Rillen: (twirling his staff, he leads the way to the tower) Don't forget the elf. (bashes a skeleton in the ribcage, sending bone shards everywhere) Ged: (follows Rillen, his morningstar glowing brightly in the pre-dawn darkness) I'm with you! My weapon is well suited for clearing undead from our path. Arnold, help Mongo bring up the rear! Arnold: Right. (dodges a zombie's attack, and then slices the thing apart) Aaaaaa. Flint Firelips: (he and Peldor grab the gurney and follow Rillen and Ged) Let's go! Belphanior: (barely conscious for any of this) Huh? ...what's...where...? Peldor: Quiet, don't worry about it now. ghoul: (swipes at Belphanior with the hand that isn't glued to its head) Rargh?!? (grunts in frustration as its intended prey is carried away) Nhk. Alindyar: Come. (he grabs Lyra, and they follow in the wake of Rillen and Ged) Arnold: Come on, Mondo! We have to fidht at the rear of the pahrdy! (punches a zombie, knocking a hole clean through its head) Mongo: (still carrying one and a half skeletons who refuse to let go, he runs along behind the others) Yeah! (he unwittingly steps on a skeleton's head as he runs) skeleton: (looks up) <crunch> They ran for the tower, slashing a path through those undead who were in the way. Behind the party, the mob of monsters followed noisily. Rillen: (looks back) They might catch up with Mongo. Ged: (stops) I'll take care of it. Keep going! (he stows his morningstar in his belt and gets his wand out) Yea... Lightbringer: What?!? Why are you putting me aside? I demand action! Ged: I need to create a diversion. (points the wand at the undead horde on Mongo's heels) Run, Mongo! Arnold: (grabs the dwarf and effortlessly pulls him forward) Come on, Mondo! I tink he's going to bladst them. (he ducks slightly) Ged: I shall, by Boccob! NDREK. (a huge wall of fire appears, and advances toward the undead mob) Heh. undead: (many die in blazing fury, their death screams piercing the night) Aie! Argh! Oooooo! Sssss! Ged: Burn, foul ones. (notices that his wand is now sputtering and smoking, like it did last time when it ran out of power) Shit. Not now! Rillen: Look at the bright side. You did make a wall of fire, there. The party dashed toward the tower... Rillen: (leaps through the doorway, kicking open the thick wooden door, which was ajar anyway) Hai-yah! (looks around) I do not see anything. Ged: (follows the warrior, again holding up his light- shedding weapon) Clear. No monsters here. Let's get the others inside now! As the other adventurers made it to the tower, Ged and Rillen stood to the sides of the doorway, ready to defend it against any undead. Fortunately, only a few of the marauding undead had circumvented the fiery barrier so far, and they were quite a ways back. The party all made it into the tower, and they shut the door and barred it with a (conveniently nearby) wooden bar. Mongo: It's nearly dawn now. Peldor: (looking around) Hey, this place has no windows! Rillen: (listening at the door) They are coming... Suddenly, there was a great ruckus outside, as many hands, feet, and stubs pounded and flailed upon the door with unrelenting fury. This continued for a few minutes, but the door held up to the assault. Then, without any warning, all noise ceased. The party couldn't hear even the slightest noise outside. A few minutes later, they carefully opened the door (just a crack, mind you) and observed a total lack of undead. The sun rose on the distant horizon. Mongo: (sits down, against a wall) Geez, I'm beat. next time : exploring the tower; undead assault#2 ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : As I write this, it's Thursday, March 17, 1993. This Saturday, I will graduate with my B EE. I had hoped to finish this saga by graduation time, but it's not going to happen. That's the bad news - the good news is that I've accepted a job here at Georgia Tech's Network Services division and will be maintaining my internet accounts for the forseeable future. So, the stories will keep coming, albeit a bit less frequently (I can't do any writing at home, during the day, anymore.) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1993 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + + + + Thomas Miller + + tmiller@cimmeria.gatech.edu + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + * Flint Firelips (guest) dwarven warrior + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/27/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: shortly after dawn + + Place: some plains somewhere northeast of the Yatils + + Climate: quite chilly; grey skies + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + "They shall all drown in lakes of blood. Now they + + will know why they are afraid of the dark. Now + + they will learn why they fear the night." + + Thulsa Doom + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ XCIV. The Battle at the Tower The party has, in the last twelve hours or so, fought a mansionful of evil monsters, a large pack of wolves and werewolves, and a mob of undead. Also, they have been running during most of the time they weren't doing battle. Understandably, they are somewhat tired. Mongo: (snoozing against a wall) Ged: <yawn> We'd better set a watch and some defenses. (casts a Wyvern Watch upon the tower's door) Rillen: Then those not on watch duty can get some rest. Belphanior: (already unconscious, due to his previous wounds) zzz. Alindyar: (casts some defensive spell) It seems most feasible that we may all rest. Our magical warnings will alert us to any disturbances. Peldor: (yawns loudly) Sounds good to me. Lyra: (looking upward) This keep appears to have only one floor. (looks into the rafters) And a high roof too. Most odd. Rillen: No windows, no ceiling-doors. It should be safe to rest here. Lightbringer: (to Ged) Since I don't have to sleep, I can warn you if I sense any foes approaching. Ged: Good enough. (goes about casting his remaining healing spells upon those most in need of them) Mongo: (already well-healed thanks to his regeneration ring) Zzz. Flint Firelips: Time to crash. (unrolls a sleeping bag) Arnold: I am sleepdy. (lies down on the ground, his sword still in hand) Alindyar: (along with Lyra and Ged, works to memorize the next day's spells before going to sleep) 'Tis not always easy being a mage... Peldor: (snoring happily, a line of drool coming out of his gaping mouth) ZzzzZZZZZ. Thus, the adventurers finally got some well-deserved (and well-needed) sleep. It was late afternoon before any of them awakened. All was as before, except that the group in general felt much better now that fatigue had vanished. Mongo: Say, it'll be getting dark soon. Rillen: Those dead people will probably come back. Belphanior: (stands up) Fuck 'em. I feel great! Alindyar: We could flee this place, and search for some other shelter. Peldor: No good. There's nothing in sight at all. Mongo: Yeah, it's not worth the risk. Better to stay here, where we have a wall to help us. Ged: Well, the only thing we have to worry about is the door... Mongo: No problem. Any two of us could defend that doorway against attacks from the outside. Arnold: (gearing up for battle) I'm hungdry. The party ate a late lunch as they prepared for whatever attackers might show up. They waited for hours upon end, but no one or nothing appeared to challenge them. Before they knew it, dusk had arrived. Belphanior: Where are these undead? Rillen: Maybe they found somewhere else to go play. Ged: Yea, or someone else to terrorize. Flint Firelips: Let 'em come! My axe is ready for any of their slimy necks! Mongo: Yeah! My hammer too! Peldor: Hey, to hell with that. If they don't come back to fight, so what? I for one could live without them. No pun intended. Lyra: None taken. Alindyar: (listening intently) What is that sound? Ged: What? Rillen: A sound...like somebody moaning. Mongo: Hey, that's exactly what we heard before, when they attacked... Belphanior: (tying his sword handle to his hand with a strap) Get ready, people. Peldor: (peers through the crack of the open door) I see them! Everyone gathered at the door, looking to see what was outside. A horrifying sight awaited them: a veritable horde of rotting bodies swarmed toward the keep, from all directions. Some walked, others crawled, and a few were being pulled by others, but onward they came! Mongo: Shit. (slams the door, and Ged bolts it) I'll defend the door, if they bust it down. Rillen: You mean "when" they break it down. I am with you. Ged: Spell...hmm...I don't really have much of use to us, against the undead. I am no necromancer. Belphanior: Don't sweat it. Even the best spells for undead-fighting won't help when there are millions of them. Peldor: I wonder how many there really are? Lightbringer: I can sense the undead. There must be a hundred, nay, hundreds of them! The first beating sounds came from the other side of the door. Momentarily, the sturdy door began to buckle inward, as the adventurers knew it would. Ged: Aside! I shall stem this tide of unsavory undead with a spell from the mighty Boccob! (casts a Web at the doorway, blocking it utterly) Mongo: Hey, good move. Now they can't pour in here like molasses. Peldor: To look at it another way, we have no exit... Rillen: Look! The web was slowly being forced inward, no doubt by the collective weight of dozens of undead working in mindless unison. Strands of the sticky web-stuff began to snap. Alindyar: Never! (casts his own Web, bolstering the first one) Lyra: (prepares a spell) Maybe I can help. Peldor: The second web is holding. No, wait! It- Mongo: Shit! They're getting through that one too! Sure enough, the second web only delayed the inevitable for a short time. Rotten limbs and heads began to poke through rents in the web. Lyra: (casts a Wall of Ice, pushing back all of the undead intruders and sealing the doorway) There. zombie: (not fast enough, gets crushed between the wall of ice and the tower's curved inner wall, a fate also shared by several of his companions) <splurch> Ged: Most excellent. I doubt that they can get through _that_. Lightbringer: Of course not, they're just undead. What more can be expected of them? Alindyar: (suddenly falls as the ground shakes with some great force) What in the hells...? Ged: (also falls, but Arnold steadies him) Boccob! Rillen: (manages to keep his balance) Something is shaky here... Mongo: (likewise keeps his footing) Earthquake! Without warning, the tower's walls began to crumble, the very stones groaning in protest as they were torn by some great power. Belphanior: (cursing loudly) Why in all the HELLS did someone have to make an earthquake happen at this very moment?!?!? Alindyar: Methinks the entire structure shall fall. Mongo: (ignores a small bit of stone that falls and bounces off of his helm) What the hell's going on?!? Rillen: (dodges a falling flagstone) Ged: Some great evil is at work here, no doubt. Belphanior: Someone will die for this... The stones of the tower suddenly collapsed outward, while the roof was whisked away, sailing through the air and pelting various undead with rubble. The party realized the true enormity of their predicament as the hordes of undead were revealed. Belphanior: Holy shit. We may die here. I mean, we may _die_ here. (begins casting Stoneskin on himself) Mongo: Fuck it! If I go, I'm gonna take as many of these undead sons-of-bitches with me as I can. Flint Firelips: And me too! They won't get an easy fight! Rillen: (begins twirling his staff as the undead mobs close in) Not an easy fight at all. Arnold: I have nevber seen so many dead people walking. Lyra: It's not a common sight, to be sure. Stand fast, warrior. Ged: Spell support! We need spell support! (begins spellcasting) Alindyar: Aye. Peldor: (looks around, alarmed, and then uses his feather to haste himself) Mongo: (to Peldor) This is it, kid. Belphanior: (puts away his sword and readies his staff of power, then changes his mind again and begins spellcasting) As the various sorts of undead attacked, the party met them head-on! Mongo: (bashes a skeleton, smashing it apart with a single blow) Chew steel, grave-breath! Rillen: (pops a zombie atop the head with his staff) Keep away from me, rotten one. Belphanior: (casts a Flaming Sphere directly at a ghoulish thing) Have some fire. ghast: Yeaaaaargh! (runs around, blazing, somehow holding the sphere instead of letting it roll away) Belphanior: Hey, that'll work too. Peldor: Take that! (slashes a zombie's leg off) zombie: (tries to walk onward, but falls, and is trampled by some of its fellows) Uuuurgh. Flint Firelips: Yeah! (decapitates a ghoul with a mighty blow) How's that feel? Huh? ghoul body: (wanders around in search of its head) severed ghoul head: (bites the ankle of a passing zombie and hangs on) ssss. zombie: (ignores the ghoul head clinging to its foot) Arnold: (cuts down a zombie with a single blow) Yah! zombie: (spasms wildly as it dies) Ged: (casts Evard's Black Tentacles at random undead in front of him) By Boccob, taste ebon death, undead scum! (a dozen 10' long, black tentacles appear, and immediately wrap themselves around various undead) skeleton: (quickly crushed by a tentacle) zombie: (beset by two, gets squashed quite badly) Uuuurp. (its brains squirt out of its nose and mouth) ghoul: (begins licking up the brains that spilled onto the ground; suddenly, a tentacle coils itself around its legs) Graaaar! (slips in the brains and falls, crushed tightly by the magical tentacle) skeleton: (collapses, crushed by a tentacle) ghoul: (gets squeezed, then somehow saves, causing the tentacle to vanish) Hsss. zombie: (constricted by one tentacle) Errrruph. ghast: (nailed by two tentacles, falls to the ground, unable to move) Ssss? wight: (assailed by three tentacles, struggles while they crush the life from it) skeleton: (crushed by a tentacle, perishes) Ged: Yea! That sure got them! Rillen: Yes. (swats a zombie, knocking it down, where it is summarily trampled by its fellows) Belphanior: (readies his staff) Come on, motherfuckers! Alindyar: (casts Magic Missile at the nearest undead, a ghast, pelting it with magical bolts of energy) ghast: (five holes are drilled in its head and torso, and it looks down at one on them before falling) Dugh? Alindyar: Bah. I can surely find a more potent offensive spell to cast than that. Flint Firelips: (hacks at a ghoul, seriously wounding it) Taste steel, scum! Peldor: (slashes at a zombie, but misses) Shit! Lyra: (casts a Lightning Bolt at a band of well-dressed leader-types among the undead ranks) skeletons: (about fifteen, give or take a few bones; they are in any case shattered instantly by the mighty bolt) zombies: (about a dozen; they are crisped by the bolt) ghouls: (seven; they are all roasted as well) wights: (three; all are seriously wounded by the bolt) Lyra: A mighty lightning bolt, that. sub-vampire: (wounded slightly by the lightning bolt) Bah! Enough of this foolishness! (sails into the air in bat form) Scree, scree! Mongo: (slams his hammer into a ghoul, barely hitting and doing only superficial damage) Die, you! skeleton: (claws at Mongo, doing minor damage) skeleton: (gropes at Mongo, doing no damage) skeleton: (claws at Rillen, but misses) skeleton: (gropes at Flint, but does no damage) skeleton: (claws at Arnold, but misses) skeleton: (gropes at Peldor, but barely misses) ghoul: (claws and gnaws at Mongo, ineffectually) Arnold: (swings his massive sword in a deadly arc, slicing a zombie into small bits) Aaaaaa. zombie: (falls to the ground in parts, which writhe around on their own) Rillen: (looks over) Rest in pieces. zombie: (reaches for Rillen, but misses) zombie: (gropes at Mongo, but can't damage the dwarf through his plate mail) zombie: (grabs for Arnold, and inflicts minor damage) sub-vampire: (in bat form, divebombs Ged) Scree, scree! Ged: Aaaa! (swings his flail, partly by instinct, and scores the vampire-bat a direct hit) Boccob! Lightbringer: DIE FOUL SCUM!!! vampire-bat: Raaaargh! (disintegrated by the power of the flail) Ged: All right! What power I now possess! Alindyar: (notes some zombies passing through a gap in the warriors, headed for him; begins spellcasting) Peldor: (slashes a zombie, hitting it this time) Never mess with the great Peldor, foolish rotten one! Belphanior: (uses his staff to cast a Fireball into the midst of the undead horde) Eat that, shitheads! Rillen: (hits a skeleton, shattering it) I wonder why someone has told all of these monsters to attack _us_? Peldor: Yeah. What have _we_ done? Alindyar: Who can know? (casts a Mirror Image, causing five duplicates to pop into existence nearby) zombies: (get confused and attack some of the duplicates instead of the actual drow) Arnold: Where did all of these drow come from? (hacks at a wight, wounding it) zombie: (gropes at an Alindyar-image, as does another zombie; they end up hugging each other) Belphanior: Isn't that sweet? (ducks a skeleton claw) Flint Firelips: (hacks at a ghoul, but misses) Damn! Lyra: (casts Magic Missile, bombarding a zombie with four missiles) I'm running out of offensive spells... zombie: (hit by the magical bolts, staggers backwards until it trips over a body and falls) Glbh. skeleton: (claws at Rillen, but misses) skeleton: (claws at Peldor, wounding him) Rillen: (pops a ghoul in the face with his staff's tip, knocking it back a bit) Out of my way, you. Mongo: (crushes a ghoul with two mighty blows of his hammer) Get the hell away from me, flesh-eater! Arnold: (slashes a zombie, wounding it badly) zombie: (tries to hold its nearly-severed arm on, but fails, as the arm dangles to the ground, held on only by a few rotted tendons) Burh? ghoul: (gropes for the arm, and gets it, ripping it off) zombie: Brrraaaaaugh! ghoul: (munches on the arm happily) Peldor: (slashes a skeleton, perchance slaying it) We had better get out of here before they overrun us... Arnold: Budt where can we go?!? Peldor: I don't know, but we've got to do something!! zombie: (claws Rillen) zombie: (claws Mongo) zombie: (claws Peldor) zombie: (claws Flint) zombie: (misses Belphanior) Rillen: I agree with you, thief. Suddenly, there was a voice from somewhere within the undead horde. It boomed above all the racket of battle, clearly announcing the arrival of a force to be reckoned with. vampire lord: (floats above the undead on the ground; he is wearing fine clothes, and a black cloak swirls about his body) ENOUGH OF THIS FOOLISHNESS! Ged: Who the hell is that?!? Lightbringer: Sounds like the leader to me. Let's get him! Smash him! vampire lord: (begins spellcasting) Alindyar: (begins spellcasting) We must stop that one. Mongo: (has sort of wandered a bit away from the main party, but has also built up a pile of undead bodies around himself) Fuckin' undead! (blocks a swipe by a ghoul) I'll kill you all! Rillen: (smashes a skeleton) Peldor: (misses a wight) wight: (misses Peldor, fortunately for the thief) Mongo: (creams a ghoul with a single blow, sending its broken body sailing over the heads of its companions) other ghouls: (turn and watch as the body hurtles by) vampire lord: (points at Mongo and casts a Power Word, Stun) Icthar! Mongo: (instantly stunned, falls to the ground) ghouls: (hungrily swarm over the dwarf's body) vampire lord: (to the undead in general) I said I wanted them ALIVE! You idiots! (swoops down and grabs a ghoul by the neck) Alive! (hurls the ghoul aside; but it is already dead, its neck crushed like a twig) other ghouls: (cower in fear) No, master! No! vampire lord: Take this one's armor and weapons, and prepare him for our journey. And do NOT damage him further! Ged: (headed toward the vampire, swinging his weapon anxiously) Prepare to meet Boccob, vile one! vampire lord: (waves his hand, and some ghouls heed his command, attacking Ged) Not this time, priest. Ged: (bashes a ghoul, disintegrating it) Get the hell out of my way, minion! ghoul: Aieeee! (becomes dust) Lightbringer: Flee, vampire! We shall destroy you! vampire lord: Interesting weapon you have there, elf. (floats up into the air) Rillen: (assaulted by six zombies at the same time, he in finally overrun, and loses his staff) You creatures will not take me alive! (punches one of the zombies, stunning it) zombies: (pummel and claw the warrior mercilessly) vampire lord: I said ALIVE, you mindless fools! zombies: (cease their pummeling of Rillen) Rillen: Ha! (kicks two zombies in an amazing split kick maneuver) zombie: (grasps Rillen's throat and tries to choke him) Rillen: Aaaaargh. (grabs the zombie's throat and begins crushing it) Flint Firelips: (hacks a zombie in half) Damned stinkin' undead! Alindyar: (casts Feeblemind at the vampire lord) It is time to lose your mind, evil one. vampire lord: (ignores the spell) I think not. Alindyar: Impressive. Most impressive. Lyra: (her spell gets ruined by the swipe of an undead claw) Damn! Rillen: (holds his opponent in the air above him, and snaps its neck) <cough> Belphanior: (fires Magic Missiles from his staff, obliterating a ghoul which stands before him) Bah. Enough of this staff shit. (hefts his sword) Come and get it, suckers!!! zombies: (move to attack the elf) Arnold: (slices a skeleton in half merrily) skeleton: (claws the warrior) Arnold: Aaaaagh. Peldor: (misses the wight again) Damn it! Rillen: (punches another zombie, erasing its face) skeleton: (claws Rillen) Rillen: Aaargh! vampire lord: (casting a spell) Ged: Shit. (begins casting his own spell) To me, my friends! Belphanior: (to himself) What is he talking about? (to the zombies attacking him) Do you know? (slashes one's chest open, revealing a nest of maggots) Ugh, never mind. Rillen: (to skeleton) I have a bone to pick with you. (kicks the thing, shattering it) Alindyar: (casts a Wall of Fog around the vampire lord) Perhaps that will buy us some time. Lyra: Maybe. Peldor: (finally hits the wight) Yeah! wight: (recoils in pain) Peldor: You'd better run! (chases the wight, until he realizes that it's not fleeing) Uh oh. On guard! wight: (snarls and stalks Peldor) vampire lord: (emerges from the fog) Bah. I have seen more fog than you ever will, drow. (casts a spell, and thick rolling vapors appear amidst the adventurers) Ged: (simultaneously casts his own spell, a Wall of Force, in sphere form; it encases those who happened to be in range: Ged himself, Flint Firelips, Lyra, Peldor, and the wight too) Aha! The rolling black fog quickly coalesced into several thick, amorphous tentacles of huge size. These wasted no time in finding adventurers to grab; Alindyar, Arnold, Belphanior, and Rillen were suddenly held fast! Ged's wall of force kept those inside safe, but they could only watch as the gaseous arms assaulted their friends. Rillen: Urgh! (struggles to escape, but cannot break free of the smoky appendage) Argh! It has me! The smoke-tentacles grew even darker, and totally covered their victims. Then, they vanished, as did the people they held! Lyra: Alindyar! (pummels the wall of force) Alindyar! Ged: Boccob! They're gone! Flint Firelips: We're fucked for sure now. Peldor: (slowly turns and looks at the wight inside the force-bubble with him and the others) wight: (slowly turns and looks at Peldor) Ged: (looks at both of them) Hey! Where'd that thing come from?!? Flint Firelips: (hacks at the wight, pushing it back somewhat) Away, you! wight: Ssss! (menaces Peldor and Flint) vampire lord: A wall of force, eh? Child's play. (he begins spellcasting while still floating in the air) Ged: Shit. (hastily begins casting his own spell) I must beat him on the draw, here. Clasp hands, quickly now! Boccob, grant me the power to pull this off with all these people Peldor: (grabs Ged's hand) This doesn't mean we're engaged or anything, does it? Ged: (spellcasting) Quiet, fool. Peldor: (grabs Flint Firelips with his other hand) Flint Firelips: Don't even say anything, thief. Lyra: (clasps Ged) Alindyar! wight: (somewhat confused, reaches for Peldor) Peldor: Hey! Aaaaa- Ged: (completes his spell) Instantly, Ged, Peldor, and Lyra vanished into thin air. A very surprised Flint Firelips was left in the bubble of force with the wight. vampire lord: (disintegrates the wall of force with his spell) So! Some of them have escaped! No matter. I have more than enough with these others. (gestures to the now-unconscious Mongo, and to Flint, who is beset by a dozen big zombies) Troops! We are going! (flies to the ground, and walks away, slowly, followed by the undead and their prisoners) Flint: (quickly gets beaten into unconsciousness, though not before slaying several zombies) hunchback: (gapes and cackles as he follows on the heels of the vampire lord) Master! Massster! Where are the other ones! What did you do with them? vampire: Silence, Igor. They will find themselves in a most unpleasant place when they awaken...my dungeons! BWAH-HAH-HAH!!! Igor: Ha ha ha! (trips and falls over a small boulder) next time : Where are the last three adventurers? ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : I was into stupid, comical undead long before _Army of Darkness_ came out. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1993 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + + + + Thomas Miller + + tmiller@cimmeria.gatech.edu + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + * Flint Firelips (guest) dwarven warrior + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/27/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: night + + Place: unknown hostile wilderness near Blackmoor + + Climate: increasingly chilly + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + "Ah, peaceful and quiet, amigo." + + "Like a graveyard, for instance?" + + Tuco & the Man With No Name + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ XCV. Calm Before the Storm The party is in big trouble. Most of the adventurers have been taken prisoner by a vampire lord after a great battle. Only Ged, Peldor, and Lyra escaped, casting a spell to get away before they, too, could be captured... Somewhere in the dark, all was silent. Then, with neither warning nor witness, three figures blinked into existence, at a height of ten feet or so above the rough ground. Ged: Wha- Yikes! (he falls to the ground rather unceremoniously) Whoulf! Peldor: (likewise, though he tries to land on his feet and almost succeeds) Oof! Lyra: (also falls to the ground) Whoa... Ged: (looks around) Hmm. No sign of the undead mob. Or that vampiric leader of theirs. My teleport was successful. Peldor: Yeah...if you call successful being dumped on our butts on hard ground. Ged: Damn it all! We were lucky enough to get away before that freak nailed us with some weird spell, like he did the others. Maybe I should have tried to turn him. Lightbringer: (pipes up) There was a strong aura of evil and power about that one. I doubt that he can BE turned. Peldor: Say, where's Flint Firelips? I thought he was coming with us too. Ged: My teleport spell can only move a certain amount of weight. Either Flint was the heaviest of us four, or the most distant from me, the caster of the spell. Either way, he didn't make the teleport with us. Lyra: The others...they are all gone...slain... Ged: Not so. The vampire clearly told his minions to take everyone alive. I heard him. Peldor: Yeah, you're right. Though I doubt they'll stay alive for long. A rescue is in order! Lyra: (perks up) Rescue? Ged: I wonder where the hell we are? Since it was a totally blind teleport (we're actually lucky to have made it in one piece), there can be no sure way of knowing how far away we moved. Or where we are. I simply thought of dark, evil-looking plains like those we have been seeing since we entered this cursed land. Peldor: Let that not daunt us! We should move out in a random direction until we find something. Ged: To hell with that. I shall cast a divination and seek guidance from the mighty Boccob. (prepares his spell) Peldor: Oh, wonderful. (begins cleaning gunk from his sword) Boccob this, Boccob that. Will there never be an end to it? Ged: Quiet, fool, I must concentrate. (casts his spell momentarily) O great Boccob! Your most humble servant seeks an answer to his dilemma. (pauses) Lyra: (watching in fascination) Peldor: (wondering if Boccob is even awake at this hour) Suddenly, a huge pair of purple glowing lips appeared in the air in front of the priest. Ged: The lips of Boccob! (bows in reverence) Peldor: (watches in amazement) Ged: Er...Will we find anyone if we travel westward? lips of Boccob: NO. Ged: Shall we find anyone if we travel eastward? lips of Boccob: PERHAPS. Ged: What about northward? We seek our lost companions. lips of boccob: PERHAPS. YOU WOULD BE BEST ADVISED TO TRAVEL TO THE NORTHEAST. SHELTER IS A NECESSITY. Ged: Hmm. Will there be danger? lips of Boccob: MOST CERTAINLY. TO SAVE YOUR FRIENDS, YOU MUST FIRST KNOW WHERE THEY ARE BEING HELD. AND BY WHOM. Ged: But- lips of Boccob: (vanish) Peldor: Well, _that_ was interesting. Lyra: To the northwest we go, then. Ged: Yea. They traveled silently through the darkness, each one keeping to his or her own thoughts. Amazingly, it was no more than ten minutes before they came upon a small town. The weary trio approached the gate. night watchman: Ho, there! Ged: Ho, yourself. We seek a place to rest and eat. night watchman: We of Ren do not make a habit of letting strangers in after midnight. You would be best advised to seek shelter elsewhere. Lyra: (casts Charm Person on the watchman) night watchman: (his eyes glaze over briefly) Ged: Eh? Lyra: (to watchman) You should make an exception to your rule tonight. night watchman: I should make an exception to my rule tonight. Lyra: You will let us into the town. night watchman: I will let you into the town. Lyra: You won't give us any trouble, either. night watchman: I wouldn't dream of it. Lyra: You won't remember this conversation five minutes from now. night watchman: What conversation? Lyra: Good. (they pass by) night watchman: Excellent. Peldor: (last to go by) Hmm. (to watchman) You will empty your purse- Ged: (grabs Peldor by the collar) Come on, you. Peldor: Wha- But I think he was falling for it! Lyra: That's not the point. (they approach an inn) I think it best if we get a room and then some rest. Though I hate to admit it, we can't accomplish much of anything at night. Ged: No, you're right. Don't worry about it. Let's get some rest, and work on memorizing new spells. Peldor: Rest? Lyra: (scanning the deserted streets) What a nice, quiet little town this is. Ged: Almost _too_ quiet. Shortly, they had purchased a room for the night, and were inside it, preparing for tomorrow's work. Peldor: (after making sure that the door and window are secure, he lies down on the floor) Whew! I'm beat. Lyra: (memorizing spells from her spellbook) Ged: (likewise working from his own book) Peldor: (dreams up a notion of going on an "excursion" but, fortunately, falls asleep first) Zzzzzzz. Ged: As we seem to have gotten a room with only one bed, and Peldor's on the floor there, I shall also take the floor. (unrolls his bedroll) Lyra: But- Ged: No buts. Us priests of Boccob are gentlemen as well as scholars, you know. Lyra: (goes back to her spell memorization) And so it was that the trio of adventurers passed the night in the small town of Ren, in the southwestern edge of Blackmoor. Meanwhile, somewhere out in the dark plains, a lone wolf howled as the full moon shone upon the land. Somewhere, no doubt, evil was being done. When morning arrived, the three were already up and about, preparing to seek their companions. Ged: (to barkeep) I don't suppose you know anything at all about an evil lord in these parts? (drops a thick coin of gold on the bartop) A _really_ evil lord? barkeep: Begging your pardon, sir, but actually I do. A fine town this used to be, until that foul ruler arrived in this land. Lyra: Fine town? Peldor: (to Lyra) I got the impression that this whole land was foul... barkeep: Of course, there was already the usual quota of murder and mayhem, but that lord...why, he commands much in the way of evil power! He showed up in town and made it known that he was raising a castle in the wilds to the north. Ever since that day, people have been turning up lost, if you take my meaning. Ged: Interesting. Go on. barkeep: Sometimes, it is whispered, certain townspeople fall under his evil spell. There is really no reckoning how much of this town is already in his control. Ged: You spoke of a castle...where is this castle? How far northward? barkeep: No one knows for sure. Why, do you intend to go there? (leans forward) Because that is suicide, no two ways about it! Ged: Could be. Boccob thanks you for your help. (he goes back to the table that Peldor and Lyra are sitting at) Well, that guy says that we need to search to the north for the evil lord and his servants... Lyra: I have heard enough. Let us be off. Peldor: Yeah. (they leave) barkeep: (intently watches the three exit his inn, and then turns to face some hooded men in a corner booth) They gathered their supplies and prepared to depart the small town of Ren. From all sides, the townspeople were staring at them, with glances that hinted at malicious intent. Peldor went to the supply store to buy (?) the few supplies and provisions that they were low on. Ged: (looking at the townspeople uneasily) Why are they looking at us like that? Lyra: Maybe they have never seen a drow elf. Ged: No, I don't think that's it. I hope these people don't get any ideas. Like robbing us or something. Peldor: (appears, loaded with bags and other things) What's this about robbing? Lyra: Nothing. Peldor: Good. I'd hate to think that this town contained people who would steal from others. (begins thinking about all the items he just shoplifted from the supply store) Anyway, here's the stuff we needed. Boy, am I glad to be out of there! They were quite unfriendly... Ged: To hell with this town. I have bought these fine mounts (holds up the reins of three ragged horses) from the stable here. These were the best that the stable- master would sell me. Lyra: (pets one of the horses) They're not that bad. Peldor: Yeah, well, let's get out of here. Ged: Yea. With that, the dauntless trio left the town of Ren, a town typical of those found in the violent, chaotic (and often downright evil) land of Blackmoor. next time : life in a prison different than any other, as we see what the rest of the party is up to... ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : It's now Wed. 3/24 and I'm taking a short break before my new employment begins...I won't be back for a week...the above is as good a cliffhanger as any... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1993 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + + + + Thomas Miller + + tmiller@cimmeria.gatech.edu + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + * Flint Firelips (guest) dwarven warrior + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/27/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: night + + Place: inside a fortress in a hostile land + + Climate: cool and dank, pervaded by the stench of decay + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + "Only the good die young + + All the evil seem to live forever..." + + Iron Maiden + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ XCVI. Prisoners Everyone but Ged, Peldor, and Lyra (who escaped capture) has wound up in a dark, damp, prison-type place. A dim green patch of stone, no doubt the site of a light spell, provided the only illumination. The exact size of the chamber was indeterminable, but Mongo, Arnold, and Alindyar were chained to one wall, while Rillen, Flint Firelips, and Belphanior were chained to a perpendicular section of wall. All six of the prisoners were silent and unmoving. Mongo: Ugh. (opens his eyes, only to find that he has been stripped down to a loincloth and is chained to a moldy stone wall) What the hell's going on here? Rillen: (also chained nearby) We have been taken in battle. (he notices that everyone present has been chained and wears only a loincloth) Mongo: We're prisoners. Fuck. Belphanior: (already awake, he is struggling against his chains) They took my sword! They took my picks! They took everything! Rillen: Whoever "they" are, they did not take our lives. Belphanior: Not yet, anyway. Say, it _smells_ in here. Arnold: (stirs, and then stands up) Whad are these chains on me for? (begins trying to pull the chains out of the wall, to no avail) Mongo: Grr. This really makes me mad... Rillen: (notices that everyone is chained apart from each other, so that no one can reach anyone else) Flint Firelips: (stands up shakily) Urgh. Mongo: Hey, pal, you okay? Flint Firelips: Yeah. Last thing I remember, I was about to get away, with Ged and the others. Then... zombie city! I wonder what happened. Alindyar: (standing groggily) Ged and the other two escaped, that is what happened. Hopefully they have arrived at some means of liberating us from this predicament. Mongo: With Peldor involved? Don't count on it. Rillen: Hope springs eternal... Mongo: What the hell was that spell, the one that vampire-thing used on us? I feel like I've been used as a punching bag for an ogre. Belphanior: Yeah, me too. Some kind of black mists that surrounded us...I've got to have that spell. Alindyar: No doubt 'twas some manner of teleportation magick. Perhaps with a predetermined destination for those ensnared by it. Arnold: And it also hurt! Belphanior: I've really got to have that spell. vampire lord: (strolls into the cell) What, do you mean the Black Mists of Sarnath? Nifty spell, that. I'm happy to say that I slew the inventor of that spell myself. A sharp mage, he was, but too over- confident in the end. Belphanior: (notices the high quality of the fellow's clothes) Boy, you're a well-dressed young vampire fop, aren't you? You ought to be wearing rags, 'cause you sure do stink like a graveyard. vampire: What do you expect, after sleeping in earth all day? You have a smart mouth, elf. Belphanior: Yup. Go fuck yourself. vampire: (slaps Belphanior, cracking his jaw and draining two levels instantly) Silence! Belphanior: (quiets down, and sags in his chains) Ughk. (spits out blood and teeth, and stares at the vampire in hatred) vampire lord: (paying no further attention to the elf) Mongo: Who the hell are you, anyway? vampire lord: No one to be trifled with. Rillen: Why did you not just kill us outright? Why are we here? What do you want? vampire lord: Well, it's like this. Powerful, mortal adventurers like yourselves make excellent vampiric servants. Flint: (sputtering) Servants?!? vampire lord: Minions, assassins, lieutenants, what have you. Flint: Oh. vampire lord: So, truly skilled, experienced, powerful adventurers are rare in these parts. Why, they're at a veritable premium! (turns and stares right at Mongo) And I simply _love_ converting would-be, has-been do- gooders like you into my minions. Mongo: (struggling with his chains) Take these damn things off and I'll break your fuckin' neck... vampire lord: Yes, I actually believe you would try. No matter. Alindyar: So you intend to transform us into undead like yourself. vampire lord: Basically, yes. Hmm, a drow mage. You for one should come in handy. Alindyar: I would not rely on that fact if I were you. vampire lord: Oh, come now. You know better than that. My power level is such that anyone who I make into an undead, un-mortal being is bound to obey my commands. Belphanior: (stands up, his jaw sagging) I gu- OUCH! (talks a little bit more slowly) I guarantee you that if I become one of your vampires, you will someday find my blade in your back. Or your neck. Or some strategic location like that. You will never control me. Never. vampire lord: Ah, the wills of you puny mortals often surprise even me. Fortunately, I have accumulated a variety of interests over the centuries...among them a flair for the fine art of torture. Belphanior: Torture? vampire lord: Yes. (looks around, at all of the six chained adventurers) You will be much more obedient slaves after I have broken you. (snaps his fingers, and a dozen ghouls slither into the cell) None of you should be much trouble, with these lackeys here to cart you away. Paralyzation touch, you know. Mongo: Grr... Igor: (lumbers into the cell) Massster! vampire lord: (irritated) What is it, Igor? Igor: I have newsss, massster! Come, come. (tries to get the lord to step aside and listen to him) vampire lord: Hold one moment, Igor. (to ghouls) Take...the dwarf. (points to Mongo) Take him to the torture chamber first. Mongo: What's this one-at-a-time crap?!? Where- (kicks at an approaching ghoul) Belphanior: Take me first! vampire lord: What's this? Belphanior: Come on, you stinking lord of corpses and rats! Take me first! You know that you can't break me! I dare you to try! You damned coward! vampire lord: Oh, very well. (taps a ghoul on the shoulder and points to the elf) Take the elf, not the dwarf. It really won't matter anyway, when all is said and done. ghouls: (swarm over Belphanior) Belphanior: You guys smell awful. Been eating the right kind of food lately? ghoul: (uses a key to unlock the padlock holding the elf's chains) Sssss... ghouls: (they hold the elf tightly as he is slipped from his bonds) Belphanior: Aaaarrrrr! (kicks one ghoul, punches a second, and makes a desperate lunge for the vampire despite the ghouls that still have a grip on him) Igor: (grabs the elf and twists his arm behind his back with incredible strength) Hee, hee, hee. You can't attack the masssster, fool! ghouls: (subdue Belphanior) vampire lord: I bet you're thinking, "Hey, he forgot that elves are immune to ghoul paralyzation!" or some such idea. Hm? Belphanior: Well, actually, the thought did spring into my mind. vampire lord: You see, even if you broke free of all the ghouls, even if you bypassed Igor here- Igor: (grins dumbly) vampire lord: -you would still be powerless to harm me. I am superior to you in strength, speed, and pure finesse. (suddenly grabs Belphanior by the neck) Belphanior: Ack! (begins choking as he loses two more levels) Ack! Igor: (dancing merrily) Get him, massster! Show him why you're the massster! vampire lord: (lifts the elf several feet above the floor, with one arm) Do you see? Mongo: Geez, he doesn't look that strong. vampire lord: DO YOU SEE? (hurls the elf to the floor disdainfully) Bah. Belphanior: (can't even stand up) ghouls: (take the elf and cart him away, as Igor and the vampire lord confer outside the cell's door) Mongo: When I get out of these chains, I'm gonna kick that guy's ass... Flint: Yeah, me too. Rillen: That "Igor" toad is making me mad. Alindyar: We are in dire need of a rescue. vampire lord: (struts back in, Igor prancing at his heels like a puppy) Ah! I have just received some most splendid news! Mongo: What's that, did one of your ghouls have a litter of rotten babies or something? vampire lord: Better! My minions in the nearby town of Ren have reported that three adventurers have just arrived from the wilderness. Now I wonder who in the world _they_ could be? Rillen: Keep on laughing, fang-face. You will never capture them without much bloodshed. vampire lord: Blood...hmm, time for dinner. (turns his attention back to the prisoners) No, actually, I'm not going to have anyone attack them. Not yet. I shall let them come to me, with the idea that you can be rescued. And then...ah...another drow mage, and an elven priest of Boccob! What prizes they shall be! Mongo: (looks at the vampire lord) Is this all just a game to you, or what? vampire lord: (rubs his chin, and ponders) Basically, yes. A game! Come, Igor! (departs, his cloaks swirling about his frame) I will see the rest of you shortly. It's going to be a long night! Igor: (runs along behind his master, making faces at the chained adventurers) Hee, hee. Rillen: If we get out of this, the one called Igor is mine. Belphanior was led through a dark passageway by the ghouls. His hands and feet were in manacles, and he caused metallic jingling sounds with every step. The undead took him around a corner, and through a door or two, then around another corner, finally entering a large room with a high, vaulted ceiling. The elf's hands were chained to a larger link of thick chain coming down from the darkened ceiling area, and thus he was shackled, his feet barely touching the stones of the floor. The ghouls left abruptly. Belphanior: Ugh. (looks up) Where are you stinking bastards going? Hey, come back here! ghouls: (gone) Belphanior: Shit. (looks around, noting with some interest the variety of knives and tongs and such implements, laid out neatly on a series of shelves) I don't like the looks of this place. vampire lord: (appears from nowhere) And well you shouldn't, my friend. Belphanior: I'm not your fucking friend. vampire lord: (picks up a long, toothpick-width metal spike) Of course not. Allow me to show you the reason why...(approaches the chained elf) Belphanior: (clenching his fists) Keep away from me. vampire lord: In fact, you may come to regret the multitude of reasons that I can come up with... meanwhile... Mongo: I wonder where they took Belphanior? Alindyar: 'Tis foul work being done this night. Rillen: Where- There was a loud, piercing scream from somewhere nearby. Mongo: Fuck. Flint: Sounds like Belphanior, all right. Mongo: Yeah. In total agony. Alindyar: (shivers) I wonder what is happening to him, to make him scream like that? Arnold: I am nod sure I want to find oud. Rillen: Someone will pay for this. Another scream split the night air, and then another. They continued, in fact, for quite some time, while the others could only fume in their chains. Eventually, there was a commotion in the hallway, and some ghouls came in, dragging Belphanior's bloody form behind them. The elf was re-chained in the cell, but just lay crumpled on the cold stone floor, unconscious. The ghouls began unshackling Rillen, who of course resisted but was quickly paralyzed. The pack bore the large warrior's unmoving form out of the cell, and shortly, all was silent once again. Arnold: Belphandior. Mongo: Damn, if not for these chains, I could help him. Alindyar: What have they done to him? Flint: Those look like puncture holes, see? There. And there. And there... Arnold: Aie. Mongo: Geez, there must be dozens. Though quite some time passed, no screams were heard from wherever the torture chamber was. Belphanior: (stirs) Aargh. Mongo: Hey. Hey! Are you okay? Belphanior: (rolls over and regards the others) Ugh... of course not. (breathes, and blood bubbles from his mouth and nose) Ow. Arnold: Whad did dhey do to you? Belphanior: Pain...the pain! Argh. Mongo: Was it bad? Belphanior: No, I liked it. (laughs painfully) Agh. Alindyar: This is no time to make jokes. (looks up) Alas, I fear that I may not survive such torture... Belphanior: agh...actually, I passed out...urgh. Mongo: I'm gonna break that fucker's neck when the ghouls open this chain... Belphanior: (slowly turns to face the dwarf) No... agh...forget it. No chance. Ooogh. Mongo: Quit moving around. Try to rest. Belphanior: (passes out again) About ten minutes later, Rillen was brought back. He seemed wide awake, though his wounds were at least as grievous as Belphanior's. The ghouls left without taking anyone else with them. Mongo: Hey, maybe it's break time or something. Alindyar: Friend Rillen, how fare you? Rillen: (resting in his chains, leaning on the wall) I am not well. The vampire tried to make me scream, but I refused. (holds up both hands) Even when he broke all of my fingers. Flint: Cripes. Arnold: Dhis is not good. Rillen: I think he was mad - he spoke of "going out for a bite" as I was being taken back here. Mongo: Hmph. Alindyar: With any luck, he has given up for the night. roach: (wandering around in one of the small pools of blood near Belphanior) Belphanior: (rolls over and smashes the thing with one fist) Damned bugs...argh...(passes out again) Mongo: It's gonna be a long night. Alindyar: Or couple of nights. next time : the rescue begins! ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : Sorry if this is a bit graphic...I'm setting a mood of despair. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1993 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + + + + Thomas Miller + + tmiller@cimmeria.gatech.edu + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + * Flint Firelips (guest) dwarven warrior + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/28/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: morning + + Place: Blackmoor, outside of the town of Ren + + Climate: cool and sunny + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + "There is always a way, if the desire be coupled with + + courage." + + Conan + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ XCVII. The Castle of Despair As most of the party lies imprisoned within a vampire lord's castle, it has fallen to Ged, Peldor, and Lyra to hatch a rescue plan. They have just departed the dubiously neutral town of Ren, and are riding northward. Ged: Hopefully we'll find some clues to lead us to the castle that the barkeep spoke of. Peldor: Maybe so. Lyra: What is that? (points to something on the ground nearby) The trio approached, and found a pile of mangled flesh and entrails. A few bones protruded from the stinking mass, and numerous flies and insects were attacking it with gusto. Ged: What indeed? Lyra: I have never seen so many flies. Peldor: (approaches) Hmm. (the flies and other bugs scatter, due to his ring's effects) Who or what could this have been? Ged: Looks like a giant, actually. Lyra: (notices that a trail of blood stains and guts leads away, to the north) Hmm. Look at this. Peldor: A trail of violence, no doubt. Ged: Those hungry undead... horses: (sniff the remnants in disdain) Neigh! Lyra: I guess we should follow this vile trail and see whither it may lead. Ged: It must be Boccob's will. (they begin following the trail) Lightbringer: (pipes up) It is my will too, that we send this foul vampire back to the hells! Follow the gore! And follow it they did, for hours on end. Strangely, no creatures, living or otherwise, were encountered in the course of the journey. A short break was taken at midday, for lunch and rest. As Peldor fed the horses, Ged and Lyra tried to use magic to divine the location of their companions...without success. Travel resumed shortly, and it seemed that they rode forever. Then, without warning, a dark shape appeared on the horizon. Peldor: (squinting) Looks like a castle to me. Ged: No doubt the evil lair of the evil vampire. Lyra: What shall we do with the mounts? Peldor: Hmm, that grove of high bushes looks like an ideal place to store them. Ged: Don't tie them to anything. That way, if any undead show up, the horses will have a chance to run away. Lyra: Good idea. Peldor: Then, we can cover the remaining mile or so on foot. I'll scout it out, you get the horses taken care of. (concentrates, and uses his magical feathers to become invisible) Bye now! (wanders in the direction of the fortress) Lyra: Tread with caution. Ged: Him? Not a chance. Ged and Lyra rested while securing the mounts, and after half an hour or so, the thief returned. Peldor: (suddenly appears) Boo! Ged: What is it? Peldor: The castle is formidable. Set on high ground, with only a single large gate for entrance and exit. Fortunately, I have a plan. Lyra: You? A plan? Ged: What is it? Peldor: If you two can become invisible, by spells... Lyra: Of course. Go on. Peldor: ...then I, too, can become invisible. Then I shall climb the stone wall at the rear of the castle and lower my rope of climbing for you. Then we will be inside! Ged: What about guards? Are there no guards on the walls, to repel intruders such as we will be? Peldor: Nope. There are big spikes, but you could avoid those by being careful. The only guards I saw were on the front wall, near the gate. I think they were ghouls. Lightbringer: Death to all undead! Ged: Shh. You will have to be quiet while we sneak into the castle. Understand? Lightbringer: Of course I understand. Lyra: Let us go, then. The two magi cast spells of invisibility upon their persons, and Peldor used his feathers again. The three invisible adventurers then headed for the castle. Soon they were at the base of its rear wall... Peldor: (begins climbing invisibly) Ged: (looks around for guards) Lyra: (fidgets) ... Peldor: (reaches the top, and confirms that there are no guards up here) So. (gets his rope of climbing out and commands it to knot itself every five feet, then lowers it down for the others) Go. Lyra: (begins climbing) Ged: (watches for guards) Soon, all three were atop the parapet. Peldor pulled his rope up, and coiled it once more within his pack. Then, all seemed lost, as a ghoul wandered out of the door of an adjoining tower, and headed towards the trio of invisible intruders, sniffing the air suspiciously. Ged: (senses his morningstar about to say something loud, and taps it with his fist) Lightbringer: (quieted for the moment) Peldor: (stalks the ghoul, invisibly and silently) ghoul: (sniffs the air) Peldor: (attacks the ghoul from behind, severing its head with a mighty blow) ghoul: (falls, trying but failing to shriek) Peldor: (becomes visible, and drags the undead's body into a darkened crevice) Ugh. (kicks its head into the air, and catches it) Ged: (he and Lyra join Peldor, whispering) Good move, there. Let's get into that tower. Peldor: (examines the ghoul's head, then uses his hat of disguise to alter his complexion, hair, eyes, and teeth) Grr. Lyra: Aie. You make a decent ghoul, thief. Ged: Yea. Peldor: Anyone got a mirror? (kicks the ghoul head into the niche where its body now lies) They entered the guard tower, of which this was the highest level, and descended slowly and quietly. As they assumed that their companions were being held in a dungeon of some sort, their idea was to go as far down as possible, and then begin searching. After a descent of three floors, they bottomed out, and then cautiously entered a pitch-black corridor. Lyra: Seeing as how this castle is probably populated exclusively by undead, there really wouldn't be any need for light. Ged: Fortunately, you and I have infravision. But, what of Peldor? Peldor: Worry not. I have it covered. Lyra: How is that? Peldor: I can see fine. Let's go. Ged: (wondering how Peldor can see in the dark) All right. (they move down the corridor) How...? Bah. Turning left, they saw that the passage ended in a door, and was guarded by a zombie. Peldor, still in disguise as a ghoul, strolled up to the zombie. zombie: Dhuuur? (glances at Peldor) Peldor: Oooga nooga glub. (points to the ceiling) zombie: (looks at the ceiling) Peldor: (backstabs the zombie, slaying it) Idiot. (goes to work on the door's lock, and soon has it picked) Behind the door was a set of stone steps, leading downward into the darkness. They descended slowly, and emerged into a larger, rectangular chamber - one manned (?) by four ghouls, who immediately smelled the three intruders. Peldor: (uses his feathers to haste himself) ghouls: Hssss! (begin loping in the direction of the trio) Peldor: (immediately brandishes his glowing green torch to the undead, lighting the room with a dramatic green hue; the thief becomes visible) Ged: (reacts quickly, and casts Silence, 15' Radius on one of the ghouls; the elf becomes visible) ghouls: (make faces as they hiss silently) Lyra: (still invisible, casts Shocking Grasp and moves toward one of the ghouls) Peldor: (draws his sword) Lyra: (taps a ghoul, sizzling it heavily; she then becomes visible) ghoul: (cringes in pain) Peldor: Phew! What a stench! (slashes a ghoul, wounding it) ghoul: (gropes at Lyra, but misses) ghoul: (gropes at Peldor, but misses) ghoul: (gropes at Ged, hits, but scores only minor cuts) Ged: Argh. (reaches for his weapon) ghoul: (misses Ged) Peldor: (slashes the same ghoul he hit already, wounding it further) Ged: (brandishes Lightbringer) Back, foul ones! (enters the zone of silence, and is silenced) Lightbringer: (also silenced) Ged: (bashes a ghoul with the holy morningstar, dissolving it with a flash of light) Lyra: (casts Magic Missile, blasting the ghoul she had earlier shocked) ghoul: (falls, dead) Peldor: (slashes the ghoul he already hit twice, slaying it) last ghoul: (looks around and grimaces) Peldor: (stalks the last ghoul) Ged: (stalks the last ghoul too) The final ghoul was quickly slain, and the trio rested. Ged cleaned and bandaged his wounds while Peldor looked for doors. There was indeed an exit, which had a locked door; it occupied the thief for a brief time before he had it opened. A corridor led away to another large room some fifty feet distant. Shortly, everyone was ready to move. After a short march, the three adventurers were inside the next chamber. This place was cylindrical, being some fifty feet in diameter and at least that much in height. There was one exit, a passage on the end opposite to the trio's current location. The door into this passage stood ajar. Ged: A strange shape for a room. Lyra: Yes. Peldor: What's that? (points to a shadowy figure who just appeared in the far tunnel) Igor: Hee, hee, hee. The massster has spoken! Death for you! (pulls a lever on the wall, and a clear dome of plastic-like material drops over this room, sealing the three from both entrance and exit passages) Ged: (bashes the dome with Lightbringer, but nothing happens) What the hell? Lyra: (examines the barrier) Glasteel! I am sure of it! Igor: (watching ghouls gather around him) Now where did the massster put that lever for the gasss? (looks on the wall) Could that be it? (begins scampering) Peldor: Shit. next time : the rescue continues! ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : Baseball season gets going soon...yet another thing to put this author in a good mood... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1993 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + + + + Thomas Miller + + tmiller@cimmeria.gatech.edu + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + * Flint Firelips (guest) dwarven warrior + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/28/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: shortly after dusk + + Place: the fortress of the vampire lord + + Climate: chilly + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + "Getting caught is the mother of invention." + + Robert Byrne + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ XCVIII. Good Invaders, Bad Place As most of the party lies imprisoned within a vampire lord's castle, the trio of Ged, Peldor, and Lyra have found the place and snuck in, searching for their lost companions. However, they just entered a trap, a glasteel dome that was lowered over the room they stood in, trapping them. Igor: (prancing around) Where's the lever to make the gasss come? Where did massster put it? (finds a second lever in the wall, jumps up to grab it, but misses, as he is too short) Ged: Someone do something! Peldor: I'm on it. (uses his ring to pull the lever that Igor pulled, raising the dome) Ha! Ged: Attack, by Boccob! (charges toward Igor) Igor: No! no! (jumps up and down in anger) No fair! You weren't supposed to esssscape! (points at the trio and looks at his ghouls) Get them! ghouls: (begin loping toward the three adventurers) Ged: (brandishes his holy symbol of Boccob) By the power vested in me, I turn you back. BACK, foul slime! ghouls: (cower, and the closest nine of them dissolve instantly) Aie! Arrgh! Sss! Ged: Let that be a lesson of Boccob's holy power! other ghouls: (about eight of them) Sss! (advance in the direction of the priest) Igor: (makes another grab at the lever, but hits his face against the wall and bounces back) Ugh! Damn! Peldor: (uses his ring to telekinetically trip the hunchback) Whoops. Igor: (falls and hits his head) Ow! Lyra: (casts Web upon the approaching ghouls, catching most of them) Hah. Ged: (casts Burning Hands upon the webbed ghouls, and ignites them all) Ah, what I wouldn't give for my trusty old fire wand to be charged up... ghouls: (burn, producing a horrible stench) Raaaargh! Igor: Aiee! Too much! (flees in cowardice) zombies: (entering as Igor exits) Ehr? Igor: (points to Ged and company) Get them! zombies: (shamble toward the elf) Rrrrhk. Igor: (runs out of the room) Ged: (casts Conjure Elemental) By Boccob, I'll show you not to mess with me! zombies: (advance mindlessly) fire elemental: (appears amidst the burning, webbed mess of ghoul bodies, and looks around) ...? Ged: (points at the zombies) Clear us a path through those things, pronto! fire elemental: (obeys, mowing through the zombies and igniting every one it touches) ...! Peldor: (tk's a fleeing zombie back into the burning webs) Nope. The trio followed the elemental's swath of fiery doom, and entered the corridor by which Igor fled. Ged: (to elemental) Stay. (casts Wizard Lock upon the door, sealing it) That should delay pursuers. Lyra: We've alerted the local undead for sure now. Peldor: Yeah. We'd better get our rescue in motion, pronto, while we still can. Ged: Yea. (to elemental) Advence before us. Fry any- thing that challenges you. fire elemental: (obeys, moving down the corridor) Ged: (he and the other two follow in the elemental's stead) The group descended another set of steps, and were then faced with a choice: three side passages branched away from their current location. Ged: Hmm. Peldor: Which way to go? Lyra: Perhaps a spell? Ged: Exactly what I was thinking of. (casts Locate Object) Fortunately, I studied Arnold's sword for a time, before he came along and I gave it to him. So... (concentrates) Aha. AHA! (points to one passage) That is the way we must go. Peldor: For their items, anyway. Ged: Yea. They prepared to embark down that passage, when, suddenly, fell cries were heard. All three passages swarmed with undead - ghouls, zombies, skeletons, and other sorts as well. Peldor: Shit! Attacked on three fronts! Ged: Boccob! (to fire elemental; points to the middle passage) Go forth and incinerate, great one. fire elemental: (obeys, and heads down that passage) Lyra: Perhaps we have the time...