The StormWatch Chronicles
As seen through the eyes of Drano Battlehammer
Part 13
Update: 26/05/1998 to drano
Once again, the tale continues....
Indeed, the tale goes on, though now I'm not certain that the original intent
of these Chronicles is the
same. I find that now, much of what these Chronicles say is being read by many
more people in Ravenholt
than I imagined. I only hope it doesn't get me in trouble...
I arrived on Friday afternoon to a delightful surprise; Gabriel had fashioned
a mantle for me to wear. A
blue hood with black trim, which would tell others that I was a leader of this
team. Gabriel and Nork also
had similar hoods. Then, Cynesra approached me. A smile from her furry white
face suggested that she
was amused by something, but she handed me a bundle. The cloth was blue and
black with silver trim. I
excitedly opened it and found much to my delight, a new tabard.
I had just come from the mountain where I had acquired a new shield. The protection
was much lighter
than my old one, but made of stronger stuff, so that it would stand up to blows
almost as well. Delahr had
personally painted my emblem on it which I thought was an improvement over the
old one. So with my
new tabard, shield and hood, I was to be one fashionable dwarf!
I am most grateful and honored that these, my friends, would find the time to
make these articles for me.
The position of leadership is not one I sought, but rather, one that found me.
I only hope to do the team
proud and serve them well. It just makes me wonder... was I that poorly attired
before now?...
After receiving the gifts, we headed up to the Great Hall to welcome the nobles
and greet the other
travelers to Ravenholt this fine, warm weekend. We were exchanging pleasantries
when, all at once, the
doors to the Great Hall became warded with magic, and a booming voice screamed
out at us, yammering
something about us defeating him a year ago today. He wanted revenge and would
take it out on us...
Many of the great magicians and spellsingers of Ravenholt were in the room,
however, so it was not too
long before we were freed from confinement. A good thing they freed us, or it
would have put some
damper on the Commoner's Tourney. A tournament consisting of six parts: fighting,
spell casting, puzzle
solving, presentation of colors, the "hunt", and entertainment. We
were looking forward to some great
competition between members of Bladesworn, the other commoners of town, and
ourselves. One of the
conditions of the tourney, perhaps understood in the title, is that no noble
may participate.
In any case, we took to the field and defeated a few roving minions of evil
before we were truly accosted
by a large group of undead. They poured out of a tomb at the edge of the wood
line far across the field.
Rolling across the field toward town, like a wind of terror, the rotted corpses
and skeletal forms fell upon us
in waves. We had a good fight on our hands, but nothing life-threatening. It
was in a matter of minutes
that the entirety of that assault was put to rest.
The next morning, we woke early to prepare for the colors presentation. "Colors"
is the actual opener of
the tourney and a chance for you to see all your competition. Here, you must
present yourself and/or your
team to a panel of judges who determine the best presentation and award points
appropriately to the teams
in categories from best to worst.
I had thought I could avoid the tournament, as I do not like competition. But
as is my usual luck, War
Dog the Spellsinger didn't show, so I got drafted onto the team. Our six-man
team consisted of Gabriel,
Nork, Bishop, Tempus, Squire Delahr, and myself. We dressed in our best, put
on our sashes, then I was
told to "come up with something". What the heck I'm supposed to come
up with for colors is a mystery. I
don't own any balloons or have any dragons in my pocket, but I have some dwarven
military experience.
So I plan a simple drill in which we form two lines, start them at two adjacent
corners of the rectangular
presentation field, and have them march to the corners directly opposite. In
the middle, the two lines would
intersect, forming a nice cross. Then, when they reached the opposite corners,
the two lines would turn
toward the middle, march there, then turn and kneel. It came across quite nicely,
and we tagged a first
place ribbon onto our breasts.
We spent much of the rest of the day preparing for the entertainment portion
of the tourney, which would
take place Saturday evening after the Feast, and working on the "hunt";
an event in which each team got a
list of miscellaneous stuff, sometimes encoded in puzzles, to acquire. Things
like, a noble's tabard, a four-
leaf clover, and a small lizard. The short and long of that event is that we
placed roughly in the middle,
with no thanks to the Countess, who seemed to be working against us.
We took time to enjoy the fine spring weather and remark about one of the contestants.
His name was
Vincent, a very young lad who had lots of desire and guts. He entered the tourney
without any teammates,
hoping to make a good enough showing in the non-combative parts of the tourney
to win. We considered
helping him, but were as yet unsure whether we wanted to help a rival who already
had the backing of the
Countess of Dragonshire.
Viscount Daramor helped us create an old Capulan tabard by loaning us a ring
of his with the symbol on
it. I then attempted to recreate the symbol on my blue and black tabard. We
were given points for it, but it
"wasn't the answer the judges were looking for". I almost hurt my
brain trying to unscramble a series of
letters like "OLTBRDAEBSAA" to find that the item we