(begins spellcasting) Ged: (likewise) Peldor: (still hasted from before, whips out his wand of darkness and points it down one passage, shrouding it, and its undead, in inky darkness) Hah! Observe the magical might of Peldor, sufficient to usurp any of the so-called magi! Lyra: Shut up, you. Ged: (casts a Lightning Bolt into one passage) Burn, foul undead! Lyra: (casts...Lightning Bolt, into the opposite passage) Good choice. Peldor: (goes invisible) Both of the lightning bolts flew down their target passages, burning to death any undead who were in the way. The elemental took the third passage, clearing undead away slowly but effectively. Peldor: (invisible, dodges a ghoul and dashes down the passage that Ged indicated earlier) Ged: Ghoul? (swats at the ghoul with his weapon) Lyra: Where did that thing come from? Ged: It must have slipped by the elemental... ghoul: (claws Ged, inflicting minor damage) Sss! Ged: (backs up, and brandishes Lightbringer again) Lightbringer: Prepare to be destroyed, foul undead! ghoul: (blinks) Ged: (bashes the thing with the holy weapon, scoring a mighty hit) For Boccob! Lightbringer: DIE! ghoul: (disintegrates) Aaaaiiieee.... Lyra: (looks around) You might want to recall yonder elemental. The passage is almost cleared. Ged: Yea. (calls to the fire elemental) Come back! fire elemental: (turns, tossing a blazing zombie husk aside, and begins to head back toward its summoner) Lyra: Say, where's Peldor? Ged: That idiot! He must have gone off on his own. Lyra: Wonderful. (looks down the two blackened, lightning-blasted passages) Which was the one that you detected your henchman's sword in? Ged: This one. (points to the left passage) Come on! (they run into that passage) Whoa. (to the fire elemental) Follow us! fire elemental: (obeys, keeping up with the pair, at a distance of about thirty feet) meanwhile, somewhere below... Rillen: (in his chains, perks up as a distant sound, rather like that of an explosion, is heard and felt) Mongo: What was THAT?!? Belphanior: (rolls over, as another explosion goes off) Wha...? Arnold: Baddle is happenink somewhere. Flint: And we can't join in! Arr! Rillen: If there was ever a time to escape, now is that time. (grips his chains and slowly begins to pull them, concentrating and mustering energy) Mongo: (yanks his chains, trying to pull them out of the wall too, but to no effect) Grr... somewhere, perhaps nearby... Peldor: (disguised as a ghoul, comes upon a ghoulish- type thing in front of a thick metal door; this is the only door he has encountered along this corridor, though he has passed several side passages, some of them filled with undead, which he evaded) thing: (turns, sniffing the air) Sss? Peldor: (without hesitation, backstabs the thing in a mighty slash) Hai! wight: (wounded greviously, turns to face the thief) Weeeeeeiiii... Peldor: (becomes visible) Shit. (prepares for melee) wight: (charges) Waaaaaa! Peldor: (deftly dodges, and hacks wildly, scoring a hit right in the thing's head) Hah! Take that! wight: (falls, dead) Glurk... Peldor: (examines the door) What's this? No keyhole? (sheathes his sword and begins examining the door carefully) A thick door...hmm, this could take a while. Which I don't have... meanwhile, somewhere above... Ged: Look! Ghouls! (points ahead) ghouls: (six of them, blocking the passage) Ssss! Lightbringer: Kill them! Ged: (raises his holy symbol) Back, abominations! ghouls: Aieeeeee! (all of them disintegrate, turned by the priest's mighty power) Ged: So much for them. (they continue, the elemental having caught up by now) Lightbringer: I sense more undead nearby... Lyra: Beware! (points ahead, to three mummies in the passage) mummies: Rrrrr! Ged: (not even pausing, raises his holy symbol again) Away with you, bandaged servants of evil! Away! mummies: (all are turned, and flee, heading back the way they came) Ged: Heh. Lyra: Look, they went down a side passage... Ged: Nope! My location spell points straight ahead! It is there that we must go; the side passages are nothing. (they continue) Lightbringer: Ahead lies a- spectre: (appears) Prepare to die, elves! Ged: (raises Lightbringer) I think not. spectre: (backs up slightly as the morningstar begins to glow brightly, then sails toward Ged) Woooooooo! Lightbringer: What are you waiting for? Smash that undead! Ged: Yea! Boccob! (smashes the spectre with the holy weapon) Lightbringer: (shrieks in victory, and lights up with bright sun-rays) Yes! spectre: (disintegrating) AaaaaaaiiiiiEEEEEEE...... Lyra: Excellent. Ged: Yep, I agree. I wonder how Peldor made it by all these things, anyway? Lightbringer: Who can know the ways of fools? Lyra: Actually, he was either invisible, or disguised as a ghoul. Or both. Perhaps he has updated his disguise, to match the appearance of these latest, more powerful undead. Ged: Or perhaps it was just blind fool's luck. Let's get moving again. fire elemental: (beginning to feel useless, follows the two elves) meanwhile, somewhere below... Peldor: (having found that an illusion masked the key- hole of this door, he is hard at work picking the lock) Aha! (he detects, and disarms, a deadly gas trap, and then gets the door open after another minute) Eh? Wha- HOLY SHIT! next time : the rescue climaxes! ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : 2nd Edition maces of disruption don't turn the undead as 13th level clerics, they _disintegrate_ them with success rates equal to those of 11th level clerical turning. Technically. That was my ruling - Lightbringer is a powerful weapon, as you will soon see. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1993 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + + + + Thomas Miller + + tmiller@cimmeria.gatech.edu + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + * Flint Firelips (guest) dwarven warrior + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/28/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: well into the night + + Place: the fortress of the vampire lord + + Climate: cold, especially in the light of the full moon...+ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + "Shut up! I'm mad enough to bust something and it + + might be you! Now I've got questions and I expect + + answers." + + Colton + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ XCIX. A Reunion, of Sorts As most of the party lies imprisoned within a vampire lord's castle, the trio of Ged, Peldor, and Lyra have found the place and snuck in, searching for their lost companions. Various battles have occurred, Peldor has split up from the other two, Ged has summoned a fire elemental to help, and those imprisoned have began trying to figure out what they can do to help cause trouble for their captors. Peldor: (having finally opened a particularly difficult door) HOLY SHIT! (gazes in wonder at several piles of magical and other items, all belonging to the party members who were captured) Hey, this stuff looks awfully familiar. (examines the items) Everything's here, too. Hmm. Now how in the hell can I cart all this stuff away? Ah, maybe I should get only the good stuff... meanwhile, somewhere nearby... Mongo: (watches Rillen strain at his chains without moving, as he has been for over ten minutes now) Ah, forget it. If you can't break 'em, you can't break 'em. Rillen: Nothing is impossible. (veins stand out on his arms and neck, from the effort, mainly because of his broken fingers and the resultant pain) It is simply a metter of focusing (ARGH!) the pain. Flint: (struggles at his own chains) These are some damned thick chains, you know. Arnold: Damb thick chains. Rillen: AaaaaaaAAAAARGH!!! (rips his chain out of its grommet in the stone wall, spraying mortar over those chained closest to him) I knew I could do it. Mongo: Hey! You did it! Rillen: Of course. Mongo: But you were all fucked up, wounded and all... Rillen: Mind over matter. With an iron will, there is little which cannot be done. Mongo: I guess so. Rillen: I know so. (walks over to Mongo, dragging a hefty length of chain with him, since it is still manacled around his wrists) Now, you pull, with my help, and we shall break this one too. But pull hard - most of my strength was used in that last effort. (flexes his hands and arms painfully) Mongo: Yeah! And then both of us can help Arnold with his, and so on...Yeah! (they go to work) Alindyar: A domino effect. Make haste. Belphanior: (stirs) meanwhile, somewhere above... Ged: (he, Lyra, and the elemental come upon two dead ghouls) I sense the hand of Peldor in this... Lyra: Indeed. (they continue, homing in on Ged's Locate Object signal) Ged: Hey! By Boccob! It's moving! The item, that is. fire elemental: (looks around) Lyra: What is this ahead? (they find a dead wight, in front of an open door) Ged: (enters a small room) Shelves, upon shelves. I wonder what it means? Has Peldor been here? Why was he looting the vampire's treasures? Lyra: Who can know? Lightbringer: I sense undead coming, from the way we just came. We must fight them! Ged: No, we must follow Peldor's trail. There will be plenty of time to fight undead soon. (they continue down the corridor) fire elemental: (inadvertently steps on the wight's corpse, igniting it with a blaze) meanwhile, somewhere below... Rillen: (having freed Mongo, moves toward Arnold) We could be out of here soon. ghouls: (the guards outside the barred door, they see what is happening and freak out) Sssss! (they open the cell door and charge toward Rillen and Mongo) Arnold: Look oud! Mongo: (whirls, and dodges one ghoul's attack) Hey! Rillen: (whips his chains around, and snares the other undead guard, encircling its skinny neck with the thick length of chain) Ungh. (grunts as he pulls the iron chain tight) Good thing this chain is on my wrists and not in my hands. (veins spring up all over the warrior's huge arms) ghoul: Ghaaaak! (tries to get the chain off of its neck, as its eyes bulge out) Mongo: (swings his chain at the first ghoul) Get the hell out of my way, or I'll bust you good! ghoul: (charges) Flint: (still chained, but kicks out, knocking the thing from its feet) Mongo: (pummels the ghoul with all of his strength) Rillen: (pulls his length of chain with a final, mighty effort, and grunts as the ghoul's head pops off of its body) Whew! What a pain in the neck _that_ must have been. Mongo: (mercilessly pounding the other ghoul, soon kills it) Fucker. Rillen: (moves to break Arnold free) Arnold: Don't worry aboud your hurd fingers, just give me a liddle helb, and I'll break these. Mongo: (moves to break Flint free) meanwhile, somewhere above... Ged: (they have just stumbled upon a dead zombie at the top of some stairs) At least Peldor left us a trail for us to follow. Lyra: Indeed he did. (they descend the stairs) meanwhile, somewhere close by... Peldor: (rounds a corner, and bumps into Rillen) Wha- Hey! It's you! Nice loincloth. Rillen: (regards the thief grimly) Mongo: (emerges from the dark cell) Not just him. We all made it. And we're ready to kick some ass. Arnold: (emerges, carrying Belphanior) Yah. Belphanior: (whispering) where's my sword? Peldor: What the hell happened to you guys? (looks at the prone Belphanior) What the hell happened to HIM? Mongo: This is a really bad time to ask questions. If you weren't here to help, I'd probably bust you one. Peldor: Oh. (cheerfully) Well, since there's no doubt a large mob of undead on the way here right at this very moment- Mongo: Who? Flint: (he and Alindyar come out too) Hey there, you thief. Come to rescue us? Peldor: Of course. Here, I've got something you all might be interested in...(unfolds a piece of black cloth) Mongo: My portable hole! (dives in) YEAH! Ged: (tears around the corner) What? Mongo: Ged! Ged: Mongo! Lyra: (dashes around the corner) Alindyar! Alindyar: Lyra! (they embrace) Flint: The gang's all here. fire elemental: (comes around the corner, confused) Rillen: (snaps into a defensive posture) On guard! Ged: No, no, no. He's with us. (to the elemental) Guard that passage. fire elemental: (obeys, standing there, blocking the passage) Mongo: (begins throwing weapons out of the portable hole, while Peldor jumps in and starts handing the other items up to eager hands) Come and get it! Ged: Boccob, but we need a plan. I must heal those who need it. Peldor! Where are you? Peldor: (sticks his head up from the hole) What? Ged: Get up here, and start ringing that healing bell you have. I've got serious work to do. (prepares to cast healing spells) Peldor: (moves to comply) Sure. Thank me later for getting all the items back. Arnold: (cheerfully) Thanks. Belphanior: (in a daze, awaits healing) Rillen: (also awaits healing) My fingers...argh. Ged: All in due time, my friend. Hold still. Alindyar: (finds his spellbook, and begins speedreading) Gods be damned. fire elemental: (looks for intruders, while scorching the ceiling) Lightbringer: (to Ged) Attention! Ged: What? What? Can't you see that I'm busy? Lightbringer: I sense a large group of undead, above and to the left, approaching fast. Ged: Boccob! Lyra: We don't have much time...(dashes past the fire elemental while thinking about spells she can cast to delay the coming foes and buy the party some more time) meanwhile, somewhere further above... vampire lord: (striding through a hall briskly) The gods be DAMNED, Igor! Igor: Pleassse don't kill me, massster! (bows and dodges) It wasn't my fault! vampire lord: (stops at a barracks) You! And you! Come with me! vampiric mage: (hastens to obey) vampiric warrior: (follows silently, bringing a sword) vampire lord: Also you! Both of you! hairy savage-types: (two; they follow the retinue as the vampire lord descends a grand stairway) Igor: (bumped aside by one of the savages) Wha- oof! spectre: (also in this group, floats along at the end of the group) Life energy...life energy! (looks at Igor) Igor: Aie! (runs after his master) Don't let them get me, massster! I've always been a faithful goon! Give me another chance! Please, massster, please! vampire lord: You shall have a chance, Igor. All you have to do is fight the prisoners, when we reach the cell block. Do you think you can perform this one simple task? Igor: Yes, massster! Oh, yesssss! vampire lord: Good. (gestures to some shadows within a chamber as he passes, and they float out and join the force) When I find those mortal fools...they shall suffer a thousand torments! I will flay them alive and then roll them in salt! They shall DIE!!! next time : battle supreme! ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : Ah, it's all coming to a head here. And the Braves are 5 and 2 already as I write this. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1993 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + + + + Thomas Miller + + tmiller@cimmeria.gatech.edu + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + * Flint Firelips (guest) dwarven warrior + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 7/28/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: late in the night + + Place: the fortress of the vampire lord + + Climate: cold, especially in the light of the full moon...+ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + "I have not yet begun to fight." + + "Well, hurry up then, we're losing!" + + - variously attributed + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ C. Victory! The party has finally reunited, albeit in the deep, dark dungeons of the vampire lord. While the healers work on the wounded, others are building a defense - for the fell one, and his retinue of undead and others, approaches fast from the fortress above. (to stairs up) | | ________ | | | | | |________________| main |__ | / cell to more |___________________\ block __ cells | | |__ ___| | |__ | | party members' cell ---> |____| (all ceilings are 30' and vaulted) Flint: (in the main cell block, hands Mongo his helm) Mongo: (armored and armed, with Flint's help) Ah! I'm ready to go! (guzzles a swig of extra-healing potion from his jug) Now let's get your armor on. Flint: Yeah! (they begin doing that, speeding up a normally slow process by working together) Good thing that the thief brought all our stuff! Mongo: Yeah! Ged: (in the main cell block, healing Rillen) Ah, those broken fingers healed well. Lucky for you that you have a strong physical constitution. Peldor: (ringing his magical bell, to assist in the whole healing process) Bah. I'm bored. Rillen: You will not be bored for long, since the vampire and his lackeys are coming to destroy us. (puts on his bracers) Ged: Yea. And I get the feeling that this time, they won't be taking prisoners... Arnold: (putting his own armor on) No one to helb me... Alindyar: (furiously flipping pages in his spellbook) I was certain that I put those drow spells in this tome, somewhere. Lyra: (in the main corridor, passes Ged's fire elemental at its commanded post near the corner) fire elemental: (ponders the drow) Lyra: (moves up the passage a bit, and begins spellcasting) Belphanior: (already healed somewhat by Ged, straps his bracers on and begins spellcasting) Dammit. I need to find something to kill, so I can regain some of my lost strength. (casts Stoneskin on himself) Hey. (grabs in his backpack for his potions) Mongo: (already feeling great, thanks to his ring of regeneration and the magical liquid he just drank) I'm ready to take on those undead! Flint: (retrieves and drinks a potion of healing, from his pack) Hey, where's my chainmail leggings? Mongo: Here. (hands over the piece of armor) I'll say this for Peldor: he may have mixed all of the stuff together in one heap, but at least he got it for us! Ged: (casts his last healing spell) That's it. I'm all out of curative magic. Rillen: No matter. I am much better now. (flexes his fingers) Ahhh. Much better. Peldor: Blah. (puts away his bell and begins scouting the other cells to the east) I'll see if there's anyone or anything in these other cells. Ged: You do that. Lightbringer: (shrieks) Undead! Close at hand! Closer every moment! Rillen: I recall that Lyra was going to do something to slow them down... Arnold: (gets his plate mail on, with Mongo and Flint's help) Aaaa. Alindyar: (still reading, backs up to a position better shielded from the main cell block doorway - namely, the small cell that the six party members were held in) Lyra: (at the foot of the stairs up, hears noises coming closer) Damn. (casts a Wall of Ice, totally blocking the passage) That won't hold them for long. (backs up a bit, and casts a Web across the tunnel) Then again, neither will that. (retrieves a large flask of grey powder from her pack, and hurls it upward against the ceiling, where it shatters and sends dust all over the passage's floor, covering the web) Still...(backs up again, around the corner and the elemental, and casts Shield upon herself, then rejoins the main group) Ged: What news? Lyra: They are atop the stairway, yonder. I have cast a few spells to delay them, but we had better be ready. Belphanior: (drinks a potion of super-heroism) I _am_ ready. Bring 'em on! (slices the air wildly) Rillen: (drinks a potion of stone giant strength) And I as well. Arnold: (looks at his potion of water breathing uselessly) Aaaa. Ged: I have more magic for us all. (casts Haste upon the whole party) Ah, I am just powerful enough to get all nine of us. Alindyar: (barely notices) Belphanior: (grabs his staff of power and heads for the corner, where the fire elemental waits) Fuck spells. I have everything I need here. (pats his sword) And here as well. Peldor: (returns from the other cells) There's nothing in those holes, except long-dead prisoners. No allies, no foes, no treasure, nothing. Including no exits. We won't be escaping out the backdoor this time. (drinks his potion of flying) What's up, anyway? Rillen: The evil ones approach. (gets his bow out, and heads for Belphanior's location) Peldor: Oh. (goes invisible) Alindyar: (in some kind of meditative trance) Flint: What's _his_ problem? Ged: He has very little magical energy left, and must concentrate to be able to use it well. Flint: I never did trust mages. (pats his axe) Ged: Oh? (prepares a priestly spell) Rillen: I hope we are ready. (holds his bow steady) Belphanior and Rillen stood ready at the corner, the fire elemental towering above, but behind, them. Lyra's wall of ice stood firm, though much ruckus could now be heard from beyond it. Suddenly, the thing shattered, spraying the passage with shards. The vampire lord, and numerous others, marched through the frozen rubble. vampire lord: (to the ghouls heading the troop) Go and get them! ghouls: (charge, only to run across the concealed web) Ssss! Aie! (about a dozen of them get stuck) vampire lord: Fools! Belphanior: (uses his staff to fire a Lightning Bolt down the passage) Banzai! Rillen: Whoa...(he and the elf duck back around the corner) There was a tremendous CRACK! as the magical bolt tore into the undead forces. Those stuck in the web had nowhere to run, and were incinerated. Some of the other evil attackers perished too - here a mummy blazed into incandescence, there a wight was burnt in half. A misty smoke arose...and those foes who had survived advanced. vampire lord: Fool! I have taken steps to protect myself from such attacks! (casts a spell, and a thin, green ray lances forth) Die! Belphanior: Yie! (dodges swiftly, and the beam goes over his shoulder and into the wall, disintegrating a chunk of the stone) Holy shit! This guy's MAD! Rillen: Of course. (being hasted, and wielding a bow of doubling, he fires eight arrows in the space of as many seconds) ghoul: (feathered by three arrows, dies) zombie: (hit by three arrows, also dies) hairy savage: (ignores an arrow that lodges in his arm) Belphanior: Nice shooting. We'd better get back... (he and Rillen are hit by some magic missiles) Agh! Rillen: So they have another wizard among their ranks. (they back up, leaving the elemental to fight the oncoming group) fire elemental: (strides out into the passage, and grabs a mummy) Fwoooosh! mummy: GrlkaaaaAAAAAAAA! (instantly bursts into flame and begins running around) AAaaaGGGG! ghoul: (not fast enough to dodge its burning ally, gets involved in a fiery bearhug) SsssssaaAIE! vampire lord: Move on! Avoid the wounded! Kill the prisoners! Storm the cell block! other undead: (avoid the burning ones as best as they can, and move on, grunting) vampire lord: (casts an Ice Storm, centered right over the fire elemental) That should cool it down. And my troops are largely immune to cold! What a genius I am! (floats onward) fire elemental: (quelled by the powerful magic, ceases to exist on this plane) Belphanior: (he and Rillen run through the cell block doors) Shit! They got the elemental! Ged: Damn! Mongo: (he, and Rillen, and Belphanior, and Arnold, stand ready to block the doorway from any physical assault, while Ged and Lyra back them up) Where are they? I don't see anyone! Belphanior: Look! A thick, green fog materialized in the passage, and began oozing into the cell block. Arnold: Looks familiar. Mongo: Argh! It's burning me! Belphanior: Me too! Aie! Lyra: Death fog! Quickly, fire! Ged: By Boccob, this must be fate. I had the right spell ready...(casts his Flame Strike upon the now obscured corner of the passage) Burn in Boccob's holy flames, evil ones! There was a nearby scream as some foe was roasted by the mighty spell, and the fog began to dissipate, sucked into the flames with unnatural force. Ged: Boccob strikes! Your evil mist is no more, foul undead vermin! Mongo: All right! Good shot, elf! Ged: Thanks. Hey, look. zombies: (about eight of them, they plod toward the party) vampire lord: How fabulous! Since the elf was so busy casting his relatively useless spell, he is not even prepared to turn my zombies! What strategy! What cunning! Mongo: Here come some uglies...(hurls his hammer, and splatters a zombie's head into pulp) Ah. (catches his weapon) Nice to know I haven't lost my touch. Rillen: Yes, it is. (again fires eight arrows, due to his hasting, his powerful bow, and his skill, and few of the arrows go astray) zombie: (hit in each eye socket by an arrow, falls to the floor, dead) Org. zombie: (trips over the fallen one, an arrow in its shoulder) Ggg. zombie: (four arrows in its chest, dies) Agg. Mongo: Nice shooting! (hurls his hammer again, and pulverizes another zombie) Arnold: (notices a zombie getting too close, and strikes out, cutting it in half) I, Ah-nold, have done it again! Aaaa. Flint: (hurls a hand axe at the zombie wounded by only one arrow, and splits its head open, slaying it for good) Yeah! Mongo: Way to go! Belphanior: (slices the last zombie twice, downing it) I need something _living_ to fight! vampire lord: Aaaargh! How could they! What shall I send them next? Ah! (points at three hairy savage- types) You, go and get them! Break up their defense at the doorway! (begins spellcasting) Meanwhile, I shall provide spell support... vampiric mage: (also begins spellcasting) vampiric warrior: (floats into the air as mist, and heads for the cell block) hairy savages: (as they charge the party's warriors, they change into bipedal, furry forms - werewolves!) Snarl! Growl! Howwwwwwl! (they rip into the party with ferocious speed and power) Mongo: Fuck! (bashes a werewolf as it bowls him over) Belphanior: At last! A living opponent! (slashes a werewolf as it claws at him) Come and get it! werewolf: (sort of surprised that the elf seems glad to face him) Snarl? Rillen: (encumbered by his bow and arrows, can't make a counterattack, but uses the large bow to guide the werewolf over his head, flipping it to the ground behind him) Sai! Arnold: Hello, wolf-think! (slices a huge chunk of meat out of the werewolf's side) werewolf: Magical weapons! Aaaaargh! (leaps to its feet and rakes Arnold with its claws) Growl! Arnold: Urgh! (backs up, blood flowing from gashes in his shoulder) Aaa. Flint Firelips: (hacks Mongo's opponent twice) Die! werewolf: Yaaaargh! (turns to face Flint) Mongo: (rises, bloody) I'm not done with you yet! (smacks the thing in the head so hard that its neck breaks) Fucker! werewolf: (falls to the ground, its head lolling) Flint: (chops the body again, for good measure) Arnold: (slashes his foe again, and then again, due to his hasted state) werewolf: (dies, cut in three pieces) Arnold: (kicks one piece out into the hallway) Hah! There is your monster, vambire! werewolf: (squares off against Belphanior) Snarl! Belphanior: (snarls also, and then slashes the thing two times, gutting it on the second attack) Yes! YES! (gains several levels of life energy back, replenishing that depleted recently by the vampire) Ha ha ha! (waves his sword around) Who's next? gas: (unnoticed, begins clouding behind Alindyar) vampiric mage: (casts Summon Shadow, and four of the undead appear near Rillen and Arnold) Rillen: (pulls his horn from his pack) Lyra: (casts Magic Missile, blasting a ghoul into pulp right before it can claw at Belphanior, whose back is turned at the moment) ghoul: <blurp> Belphanior: Huh? (whirls around) Ugh. vampire lord: (casts a Symbol, which appears in the air over the party) Ha! Lyra: (instantly falls to the ground) Arnold: (likewise) Flint: (likewise) Mongo: Shit! (battle forgotten for the moment, he runs to Flint) What the hell? Ged: (examines Lyra) They're just sleeping. But we cannot awaken them for a time - they cannot help us any longer, in this battle. Lightbringer: (glowing fiercely) Slay undead! Rillen: (quickly drags Arnold's body to the side) It would not be good to leave these ones amidst the battle. Mongo: (does likewise for Flint) Nope. Ged: (does likewise for Lyra) vampiric warrior: (materizes from his gaseous form, behind Alindyar, who is still apparently in trance) Ssssss. (prepares to attack the unwary drow mage) Peldor: (backstabs the vampire with all his might, and becomes visible) Hai! vampiric warrior: (the thief's sword sticking from his belly, he whirls about) Aaargh! Rogue! Look into my eyes! (staggers a bit; after all, his spine _did_ just get nearly severed) Peldor: (resisting the charm attempt) vampiric warrior: Cease and desist. (pulls the sword from his body and drops it) Agh. You are mine now. Peldor: (managing to avoid making true eye contact with the creature, and, since he was hasted by Ged, attacks again, hurling both of his daggers of throwing at once and at point-blank range) To hell with you! Eat this! vampiric warrior: Aaargh! (physically slain, he goes into gaseous form and floats away) Peldor: (watches his daggers fall to the floor) Damn. (picks them up, and then goes invisible once more) Rillen: (winds his horn of Valhalla, and five huge berserkers, armed with battle axes and spears, blink into existence in front of him) berserker leader: Who shall we fight, by Thor? Rillen: (points to the shadows) Those things! berserkers: Aye! Aaaaaaaaaar! (they charge the shadows, and begins meleeing them noisily) shadows: (fall back before the assault) vampire lord: Aaa! How could it be! More importantly, why did I leave all of their items in one place? I must be getting old...(begins casting a Prismatic Sphere) Ah, well, after I cast this, I will be able to attack and retreat safely. They shall never stop me now! Mongo: (draws a bead on the vampire lord, and prepares to throw his hammer) Not if I interrupt your spell, sucker. spectre: (flits forth and gropes Mongo, draining two life energy levels and causing his attack to miss) Mongo: YOW! (leaps back) What the FUCK?!?!? spectre: (menaces the dwarf) vampiric mage: (casts a Polymorph Other upon Ged) A rat, you will be...sss... Ged: AAAA! (manages to resist this foul spell, but only barely) You will perish, evil one! (charges the vampiric mage, who is standing near the prismatic sphere) Rillen: (starts toward the vampire lord and his most colorful sphere) Igor: (pounces from the shadows) Rillen: (perhaps distracted by the prismatic sphere, he gets tackled by Igor, and his staff and backpack are knocked away) Wha- Igor: (begins pummeling the warrior) Massster saysss you mussst die! Igor obeysss the massster! berserkers: (singing loudly as they melee the shadows with great gusto) shadows: (fighting back but losing) Belphanior: (knows that he can't attack the spectre facing Mongo, since it is a negative-energy-based creature) Fuck! (begins rummaging through his backpack) Mongo: Stay the hell back! (bats at the spectre) spectre: (menaces the dwarf) Peldor: (materializes as he backstabs the undead) spectre: (staggers, as the thief's blow was indeed a mighty one) Peldor: Aha! Peldor does what Peldor does best! Mongo: What's that, blabber? (jumps forward and deals the spectre a great smashing blow) Take THAT! spectre: (beaten, its form on this plane dissolves) Peldor: (he and Mongo clasp hands) Well done! Mongo: Yeah, you too, thief. Igor: (pounds Rillen) Die, die, die! Rillen: (hurls the hunchback aside) Will you shut up? (stands up) Igor: (grabs a huge poker from somewhere, and swings it menacingly) Massster says die, heh heh! Rillen: (dodges the powerful, but clumsy, blow, and kicks Igor in the face) Chew on that, toad. Igor: Nraaaaah! (bashes Rillen in the hand with the poker, smashing bones) Rillen: Aaaargh! (he leaps aside as another blow gouges bits of stone from the wall) Ged: (faces the vampiric mage) Foul one! Boccob has come a-reckoning! vampiric mage: Bah. (floats into the air) You will not reach me from down there. Hah. zombies: (eight of them, they surround Ged on the ground) vampiric mage: Even if you turn those before they overwhelm you, I shall still be casting my spell. (waves his hand aristocratically) You will die. Ged: Oh. Lightbringer: Never, foul one! (begins glowing more brightly than ever before) Ged: Boccob! Lightbringer: (begins to hum, and an incredibly bright ray of sunlight appears from nowhere, and shines directly upon the vampiric mage floating in the air) YES! vampiric mage: NooooOOOOO! (he is dissolved by the sunray) zombies: (likewise) Ged: How mighty! (begins to shift the sunray over to shine on the vampire lord) Indeed you are a great weapon! Lightbringer: Of course. After all, I _was_ forged to destroy undead... vampire lord: (safe inside his prismatic sphere) I don't believe it! He slew my mage! And the other ones slew my warrior! Aaaa! Belphanior: (charges toward the prismatic sphere, sure that he can find some way to get through it) Mongo: (moves into the corridor too) Rillen: Ugh! (recoils from a solid blow to his stomach) Igor: (waves his poker wildly) Massster saysss to kill you! Kill! (he swings again, barely missing) Rillen: (leaps sideways, then grabs Igor's hand and breaks it at the wrist) Hngh. Igor: YaaaaAAAA! (drops the poker) Rillen: (grabs the powerful hunchback in a headlock) Igor: (strains to break out, but can't) Rillen: (strains as well) Time to put you out of my misery. Rrrrgggh! (snaps Igor's neck with a sudden motion) Igor: (drops to the floor, drooling blood) Rillen: (picks up his possessions, and then turns his attention back to the vampire lord, grouping up with Mongo and Belphanior) vampire lord: (emerges from his prismatic sphere just long enough to cast a Transmute Rock to Mud spell) All lined up for me, eh? Peas in a pod. Mongo: (he, Rillen, and Belphanior are trapped in the muck, and begin sinking; the mud, incidentally, is now blocking off the corridor to foot travel) Huh? Ged: (looks around; he is now the only adventurer on the vampire lord's side of the muddy area) Eh? Rillen: (tries to swim in the mud, to no avail) Ugh. Belphanior: Fuck! We'd better do something, quick! Rillen: I cannot believe this. We may drown in mud. Belphanior: What a boring way to go. (he begins to think of a way out of this) What items do we have, which might be able to help? Hey! (begins foraging through his pockets and pouches) vampire lord: (ducks back down into his sphere) Ha. Ged: (having no dispel magic spells left, either of the mage or the priest type) Boccob! Lightbringer: What's the matter? Ged: They are trapped, and more, that vampire can pop up and cast terrible spells at them, at will. There's no way we can get through that sphere - I don't have all the spells necessary to bring it down. Peldor: (due to the potion he drank earlier, he is able to fly over the mud...and he carries Alindyar with him) Ged: What's this? Peldor: I found him wandering on the other side of the mud. (sets the drow mage down) Alindyar: (lands on the floor) I am prepared. (he looks at the sphere) If I get you through yonder barrier, can you slay the foul one? Ged: Err, maybe. With Lightbringer's power, maybe. But how- ? Alindyar: Worry not. (begins spellcasting) If I can cast this spell successfully, there will be a way. Ged: (by virtue of his spellcraft ability, notices a number of odd gestures and words being used in the drow's casting) Um. Never saw this spell before. Lightbringer: Did you not hear him? Prepare to fight! Ged: Yea. (assumes a fighting stance) Alindyar: (continues spellcasting; he is not casting from his store of memorized spells, but rather directly out of his drow spellbook) Peldor: (becomes invisible and floats upward, sure that he doesn't want to be next to two potential targets) Mongo: (curses while sinking in the mud) Argh! vampire lord: (pops up and casts a Wall of Stone, right above those stuck in the mud) You shall be crushed like insects! Driven into the mud like the worms you are! Mongo: (looks up) Shit! Belphanior: (as the wall, unanchored, begins to fall, he uses his cube of force to erect a magical barrier around himself, Mongo, and Rillen; the falling wall collapses atop the magical cubical wall of force) I think that helped...whew. vampire lord: (ducks back into his sphere) Ged: Why, that... Alindyar: Take heed! (casts his spell, and a huge ebon energy sword appears) Behold - the Black Blade of Disaster! (beams triumphantly) Ged: Wow. Must be a drow spell. Alindyar: Naturally. (he guides the blade over to the prismatic sphere, and downward) Observe. The magical blade moved slowly into the sphere, and then, amazingly, began to slice through it as a hot knife through butter! Through the huge rent in the sphere, the vampire lord could be seen, staring in shock and disbelief. vampire lord: It cannot be... Alindyar: (guides the giant magical blade into the vampire lord) vampire lord: (struck by the thing, he suffers quite serious damage) YAAARGH! (he leaps out of the remnants of the prismatic sphere and staggers around near Ged, somewhat stunned) Alindyar: Now! We must act before he escapes! Ged: Yea! (runs forth, concentrating on dealing a single mighty blow) Boccob guide my hand... Lightbringer: Strike first, and strike well! (the grey elf leaps forth with great deftness and bashes the vampire lord with the holy weapon) vampire lord: NO! NOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo.... The vampire lord screamed and clawed the air wildly, as his skin began to melt away. Shards of light tore outward from his body, piercing and burning his flesh. His hair ignited with a flash, and skin melted and ran to the floor in rivulets. Exposed arteries and bones became visible, before they, too, began to dissolve. Chunks of flesh and gore fell away as the foul undead creature perished. vampire lord: AaaaaiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! (now down to only a skeleton and some bits of pink flesh) Aaaaa......(he suddenly shatters, exploding into small pieces) <BLOOMF> (the dust settles to the floor slowly) Lightbringer: Whew. Ged: Wow. Peldor: (appears, in the air) You mean that's it? Just like that, he's gone? Lightbringer: Just like that?!? That was one of the most extravagant undead death scenes I've ever had the pleasure of witnessing! Ged: I agree heartily. Lightbringer: Well, actually, there was that lich- king that one time- Alindyar: Whatever the case, we have companions who are inexorably sinking into the mud. Ged: Oh shit! (they all turn toward the muddy area) However, the three warriors were busy brushing mud from themselves. Belphanior greeted Ged with a grin. Ged: How the hell did you get out of the mud? Belphanior: Easy. (points to Rillen, who is holding onto a metal rod, which rests unwavering in the air above the mud, a rope tied to a grommet at one end) Rod of inertia. Rillen: I used this item of mine as an anchor, and was able to pull myself out. Mongo: And us too! Ged: Rod of inertia, eh? Rillen: Yes. (speaks a command word, and the rod then drops from its perch in the air; he catches it deftly) A useful item, this. Alindyar: Indeed. Well done. Belphanior: Yup. Once he spoke the command word, the damned thing wouldn't budge from where he had been holding it, in the air. Useful. Rillen: (looks up at the ceiling) What is that? With the destruction of the vampire, the castle was coming apart. As rocks began to fall, those who were still conscious moved to escape, carrying the three who were asleep due to the earlier spell. It was also noted that all of the berserkers summoned by Rillen were gone, though black spots on the floor seemed to mark the remains of their opponents, the shadows. The adventurers fled from the dungeons, ascending as fast as they could while avoiding falling rubble. As they reached the ground level, the castle walls and roof began to crumble, revealing the light of the rising sun - dawn had arrived! They left the fortress behind, fleeing on foot, and the place collapsed once and for all as they left. Only a huge pile of rocks and debris was left to mark the site of the former vampire lord's lair. Though it was early yet, the sun shone brightly upon the nine weary adventurers. Alindyar: I never thought I would be relieved to see the sun. Mongo: What now? Which way should we travel? Ged: I'd say south. I for one am sick and tired of this cursed land. Rillen: I agree. Belphanior: (thinks about protesting, but decides not to make an issue of it) South it is! Let's march! It was a cold and rainy autumn evening in the Free City of Greyhawk. The pair of guards on duty had just enjoyed a dinner of cold, clammy roasted chicken leg and were patrolling the South Gate to the city with no great enthusiasm. Then, from the darkness of the road, a band of travelers approached on horseback. guardsman: Ho there! big black guy in soggy robes: Ho? skinny elf in hooded cloak: By Boccob, can it be? We're finally home! musclebound warrior with green skin: Afder four and a half months of travbel, I would hope so. stocky dwarf in plate mail: Hey, let us in. We've been riding all night, in this damned rain! other guardsman: Sorry, only city residents permitted without the visitors' fees. stocky dwarf: FEES?!? more guardsmen: (gather, anticipating a confrontation) tall elf in soiled red cloak: Dammit! (digs through his pouches) I've got it here somewhere... skinny elf: (looks on nervously) tall elf: Aha! (pulls out and displays a silver badge of some sort) See? Registered member of the Greyhawk Warriors' Guild! (pulls out another insignia) And here's my Mages' Guild badge! first guardsman: (somewhat in awe) A wizard... other guardsman: Well, I guess... skinny elf: (finds his own silver badge) I, too, am a member in good standing, of your Mages' Guild. Pray, open the gates. We are residents here. tall elf: (sticks his tongue out and snares a raindrop or three) Yeah. Open the gates. first guardsman: (looking through a ledger) Lessee, uh, number 69...name, please? scruffy-looking rogue-type: 69? tall elf: Name? My name, or his? (points to the skinny elf) first guardsman: His. skinny elf: I am Ged. other guardsman: Ged, yeah, that's what it says here in the book of registered citizens. Hey, he's in really good standing, too. (looks at the first guardsman) A highly-ranked member of several guilds. Maybe we'd better let him in. first guardsman: You may pass, O great mage. You and your companions. tall elf: (blubbers angrily) Companions?!? I am no mere "companion". Ged: (beams) Ah... scruffy one: (as they pass through the gates) How'd you buy your way past them? Ged: My mighty prowess, and my equally mighty funds. dwarf: Bah. Where's our inn, anyway? They headed for the Green Dragon Inn, and were soon in a conversation with the bartender. Mongo: Hey there, Ricard! Ricard: Huh? Mongo: It's us! We've come back for our old rooms. Ricard: Rooms? Ged: Oh come now. We paid you in advance to hold the rooms. Ricard: Yeah - you paid for one month. It's been just a _little_ bit longer than that. I've got a lot of other customers, you know. Belphanior: Bah. I'm sick of renting. I shall go _buy_ a place in this city. See you people at breakfast on the morrow. (stalks out of the inn) Ricard: Well. (reagrds the rest of the party) Mongo: Hmm. Peldor: (flips Ricard a gold coin) Room. Ricard: (flips Peldor a key) 2A. Upstairs to the left. Peldor: (walks up the stairs) Boy, I'm beat! Too tired for anything but sleep. Yaaaaawn. The party thus broke up, somewhat, and retired for the night. The next morning, they met at the breakfast table in the Green Dragon Inn for a huge gourmet meal and much conversation and planning. It wasn't long before the adventurers realized that they each had their own goals for the immediate future - goals that necessitated the splitting of the group for a time. So it was that they broke up for a while, agreeing to regroup at the start of the new year, in just over four months. During this time they would be doing many things - training, land dealing, pursuing personal quests and goals, etc. It was agreed that they would meet on the eve of the new year, in the Green Dragon Inn, for a feast of titanic proportions. Mongo: (to a sleepy-eyed Ricard) And this time make sure you keep a table saved for us! And so they split, on the morning of 8/22/571. Each adventurer had a lot of his or her own training to do... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 11th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 7th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 8th/8th/9th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 9th/9th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 7th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 12th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 9th level human warrior (N) + * Flint Firelips (guest) dwarven warrior + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 8/22/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: late morning + + Place: the Free City of Greyhawk + + Climate: moderately cold + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Alindyar, along with Lyra, spent quite some time holed up in the Guild of Wizardry's libraries, doing research and studying old tomes and volumes. Both gained great amounts of magical prowess, though they first found it necessary to befriend one of the city's foremost magi, one Nystul, and convince him to persuade some of the guild's other magi that all drow were not evil of mind. Once this issue was cleared up, the pair of drow had no further trouble while doing their research, and actually made some new friends among the guild. Belphanior trained for all three of his professions, further increasing his usefulness to the party as a jack-of-all-trades. He visited the temple of Olidammara, to have his lost levels restored, and was much happier after this process was completed. Ged spent a lot of time at the temple of Boccob in Greyhawk (in fact, the Uncaring One's largest and most powerful temple was the one in the Free City), praying and meditating. He emerged with more magical power than ever before, both wizardly and priestly power. The elf also visited the Union of Sages and Academics, to seek help with his (apparently drained) fire wand. The learned ones decided that the artifact had used up its store of energy, and that the energy had to be replenished with the willing consent, and assistance, of any one of a variety of powerful fire-using beings. Ged also took Arnold to the Alchemists' Guild, seeking a cure for his henchman's green skin. After no small amount of gold and time was spent, the alchemists were able to undo the effects of the noxious green gas, returning the barbarian's original skin tone, much to his relief. Finally, Ged sold his old, nonintelligent morningstar in favor of Lightbringer. Mongo trained for weeks in the Warriors' Guild and its arenas, building his strength and skill further. Of course, he first visited the priests of Boccob, and paid them handsomely to restore his lost levels. He also reached an agreement with Flint Firelips, providing for the young dwarf to become his henchman and protege. The two sparred for hours on end. Peldor went to the Thieves' Guild and honed his fine skills to finer levels. He practically perfected the art of backstabbing, and also found that the guild no longer had any practice walls that he couldn't climb. The thief also experimented with his (relatively) new longsword, finding that, although unintelligent, the weapon seemed to have a mind of its own at times, and made its finest strikes from the rear flank. Also, it was extremely easy and light to wield, seeming to weigh no more than a large dagger. In favor of this weapon, and in light of his acquisition of the ten magical feathers, Peldor stashed his old shortsword (of Lyons) in a safe place, for the time being, no longer needing its invisibility power. Rillen practiced as best he could, given the limited fighting skills of most monk-types in Greyhawk. He found it necessary to adopt a more rigorous exercise and meditation routine, to keep his martial skills at their peak during this time without sufficient sparring partners. Also, he traded his old longbow to Belphanior for a potion and some gems. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY: + + + + Alindyar 12th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 10th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 9th/10th/11th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 10th/11th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 9th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 11th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Flint 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 13th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 11th level human warrior (N) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 9/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: + + Place: the Free City of Greyhawk + + Climate: moderate to cold + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The adventurers, split into various sub-groups, now turned their attention to what they wanted to do in the near future. In a fine dining establishment in the Foriegn Quarter, Ged and Arnold enjoyed an expensive meal of rare seafood and fine wine. Arnold: So, whad do you wand to do? Ged: What else? Arnold, my friend, we're going to buy some land and build a castle! While Mongo exercised in a field, by smashing rocks with a huge hammer, he was approached by Rillen. Mongo: (pulverizes a boulder) Hey! What's up? Rillen: The sky? Actually, I came here to invite you on a journey. Mongo: (pauses in his demolition, and perks up) A trip? Where to? Rillen: Every year, there is a big weaponless fighting tournament in the lands to the north. I intend to be a participant this year. Mongo: You mean I can come along and watch guys beat the hell out of each other with their bare hands? Rillen: Hands, feet, heads, whatever. Yes. And you can bring Flint too. Mongo: Shoot, yeah! Count me in! When do we leave? Alindyar and Lyra rested in bed one night after hours of busy work... Alindyar: We need something to do. Lyra: (giggles) Besides research and- Alindyar: Yes. Besides research and that. Have you any ideas? (pinches Lyra's rear end) Lyra: Why, you...I'll show you an idea or two! (they begin wrestling) In the deepest depths of the thieves' guild, Peldor scrambled up a sheer cliff face with astounding ease. guildmaster: Most impressive. (goes away to run a new background check on Peldor, in order to gauge his possible ambitions for the future) Belphanior: (shows up at the top of the cliff) Hey there, old buddy, old pal. Peldor: (reaches the top and brushes himself off) What do you want? Belphanior: Let's go steal something of great value. Peldor: Hey, good idea! I've been thinking about the kidnapping of a princess... Belphanior: I'm listening. next time : the first of the four duo/trio (not solo) adventures ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : Ah, 100 is a nice milestone to have reached. I can't say that it hasn't been fun. Anyway, enough of that. I have a few things to include in this section, things perhaps appropriate to a part 100. First of all, I figured that, after all this time, the readers might want to know what the various adventurers looked like, as discussed by myself and their players over the years. Hopefully this will solidify whatever images readers have been drawing up in their minds since episode #1... + + +++ +++ + + Alindyar Male drow elf, 5'6" tall and slender (about 100 lbs). White hair, sort of long (maybe shoulder-length) and violet eyes. Handsome face, suggesting maturity and great age. He constantly wears his heavy, black cloak and carries little else (a staff and a bag of holding). The cloak has a very convenient hood, to protect the drow from the sun's light. Overall, he could be described as unusual. Lyra Female drow elf, 5'4" tall and slender (90 lbs), rather voluptuous. Long, flowing white hair, down to the middle of her back. Pale violet eyes set in a fine, delicate face. She wears a grey cloak with a hood, a bit heavier than Alindyar's since she isn't as well-adapted to the sunlight as he is. Other than that, most of her heavier possessions are in Alindyar's bag of holding - she carries only a dagger at her belt. To sum it up, she's cute. Belphanior Male high elf, abnormally tall for an elf (6'1"). Wiry and lean (117 lbs), very muscular. Light brown hair, barely shoulder-length; black eyes (they glow red due to an aberrant potion he once drank; the effect is positively hellish). He looks as rough as any hardened criminal, and his face seems twisted in a perpetual sneer. He wears a matching set of durable brown cloak and boots, and light bracers as well. A slender longsword rests at his side, and he usually holds his magical staff in one hand while traveling. In one word, dangerous. Ged Male grey elf, of average build for an elf (5'8" and 101 lbs). Not too strong, but quite healthy, and very quick. Collar-length golden hair and green eyes tell of his grey elf lineage. Wears chain mail armor to important occasions (like adventuring and battle), and favors the morningstar. His armor is brightly painted with the symbols and runes of Boccob. A green cloak covers his backpack, which holds the other possessions he owns. A smug fellow. Arnold Male human, overpoweringly muscular. An absolutely huge member of humanity, at 6'3" and 270 lbs. Light brown hair, shoulder-length, and eyes of the same color. Seldom found without his plate mail armor and two-handed sword, he has few other possessions. Occasionally wears boots and cloak, until he destroys them in battle. Seldom bathes, and often reeks, probably the only thing that keeps his boyish good looks and huge body from attracting more fair maidens. All in all, could be termed as overpowering. Mongo Male dwarf, his stature (a mere 4'0") is overcome by his strength and power (he packs 154 lbs, all of it muscle and sinew, onto that small frame). Robust as a bear, durable as a steel ingot, tough as a badger. A black beard covers a red, puffy face, and blacker eyes stare out from beneath bushy eyebrows. Wears magical plate mail armor, shield, helm, and girdle. A large warhammer is usually in his meaty, knotted hand. Most of his other weapons and items are in his portable hole. Aggressive. Flint Male dwarf, much like Mongo (4'0" and 149 lbs) though not nearly as strong. Also uses a battleaxe, not a war hammer (though both are deadly). Doesn't have quite the charisma that his mentor does. Determined. Peldor Male human, 5'11" and 161 lbs. Doesn't look like much, but is, actually, almost as strong as he is quick. When not using his magical hat to assume another identity, can be seen with brown hair and eyes, complete with a well- trimmed moustache. A real charmer, is equally competent at finding wenches and telling elaborate lies that others believe. Probably as smart as any mage. Wears leather armor and a brown cloak; his sword is on his right hip while his two throwing daggers are on his left. Usually wears magical hat, boots, rings, and eyes as well. All other items are kept in his magical pouch. Shifty. Rillen Male human. Pretty big (6'6" and 250 lbs), not as musclebound as Arnold, but much more toned and flexible. Black skin, black eyes, and very, very short black hair, cut monk-style. Quite charismatic, more so after you meet him. Like Alindyar, avoids the use of contractions in his speech. Dresses simple - bracers, light robes that allow him maximum flexibility (elbow-length sleeves and knee-length pants), high boots, longbow on his back, six- foot staff in hand. His few other items are kept in his small pack. Intimidating. + + +++ +++ + + So much for that. The only other thing I want to say is thanks to all the readers who send me mail, whether to praise, criticize, or merely comment. If you're reading this and haven't ever sent me mail, by all means, do it! I like to know who and how many my readers are, and I always answer every piece of mail I get. Oh, another announcement. Since the upcoming episodes will be a bit different, having 2-3 people at most, it's going to take a while to get them written the way I want to write them. Thus, I'll be taking a short break, let's say until the end of April, to rest and recuperate from the first hundred. Also to concentrate solely on work, since I'm starting several big projects right about now. So......until May 1st, farewell, and take it easy. Like Peldor would. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1993 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + + + + Thomas Miller + + tmiller@cimmeria.gatech.edu + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY (or a part of it; they have split for now): + + + + Mongo 11th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Flint 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Rillen 11th level human warrior (N) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 9/20/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: late morning + + Place: just northwest of the Free City of Greyhawk + + Climate: moderate to cold + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + "It matters not whether you win or lose; what matters + + is whether _I_ win or lose." + + Darrin Weinberg + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ CI. The Tournament The party has split into sub-groups to pursue individual ambitions and missions. Even now, Mongo, Rillen, and Flint Firelips ride from Greyhawk, traveling northward to seek a great fighting tournament which takes place but once every year. Mongo: So where _is_ this thing at, anyway? Rillen: Unknown. Rumors abound, though. We shall have to search a bit, but I have an idea of where to look. Flint: When does it start? How do we know we won't miss it? Rillen: Have no fear. We have at least a few weeks to get there. The trio of warriors journeyed north and west for weeks, eventually entering a mountainous area. It was here that they were finally challenged. hobgoblins: (appear) Hey! These are our trails! Mongo: Huh? hobgoblin leader: You're on our land. And there are many more of us than there are of you. Rillen: Strength does not always come from numbers. Mongo: Out of our way. We have an important quest. hobgoblin leader: All intruders to our land must die! Mongo: Cripes. I can't believe this. Rillen: (twirls his staff as the twenty hobgoblins close in, surrounding the party) I needed some practice anyway. Flint: (hefts his battleaxe) Yeah. hobgoblin leader: Chaaaaarge! hobgoblins: (they do) Aaaaaaaaaaa! Mongo: (pulverizes the hobgoblin leader with a single well- aimed hammer throw) Chew on that, monkey! hobgoblin leader: (collapses, dead as a doornail) Rillen: (to Mongo, quietly) Monkey? hobgoblins: (hesitate somewhat, seeing their dead leader hit the ground) Whoa... Rillen: (begins bashing hobgoblins with his staff) Hai! hobgoblin: (falls, his neck snapped) Flint: (cleaves a foe in two with his axe) Die, scum! Mongo: (catches his hammer) Who's next? hobgoblins: (several of them charge the dwarf) Yaaaargh! Mongo: Whaaaa...no fair! (belts one opponent, braining it, before he is overborne) Rillen: (ducks a sword swing and kicks the attacker in the chest) Yah! (a dull crunching follows the blow) hobgoblin: (reels back, his ribs shattered) Urk. Flint: (ignores a blow to his chain mail) Ugh. Mongo: (gets beaten a bit by the horde) Agh! Ugh! Ow! (smashes a hobgoblin in the face, knocking it away) hobgoblin: Blargh! (tries to find all his teeth) Glk. Rillen: (swats another hobgoblin) Back, smelly one! hobgoblin: (knocked aside) Rillen: (dodges a blow) Sai! Suddenly, and for no apparent reason, those hobgoblins who still lived broke off their attack and retreated into the rocky terrain, yelling and screaming. Rillen: We must have snapped their morale, as well as their bones. Mongo: Fuckin' vermin. Flint: Is anyone hurt? (nurses a sore rib or two) Mongo: No way. (actually he's lying, as he got several minor nicks and cuts, but he doesn't really care) Rillen: Not I. Shall we continue? Flint: (binds a wound) Yeah. Mongo: Where are we going, anyway? Rillen: We will only know when we get there. They traveled through increasingly rocky terrain, but with Mongo to help guide them, they made excellent time. Eventually, they encountered others who seemed to have the same destination. Mongo: Hey there! skinny baldheaded guy: (glares at Mongo) other skinny guy: (glares at Rillen) Rillen: Monks, these. They keep to themselves, mostly. Mongo: Why? Are they afraid to talk to us? Rillen: No. They may think we are all fighting in the coming tournament. To speak to us would be to give something away. Flint: Huh?!? That's the stupidest thing I ever heard! Mongo: Fucking monks. Well, they'd better not mess with me. Rillen: They will not bother us. Since the monks were walking pretty fast, they quickly outdistanced the trio of adventurers. Others were seen on the trail over the course of the next few days - here an immensely fat wrestler-type, there a muscular, evil-looking midget. One fellow, whose hair was bound in strange knots and patterns, apparently didn't stop to rest or eat during his march. From the ends of the world they came - short, tall, skinny, massive, common, unusual. They had only one thing in common: they all came to compete. Eventually, they trio reached a walled fortress carved from the very mountain itself. Mongo: Wow, what's this? Rillen: This is the hidden fortress of the grand tournament itself. Flint: Not very defensible, is it? Mongo: I wouldn't assume that... Rillen: There are no doubt numerous guards positioned above us. Were we a large force, such as an army, we would be dead by now. Mongo: Well, that's good to know. Flint: Hey, look. Guards! (there are two, outside a huge double door of thick stone) formidable-looking guard: Halt. other dangerous-looking guard: Name? Rillen: Rillen. guard: (looks over a list) You're not on the list. Rillen: No. I come representing myself, and have not been here before. other guard: Your funeral, maybe. Do you think you have the skill to fight here? Rillen: Indeed, I do. guard: The rules are as follows. You compete in the matches picked for you. The judges' decision is final. No priests or magi allowed beyond this point. As a competitor, your items will be held by your... Rillen: (looks at Mongo and Flint) Trainers? guard: ...trainers. You will not have access to any of the items. This is to avoid the use of items for healing or unfair advantage in the matches. Rillen: Of course. other guard: Any mischief will result in expulsion from the tournament and the fortress, never to return. Any weapons use will result in execution. guard: Do you understand? Rillen: Yes. other guard: (peers at the trio through some strange blue lens) They are not magic-wielders. guard: Very well. The entry fee is five hundred coins of gold. Mongo: WHAT?!? (looks at Rillen) Rillen: Err... guard: Each. Mongo: Grrrrrr. Rillen: (forks out three large gems) Here is the fee. other guard: (examines the gems through his blue lens) An unusual method of payment...but the stones are real enough. guard: Very well. Enter. (a massive double door opens) The interior of the fortress was somewhat spartan, with little decoration or detail. A large arena stood at the center of the place, and a complex of rooms and passages could be seen beyond the arena. A similar complex stood near the trio. A small marketplace here had some activity, though not a lot. They sky was not visible - the whole fortress was within some mountain. Numerous torches and lamps provided all the light for this tiny artificial city. Mongo: What are those areas on the far side of the arena? Rillen: That is where the competitors will stay, no doubt. You will have to hold on to my weapons and items. Mongo: No weapons? Rillen: Not for me. The rules do not allow any weapons or other items. I think the arena separates the section where you will be staying from the section where the combatants and officials will be staying. Flint: So that people can't bring their friends healing potions or items? Rillen: Exactly. That would be an unfair advantage. Mongo: I can't believe this. How do they know that we're not mages or priests? How can they keep people from sneaking stuff to the ones who fight? Rillen: In centuries of this tournament, no such incident has ever been successful. Probably because the penalty for mischief is death...and the officials and guards are all quite skilled, masters themselves. Many of them are previous winners of matches in the past. Mongo: Ah...a fight FOR the competitors, BY the competitors, OF the competitors. Rillen: Something like that. official: You! Rillen: (turns) Eh? official: You must report to the competitors' barracks by tomorrow morning. And your friends, they must stay in the guest barracks, as non-participants. Mongo: Huh? Does that mean we can't watch? official: Not necessarily. Not if you have five hundred coins of gold, per person... Mongo: (slaps his head) Argh! Rillen, it seemed, had a lot of money that he had to get rid of. He paid the observer's fee for the two dwarves, in fact getting them front row seats (which went for a cool two thousand gold apiece). The trio split up, officials guiding them to their appropriate areas. The tournament was to begin within two days, but the qualification tests would weed out any unworthy fighters before that time. They were to take place tomorrow. Mongo and Flint were given quarters along with all of the other companions and trainers of the tournament fighters. Rillen was given quarters with the approximately two hundred people who hoped to participate in the great tournament. There were monks, warriors, pugilists, wrestlers, and more - a plethora of bone-crunchers, head-crackers, and leg-breakers, the best of the best, gathered here to compete for the honor of being pitted against one another. Rillen: (meditating in his small quarters, devoid of all his possessions except a loincloth) Ohm. The next day, everyone was up bright and early to commence with the qualification bouts. Each competitor was made to demonstrate his form to the judges. Several dozen were then eliminated by the decision of the judges. A few did not take this well, and were beaten by the guards. One man drew his sword and threatned the officials, and was quickly slain. Mongo: holy shit! They weren't kidding around! Rillen passed the first level of qualification tests, and was surprised to learn that there were no other such tests, save the tournament combat itself. Later that night, the dwarves spoke with him. Flint: At least you passed the qualifiers. Rillen: As I knew I would. They are nothing - it is the matches tomorrow that really matter. Mongo: You're sure you can handle this? Rillen: Yes. People do not die here...usually. Flint: Well, if you do, we won't be able to do anything to help you. Or avenge you. Rillen: I shall be fine. (turns to go) I must return to the competitors' barracks...where they will check to see that I bring no weapons or other items in. I shall not be able to talk with you two again until the end. Mongo: You mean unconscious fighters get carried out into the barracks, by officials? Rillen: Exactly. No one but competitors and officials and guards is permitted on the far side of the arena, until the whole tournament is over. Mongo: Well...we'll be watching. (he clasps hands with his friend) Good luck. Rillen: Thanks. (he clasps hands with Flint as well, and departs) Flint: I wonder if he's nervous? Mongo: Of course he is. This whole tournament is a pretty serious thing. I'd be nervous too. Flint: Hmm. No "good" lands would approve of this thing. That must be why they hold it in this remote place. Mongo: Yeah. Here, they make their own rules...and also enforce them. The next day, trumpets announced the commencement of the tournament - it was time to begin! Some official stood upon the podium atop the arena and announced the first pairing. From their ringside seats, Mongo and Flint observed a skinny monk-type face off with a huge bear of a man. official: (holds up his hands) Ready. (drops his hands) Begin! big guy: (charges the monk) Reaaaargh! I'm gonna rip you in half! monk: (deftly steps aside, and kicks the big guy three times, in the head, chest, and gut) Whaaaai! big guy: Oof! (swings a beefy fist at the monk, but he misses) monk: (karate-chops the big guy in the neck) Saaa! big guy: (coughs) GgggrrrrrRRRR! (swings around with a sudden motion, and belts the monk in the head with an elbow) Hah! monk: (reels, stunned) big guy: (closes in for the kill) Ha ha! You're dead now! monk: (ducks a swing, and knees the big guy in the head) big guy: Argh! (totters around) Argh! monk: (delivers several blows to the chest and head of his opponent, then kicks him, sending him to the stone floor of the arena, unconscious and bloody) Sah! (he bows to the judges, as much applause ensues) Mongo: Wow. Maybe there really is something to all this martial-arts stuff. Flint: Maybe, but I doubt it. Besides, this sort of fighting is useless against big monsters. Mongo: I don't know...Rillen does pretty good in dungeons. Their talk was interrupted by the beginning of the next match. Somebody had done a surprisingly quick job of cleaning the blood off of the arena floor between matches. A muscular, albino-type faced a short boxer this time... After several dozen such fights, Rillen's first match was announced. He was paired against a tall, obese brawler of a man. official: Begin! fat brawler: Heh heh. (charges Rillen) Rillen: (leaps up into the air, and punches the man's head as he runs by) Aie-a! fat brawler: Argh! (grabs his head) You hurt me! For that you die! (swings at Rillen) Rillen: (diverts the blow with one hand, and delivers a pair of swift punches to the guy's head) fat brawler: Urk. (falls, unconscious) judges: (look on in admiration) official: (raises Rillen's arm) Winner! (to Rillen) A very neat job. Mongo: Hey, good job! (he and Flint join the applauders among the crowd) officials: (drag away the loser) The first round of matches consisted of sixty-four fights, which weeded out half of the one-hundred twenty-eight people competing. This took all day, and the next rounds were to take place tomorrow. Rillen retired to his quarters to rest, Mongo and Flint had a meal and discussed past battles, and those who had been eliminated either left or were tended to in their beaten, bloodied states. The next day, thirty-two matches were held, to again cut the total number of competitors in half. Rillen's bout had him up against Saheed, a well-muscled fighter from some far western land. official: Begin! Saheed: (closes in on Rillen) Rillen: (puts his arms up warily) Saheed: (strikes, landing a blow and wounding Rillen) Rillen: Ugh. (counterattacks, hitting his foe with a knee, and backs up) Saheed: (launches a swift flurry of blows, one of which hits Rillen in the shoulder) Rillen: Argh! (misses Saheed with a hand chop) Saheed: (trades some kicks with Rillen, and each is hit by one effective kick) Ugh. Rillen: Agh. (finally gets an advantage, and uses a palm strike to knock his opponent back a few feet) Saheed: (somewhat weary and hurt, he moves back in) Rillen: Hi-yaie! (delivers four punches to Saheed's torso) Saheed: Ack. (keels over, and doesn't get back up) official: Winner! (raises Rillen's arm in victory) crowd: (cheers loudly) Mongo: All RIGHT! Flint: Way to go, Rillen! After the battery (no pun intended) of thirty-two fights was over, there were, of course, thirty-two combatants left. The next round also took place this day, and consisted of sixteen matches, from which there would be sixteen winners. When Rillen's turn came around, he faced Fex Nonon, a big, bulky boxer-type. official: Begin! Rillen: (circles Fex) Fex: (cautiously prepares to attack) Come on, punk! Rillen: (leaps in and punches several times, hitting with three of his attacks and stunning his foe) Fex: (swings at Rillen, but misses) How'd I miss?!? Rillen: (scores a perfect strike to the solar plexus) Hai! Fex: Urgh. (crumples to his knees) Rillen: (waits for his opponent to get up) Fex: (stands) Ah, a nice guy! You'll get nowhere with that attitude, buddy. (punches Rillen while he talks, and lands a powerful blow) Rillen: Agh. Fex: (misses with a follow-up punch) Whoooa. Rillen: (kicks out twice, connecting once) Sa! (waits for his foe to turn and face him) Fex: Urgh. (uses a backhand punch to knock Rillen back) Ha ha! I warned you about being a nice guy! I- Rillen: (strikes twice to the head, knocking Fex down and out) Yes, so you did. official: (raises Rillen's arm) Winner! crowd: (goes wild) Mongo: (claps loudly) Rillen: (salutes his friends, and then goes to have his wounds bandaged - the only form of healing permitted in the tournament, and even then it is supervised by the officials) Thus, after this day's bouts were finished, only a mere sixteen fighters remained. Rillen was one of them. The third day of the tournament was to feature only the eight fights between the sixteen combatants. After these were over, the fourth day would see the remaining eight fight in the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals, with only one fighter emerging as the champion. Rillen found himself pitted against Snirpy Snotnose, a short, clumsy-looking fellow with a crooked nose and an evil disposition. official: Begin! Rillen: (approaches his foe) Snirpy: Yaieeee! (he charges and leaps, delivering a flurry of deadly blows all at once) Rillen: Argh! Ugh! Oof! (he trades punches with the deadly Snirpy, giving as good as he gets) Snirpy: (somersaults backwards, lands, and charges again) Aaaaaaiiiiiiiii-yah! (hits Rillen in the legs, but fails to break anything) Rillen: (dances and dodges about) Snirpy: (leaps back) Whaaaaaaaaaa! Rillen: Argh! (charges) Snirpy: (parries Rillen's blows expertly) Rillen: Damn it! (jumps back, but Snirpy stays with him all the while, chopping and kicking ferociously) Snirpy: (sensing victory, presses his attack) Rillen: (being beaten, launches several attacks, all of which miss the mark) Snirpy: (not an easy mark, as he dances about madly) Rillen: (finally gets a blow in, and sends Snirpy to the ground, where he bounces once, and rebounds, leaping to the offensive) Snirpy: Hi-yah! (delivers a sudden swift strike, which hits Rillen on the forearm with great force) Rillen: EYAGH! (his arm is now broken, and he realizes that his opponent is specialized in a bone-breaking martial art) Damn. (backs up) He cheats. Snirpy: (licks blood from his lips, and closes in for the kill) He he heh. Rillen: (musters his concentration, and ignores the oncoming foe) Snirpy: (leaps to the attack) Rillen: Sai! (dodges, and plants a solid kick in the small of Snirpy's back) Hai! Snirpy: Urgh! (sails to the ground, and gets up with a grimace) Rillen: (uses his good arm to strike out, bashing his opponent in the temple) Snirpy: (staggers about) Rillen: (leaps up and kicks Snirpy squarely in the chest, sending him flying into the crowd, unconscious) crowd: (goes wild again, tossing Snirpy aside as they cheer) official: Winner! (holds Rillen's good arm up high) Rillen: (staggers and walks away, with some help from the officials) Mongo: Hey, that arm looks busted! Shit, that's it. He's out of this tournament. But the two dwarves didn't see their companion that day, for he never emerged from the combatants' area or barracks. Apparently he intended to fight on, though it seemed nearly impossible, considering the broken arm. As the fourth day of the tournament began, only eight remained to fight in the quarterfinals... Dugar Denselwurst (an accomplished kickboxer) Jerod (an intensely-muscled midget/acrobat) Akeem (a sumo-wrestler type) Chuck (a bearded fighter, apparently a crowd favorite) Rillen himself Torm (a seven-foot tall monster of a man) Bruce (a short, quiet, skinny-looking guy) Hargus (a muscular guy, booed by the crowd every time) Rillen was pitted against Dugar in the quarterfinals. official: Begin! Rillen: (stalks Dugar, his right arm held in a sling) Dugar: This ought to be a snap. Heh heh. (kicks out swiftly, twice, and misses with both attacks as Rillen dodges) Eh? Rillen: (leaps forth, punching with his good arm and using kicks as well) Dugar: (hit by two accurate punches, reels) How'd he do that?!? Rillen: (backs up) Dugar: (kicks twice again, and hits both times) Ha! You can't dodge forever, one-arm! Rillen: (parries as the kicking foe presses his attack mercilessly; still takes numerous hits) Agh! Ugh! Dugar: Ha ha! (continues to beat on Rillen) Mongo: Why don't the judges stop this? Can't they see that his arm is no good?!? spectator: He chose to fight, so he gets to fight. Rillen: (punches Dugar in the face twice as he gloats) Dugar: Ow! Argh! (feels his broken nose) You've had it now, buddy! Rillen: (leaps up over Dugar's head, punching him in the process) Dugar: Hey! (he kicks at Rillen several more times, hitting with some of his attacks) Rillen: (badly injured by now) Argh! (he squares off again, and concentrates) Dugar: (thinking that he's close to victory, charges) Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa- (receives a blow to the temple from Rillen's good hand, and collapses, knocked out) Rillen: Whew. (falls to the floor, exhausted) Whew! official: Winner! (holds Rillen's arm up, but can't really raise it since Rillen isn't standing) crowd: (cheering profusely) Mongo: Geez, I don't know how long he can keep this up. Flint: Tell me about it. In the other matches of this round, Torm beat Akeem, hurling him out of the arena (!); Bruce beat Jerod the midget acrobat; and Chuck pummeled Hargus, much to the liking of the crowd, who cheered loudly during the process. Mongo: I wonder why they hate that guy so much? spectator: Ah, they always boo him. It's tradition. Mongo: Oh. Rillen was given water and smelling salts, and was soon facing the giant Torm in the semifinal round. Rillen: Ugh. I am not up to this. official: (drops his hands) Begin! Torm: (purposefully strides toward Rillen) Grrrrr. Rillen: (assumes a defensive posture) Uh-oh. Torm: (punches Rillen, hard) Grar! Rillen: Argh! (kicks Torm in the belly) Torm: Urgh. (punches Rillen again) Rillen: Ungh! (punches Torm in the head) Torm: Argh! Rillen: (tries to back out of this slugfest, since he can't win such an exchange) Torm: (punches Rillen on the back with an incredible overhand swing) Yarrr! Rillen: Urg! (falls to the mat) Torm: (picks Rillen up and prepares to hurl him out) Rillen: Uhhh...(reaches down with his good arm and smashes an elbow into Torm's face) crowd: (cheers) Torm: Argh! (drops Rillen) Rillen: (flips about and lands on his feet) Hai-yah! Torm: Rargh! (charges) Rillen: (kicks the giant man three times as he attacks) Wha-? Torm: (having shrugged off the blows, he pummels Rillen heartily) Yagh! Ragh! Blargh! Rillen: (quite bruised and beaten now) Ugh... Mongo: I can't look. Torm: (picks Rillen up again) Blargh! Flint: At least it'll be over when Rillen lands in the crowd somewhere. Rillen: (amazingly, again reaches down and musters all his strength to elbow Torm in the face...again) Torm: (drops Rillen, who falls heavily) crowd: (goes nuts, standing and chanting and yelling) Rillen: (stands up, and raises his good hand) Waaaaiyah. Torm: (grins through broken lips and teeth) Hargh. (he charges again) Rillen: (punches and kicks, connecting with three attacks) Torm: (punches Rillen once) Rillen: (knocked unconscious) Torm: (raises his huge arms in victory) official: Winner! crowd: (goes bananas) Mongo: Fuck. officials: (carry Rillen away, toward Mongo and Flint's side of the arena this time) Trainer? Mongo: We've got him. (he and Flint take the limp form of Rillen and carry him back to their spectator quarters to get his wounds cared for) Flint: I guess we can use a potion or eight of healing now that he's out of the tournament. Mongo: Yeah, I guess so. Thus, the trio were not around to watch as Chuck was very efficiently and soundly beaten by Bruce, and they missed the great final match, wherein Bruce proved the unlikely winner over the massive, hulking Torm. The nondescript young man, who nobody knew anything about, had won the tournament and claimed the grand prize. The trio of adventurers, being in no position to keep up with these events, missed them all, utterly. Later, an official came to Mongo and Flint's quarters. official: (enters) Mongo: What do YOU want? (feeds the unconscious Rillen another small dose of healing potion) official: Your friend there has won fourth place. I have brought him his prize. (hands Mongo a weird-looking metal amulet engraved with strange symbols and runes) Mongo: Err...thanks. (he puts the thing over Rillen's neck) We'll tell him you came by when he wakes up. official: Of course. Also tell him that he fought well, and has earned the judges' invitation to come again next year. Flint: We'll be sure to tell him that too. official: Very well. (leaves) The next day, they departed the fortress. Rillen was in a state of depression, despite his medal and the knowledge that he had done well in the tournament. Mongo: What's the matter? Rillen: Ngh. Mongo: Oh, come on! There was no way you could have won, not with a broken arm! You did great as it was! Rillen: Bah. Flint: No, really. You were awesome! (mimics the chops and kicks as best as he can) Ya! Ha! Whaaaaa! Rillen: (ignores the dwarves) Hmph. Mongo: (notices that they have wandered down the wrong mountain trail) Hey, where the hell are we? Rillen: (snaps to attention) Huh? Mongo: We sort of just walked down this trail, here, and I don't think it's the right one. Rillen: It is a sign. (looks around) My mindless state has led me this way. That can mean only one thing... (walks swiftly in a new direction) Mongo: Hey, wait up! Where can you possibly be headed now? Rillen: I must learn why I failed. I must seek out that place from which I emerged years ago. Mongo: Huh? Rillen: The ancient monastery hidden within the peaks of this land. I grew to manhood there, you know. Mongo: Oh, great. I suppose you know how to get there, too? Rillen: Yes. I do. (heads along the wilderness trail) Are you coming? Mongo: Oh, why not? Come on, Flint. (they follow the big warrior) After two weeks of hiking through the mountains (a trip that seemed to do wonders for Rillen's morale), the trio entered a fog-shrouded gorge. Soon, Rillen was examining sheer rock faces; he seemed to be searching for something. Rillen: Aha! (a section of rock slides away, revealing a dark tunnel beyond) See? (he enters said tunnel) Mongo: Now wait just one damned minute- Flint: Look, he's gone. Mongo: Shit. We'd better follow him. (they do) The tunnel was about a hundred feet long, and wound all over the place. The three adventurers emerged into a big cavern, decorated with strange and wonderful carvings of dragons and other fantastic animals and monsters. Torches illuminated the whole place. A short, wizened old man stood before them. Somewhere, a gong was sounded, and its echo reverberated through the cavern. Rillen: (bows) Greetings, O elder. elder: Gleetings, O student. Rillen: We have come to see the Grand Master. elder: Of course you have. Rillen: (surprised) You knew we were coming here? elder: We know all things. Come. (he trots away) Mongo: Weird. They were taken to the chamber of an even older man in a padded chair, to whom the elder and Rillen bowed deeply. Mongo and Flint bowed as well, not knowing what else to do. Grand Master: Welcome, my student. Rillen: Master. other elder: (departs silently) Grand Master: I knew that you would return someday. Rillen: Yes. I am distressed. Grand Master: Of course. You feel that your loss in the tournament signifies a loss of your skills. Rillen: How do you know about-? Grand Master: I know all things. You must stay here in our temple and meditate until the true meaning of these recent events comes to you. Rillen: Yes. Grand Master: You and your friends shall stay in the guest rooms. Who are your friends, by the way? Mongo: (stands up) Err...nice to meet you, your holiness. I am Mongo Thunderhead, of the dwarves, and this is my faithful henchman, Flint Firelips. Grand Master: Oh. Rillen: They accompanied me to the tournament. Grand Master: Of course they did. Now go and rest. We shall see you at supper. Rillen: (he and the two dwarves exit the chamber) shaven-headed acolyte: (appears) This way. They were taken to a large complex of guest chambers and given a chance to bathe and clean up. Mongo: (kicks a stone bathtub) Ow. What's this? Rillen: A bathtub? Mongo: Oh, yeah. Of course. Rillen: Here at the monastery, cleanliness is important. I would suggest that you take this chance and wash yourself. Mongo: Right. Hey, wait - I don't have a towel. Oh, well- acolyte: (appears and hands Mongo a towel) Mongo: Where'd you come from?!? acolyte: All living things come from the great wheel of life that is the earth- Mongo: Oh, yeah. Well, thanks for the towel. (wanders to some other chamber) In the early evening, they met in a small, nearby chamber for the supper. Present were the Grand Master, Rillen, and the two dwarves (apparently this was a private dinner). acolyte: (stops Mongo as he is about to enter the room) Your boots. Mongo: Huh? What about them? They're my road footwear. Rillen: No, he means take them off. Here, we do not eat with shoes or boots on. (he doesn't have anything on his own feet) Mongo: Sheesh. (removes his boots) Good thing I took a bath. Flint: Maybe you should get some new boots, too. They entered the chamber then, devoid of footwear. Mongo: (spots only a low table) Where's the chairs? Grand Master: They are here. You simply have not seen them yet. Mongo: Baloney! There's no chairs here! Grand Master: (sits on the floor, cross-legged) Rillen: (likewise) Mongo: Oh. Okay. (also sits, as does Flint) The Grand Master mumbled for a moment, but then it was apparently time to eat. The table was covered with a wide variety of foods - several kinds of rice and breads, a lot of fruits, and especially numerous vegetables, many of them types that neither of the dwarves had seen before. Stone cups held some odd-tasting wine, and colored candles burned with strange-smelling smoke. Mongo: Meat? Where's the meat? Grand Master: We do not kill animals for food here. Rillen: In fact, there _are_ no animals here. Mongo: (eyes the vegetables suspiciously) I can't eat this stuff! Rillen: (pokes the dwarf) Shh. Grand Master: (grins) Of course you can eat this "stuff". You, being a decent cook, should have greater appreciation for these foods. Mongo: Huh? (drops a potato-like thing) How'd you know- ? Grand Master: I am aware of all thngs, my son. Now eat. You shall find the food wholesome and satisfying. Mongo: (grumbles) It was true - Mongo did enjoy the meal, though he didn't admit it. The Grand Master and Rillen talked about various things, and Mongo interjected his opinion from time to time. After the meal, the Grand Master gave Rillen a weird candle and some instructions. Grand Master: Light this tonight and meditate upon recent events. The answer will come to you in time. Rillen: ...yes. Since everyone was exhausted (except possibly the Grand Master - after all, what could HE have done all day long to make him tired?), they all retired early, and slept well. Over the course of the next week, this cycle repeated itself. They would awaken, bathe (Mongo complained), eat breakfast (fruits and bread; Mongo complained) and then Rillen would sit around all day meditating or exercising. Mongo and Flint were left to their own devices during this time. At the end of the day, they would all eat, and then go to sleep early (Mongo complained about this too.) One day, Mongo was wandering around the temple, and found Flint watching the Grand Master dance around a courtyard like a gazelle - obviously practicing his martial arts. Flint was emulating the wizened old man, too! Mongo: What's this? Flint: Err...I thought I'd try and see what this was all about. Mongo: Bah! This mummery is no match for a dwarf's axe or hammer! Dwarves need no dances and chanting to be mighty! Grand Master: (appears behind Mongo) Do you truly believe this, my son? Mongo: Yie! (whirls around) Don't do that! Grand Master: I shall demonstrate. Try to hit me with that war hammer you prize so much. Mongo: No way! I'd kill you! Grand Master: You must try, so I can show you that you will fail. Mongo: You're asking for it, old man... Grand Master: I am older than you know. Throw the weapon. Mongo: (lightly tosses the hammer at the old one) Grand Master: (easily dodges the thing) No, no, no. You must _concentrate_ on this. Throw it at _me_, not at the wall. Mongo: (catches his hammer) Grand Master: Come, now. Mongo: Grr...(hurls the hammer with all his might) Hah! Grand Master: (stands there and moves only slightly, as the hammer misses his head) Mongo: Huh?!? (catches the weapon) Grand Master: You see? Mongo: Bah! If I could get a hold of you, you'd be toast. Grand Master: (glides over to Mongo) Put me in a hold. Mongo: (puts the old one in a headlock) There. (confident that his girdle-enhanced strength will guarantee that the old man stays put, he grins) Hah! Now I've got you. Grand Master: Are you certain? Mongo: Try me. Grand Master: (glides out of the headlock) Mongo: Fuuuuuuck! How'd that happen?!? Grand Master: Come, my son. (puts his hand on Mongo's shoulder) You must learn patience and grace, fluidity and economy of movement. Then you can be at peace. Mongo: Bah. Thanks but no thanks, old fella. Leave that stuff to Rillen. (walks away, Flint in tow) Grand Master: Hmm. Impudent as well as slow and clumsy. With companions such as these, it is a wonder my student is still alive. Later in the day, Rillen sought audience with his mentor. Rillen: Alas! I cannot find the answer you spoke of. I have meditated for a week, to no avail. Grand Master: (sighs) My student, there _is_ no answer. You have no trouble but that within your head. There is no more I can teach you here; you must apply your skills as often as is prudent, and practice as you see fit. If you are destined to win the tournament, you shall win, but if not, worry not about the matter. Rillen: Practice? Grand Master: Go back into the world now, my son, and seek to use your arts in all things. Your problems will have their answers, in time. Patience - that is the focus of the matter. Rillen: (bows) Yes, O Exalted One. Grand Master: Perhaps you needed a challenge. Speaking of which...beware, for a great challenge indeed will soon confront not only you, but also your friends who are here with you, and other friends as well. Rillen: Challenge? How can you know of these things? Grand Master: Have you not been listening all these years? All things are mine to know. Now go, and tread with much caution. Rillen: Yes. (bows again) Shortly, they departed the mysterious mountain monastery and emerged into the world once more. By the time that the trio of adventurers had returned to Greyhawk, it was only two weeks' time until their scheduled meeting with their companions. They had engaged in several battles, early in their journey, with hostile monsters and humanoids, but had stood triumphant after every such encounter. Perhaps more importantly, Rillen fought extremely well in these various skirmishes. Upon returning to Greyhawk, both Mongo and Rillen trained in their professions. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY (or a part of it; they have split for now): + + + + Mongo 12th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Flint 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Rillen 12th level human warrior (N) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 12/24/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: afternoon + + Place: the Free City of Greyhawk + + Climate: extremely cold + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Mongo: Only one more week until our reunion! Rillen: Actually, two weeks, since the seven-day new year festival does not appear on the calendar. Mongo: Oh, yeah, okay. Well...let's go eat, drink, and be merry! Flint: Yeah! Meanwhile, far, far away, a motley crew rode through the outskirts of the Wild Coast. white-robed man: (silently glares around) tall warrior with skull-helm: All this riding around to collect allies bores me. I demand blood. When will we attack? female drow mage: (well-cloaked and hooded) Soon...very soon, vengeance will be mine! The adventurers, and especially that bitch Lyra, will die! next time : Ged and Arnold build a castle ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : Inspiration for this came in part from some of the martial arts tournaments I've been to with my younger (not youngest) brother, over the years as he's worked his way up to black belt. Also check out the movie _Bloodsport_ to get an idea of how serious these things can be. Though these things aren't always lethal in real life, they would be in a movie...or in some fantasy worlds... This tournament did not follow any normal AD&D melee rules, but rather my own, which I promptly lost after this adventure (so don't ask :)... Oh, and by the way...I can recommend to you the film "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story". Five stars. My little break from writing served its purpose, which was to give me a rest from writing and also let me concentrate on work. Also I just got my first salaried paycheck last Friday. Awesome. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1993 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + + + + Thomas Miller + + tmiller@cimmeria.gatech.edu + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY (or a part of it; they have split for now): + + + + Ged 10th/11th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 9th level human warrior (NG) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 9/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: midmorning + + Place: the Free City of Greyhawk + + Climate: moderate to cold + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + "But if for no other reason, Evil must be destroyed so + + that we can once more guide our own destinies." + + - The Darkest Day + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ CII. Construction The party has split into sub-groups to pursue individual ambitions and missions. As the sun shines one fine morning, Ged and his henchman Arnold are out and about scouting the land market. Ged: (turns away from some desk-bound official in the city council building they are in) Boccob! These people ask far too much for land! We've got a castle to build! And a temple after that! We've no time for dealing with the inflated land prices here! Why, even Peldor could get ripped off in this market... Arnold: Hmph. Ged: (turns this way and that, to show off his new robes of Boccob to any who might be watching) What do you think, Arnold? Arnold: I think maybde we should look oud furdher from the cidy. The land midht be cheaper dhere. Ged: Why, of course! Brilliant, young Arnold, simply brilliant! Let us get the horses, and we'll go have a look. Gather three days' food. (hands Arnold some gold coins) Arnold: (scratches his head) Ged: Three days' food, for _two_. Meet me at the inn. Arnold: Okay. (merrily heads for the marketplace) Ged: (dreaming of his own temple of Boccob, goes to get the horses) Shortly, they were off. The pair rode westward for a few hours, following the River Road from Greyhawk. This wide, well-used walkway ran nearby and parallel to the great Selintan River, all the way south to Hardby, in fact. However, they left it after ten leagues or so, opting to use the ford and continue westward, rather than follow the river, and the road, south. They followed a trail west, toward the Free City of Dyvers, for ten more leagues. At this point, they left the trail, following a crude map purchased earlier at a small village, and headed northward, toward the great lake, the Nyr Dyv. Though there was no established path here, but the terrain was flat and grassy, and the horses had an easy time of it. By nightfall, the duo had reached a small farming community on the shore of the Nyr Dyv. Ged: (looks around, then out at the lake) This is a great place to build a castle! Or, it would be, if I could see the lay of the land in this darkness. Arnold: Maybde we should camp here, and look at the land in the morbning. Ged: Yea. (accosts a farmer) Excuse me, friend, but we seek an inn or tavern here. farmer: Sorry, purple-robed one, no inns here. Maybe you could stay in someone's barn. other farmer: Say, them's some weird robes you got there. Where'dja find 'em, eh? Ged: Bah. Eventually they found a barn (!) where the owner had some space (not for free, of course), and they spent the night in the barn with the farm animals, having paid to do so. Ged: This is humiliating. We have to sleep in a barn with the farm animals! Arnold: So? (reclines lazily in the hay, and begins to go to sleep) I can think of worse places to stay. Ged: Hmm. Someday soon, I shall dominate this land, and all the peasants will know of Boccob, and his faithful servant, Ged... Soon, they were asleep, much to the amusement of the horses and chickens in the barn, who nosed, pecked and clawed at their possessions with interest. Dawn was heralded with a loud, extremely disturbing crowing sound, and Ged was up and about immediately. Ged: Time to survey some land! Arnold: Whadb? Zzz. They ate a brief breakfast (Ged wouldn't let Arnold borrow any eggs from the chickens' nests) and then rode out toward the shore of the Nyr Dyv. Arnold: Whad's this, a sea? Ged: No, it's the Nyr Dyv! The largest inland body of water in the Flanaess. I have decided that my temple and land must overlook the lake. You know how I love the water. Arnold: (silent as they ride for a half hour along the shore and away from the farming village) Ged: (silent as he gazes longingly out onto the lake's blue waters) Arnold: Say, whad's THAT? (points) Ged: Hmm? Hey! Boccob! A castle! On my future land! It cannot be! Arnold: Loogs pretty old to me. Ged: Yea...almost dilapidated. Shall we have a look? Arnold: You're the boss. (they approach) The place was quite old and run-down. A crumbling square wall surrounded the place, but its full twenty-foot height was evident in only a few places. Huge holes penetrated the stone barrier, some exposing the interiors of dusty rooms. There was no standing structure above the ground floor; it appeared to have fallen long ago. A rickety-looking wooden drawbridge spanned a narrow moat filled with murky water. Ged: This isn't a very big castle. Maybe whoever built it moved on to a bigger place, somewhere else. Arnold: Maybde it's haunted. Ged: Come, we must investigate. (they head for the lowered drawbridge, first tying their mounts to a handy boulder) Arnold: We must? (draws his sword) They crossed the bridge carefully, for it was creaky and unhinged, making for a shaky walk. The rusted iron flywheel for the drawbridge rested on the ground inside the gate, a length of scummy chain beside it. The interior side of the wall was webbed with broken and rotting ledges and ladders. The main keep of this castle stood before the pair, its open double doors revealing a large, dark hall. Arnold: I'll need to light a tordch. (does so) Ged: Yea. Let's have a look inside this place. They entered the hall, passing through its empty, silent length before entering another room. This second place had the appearance of a dining hall, but the huge table and its attendant chairs were rotted and smashed. Two doors led to other places; they went through one (literally; the rotted portal all but crumbled before Arnold's sword pommel) and found themselves in some kind of old laboratory. The whole place was blackened and charred, as if by a mighty fireball, but something moved in a closet to one side. Lightbringer: (pipes up, and begins glowing) Foul undead lurk here! Sound the alarm! Marshal the forces! Let there be a RECKONING!!! Ged: (sighs) So much for the element of surprise. Lightbringer: We need no surprise to deal with those... Arnold: (faces six shambling, wrapped forms) Mummdies! Bud I shall not run in fear like lasd time! (waves his sword) Aaaaa. Come, bandage people, come and face me, Ah-nold! mummies: (comply with the warrior's request) Ged: (chants to Boccob) By the power of the allmighty Boccob, I banish you, foul undead! Begone! BEGONE! Arnold: Bandish them to where? The mummeis recoiled in terror, and retreated into their closet, where they appeared to have been eating some wild animal before the two adventurers showed up. Lightbringer: They must DIE! Kill them! Ged: They're already dead. Lightbringer: Do something! They are evil, and cannot be allowed to roam freely! Ged: Oh, all right. (casts Burning Hands into the closet, igniting all of the mummies) It's not like this will burn the castle down or anything... mummies: (run around blazing; one flees the closet and hits a wall and falls, rolling around) Ged: Stop, drop, roll...and burn. Heh heh. Belphanior would have appreciated that joke... Arnold: I tink we should get oud of here. (they do, and head back into the dining room, where they then take the other exit) That exit led into a kitchen-type place, which was now staffed by a band of zombies. The things were playing with various knives and other utensils, and making quite a mess. zombies: (begin walking toward the pair) Oooooo. Ged: Damn! (brandishes his holy symbol again) AWAY! zombies: (eleven of them disintegrate, leaving seven to menace the two adventurers) Arnold: Why didn't you bladst them all? (charges at the foes before they can grope at him) Aaaa! (hacks one into small bits) Aaaaaa! Ged: Shit! There's too many! (backs up, and brandishes Lightbringer) Here they come! Lightbringer: Bring them on! Ged: It sure is a lot different without Mongo and Rillen and Belphanior in the front lines... Arnold: How is thad? (cuts another zombie in half) zombie: (gropes at Arnold, but misses) zombie: (gropes at Arnold, and hits, clawing him for a minor bit of damage) zombie: (gropes at Arnold and misses) zombie: (gropes at Arnold but can't get through his plate mail) zombie: (gropes at Ged, but misses) Ged: Yie! (bashes the zombie with his weapon) Lightbringer: HA! zombie: (disintegrates) Ged: For Boccob! Arnold: Yah! (slashes another foe into pulp) The zombies tried to overpower Arnold, but by now there weren't enough, and shortly, all of them were sliced into bloody bits, or disintegrated by Ged and Lightbringer. Ged: A mighty victory! Arnold: (examines his wounded arm) Ged: Let me fix that for you. (sets Lightbringer down) Lightbringer: Hey! Arnold: Id's okay. (but already, Ged has cast a minor spell of healing upon him, closing the wounds) Aaaaaa. Ged: There. (picks up his weapon) Let's see what else is waiting for us around here. They explored the kitchen, but found nothing, and thus went back into the main hall (the one before the dining room), for there were caves there, noticed by Arnold - caves that weren't part of any normal castle construction. Ged: Hmm. Let's check this out. (he leads the way into one cave) Arnold: Wait, thad's my job! (he runs after the elf) Ged: This looks like it was...burrowed. They explored four cave-tunnels, finding nothing, but the fifth and last passage led into a larger area, a big hall of some kind. They only had a moment to notice the spiral stone staircase going downward, for a massive, spotted mauve creature launched itself from the shadows at them - a sixty-foot long, razor-mawed purple worm! Ged: By Boccob! Lightbringer: _That_ is no undead. Ged: No shit. Arnold: Badck! (pushes Ged out of the way and charges the rapidly-approaching worm, sword raised high) Aaaa! purple worm: (roars in challenge) Arnold: Aaaaa! (hacks the worm, slicing a large chunk from its neck) Take dhat, worm. purple worm: (snorts and lunges, knocking Arnold aside with a mere wave of its head) Arnold: Oh shiiiiidt! (sails into a wall, dropping his torch) purple worm: (squashes the torch, then looks at Ged and gnashes its teeth) Arnold: (groggy) Hey! He smashed my tordch! Ged: For Boccob! (casts a Lightning Bolt into the maw of the thing) Take THAT! purple worm: (fails to dodge the spell, and literally eats the lightning bolt!) Rrrrragh! (a huge hole is blown out of its back as the lightning bolt ravages its insides) Rrrrrrgh! Ged: Yes! By Boccob, a direct hit! Arnold: (leaps up and attacks again, slicing the worm's head in half with a perfectly-aimed blow of his huge sword) Aaaaa! purple worm: (undulates and thrashes about, then dies) Ged: Victory! Arnold: Vigdory! (he brushes himself off) Lightbringer: Too bad it wasn't an undead... Having defeated the mighty worm, the small group could only do one thing - descend the dark spiral staircase. They did so, after Arnold lit another torch to illuminate the way. The staircase exited into a small room, which contained only one exit, and a half-rotted wooden chest. Arnold: (pokes at the chest with his sword) Where's Peldork when we need him? The chest promptly fell apart, though, yielding a pile of golden coins, a sheathed dagger, a sack containing a weird musical instrument, and two crushed potion bottles. The small items were quickly pocketed (backpacked?), but the gold was too much to carry, and was left here for now. The pair of adventurers took the exit, a doorless passage, and walked through a round tunnel into a cave-like area. Two tall, broad monsters with big, bug-like eyes and two sets of mandibles were here, busy eating a dead, purple baby worm. They promptly stood up and lumbered toward the intruders. Ged: Umber hulks! Avoid their gaze at all costs! (he begins spellcasting) Arnold: Ridght. (he charges blindly, and hacks at one of the monsters, inflicting a bloody wound) umber hulk: (paws at Arnold, wounding him) other umber hulk: (also paws at Arnold, and wounds him) Arnold: Argh! Argh! Ged: (casts a Slow spell on the umber hulks, and both of them are affected) Boccob! What luck! umber hulk: (moves about slowly, intending to bite Arnold but not quite sure what's wrong) other umber hulk: (watches its claws move about slowly in front of its face) Arnold: (takes this opportunity to slash the monster he wounded earlier, and the thing is knocked off its feet by the force of his blow) Yah! umber hulk: Rargh! (topples, and falls, pawing at the ground uselessly) Lightbringer: That's it! Get them! Bash them! Ged: Not now. We need spells... Arnold: (hacks the slowed, wounded hulk, slaying it) other umber hulk: (claws and bites Arnold, and also has a chance to lock gazes with him) Rergh? Arnold: Rergh? (begins wandering around, having fallen prey to the monster's confusion gaze) Ergh? Ged: Damn! (casts a Polymorph Other upon the creature) You shall be a rat! umber hulk: (fails to resist this powerful magic, and is quickly compressed into a large rat with large compound eyes) Squeak! (it attacks Ged, biting at his foot) Ged: Ugh. (kicks the rat away) So much for that. Now where did Arnold get to? rat: (scurries off into a tunnel) Arnold: (still wandering around) Ged: Damn this waste of spells...(casts Dispel Magic on his henchman) Arnold: (returns to his senses, such as they are) Huh? Ged: You look wounded. (casts a curative spell) Arnold: (healed muchly) Thandks. Ged: (looks around) Several exits...hmm. They tried one exit (all of the passages leading out were round and obviously monster-made) and discovered a small chamber filled with weird purple fungus. This was left alone, and soon, another exit led to a caved-in section of tunnel. The third exit tried ended abruptly, apparently abandoned by whatever had been digging it. The fourth and last exit led to a rotting door, and they advanced beyond this into a large dungeonlike room. Something stirred in the darkness... Ged: Hold that torch up! Lightbringer: (blazes into life) Ged: Never mind. Arnold: Uh-oh. A huge skeleton, perhaps fifteen feet tall, moved out of the darkness and toward the pair of adventurers. Its huge hands flexed in anticipation, and its teeth ground and gnashed with some damnable hunger. Ged: (holds up his holy symbol with great determination) Away, O granddaddy of all undead vermin! I command you to go back, by the power of the almighty Boccob! BACK! giant skeleton: (ignores the priest, and advances) Ged: Aie! It's too strong! (raises Lightbringer) Arnold: (charges the skeleton) Die, skeledon! (he hits it with his sword, inflicting minor damage) giant skeleton: (swats Arnold, bowling him over) Arnold: Aaaaa. (rolls into a wall) Oof. giant skeleton: (swats Ged, knocking him from his feet) Ged: Aaargh! (stands up shakily) You shall pay for that, skeletal scum! (bashes the undead) Lightbringer: Perish! giant skeleton: (avoids being disintegrated/dispelled, but suffers significant damage from the holy weapon) Ged: Hey! It didn't dissolve! Lightbringer: My powers are not limitless, you know. But we can still burn it with my holy flames! Hit it again! Ged: (can't manage another attack at the moment, due to positioning) Arnold: (tries to tackle the monster, but can't knock it down) Aaaaa. giant skeleton: (regards the relatively puny human with its hollow eye sockets) Arnold: (jumps back, and brandishes his sword) Ah-nold! (beats his chest and attacks) giant skeleton: (suffers some damage from the sword blow, and then gropes Arnold, tearing gashes in his side) Arnold: Aaaa! Ged: (clobbers the skeleton from behind, smashing its ribcage into flinders) For Boccob! giant skeleton: (teeters and totters) Arnold: (in a desperate fit of fury, leaps forth and chops the thing's head in half) Yah! giant skeleton: (shatters into small pieces) Arnold: Agh. Ged: Whew. Lightbringer: And so another undead scum is disposed of. Ged: (notices that Arnold is once again wounded, and heals him of most of his damage) We really could use some more front-line warrior support here... Arnold: Yah. Judst a Mongo or two. There was a single door leading out of this chamber, and the pair took it, finding a smaller room, perhaps once a bedroom, beyond. An ancient draped bed stood in one corner, and a rusty washbasin nearby contained a rotted towel and some crusty soap. Before they could do anything, a pack of dark forms drifted from beneath the bed, and toward the two adventurers. Ged: By Boccob! Wraiths! Arnold: There sure are a lod of them... Lightbringer: Do something! Ged: I am. (turns the undead) Boccob is tired of your undead faces! GO BACK! wraiths: (due to a certain factor of luck, all twelve of them are turned back, and they flee into a dark corner) Ged: Yea! Perfect! Lightbringer: We must still slay them! We are obligated to rid the world of them. Ged: <sigh> Yea, I guess you're right. Very carefully, Ged, Arnold, and the holy morningstar sought out the wraiths, one by one, and destroyed them by bashing them with Lightbringer. The weapon's power proved greater than the wraiths', and they were summarily reduced to ashes. Arnold: I get the feeling thad we shoulbd be looking for some treasure... Ged: But where...? Ah! Of course! (looks under the bed while using Lightbringer to provide illumination) Aha! Arnold: Whad? Ged: There's something here...some kind of door...hmm, we need to get the bed out of the way, though. Arnold: Say no more. (sheathes his sword, and lifts one corner of the massive bed, then hurls it aside with a mighty effort) Dhere. Ged: Good job. (they now regard a square metal hatch in the floor, under the bed) It's got a pullring. Where's Peldor when we need him? Ah, never mind. (he casts Find Traps) Well, it's safe. I should have used this a while ago. Arnold: Safe? (grabs the ring and heaves, exposing a very small cubical space containing a few items) Phew! (he sets the heavy trap door down beside the hole it covered) They found a silken pouch containing nine sapphires, a ring of blue metal, a scroll in its tube, and a leather- bound tome. That was all, but just as they lifted these items from the hole, the ground began to shake. Ged: Uh-oh. I've got a bad feeling about this... Arnold: (looks around) Time to RUN! (they flee, and head for the entrance to the castle, above) They made it out just as the whole castle collapsed into rubble (Arnold got bonked on the head by a sizable rock as he fled, and was knocked out, but they were already safe, fortunately) and quickly found their mounts, still tied to the small boulder. The horses seemed agitated, and had to be calmed down. Ged and Arnold rode a short distance away before turning to watch the dust settle. Ged: Well, THAT was certainly a good way to kill an afternoon. Arnold: Nod to mention a few undeads... Ged: Of course. And we got some good stuff, too. (he begins evaluating the treasure) Magical? (casts a Detect Magic) Hmm, now I could conceivably detect any magical traps... THE MAGIC ITEMS: dagger +2 - Arnold lyre - Ged ("Arnold, do you play the lyre? No? I thought not.") ring - Ged scroll vs demons - Arnold old spellbook - Ged Since there seemed to be nothing better to do, the pair decided to eat lunch. It was during this break that the riders approached. Arnold: Riders? Ged: Uh-oh. (stands up) Arnold: Aaaa. Lightbringer: Well, _these_ certainly aren't undead! The two adventurers (and one magical morningstar) were confronted by a force of thirty well-armed warriors, who bore some insignia they had never seen before. tall leader-type: (approaching middle age, he is fairly stocky, with a shaved blond scalp and blue eyes) What in the HELLS have you done here?!? Ged: (taken aback) Pardon? leader: That castle! What did you DO with it? Arnold: We- Ged: Sh. I am Ged, a priest of the almighty Boccob. We were exploring yonder place (points offhandedly to the rather large pile of rubble) when numerous foul undead attacked us. We fought back, and won, multiple times, and after one of the combats, the whole place just went to pieces. So it was. leader: Well, I'll be DAMNED! (strides forth and shakes Ged's hand) We've been shirking that place for years! And now you've gone and levelled it! I'll have to make a report of this - surely you'll be due for a medal! Ged: Medal? Arnold: Mettle? leader: I am Tigran. Tigran Gellner, commander of the City's Cairn Hills force. Pleased to meet you. Ged: The pleasure is mine. Do you have a place we can stay for a bit, and talk business? Tigran: Of course; come with us. (they ride to the east) Ideas were already forming in Ged's head, and he asked Tigran who owned all of this land. Tigran: The City of Greyhawk, of course. Why? Ged: Well, I'd like to settle here, maybe build a manor or a small castle... Tigran: The City doesn't usually sell this sort of land. Ged: But I have a lot of money. And surely I deserve a chance to fortify this area, on the city's authority of course. And under its jurisdiction, ultimately. Tigran: Hmm. It couldn't hurt, to have one such as you in the vicinity. I'll see if I can put in a good word for you with the City Council. Meanwhile, you can stay at our hill fort there. (indicates a speck in the far distance) Within two days, a response came - the answer was yes! Ged would be allowed to purchase, initially, a three-by- three league plot of grassland, touching on the Nyr Dyv. His land was a plot just east of the ruins of the older castle (to avoid vengeful spirits, the council's minion said). The price of the land was hefty (forty thousand coins of gold), but was reasonable considering the land prices closer to the city. Ged returned at once to the city, to make the necessary withdrawal from his account at the city vaults; he augmented his raw coinage with the nine sapphires from the castle, and was able to meet the price of the land while still retaining significant coin for the hiring of workers and other necessary people. In the weeks that followed, Ged, Arnold, and the man who they had hired for his architectural expertise, one Marcus Lindsellicus, drew up plans for the castle. It was a major undertaking, involving the hiring of a lot of workers and specialists. There were bricklayers and carpenters, carters and cartwrights, grooms and laborers, limners and linkboys, plasterers and porters, quarriers and weavers, tanners and tinkers, even a gardener or two to make sure that the land was fertile. A clerk was a late addition to the army of hirelings, for his skills at accounting would be needed to help manage this whole operation. As the work commenced, under the supervision of the great Lindsellicus, it quickly became obvious to Ged that he would need a lieutenant, a second-in-command, someone to run this place when Ged and Arnold were out adventuring. For this, Ged went to Greyhawk's guild of warriors, and held interviews one day. He used the spells of Detect Lie, Know Alignment, and Detect Evil to ensure that he didn't make an unwise decision. After a full three hours of searching, Ged found exactly what he was looking for in a fellow named, simply, Deryck. This half-elf's honesty and good nature were quickly evident, as was his skill as a ranger. He had spent years among the Gnarley Forest to the south, and had many friends there. In addition, Deryck was an extremely competent leader and strategist, having previously commanded bands of woodsmen in forays against humanoids in the western part of the Gnarley. Ged's offer interested the young half-elf greatly, and within moments, a suitable salary had been agreed upon. Ged decided to give the ranger a token of his trust, namely, his sling of seeking; this gift was greatly appreciated by the elf's new friend, who swore his loyalty to Ged and his castle. A few days later, when Ged and Arnold were visiting the construction site, Ged just happened to be strumming his new lyre, trying to learn how to play it. Suddenly, a wild-eyed, red-bearded man ran from one of the holes in the ground (for the foundation) and began yelling! Ged: (quits playing and approaches the fellow) Who the hell are you? fellow: I'm Scotty, one o' yer hired help. I'm the chief miner, yes I am, and somethin's afoot in them thar foundation mines! They be a'diggin' themselves, strangest damned thing I ever seen, yep, diggin tunnels an' fillin' holes, just like on yer drawins! Ged: How? Who? What? Arnold: Id starded when you were playink that thing... Ged: (looks at the lyre) This? (strums its strings) The earth rumbled slightly, as somewhere nearby, a new passage dug itself. Scotty: See? Thar it be again! I've played many a fine instrument, but ne'er one the likes o' that one! Can it really be doin' these things? Ged: (gazes at the lyre) It must be an item of...of... of building! That's it! (turns to Scotty) Can you use the help that this thing gives? Scotty: Why, yea, sure! But we'll be needin' to know whence it's playin' so's we can get outta the way! Ged: Deal. (he begins playing the instrument once more) Scotty: I've never seen a thing quite like it! By experimentation, Ged learned that the item would function like this only once per week - but when it did, it would build in a half hour what should have taken a full week, for five score workers! The device seemed to have tuned itself to Ged's mind, and he quickly mastered its use, and then used it to help build his castle. The fact that he found it exactly when he needed it seemed to be a godsend... A few days later, Ged was busy studying his magical libram (he finally had some time on his hands!), while Arnold was watching the stonemasons work with no little fascination. A lone rider approached, heading for Ged. He was elderly, of average height and build, with grey hair which was thinning out. His grey-blue eyes bored holes into Ged, and his beaked nose and thin, bloodless lips made odd contortions as he observed the elf. Ged: (looks up from his book) Who are _you_? man: Someone you should get to know. (he dismounts) I am Ravel Dasinder...(tosses back his cloak, revealing purple robes with a familiar symbol sewn on)...the Free City of Greyhawk's Patriarch of Boccob! Ged: Er...uh...um. Oh. Ravel: And you are a sub-priest of Boccob, planning to erect a temple here, am I not correct? Ged: Uh, basically, yea. I've never been called a "sub- priest" before, though. Ravel: It's all relative. (walks forth and shakes Ged's hand) Nice work on that haunted castle. Tigran told me all about it. Good way to get started here, it was. Ged: Err, thanks. (wondering if he should bow to the high priest) Undead, you know. They had to be gotten rid of. Ravel: Yes, yes. I have no doubt that your temple will be a fine one, when finished. We shall be talking more often, you and I. (he gets back on his horse) Do stop by sometime and have a meal with me. Ged: Sure thing. Until we meet again... Ravel: (rides away, checking out the castle as he goes) Ged: (muttering to himself) I knew he looked vaguely familiar... After a week, Ged finished the libram of silver magic, and advanced in the wizardly ways. He also incorporated the spells from the new spellbook into his own book, as Deryck supervised the castle work with Arnold. Ged was now the master of several new spells, such as the fire shield, the animation of the dead, and the spell of true seeing - mighty spells indeed. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY (or a part of it; they have split for now): + + + + Ged 10th/12th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 9th level human warrior (NG) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 11/24/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: morning + + Place: one days' ride west of Greyhawk + + Climate: cold + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Ged: We have much to be thankful for. Arnold: Led's have a feast! A great feast commenced, and for the next several weeks, construction continued, at least until the new year, and the rendevous with the rest of the adventurers. Meanwhile, somewhere in the Wild Coast, evil was afoot. female drow mage: (looks over her companions as the band approaches a small town) It is fortunate that you were for hire, fiend. (reins in her horse, a huge black evil animal) wraithlike one: (floating a foot above the ground, he/it whispers in a hissing tone) not for hire. for souls. if these...adventurers are indeed as powerful as you claim, it shall be my pleasure to take their lives... tall warrior with skull-helm: (frowns at the wraithlike one) Bah! I deal with no hissing ghouls from hell! (draws his sword) Away, you! (his horse rears) wraithlike one: (a blade of black energy appears in one hand) have a care, mortal, lest I become...offended. tall warrior: (growls menacingly) horse: (neighs menacingly) female drow mage: Enough! Save your hostilities for the adventurers, damn you! big red-armored priest: (holds the warrior back) Hold, for she is right. Fighting amongst ourselves now will be counter-productive. (pats his own mount on the head) white-robed man: (looks on curiously, yet silently, from his pale white horse) pale white horse: (looks half-dead) female drow mage: (points to the town ahead) Perhaps the worms in this shoddy place can tell us where to find the next ally we seek. tall warrior: (sheathes his sword) So be it. For the price you are paying me, I will track anyone to the ends of the earth. It can't hurt to fight alongside a demon or two, I guess. female drow mage: Good. The adventurers must die! next time : Belphanior and Peldor get into trouble, and we find out more about these bounty hunters ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : This story just goes to show that: 1) building a castle can be interesting and involve role-playing, and 2) you can't be a 10th level priest and remain unknown in the land for long. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1993 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + + + + Thomas Miller + + tmiller@cimmeria.gatech.edu + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY (or a part of it; they have split for now): + + + + Belphanior 9th/10th/11th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Peldor 13th level human thief (N) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 9/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: midmorning + + Place: the Free City of Greyhawk + + Climate: moderate to cold + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + "When you've got talent like ours, the world is your + + oyster." + + Calvin + + + + + + "Even foolery is dangerous in the hands of a fool." + + Jasper + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ CIII. Kidnapped! The party has split into sub-groups to pursue individual ambitions and missions. Even now, Belphanior and Peldor are pondering their next mighty quest. Peldor: Whatever will we do for the next few months? Belphanior: Actually, several options come to mind...we could go decimate some small country...we could try and rob the thieves' guild...we could kidnap someone really important... Peldor: All great schemes, yes. Let's look further into this kidnapping thing. For the next week, the two thieves scouted the Free City and surrounding areas, scoping out potential targets and assessing the dangers associated with those targets. The main problem with a Greyhawk-based victim seemed to be the high level of penalty if the pair got caught - Greyhawk had strict laws to prevent that sort of thing. Through a fluke of fate, Peldor learned of a princess, from a noble (and rich) house in Dyvers, who was due to be married within a week. She seemed like an ideal victim - and also fell well outside the jurisdiction of Greyhawk. Belphanior: What the hell, let's go investigate this a bit further. There's no reason to stay in Greyhawk, right now at least. Peldor: Yup. So it was - they rode west, to Dyvers, for the next couple of days. While on the road, they passed a large caravan of tradesmen, headed northwest for some new castle that was now being built. Before they knew it, they were in Dyvers, and the two quickly began seeking information on their target. The young, nubile Princess Tessa, daughter of one of the more powerful nobles in the city, was to be wed to the great lord William of Dyvers, who was probably the _most_ powerful noble in the city. As they still had four days to execute their insidious plan, the thieves decided to take it slow and easy, and scout the manor where the princess was currently living. They did so, and after the second day, learned that she had a daily ritual, a morning ride in the grasslands to the north of Dyvers. This knowledge immediately led to much planning. Peldor: Okay, we'll do it tomorrow. She'll be on her little ride about midmorning. We can just lie in wait, and when we see her...we'll pounce! Belphanior: Sounds good to me. Where will we flee while we await our ransom? The north? Peldor: Hmm. I hadn't thought about that. I guess we could hide somewhere. Surely they can't have enough magic to locate one as mighty as Peldor! Belphanior: Surely not. I guess if they found us, we could always flee into my well of many worlds... Peldor: Well of who? Ah, nevermind. They don't - won't - dare attack, since we could kill the princess at any time. Belphanior: Kill? Hm, I hadn't thought about that. But- Peldor: Not that we'd actually have to _kill_ her. All the great thieves have to _use_ such threats, though. That's how we get what we want. Of course, if she's pretty, then we _really_ won't want to kill her. Belphanior: Oh, perish the thought. Peldor: Okay then. We've got food, we've got wine, we've got your spells, and all our equipment. Not to mention three of the most expensive, fastest horses in the land. And then the mere name of Peldor...I think we're ready to do this tomorrow. Belphanior: Yep. The fact that little Tessa's supposed to get married the day after we kidnap her can only add to her value. Peldor: Can I pick 'em, or what? Ah, time to get set up, here. We've got a big day tomorrow. They retired for the night, not renting a room in an inn, as that would be too conspicuous. They left Dyvers, Peldor using his magical hat to disguise himself as a smelly dwarf (the smelly part was easy, with the right dung), Belphanior wearing a black cloak with a hood, to cover his ears and mask his complexion. They exited the city through the east gate, figuring that the north was the first place people would look, and the south was the second. They backtracked around in the wilderness for a while, losing the disguises near a small stream (where Peldor washed away most of his disguise) and burying them in a deep hole. Next, they went around to the north of the city, and camped out in the high grass, expecting the princess to show up in the morning as she had for the last couple of days. The next morning, Peldor was up early, again disguising himself. He used his disguise skills as well as his hat, just to be sure; this time he became a tall half-orc with one eye and one ear. Belphanior cast spells of Stoneskin and Invisibility on himself, and smeared soot all over his face so as to hide his skin tone, should he need to. They waited, and before long, the princess showed up, riding a small white horse. A single guardsman accompanied her, a big galoot by the looks of him. Peldor: (goes invisible also, and waits as the pair ride right toward their ambush place) This is just like the last two days! I can't believe they're so stupid! Belphanior: (also whispering) Shh! Get ready! (he douses a rag with some liquid from a small bottle) Peldor: (readies a leather jack filled with sand) princess: (rides to within earshot) Oh, look at those pretty flowers! guardsman: Yeah. Peldor: (stalks the pair as they rest for a moment) princess: I bet the flowers they've got planned for my wedding are nicer, though. guardsman: Yeah. Belphanior: (somewhat behind the princess now) Peldor: (bashes the guard with the sap, knocking him out) Belphanior: (grabs the princess from behind, and covers her mouth with the rag, putting her to sleep with the special sleep poison he bought months ago, when he was far away from this area) Hah! princess: (goes to sleep) Peldor: (both he and Belphanior are visible now) Good! We got 'em both! Belphanior: (carries the princess over to where the three horses are tied, grazing quietly) horse: (looks up) Neigh? Belphanior: (sets the sleeping princess onto the horse, and ties her in place lightly) Here, have a princess. Peldor: (meanwhile, has left a scroll, with a crude coal drawing of a pierced eye, on the ground) That ought to throw them off for a while. (notices that the princess was carrying a lot of suppies and clothes in her saddle bags) Eh? Belphanior: (mounts) Let's go! Peldor: (mounts) Yeah...(they ride northward) Belphanior: The pierced eye? What's that, a tribe of orcs? Peldor: I guess so. Actually, I just made it up on the fly. Belphanior: Cool. (they ride on for some time, heading northwest) A few hours later, they approached the southwestern shore of the Nyr Dyv, and at this point, the sleeping princess was drugged again, and turned invisible by a spell from Belphanior. Peldor also became invisible, by his sword's power, and thus it was that the old ferryman saw one tall, skinny, dirty man on a horse, leading two riderless mounts before him. old ferryman: Hi there! Belphanior: (pulls his hood more tightly around his head) Greetings. Passage for one, please. old ferryman: Sure, eh, err, that'll be ten silver. Belphanior: (pulls out a pouch, and makes a big deal out of digging for coins, dropping copper pieces onto the ground) Uh, lessee here, I _think_ I have enough... old ferryman: (looks on eagerly) Belphanior: Ah, yes, here we go. (hands the ferryman a combination of copper and silver coins that sums up to the required fee) Peldor's horse: (stamps the ground impatiently) They boarded the barge, and then began to cross the wide river. old ferryman: Say, my ferry's dipping awfully low into the water... Belphanior: Err, I've got these horses loaded down awful heavy. old ferryman: Oh? Good, I thought for a minute there that I had sprung a leak. Awful heavy, them horses are... Belphanior: Yeah, w- I'm headed westward, toward Veluna. Could be a long trip. I needed all kinds of supplies and food. old ferryman: Ah! That, me lad, sounds like a fine trip! A fine trip indeed! Soon, they were across, and Belphanior bid farewell to the old geezer. Twenty minutes later, the half-invisible group was riding rapidly northward, directly into the heart of Furyondy. Peldor: (still invisible) Heh heh. Belphanior: Maybe if someone tracks us, that old guy'll tell them that we went to Veluna. Peldor: I would have picked his pockets, if I thought he had anything worthwhile. But somehow, I got the feeling that he only had about ten, maybe eleven silver pieces. princess: (stirs) Belphanior: Looks like Sleeping Beauty here is ready to wake up and face the music... Peldor: (notices for the first time how attractive their kidnapped princess is) Wow. She's sure a looker. princess: (sits up) Wh- Where am I? Belphanior: (decides to let Peldor do all the talking) Peldor: Princess Tessa, I presume? princess: Yes...(looks around) Who- ? Peldor: I am...err, Bonnie. And this is Clyde. (points to Belphanior) Belphanior: (squints and looks mean) Peldor: I'm afraid we've kidnapped you. Tessa: Kidnapped?!? Oh my _gods_!! Belphanior: (grins) Heh heh. You _should_ be scared. Peldor: Have no fear, you'll be ransomed when the time is right. Tessa: (begins to laugh) Belphanior: What the hell are you laughing at?!? Peldor: (looks around) I don't see anybody chasing us. I think we made a clean getaway. What's so funny? Tessa: Ha ha! I can't believe it! Belphanior: (growing irritated) What? Peldor: Yeah, what? Tessa: On the day that I finally run away from home, I get kidnapped! Ha ha ha! Belphanior: WHAT?!? Peldor: I beg your pardon? Tessa: That's right! You idiots! I ran away! Fled! I never had any intention of marrying that clod Sir William but no one would listen to me. So I decided to run away rather than marry someone who I didn't love. Ha ha ha! Kidnapped! That's a good one! I don't even _want_ to go back to Dyvers! Belphanior: Shit. Peldor: Double shit. Tessa: In fact, this is perfect! I'll never make it back there now! Ha! (tosses her idiotically long and bulky outer dress away, leaving a more travel-suitable, normal- looking dress underneath) Peldor: Those things come in layers? Wow, I didn't know that. Belphanior: Quit your gawking. We have to do something! Wait a minute. We can still ransom her - the fact that she ran away from home does not discredit the fact that we kidnapped her. Tessa: What?!? You can't be serious! I don't _want_ to go back! You can't _make_ me go back! Belphanior: Watch us. Peldor: I think- Tessa: NO! NO! (begins wailing) Peldor: Shit, she'll attract the attention of some guards or someone this way. Quiet, girl. Tessa: (wailing and keening loudly now) aaaaaaugh! Belphanior: (gets the sleeping potion and rag out) Tessa: It's not _fair_! I don't _want_ to be ransomed! Belphanior: (puts her to sleep again) Shh. Someone will hear you. Tessa: (now asleep) zzzz. Belphanior: Hmm. Handy stuff, this. (puts the potion away) Peldor: Don't worry, we can still get our money's worth out of this. They'll still pay to get her back. They _have_ to. We have nothing to worry about. Belphanior: Think so? several days later... Belphanior: (looks back) They're gaining on us! I can see the dustclouds in the distance! Hiya! (spurs his mount) Peldor: Shit! Invisibility means nothing if you still make footprints and leave dust in your wake! Besides, how could _I_ have known that Sir William was a really good friend of the fucking king of fucking Furyondy?!?!?!? Belphanior: I don't know, but I think they sent their whole army after us! Hiya! (spurs his horse again) The KING of the whole LAND...!! Tessa: (tied to her horse, yelling and screaming) I could have told you THAT! (looks back) Don't let them catch us, you idiots! Belphanior & Peldor: SHUT UP!!! Belphanior saw the wide river ahead, and the lone ferry at the shore, seemingly ready to go. He also saw the dozen or so Furyondian guardsmen, border guards stationed here in the somewhat unlikely event of a Horned Society invasion from the north. The guardsmen gaped in surprise, as nothing remotely eventful had happened here in months. Belphanior: Fuck...(slows down a bit, and begins making the motions of spellcasting) Peldor: What are you doing?!? Belphanior: Quiet! (casts Chaos upon the band of guardsmen ahead) guardsmen: (immediately begin bickering, arguing, brawling, or wandering about aimlessly) Belphanior: Yes! They've left their barge unguarded! Now we ride on board and cast off! (the wind whips his cloak around wildly) Peldor: What?!? Belphanior: No, wait, I've got a better idea! (grabs his compressed, magical folding boat and tosses it into the water, speaking a command word, and reins in ihs horse) The item transformed into a large boat, complete with sails as well as oars. They boarded hastily, and set out across the river, while the guards milled in total confusion. Peldor: Good job! Tessa: Good job?!? It was an _excellent_ job! Belphanior: I'm not done yet. (gets out his wand of acidic spheres and points it at the big ferry tied at the shore) Peldor: What now...? Belphanior: (drills the ferry with several acidic spheres, and it begins sinking slowly but surely) Heh. Peldor: (nods) That'll teach them to mess with us. There can't be another barge or ferry within miles of here..... We're home free! As they sailed across the river, taking full advantage of the great winds, a large force of soldiers arrived at the shore they had just left. The men tried to board their ferry and pursue the trio, but quickly capsized the ruined boat and sank into the water, cursing and yelling threats. Making haste, the two thieves and their quasi-prisoner reached the other side, disembarked onto shore, and had the folding boat collapse back into a small box. They mounted their horses next, and rode northward, having little idea that they were headed directly into the chaotic, extremely dangerous land of the Horned Society, ruled by the dreaded Heirarchs and patrolled by their mighty humanoid armies... sometime later... orcs: (mill about on a plain, grunting and blabbering) orc chieftan: Okay, c'mon guys, let's get back to base. orcs: (obey grudgingly) orc scout: (runs toward the main group, huffing and puffing heavily) Cap'n! Cap'n! orc chieftan: What? What? orc scout: There's three people coming, from the south! I think one of 'em is an elf! Also a girl! orc chieftan: Really? orc scout: Really! They's still about a mile away! orc chieftan: Heh heh. (gestures to his troops) Men! We is gonna make an ambush! orcs: (let out a cheer) nearby... Belphanior: (his sword tingles) Eh? Peldor: Hm? Tessa: (stares at Peldor) Belphanior: Yo, don't look now, but there are numerous and sundry souls nearby...a few hundred feet away, at least... Peldor: (looks around) I don't see anything. Belphanior: That's probably because somebody is about to ambush us. (sheathes his sword and begins spellcasting) Now listen closely, we don't have much time. Here's the plan... Peldor: (he and Tessa lend ears to the elf) shortly... Peldor: (leads the party of three along the trail, on foot now, as is Belphanior - Tessa is still on horseback, and holds the reins to the other two horses) orc: (appears from a grassy knoll to one side) Hey! Peldor: What do you want? orc: We's got you surrounded! Throw down yer weapons! Peldor: Uh...(silently uses his feathers to haste himself) Belphanior: (raises his hands in the air) I demand to speak with your leader! orcs: (they all pop up from the high grass, about fifty of them; they surround the trio in a horseshoe-shaped line) orc chieftan: (walks forth) Don'tcha make a move, or my troops'll feather you! Belphanior: Are _you_ the leader? orc chieftan: That's me, Sluggo Bloodnose, o' the orcs! (several sub-chiefs gather directly behind him) Belphanior: I see. (puts his hands behind his head) Peldor: (at this signal, he becomes invisible, and uses his boots of striding and springing to leap to one side) Belphanior: (says the final phrases for his Confusion spell and lets the orc chieftan and the orcs behind him have it) Tessa: (holding Belphanior's cube of force in her hand, she speaks the command word that the elf told her about) Err.. Bleemis! (a force cube pops up around her, protecting her from the rain of arrows and spears that is now flying in her and Belphanior's direction) Wow. (forgets that she was supposed to be holding the reins...the other horses gallop away rapidly, though in the confusion of battle, no one has the chance to pay attention) Belphanior: (leaps and dodges about, relying on his great dexterity and his Stoneskin spell to protect him from any lethal shots) Yie! Whoa! Whee! orc chieftan: (confused, brains one of his soldiers) ! orcs: (about ten of them, nearby the leader, also confused by Belphanior's spell, they mill about mindlessly) orc shaman: (the only one in his vicinity who saved versus the confusion, he prepares to cast some spell at the elf) Peldor: (backstabs the shaman, slaying him before he can do his vile deed) non-confused orcs: (charge at Tessa) Yaaarggh! (bounce off of the invisible field put up by the cube) What?!? Tessa: Eeeeeee! (realizes that she isn't in any danger) Peldor: (now visible, leaps aside as an orc charges him) Belphanior: (largely protected from harm by his Stoneskin spell, gets a few minor nicks and scrapes from the arrows whizzing around him) Shit! My stoneskins are used up... (begins thinking about spells that won't take too long to cast) orcs: (seeing Belphanior alone now, and away from the cube of force and Tessa, they decide that he's outnumbered, and draw their swords as they circle him) Heh heh. Belphanior: Uh-oh. orc: (in his foolishness, charges Tessa again, and again is bounced back from the force field) Ooooof! other orc: (fires an arrow at Peldor, but misses) orcs: (thirty of them now surround Belphanior, babbling to no end as they close in) orc sergeant: Heh heh. We's got you serrounded now, elf! Belphanior: (looks about) Yeah, that's one way of looking at it. (casts Mirror Image, and suddenly there are six Belphaniors instead of one) Hah! HAH! Orcish fools! WE SHALL NOW KILL YOU ALL! HAHAHAHA! orc sergeant: Huh?!? Peldor: (uses his wand of darkness to engulf a bunch of the humanoids in total, inky blackness) orcs: Aie! (they begin fleeing in every direction) Belphaniors: SEE?!? (they all begin advancing on the orcs who surround them) orcs: Aaaaaa! (most of them break formation and run) orc sergeant: No! You fools! Peldor: (uses his ring to lift the sergeant into the air) orc sergeant: AAAAAA! Peldor: (hurls the orc away) orc sergeant: Aaaaaaaaaaa.......... <whump> orcs: (those who remain) Get them! (they begin attacking the Belphaniors) Belphanior: (the real one; since he knows that the orcs don't know which images are images, he is able to dodge a path through the ring of foes) Whoa! Whee! Belphanior images: (perish upon being struck) <pop> orc: (attacks Peldor, scoring a small cut in the thief's leather armor) Ha! Peldor: Argh! orc: (misses Peldor) orc: (misses Peldor) Tessa: (safe in the cube of force, looks on, terrified) orcs: (menace the princess, making faces at her, but can't get at her) Blerg! Blarg! Boog! Tessa's horse: (stamps the ground, inside the cube) Neigh! orc: (slashes a Belphanior image, dispelling it) Huh? orc: (slices the real Belphanior) Die! Belphanior: Arg! (leaps aside) orc: (swings but narrowly misses the elf) Belphanior: (whips out his sword) All right, have it your way. Peldor: (slashes an orc, slaying it) That's what happens when you mess with Peldor! other orc: (staring wide-eyed, no doubt in awe of the mightiness of Peldor) Peldor: Well, don't just stand there! Fight! Or perhaps you'd rather flee, to live and tell all the other orcs of Peldor another day? orc: Aaaa! (turns and bolts) Peldor: I thought so! Belphanior: (slashes an orc, killing it and absorbing its life energy through his sword) Ahhh. orc: (stabs at the elf, but misses) Belphanior: (guts the attacker, and gets his life energy too) Ha! At this rate, I could fight the whole mob of orcs! (looks around) Hey! Where'd they all go? Peldor: (faces ten orcs; the rest have fled) To face the mighty Peldor is to face doom, smelly ones! orcs: (charge Peldor) Aaaaaa! Die, human! Peldor: Whoops! (turns and flees, leaping high into the air with his magical boots) Belphanior: (casts Melf's Minute Meteors, and five of the fiery missiles sail toward the orcs chasing Peldor) Hey idiots! orcs: (four of them are hit by the blazing fire-spheres, and either die or ignite, or both) orc: (gets lucky and dodges the missile) other orc: (splashed by the missed missile as it impacts on the ground nearby, his boots are set aflame) Aaaa! (he runs around stamping the ground) Peldor: (turns and slashes a sixth orc, downing it) Ha! Peldor commands the magicks of the ages! orc: (charges Belphanior, slashing wildly, but its blow is deflected by the elf's armor) orc: (charges Belphanior, but trips and falls instead) orc: (chops at Peldor, but misses) orc: (slices Peldor, wounding him) Peldor: Argh! You'll regret that! Tessa: (silently wondering how to shut down the cube's force field) Belphanior: (releases his other five missiles, decimating the remaining orcs) Ha! Peldor: Yeah, hah! (looks around, confirming that no more orcs remain) Whew, what a battle! Belphanior: Yeah. (turns to Tessa) You can say the word to deactivate the field now. Tessa: What word? Belphanior: Garzik. (the cube's field vanishes) Give me that cube. Tessa: (hands the item to the elf) Peldor: Say, do we really want to continue riding into an obviously hostile land? Belphanior: (notices for the first time that only Tessa's horse remains) What the hell happened to our horses?!? Tessa: (looks around) Oooooops. Belphanior: Fuck! (draws his sword) I ought to kill you now and save us all a whole lot of trouble! Tessa: (cowers) Eeeeee! Peldor: (grabs Belphanior's shoulder) Now, now. We need to come up with a better plan than _that_. Belphanior: Fuck, fuck, fuck. Fuck! (stomps on the head of a slain orc) Damn! Peldor: (begins searching the dead orcs' pockets) They eventually decided to turn back and head southwest, out of this land. Since they didn't want Tessa escaping on horseback, they let her walk, too, and loaded the horse up with supplies. Then they trekked in a southwest direction, hoping to avoid pursuers from both the Horned Society (since a number of orcs got away and no doubt warned somebody) and from Furyondy, to the south. a few hours later... Peldor: (spots something in the air behind the group) Hey ho, what's this? Belphanior: (whirls about) Somebody's flying after us! Peldor: Shit, you're right! (draws his sword) Belphanior: Uh...(gets his staff ready) The distant shapes grew nearer, and as they did, it was obvious that they were...blue. Peldor: Blue?!? Belphanior: Crap! The last time we fought someone who was blue, they were- Peldor: - Ogre magi! (uses his ring to push Tessa far to one side, away from him and Belphanior) Look out! ogre mage: (fires a cone of cold at the pair of thieves) Belphanior: (utters a command word simultaneously, and his staff sends an immense bolt of lightning toward the ogre magi in the air) Whee. Peldor: (thinking about going invisible, but has no time) Incoming! Tessa: (lands in some soft high grass) Oof! Peldor: (manages to roll aside somewhat, and is frozen a bit by the chilly blast, but lives on) Argh! Belphanior: (likewise, escapes the brunt of the blast) Tessa: Eeeeeee! (cleverly hides in a bush, out of harm's way) horse with supplies: (roasted, dies) ogre mage#1: (utterly fails to resist the deadly bolt of lightning, and is incinerated right there in the air; only a single item survives the humanoid, some kind of rod, and it falls from the sky to land near Tessa) Tessa: (eyes the smoking metal rod as it slowly scorches the grass it rests upon) Huh? ogre mage#2: (his magic resistance saves him from a fate similar to his late companion) Grazbut! ogre mage#3: (wounded by the bolt, but not seriously) O shizbar! Belphanior: Find some way to delay them for a bit! (he begins casting Vampiric Touch upon himself as the two ogre magi approach) Peldor: (uses his ring to TK one ogre mage into the other, buying Belphanior a short bit of time) ogre magi: (intending to fight from the air, they collide and one dips down to a mere ten feet above the ground) Nik dar shibrah! Belphanior: (takes advantage of this opportunity to run and leap into the air, grabbing a blue ankle and holding on) ogre mage#2: (his magic resistance fails, and he falls prey to the elf's spell, losing all of his energy as Belphanior gains it) Psoooft. (falls from the sky, unconscious) Belphanior: (newly healed, but now falling with the ogre mage) Oh shiiiiiiiiit! ogre mage#2: <crunch> ogre mage#3: (speaks now in Common, to Peldor) I will take the woman. You have invaded our land, and the Dreaded One has commanded that you be brought to him. Dead or alive, it matters not. Peldor: Bah. How dare you speak to the mighty Peldor that way? ogre mage: What?!? (readies a wand) Peldor: Uh-oh! ogre mage#3: (points his wand at Peldor and speaks a command word) Nglik! A forked bolt of electricity arced toward Peldor...but was diverted by some unknown force, and blasted into the ground near Tessa, startling her. Tessa: Yie! (runs for some bushes farther from the battle) ogre mage#3: What?!? (looks at his wand in disbelief) Belphanior: (leaps from the ground, apparently having made it through his fall, and backstabs the big humanoid) Die! ogre mage: (perishes and falls to the ground) urk. Peldor: Hey! I though you were a goner! Belphanior: Nope. I landed atop that fellow (points to the twisted body of ogre mage#2) and survived my fall. Peldor: Well, that's good. Say, let's search the bodies. They found, from the two intact ogre mage corpses, a good bit of treasure: wand of lightning scroll with mage spells 3 potions crossbow bolt bean numerous valuable gems a few platinum coins Tessa: (approaches) Belphanior: Yeah, it's safe to come out now. What have you got there? Tessa: (using a ripped bit of cloth to hold the steaming metal rod that fell from the ogre mage in the sky) This fell from that thing you blasted...also it- Belphanior: Cool. (takes the rod) Ow, it's hot. Peldor: Our last horse - along with the bulk of of our supplies - has been melted... Belphanior: Great. They split up the loot, Peldor taking the bolt, the bean, and all three potions; Belphanior got the wand, the rod, and the scroll. The monetary treasure was split evenly between the pair. They resumed their march to the south, and walked for hours across the grasslands. Peldor and Tessa engaged in much hearty conversation, while Belphanior kept to himself. After a while, a large force approached... armored men: (on horseback, and bearing the logo of Furyondy on their shields) Hold, there! (they surround the trio, and there are hundreds of them) Peldor: Who the hell are you?!? leader-type: (steps forth) Tessa: Oh, no! leader-type: I am Sir William, of Dyvers. And _you_ are in big trouble. Belphanior: (looks around at the dozens of archers facing him and Peldor, bows drawn) So I see. (begins thinking of ways to blast out of this situation) Sir William: Have no doubt that we will feather you where you stand, should you make one move. Peldor: Aw, come on. You're supposed to say "one false move"... Sir William: Quiet, fool. (looks at Tessa) So these two are your kidnappers, eh, my love? Tessa: No! It's not like that at all! Let me- Sir William: (to a guard) Take her back to our quarters in the camp. Tessa: (dragged away, protesting) Peldor: Any bright ideas? Belphanior: (to Peldor) I think we should fight. Sir William: I _heard_ that... Peldor: (to Belphanior) Let's just play along. I have a notion that things might work out okay... The thieves were taken under close guard, and put in some kind of guest tent. The whole affair was rather like an unsteady truce - Belphanior and Peldor had to be careful so that they didn't get shot full of arrows, while the guards seemed to fear the possibility of them attacking (after all, these _were_ the great rogues who made off with the princess right in her own land!) After the pair had been held in the tent for an hour or so, Sir William came to speak with them. Peldor: Look who's back. Belphanior: Yeah, I see him. Sir William: Well, gentlemen, I'm afraid that there's been a terrible misunderstanding. Peldor: There has? Sir William: Of course. My dearest Tessa has told me all about how the ogres and orcs kidnapped her, and how you two brave lads then followed that evil band, ultimately dispatching them to the hells where they belonged. Peldor: She told you about that?!? Sir William: She told me everything. After all, we never got a chance to see what manner of foul humanoids did the kidnapping - all we did was chase them from a distance. It's a good thing that you two brave heroes were around to happen upon the vile miscreants as they retreated into their own land. Peldor: Well, sir, it was our pleasure to rescue her. It was obvious that she was the fairest of damsels, and we couldn't just stand by while those vile scum spirited her away to parts unknown. Belphanior: (staring, wide-eyed with disbelief) Rescue?!? Peldor: Yes! Don't just sit there and let me take all the credit! (to Sir William) He's _so_ modest, isn't he? Sir William: Indeed he is! (claps the elf on the shoulder) Peldor: It was all his plan, to rescue her. Without his spells, there would have been no hope. Belphanior: No hope whatsoever. Nosireejimbob. Sir William: Well, you two are due for an apology, if not a medal or two. You shall dine in Chendl, the capital of Furyondy, with the king and I, no? Peldor: Well, err, umm- Belphanior: (grins) A free meal is a free meal! We'd be simply _delighted_ to go there with you. (begins hatching a plot to rob the king's palace) Sir William: Glad to hear it. (to the guards) Let them go, and give them free run of the camp. guards: (sheathe their swords and unstring their bows) Sir William: Now... Peldor: Eh? Sir William: ...if I could just figure out why the princess is giving me the cold shoulder... Peldor: Well, I think I know what the problem is, if you've got a minute to listen... Sir William: (cocks an ear) Go on. Peldor: Ahem... And so it was that the pair of thieves not only escaped an imminent demise for their ill-fated kidnapping, but managed to twist the facts around, with the princess Tessa'a help (the fact that Peldor may have exercised some of his magical persuasiveness power on the naive young girl did not escape Belphanior's notice, though.) They remained as guests of King Belvor IV for almost a week, and were showered with praise from all concerned. Great tales of the daring rescue attempt began to circulate, and it became obvious to the thieves that they would never be able to follow any thiefly pursuits in this region. Furthermore, princess Tessa had it out with the noble but aloof Sir William, informing him that she absolutely would not marry him because, well, he was aloof. William took it all in stride (since Peldor had already talked with him and prepared him for this) and let it be known that he would seek a different wife. Weeks later, Belphanior and Peldor headed back to Greyhawk to take care of business before their reunion, Sir William returned to Dyvers to look for a new wife, Princess Tessa followed him, to return to her normal life, Belvor IV was tickled by the whole affair...and they all lived happily ever after. Or did they? Peldor: (on the thieves' one-night stopover in Dyvers, he prepares for sleep in his tavern room, which is next door to Belphanior's room) Hm. I wonder what this stupid bean is good for? Eh? (hears a footstep in the hall, and a soft knock is issued from outside) What's this? (draws his sword and opens the door) Hey! hooded figure: (rushes in, and then speaks in a soft and female voice) Hurry, close the door before someone sees me here! Peldor: (quickly closes the door and then boldly unhoods the visitor) Well met, princess Tessa. Err, what do you want at this hour, anyway? Tessa: (blushes) I wanted to thank you for what you did... With a grin, Peldor pulled the curtains closed over his window. About a month later, back in Greyhawk, after training and such things were over and done with... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY (or a part of it; they have split for now): + + + + Belphanior 9th/11th/11th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Peldor 15th level human thief (N) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 12/28/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: midmorning + + Place: the Free City of Greyhawk + + Climate: cold + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Both thieves gained much from their adventure, despite its odd ending. Belphanior copied the scroll's spells into his own spellbook, and also learned a few on his own, as he grew in wizardly power. Peldor seriously considered forming his own guild, since he was a better thief now than almost all thieves in the city, but fortunately the reunion was coming in less than two weeks, and he decided to go drinking in that time instead. Meanwhile, somewhere in the northern reaches of the Wild Coast, future trouble was a-brew... female drow mage: (surveying the town they recently razed, watching in glee as houses burn and people flee) Ha ha! Too bad for these townspeople that they were in our way! huge ogre-type with ten-foot pike: Yeah. (skewers some passing guard) They threw me in jail, can you _believe_ that?!? (hurls the dead man from the pike contemptuously) big red-armored priest: I've no doubt that it took a score of them, my new friend. huge ogre-type: (grins) Yeah. At least. female drow mage: I had heard the legends...of an ogre who was more powerful than other ogres...who reaped elf heads by the dozen... huge ogre-type: Yeah, that would be me, all right. (chops a nearby farmer in half with a single blow) These idiots shouldn't have ever bothered me about those cows I ate... wraithlike one: (floating a foot above the ground, he/it whispers in a hissing tone) it would appear not. tall warrior with skull-helm: (to ogre-type) You are one of the mightier warriors I have ever worked with. With this group, how can there be any doubt? Those adventurers are dead meat! huge ogre-type: (waves his pike in the air) I sure do hope they've got an elf or two with them. Gualgin here is sort of hungry... white-robed man: (looks on curiously, yet silently, from his pale white horse) pale white horse: (looks half-dead...still) female drow mage: Yet, there is one more who we must seek. He...it...is, according to this parchment (waves a scroll about) imprisoned somewhere in the Cairn Hills. tall warrior with skull-helm: Well, what are we waiting for? Let's leave this shitpile town and find this ally! big red-armored priest: What manner of ally are we seeking in those haunted hills, anyhow? female drow mage: One who was forged ages ago by the darker powers of the Underdark...a mortal, bathed in molten lava and encased in alien metal...tempered by hate and fueled with rage... huge ogre-type: Sounds neat. Let's go get this guy. female drow mage: 'Tis no _man_ we seek... next time : a pair of drow get into trouble ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : This was a fool's quest, and I told them that it would be next to impossible. They didn't listen, and this is the adventure they got. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1993 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + + + + Thomas Miller + + tmiller@cimmeria.gatech.edu + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY (or a part of it; they have split for now): + + + + Alindyar 12th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 10th level female drow elf mage (N) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 9/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: afternoon + + Place: the Free City of Greyhawk + + Climate: moderate to cold + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + "You are meddling with powers that you cannot possibly + + comprehend" + + - Marcus Brody + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ CIV. Sanctuary? The party has split into sub-groups to pursue individual ambitions and missions. The two drow, Alindyar and Lyra, have already spent several days in Greyhawk's Guild of Wizardry, and in the library, studying spells and copying all kinds of arcane notes out of tomes and librams. Alindyar: Hmm, what could this be? (holds up a thick and dusty book, which he has opened to a particular chapter) Lyra: What's that? (peers over Alindyar's shoulder) Alindyar: (reading intently) Fascinating. Lyra: What? What?!? This makes no sense to me. What in the world have you been smoking? Alindyar: Hmm...(flips some pages) Yes...now THIS might be worth checking out. Lyra: Do you mind explaining to me just what you're talking about? Alindyar: Eh? Oh, yes. (closes the book, using a finger to keep his page) Of course. This tome tells of a lost archmage and his...hideaway. So to speak. Lyra: So? So what? Alindyar: Oh, come now. Picture this, if you will: many centuries ago, a mighty wizard builds a retreat in the midst of nowhere. He stores all of his magic, all of his items, all of his secrets - everything, in this place. Nothing is heard from him after that. Lyra: Hmm. Could be interesting... Alindyar: Could? COULD? Why, the magical lore alone is worth a hundred trips! We simply must find this place, wherever it may lie, and see what we can see there. Lyra: But how will you - we - find it? Alindyar: (holds up the book he has been reading) 'Tis elementary, my dear. We have the map already. There is one more matter, that of the _key_ to this place we seek... Lyra: Key? Alindyar: ...but that is the thing! I already _know_ where the key is! 'Tis the very remembrance of it as I saw it recently, that struck a chord within my mind as I read this old tome! Lyra: Do go on... Later that day, Alindyar returned to the antique shoppe near the Guild, after copying arcane notes for hours... proprietor: So you're back. Alindyar: I am flattered, for you remember me. proprietor: Let's just say that you're not an easy one to forget. Alindyar: Hm, I suppose not. In any case, I stand ready to make a purchase, of an item that I noticed earlier. proprietor: Oh, yeah. What was it, the cube...nah...uh, the globe...? No...hmm... Alindyar: (picks up a ring) 'Twas this. The drow was holding an unusual ring, a band of silver engraved with tiny runes. This, in and of itself, wasn't unusual, but the stone set into the ring made it unique. A bright green emerald, it was, with a tiny black dragon embedded in its center. Whether this was a bit of metal, a smaller and more intricate stone inside the emerald, or something else entirely (some manner of magical image, Alindyar suspected) was unknown. Lyra looked on with no small wonder. Alindyar: Ah, this is truly a prize among valuable and rare jewelry. (to proprietor) As I collect such odd gems and jewelry, I should like to own this one. proprietor: Yep. Lessee...that'll cost you...uh...ten thousand in gold. Yep. Alindyar: Ten thousands of gold?!? The stated price was three thousand! proprietor: Yeah, well, it just went up. Ten thousand. Alindyar: Why are you doing this? proprietor: Oh, a whim. (looks away casually) I can't just have _anyone_ walking in here and buying things. Alindyar: (flustered) That had _better_ not mean what I think it means. (a glowing red nimbus springs from his left hand) Or I shall be extremely displeased. proprietor: (trembles) Uh... Alindyar: A whim? A WHIM?!? Do you have any idea what _I_ could do on a WHIM?!? proprietor: Err...eight thousand? Alindyar: (looks up at the ceiling) Any establishments who do business like you do deserve to be reported to the Guild of Wizardry and DESTROYED!! proprietor: Agh, not that...five thousand? Alindyar: You are getting closer...hmm, a _blue_ dragon or a _red_, now THAT is the question. Lyra: I'd say red, definitely. Their fiery breath knows no equal. Alindyar: (a small red egg appears from the mists in his hands) Heh heh. proprietor: Egads! You win!!! Three thousand it is! Take the damned ring! And get out of my store! Alindyar: (hands the man a sack of gems) The gems in this pouch are worth at least four thousand in gold, if you take them to a reputable gemcutter. (his egg- illusion vanishes) proprietor: (greedily reaches into the leather pouch, his worries forgotten) Alindyar: (he and Lyra depart) Lyra: What a fool. Alindyar: I think I might actually have destroyed his entire establishment. Lyra: Really? Alindyar: Of course. We are not obligated to deal with bigoted dolts such as him. (examines the ring) Soon, soon...we shall see where this item leads... Lyra: Is it magical? Alindyar: Extremely. They returned to their quarters, and proceeded to set up the arcane rituals described in the book Alindyar had found in the library. As night fell, the two drow were ready to unlock the secrets of the ring. They gathered their spellbooks and other equipment, and followed the mystical instructions and incantations necessary to show them the way to the wizard's sanctuary. Alindyar: Stand you ready? Lyra: Yes... Alindyar: Very well. (holds up the magical ring, and begins chanting, as weird candles blaze with colorful smoke) Klaatu barada nikto. Lyra: (wondering where she has heard these magical words of power before) Alindyar: Shazagran ti'en grak sovik ryleh! There was a bright flash, and a puff of thick green smoke filled the room. When the stuff finally dispersed, the room was empty, except for a lot of extinguished candles... Somewhere else, neither here nor there, total darkness and silence reigned supreme. Until, that is, two figures from elsewhere appeared, their least movements echoing in the place and raising small clouds of dust, clouds that they could not see. Alindyar: Whither did the light go? Lyra: Uh... Alindyar: (snaps his fingers, and a simple spell of light is cast upon the tip of his staff, illuminating the room that the drow now find themselves in) Eh? Lyra: I don't think we're in the same place that we used to be... They stood in some kind of arched hallway, their voices echoing loudly in the high, vaulted ceiling. The hall was long, wide, and high, perhaps twenty feet at the start of the upward-sloping ceiling, and forty at its highest tip. The stone of the place (if it was stone) was smooth and green, a pale green very much like the stone of the ring Alindyar was holding...or had been holding. Alindyar: (looks in his hand, astonished) The ring! It had vanished! Lyra: Let me see. (grabs Alindyar's hand) Where could it be? Perhaps it became invisible... Alindyar: Not a chance. 'Twas here one moment, and gone the next. Right as we were, err, teleported. Lyra: Hmm. It looks like we'll have to find another way back from this place. Alindyar: Actually, anticipating such difficulties, I took the liberty of memorizing the spell of teleportation ere we...left. But, perhaps we should first explore this place, and find its secrets. Lyra: And find out if it really is the old wizard's lair. Alindyar: Yes, that too. The slopes of the walls and ceiling - indeed, the whole architecture of the place - was nothing short of unearthly. Alindyar: 'Tis beautiful! The hall was about fifty feet long, and thirty feet wide. A large double door, of the same green stone, dominated one end of the large room, while the other end was nothing but a blank wall. Alindyar: (points to the double door) Methinks we must go that way. Lyra: Brilliant. (they walk slowly toward the odd door) The double doors were massive, being ten feet high and five feet wide each. One was slightly ajar, perhaps three inches, and it took all of both drows' strength to pull it open another foot. That was enough, though, and they slid through the narrow gap and entered another room. Alindyar: (wondering why neither of them have the Knock spell) The next chamber was divided into two halves by an empty area in the center. To the right was a series of shelves and drawers, some of them open, all of them empty. To the left was an exit, a passage that veered away into darkness. The pair searched the room, briefly, and then followed the winding passage as it slowly sloped upward and rightward. A few minutes later, they entered another hallway, this one smaller than the one they had appeared in. This hall was long and narrow, with several doors on both sides. Also, the main passage continued, rather than ending with this hall; it led onward a short way and then ended in a large, faintly glowing blue stone door. The drow walked over to this portal, as it looked more interesting than the other doors within the hall. The greenish tint of the walls and floor looked really strange next to the glowing blue door. N ___________ W ? E / ___________ \ S / / \ \________ / / \ ______* __________ _| |_ | | | | | / / | x / | | | / door |__________| | | | * blue door |______| / / x entry point | | | | /__/ Alindyar: (examines the blue door) Hmm. Most novel. Lyra: How's that? Alindyar: The portal- magic mouth: (appears on the door) WHO DARES INTRUDE UPON THIS SACRED AREA? Alindyar: Err... magic mouth: TO PASS, YOU MUST PROVE YOUR KNOWLEDGE. Alindyar: What is this? magic mouth: NAME THE MASTER. Lyra: Maybe it wants to hear the name of he who made his lair here. Alindyar: Hmm, I gathered that bit of information in my readings. (to the mouth) 'Twas (whispers a dread name to the mouth) magic mouth: CORRECT. KNOW YE FROM WHENCE THE MASTER HAILED? Alindyar: (speaks the name of a land known only to a handful of learned ones) magic mouth: CORRECT. KNOW YE THE YEAR OF THE MASTER'S ARRIVAL HERE? Alindyar: (quickly gets out his scribblings and notes) Err...um... Lyra: (to Alindyar) Keep in mind the different date systems of the various nationalities... Alindyar: (does some timetable conversions in his head) Aha! (to the mouth) 'Twas in the latter part of the second century, Common Year, which was the mid-eighth century, Flan year, and the early- magic mouth: ENOUGH. YOU MAY ENTER THE INNER SANCTUM, BUT FURTHER TESTS, NOT OF MERE KNOWLEDGE, ARE YET TO COME. The blue door opened, revealing a large spherical room whose entrance was set at mid-height. Alindyar: Never before have I seen a magical mouth that asked trivia questions. Lyra: At least all the studying you did on this topic paid off. Alindyar: Indeed. (he steps into the room, prepared to slide down the curved wall/floor, but instead floats toward the center of the chamber) Fascinating! An utter lack of gravity! Lyra: Hmm. (floats out after Alindyar) Suddenly, three blazing objects appeared in the center of the spherical room. Keys they were, floating side by side in the air, before the two drow. Each of the items was aflame with rich orange fires, and the heat could be felt from a distance, as the drow found out. Lyra: Aaa. That's fairly hot. Alindyar: Now whyever would someone leave three such keys here? Unless...only a single one was real, and the others were illusions. Yes, that could be... Lyra: But which? Alindyar: (his abnormal intelligence enables him to see through many illusions) Hmm. (he concentrates upon the three fiery keys) My formidable experience with illusions will help here as well. Lyra: (looks on, floating) I'll take your work for it. Alindyar: Aha! (all of the keys fail to escape his keen notice, and the flames on one key vanish) Methinks the _keys_ are real, but the flames upon the genuine key are not. (grabs the key from the air) Indeed. Lyra: (spots an exit across the way) I bet the key is sized to fit in that door's lock. Alindyar: (notices some holes in the ceiling, and thus wonders what would have happened had he chosen a "bad" key) The key did indeed open the locked door, and the pair moved into another chamber, this one hemispherical with a flat floor and rounded ceiling. As they entered the chamber, the corridor behind them vanished (!), leaving only a bare stone wall. No exits presented themselves, and only a greenish-black stone pedestal in the exact center of this area provided distraction from the smooth walls and ceiling. Alindyar: (trots over to the pedestal) Hmm. Lyra: Wow. The thing was covered with levers, switches, slides, buttons, knobs - a seemingly endless assortment of weird, alien devices. Already, Alindyar began trying to figure out their purposes and meanings...and before he knew it, one hand strayed to a random lever... Alindyar: YIE! (he is jolted by a crackling nimbus of green energy, which flows from the pedestal and engulfs his body) Lyra: What?!? Alindyar: (falls, comatose, covered in the green field) Lyra: (hesitant to touch him due to the field) While Alindyar's body was engulfed by the strange green energy, his mind wandered freely, as if in a dream. At first, he was floating through a void, but then various things began to manifest themselves. Spheres, rays, and other semi-tangible shapes sailed by the drow's spirit- body. The very void around him bubbled and rippled, at times collapsing upon itself, at other times folding and twisting. He found that, simply by concentrating on the things he saw, he could change their form and motion. back on this plane... Lyra: (notices that the room is shrinking rapidly) By the gods! (realizes that she has no time to cast any spell, even if one would get her out of this) back in Alindyar's mind... The drow struggled to make sense of what he was seeing (hearing, touching?). Patterns and trends began to make sense to him, and he strove to weld them together into a cohesive whole, sensing that somehow, somewhere, time was running out. Lyra: (grabs Alindyar) What the hell is going on?!?! Just as the room was about to blink out of existence in this dimension, just as their physical bodies and items were about to be lost forever...Alindyar gained control. Alindyar: (sits up) Lyra: What?! (looks around - the room is back to normal now, though still exit-less) What did you DO?!? Alindyar: Me? Lyra: What happened?!? Alindyar: (shrugs) I passed some sort of test...I think. Having mastered the mystical patterns of this place, I am now its master. Lyra: What the hell are you talking about?!? That's the craziest thing I ever heard! Alindyar: (shrugs again) Nevertheless, it is true. (he grabs a lever on the pedestal and pulls it) Lyra: No- Alindyar: Observe. The stone of the room changed hue, taking on a deep blue color. Lyra: Eh? Alindyar: There is more. (turns a knob) The room itself then changed shape, becoming squarish in form. Lyra: Wow! You really _do_ control it! Alindyar: (slightly offended) Of course. 'Tis a simple matter, really. (slides a slide, and an exit appears in one wall) Hmm. (concentrates for a moment) Actually... the room we stand in is now the _only_ chamber in this whole place. Lyra: It is? Alindyar: Yes. Via this device (gestures to the stone pedestal) we can construct whatever rooms we wish. Or destroy them. Lyra: How did- Alindyar: How did I gain mastery of this device? I know not...but I do know that the former tenant of this odd place - also the former master of this control pedestal, by the way - left some time ago, and was careful to set up certain precautions. As if to keep out any who would not know how to use it. Lyra: So we passed some kind of test, and are now the new "masters" of this place? Alindyar: For the time being. However, given the magics at work here...nothing is certain. However, I think we are quite safe. (his head is still buzzing from his vision/dream/coma experience) 'Twill take some serious studying, to be sure. Lyra: (still wondering about this whole business) Alindyar found something else, too, some kind of magical extra-planar pocket tuned to the pedestal's general area. He was able to open this space, and recover several items that were cached there. They decided to deal with these later, and examined the pedestal for now. After more experimentation, they came up with several hypotheses about the general nature of this place. It did not appear to lie on an outer plane, but then again, there was no evidence that it wasn't situated somewhere on the Prime Material plane, either. Without windows, it was kind of hard to tell...and no control on the "central pedestal" was able to open a gateway or tunnel to the outside. Thus, they deduced that the only way in or out of this place was by teleportation. This was actually ideal, since only one who had been here before, and could cast that spell, would be able to get in. Then again, who knew what beings had previously been here? They (Alindyar, mainly) also figured out how to lock in settings on the pedestal, such that only Alindyar could cause rooms to change, appear, or disappear. Quickly, a basic floorplan was implemented, with an entry hall, a dining hall, a kitchen, a laboratory, a study, and a bedroom. Furniture appeared in these areas (apparently Alindyar had no control over this, but the place was still devoid of books, food, drink, clothes, etc. - all furniture was empty, basically. Lyra would not be able to use the pedestal to change things, since it apparently tuned its magicks to a single user, and Alindyar was more powerful. The items Alindyar had found were interesting. There was a book, obviously a spellbook; Alindyar found several very useful spells within. There was also a ring (a protective device, given to Lyra), a deck of illusion-bearing cards, a gnarled old staff of jet-black wood, and some high boots (which bestowed the power of flight; given to Lyra). The cards were more Alindyar's forte, and the staff seemed to be a powerful magical item in its own right. More testing would be necessary. After a few days more, they had the place under control. Alindyar copied the spells from the new book into one of his own spellbooks, learning several new and useful ones in the process (Teleport Without Error, Veil, and Non- Detection, among others). This research took longer than expected, and they were only too happy when lack of food and drink, as well as the general emptiness of the place, necessitated a return to Greyhawk. Their hunches were correct, for the teleport spell worked flawlessly, taking them from wherever they were back to the Free City's gates. It was so simple that it was scary. Of course, at this juncture, Alindyar needed some time for more research, within the Guild of Wizardry's hallowed halls. Days became weeks and weeks became months. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY (or a part of it; they have split for now): + + + + Alindyar 13th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 10th level female drow elf mage (N) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 12/29/571 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: early evening + + Place: the Free City of Greyhawk + + Climate: cold + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Alindyar: 'Tis only a short time until our scheduled party reunion. What say you to a week of fine dining and other entertainment? Lyra: Why...yes! (they get dressed up) Meanwhile, in a haunted and desolate tomb deep beneath the Cairn Hills, things were coming to a head. female drow mage: (leading the others, she stands in front of a huge slab of metallic-ore that serves as a door) At last! Beyond this enchanted portal lies that which we seek! (begins casting a series of spells upon the door) two ogres: (bearing torches and pickaxes) Hmph. huge ogre-type with ten-foot pike: (chuckles) This oughtta be fun... big red-armored priest: Indeed. (fingers his mace) wraithlike one: (floating a foot above the ground, he/it whispers in a hissing tone) there were no guards in this dungeon. big red-armored priest: Maybe they all died a long time ago. tall warrior with skull-helm: Maybe someone killed them. female drow mage: Actually, there are no guards because none were necessary. Without knowledge of the one who lies buried here, control is impossible. But _I_ have cast all the right spells, and as the one who frees the dreaded warrior, I will be able to control it. (casts a final spell, and the metallic door slides open slowly, sending small clouds of dust into the air) white-robed man: (looks on curiously, yet silently, from his pale white horse) pale white horse: (looks half-dead, as always) female drow mage: (to the pair of ogres) Go in there and light the way. ogres: (obey, not too worried that anything within might be able to hurt them) There was only a small chamber beyond the door, and one thing dominated the room - an adamantine coffin. It rested on a raised dais, and was covered in strange sigils and runes. female drow mage: (casts another spell, on the coffin) Ha! (points to the coffin) ogres: (obeying the silent command, they proceed to the coffin and prepare to open it) tall warrior with skull-helm: (grasps his sword anxiously and watches) Hmm. wraithlike one: (to white-robed and hooded man) why is the coffin so short? what manner of great warrior is less than five feet tall? white-robed man: (doesn't answer, but just looks at the floating wraith-lord from beyond his hood's eye holes) huge ogre-type with pike: Hmmm. The two ogres opened the coffin's lid, grunting in their exertion, for the thing looked heavy. A most unusual body rested within the metal coffin. It was only four feet in height, but thick-limbed and quite stocky. The thing was armored from head to toe, and sharp spikes covered every inch of the armored form. The helm appeared to be welded onto the torso armor, and had two longer, wicked-looking spikes jutting out from its top. A short, double-headed battleaxe was grasped in the gauntleted right hand, and this, too, appeared to be one with the armor that covered the small body. ogre#1: Bah. All this work to find a stupid _dwarf_! ogre#2: Yeah. female drow mage: (cracks a smile) Heh heh. (to the others) Watch this. ogre#1: (leans over the armored body) Hrmph. Suddenly and without warning, one gauntleted hand shot upward and locked on the ogre's throat, crushing with incredible force! The ogre tried to regain some semblance of balance, but his efforts were cut short (literally) by the axe that decapitated him in the next moment. As the second ogre backed up, the armored warrior leaped out of its coffin with startling speed, and head-butted the ogre in the belly, goring bloody holes in the humanoid's gut. The ogre fell to the ground, but the iron dwarf charged, and like a merciless machine of destruction, hacked the ogre into bits with its axe. After the corpse stopped twitching, the armored warrior-thing turned to face the others. tall warrior with skull-helm: Wow. iron dwarf: (glares at the group, its helmeted eye slits glowing bright red) Rrrrrr... female drow mage: STOP! It is I who have freed you, and it is I who now have the power to command you! iron dwarf: (takes a step toward the drow, but is held at bay by the intangible power of an ancient curse) Rrr! Raaaargh! (it stamps and fumes angrily, and smoke seeps from its armored joints) RAAAARGH! tall warrior with skull-helm: He's a ferocious one, isn't he? red-armored priest: Yes. I trust that we can control his rages? female drow mage: Of course. (to the iron dwarf) As of now, you shall not attack me or these others. We have a simple task to perform, and then you are free to go forth and loot and pillage. Or whatever it is that you do... iron dwarf: (appears to be contemplating) wraithlike one: ...not that there is a choice... iron dwarf: (finally calms down) Rrrrrg. huge orge-type with pike: Yeah, I know what you mean. Shortly, they left the cairn, and saddled up. Except the iron warrior, that is - it appeared ready to run on foot, alongside those on horseback. female drow mage: Fortunately, I planned for this, since I knew that no horse would bear you. (she gestures to a stout wagon nearby, drawn by two horses) You ride in the supply wagon, and we shall ride our horses. wraithlike one: not i. (he floats along) iron dwarf: (jumps in the supply wagon, breaks open a box of dried meat, and proceeds to eat the whole thing with much messiness) Grmph! Glg! huge ogre-type with pike: Heh heh. Party time! With that, the motley crew rode for the Greyhawk region and their "appointment" with the adventurers. next time : the party reunites, and a new quest is found ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : Alindyar's solo adventures were always the weirdest. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE ADVENTURERS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + The various characters contained in these writings are + + copyright 1993 by Thomas Miller. Any resemblance to any + + persons or characters either real or fictional is utterly + + coincidental. Copying and/or distribution of these tales + + is permissible only under the sole condition that no part + + of them will be used or sold for profit. In that case, I + + hope you enjoy them... + + + + Thomas Miller + + tmiller@cimmeria.gatech.edu + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + THE PARTY (reunited at last): + + + + Alindyar 13th level drow elf mage (N) + + Lyra 10th level female drow elf mage (N) + + Belphanior 9th/11th/11th level high elf w/m/t (CN) + + Ged 10th/12th level grey elf priest/mage (NG) + + Arnold 9th level human warrior (NG) + + Mongo 12th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Flint 9th level dwarf warrior (CG) + + Peldor 15th level human thief (N) + + Rillen 12th level human warrior (N) + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Date: 1/1/572 C.Y. (Common Year) + + Time: lunchtime + + Place: the Free City of Greyhawk + + Climate: cold outside, but quite toasty indoors + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + "As a rule, I hate reunions. They only seem to lead to + + more trouble than ever before." + + - Yod Ironbeard, of the dwarves + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ CV. A New Quest The party has engaged in a few months of land-grabbing, castle-building, thieving, fighting, or whatever. As they agreed to do four months ago, they are meeting at their favorite tavern, the Green Dragon Inn in Greyhawk. Rillen: (sitting at the party's usual table) Where is everyone? I hate it when I am on time and all others are late. Mongo: Relax, it's hardly lunchtime. (orders another mug of beer) Flint: Yeah. (begins thinking about what he wants to eat for lunch) Arnold: Yah! (strolls in with Ged) Ged: Hi, guys. Mongo: Hey there! Have a seat and join us for a beer or three! Ged: (signals to a barmaid) I'll have wine. Arnold: Beer! (grabs a huge mug from the bar) Peldor: (walks in) Aw, come on, guys! You know that no party's complete without Peldor! (accepts a mug of new beer from the weary bartender) Belphanior: (trots in, looking relaxed for a change) Mongo: What's up? Belphanior: Not too much. (finds and drains a mug of beer) Ahh. The good stuff. Arnold: Where are the drows? Ged: They'll show up sooner or later, I'm sure. Alindyar: (materializes with Lyra) Yes. And that is _drow_ in the plural. Arnold: Hey! Where'd you combe from?!? Alindyar: Elsewhere. (he seats himself, and motions to the barkeep) Fine white wine, please. barkeep: (hustles off) Peldor: So, what did everyone do? Mongo: Well, there was this tournament, you see, with a million fighters kicking and jumping and- Rillen: Not really a million. (drains his cup) Mongo: It was kinda neat. Ged: Castle Ged is being built even as we speak. Peldor: (looks at Belphanior) Ged: No! Don't even _think_ about trying to rob me! Arnold: Yah! And we foudght some monsders too! Alindyar: We did nothing much. Just a bit of research and a bit of spellcasting. Lyra: That's putting it mildly. Ged: Hmm. Mongo: (gets another beer) Peldor: (likewise) Urp. Ged: So....what did you two rascals do to occupy your- selves for all those cold months? Belphanior: Uh... Peldor: Well, did you hear about the big church robbery last month? Ged: No. Peldor: That's okay, 'cause it wasn't us. Actually, we traveled to new and exciting lands, and met all kinds of new people. Belphanior: And killed some of them. Peldor: But not _all_ of them. Belphanior: No, I suppose not. Well, there's always next time...(sips his drink) Mongo: What in the hells are we gonna do next? Ged: Yea, a new quest is called for here. Alindyar: Verily. Peldor: (talking to Mongo about a magical crossbow bolt that he has) It's a great deal! Mongo: Yeah, I'm sure I've got something to trade for it. Peldor: That gets me thinking...(turns to Belphanior) I have a shield...a magical shield... Belphanior: What kind of shield? What does it _do_? Alindyar: (to Lyra) Ah, that reminds me...since I now have a new staff, you are welcome to use my old one. A staff of striking, it is - a fine weapon. Lyra: Hmm. The conversation quickly degenerated into a bartering session, for those who had excess or unusable items to get rid of. Several deals were made; Mongo bought the enchanted crossbow bolt from Peldor, and then promptly gave it to Flint (actually, he decided that this was as good a time as any to go ahead and give Flint his crossbow of speed and his other magical bolts); Belphanior traded a set of valuable gems to Peldor for the latter thief's magical shield; Lyra took Alindyar's old staff as her new weapon. Everybody seemed happy for the moment. Ged: (babbling to Arnold) ...to the Sea of Dust. Belphanior: (perks up) What's this about the Sea of Dust? Ged: Oh, I was just talking to Arnold here about the lost treasures and magic rumored by legends to be there... Peldor: What's a "Sea of Dust" ? Ged: Well, once upon a time, the Bakluni and Suel tribes were at war. The greatest of the Sueloise archmagi used their powers to bring the Invoked Devastation down upon the Baklunish empire...reducing it to ruins! This is the region we now know as the Dry Steppes, to the north of the Sea of Dust, beyond the Hellfurnace mountain range. Peldor: Wow. Go on. Ged: But the Baklunish wizards, in a bitter last-ditch effort, brought a Rain of Colorless Fire to bear upon their enemies. The entire Suel nation was reduced to a bed of dry ash...which we know as the Sea of Dust. It lies far to the west, beyond the Hellfurnaces. Belphanior: Hear, hear. Alindyar: So this is a desert you speak of? Ged: Worse than any desert. Untold dangers make the place quite inhospitable. Mongo: But why would we want to go there? Ged: The _knowledge_! The _magic_! The _treasure_! For a thousand years, forgotten cities have gone untouched and unexplored by anyone... Belphanior: (a gleam in his eye) Think of it! Peldor: (already planning the spending of this loot) Mongo: Gems? Monsters? These are the only reasons _I_ would want to go! Ged: Monsters aplenty, no doubt. Belphanior: Yep. Arnold: Mahn-sters! Ah-nold stands ready! Flint: As does Flint! Alindyar: (to Lyra) This could be a good opportunity to gain new and unique magicks... Lyra: I hear you. Rillen: (not really interested in this quest, but decides to go with the majority) Hmmph. Ged: Actually, guys- Lyra: (glares at the grey elf) Ged: -and ladies...actually, I've been planning this Sea of Dust trip for a while now. Mongo: Oh really? Ged: Yea. And I have found a guide, one who has actually _been_ there and back! Such a person is of course rare in the extreme, but he lives right here in Greyhawk. He has supposedly been _inside_ one of the lost cities... Rillen: Who is he? Ged: He's a great explorer, perhaps the best there is. Peldor: Well...what are we waiting for? Soon, at the residence (a manor) of one Kiel Morgan... guard: Good day. Ged: Hi there. Ged, of Boccob, here to see Kiel. guard: Begging your pardon, but the boss hasn't been at home for a while. Maybe three weeks. Ged: What?!? I just talked with him a week ago! Or was it a month? Shit. Where did he go? guard: He embarked on an expedition to a jungle far in the south...the Amedio Jungle. Ged: When do you expect him back? guard: Oh, about a year. Ged: Ack! Mongo: What do we do now? Belphanior: (thinking of attempting the Sea of Dust on his own) priestly type: (comes rushing out) Are you looking for Kiel? Peldor: Sure we are, why do you ask? priest: Because I've lost contact with him. I usually scry, to co-ordinate the expeditions and such, and we talk using a magical bowl he has. But I haven't been able to speak to him since two nights past! I fear that something terrible has happened! Ged: Hmm. Well, since we need to talk to him anyway, I suppose that we can go south and find him. priest: Yes! That would be great! I'm sure a generous reward would be due you if you brought him back safely. Peldor: How generous is generous? priest: _Generous_. Peldor: Whee. Let's do it. Ged: We need no reward- Belphanior: ! Ged: -but we can use it to reimburse our travel expenses later on. Mongo: Come on, folks, let's get our stuff packed. They spent the rest of the day outfitting themselves for the journey. Though it was wintertime, it would be hot in the jungles of the south, and appropriate measures were taken. Ged made a useful transaction at the temple of Boccob, trading his ring of shooting stars to the High Priest, Ravel Disander, for a decanter that could produce a constant supply of water. Such was the urgency with which Ged wanted to go to the Sea of Dust (actually, he already had two other magical rings anyway) - and he made no point of mentioning his hopes that the ruined Sueloise cities within the wasteland would contain the secret to recharge his ancient Sueloise fire wand... Also, Ged rode out to his construction site, to inform Deryck that he was soon embarking on a great quest ("This happens all the time, you'll get used to it.") and that the half-elf was now in charge of all operations until further notice. Ged left a hefty sum of money, as well as the lyre of building, with Deryck, to facilitate construction. It was fortunate that Scotty, now the construction foreman for the site, was a regular lyre-player himself... Mongo stocked a goodly amount of rations and supplies in his portable hole, while the magi prepared their traveling spellbooks for travel. Alindyar and Lyra had kept their master spellbooks at their "hideaway", but had all the spells they might need in Greyhawk with them. Belphanior and Ged plotted a course, planning to sail downriver along the Selintan, into the bay. Once the open water had been reached, the party could pay some ship captain to sail to the jungle-covered continent, far to the south. From the shore, the adventurers would follow a copy of a map given them by Kiel's priest friend; this map would take them along the same path that the explorer had followed, and they would presumably find him, or learn of his fate. It sounded like a good plan for a difficult quest, one that would rank among the greatest that the adventurers had ever undertaken - a journey that would either bring great fortune, or swift and merciless death! And, somewhere to the south of the city, the drow mage and her companions waited for the adventurers. next time : sinister forces strike! ftp site : ccosun.caltech.edu, in pub/adnd/fluff/adventurers notes : This episode will mark the end of book 6. It looks probable that book 7 (episodes 106 - end) will wrap up the series. If you don't yet know what will happen after that, check out the FAQ list at the ftp site. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++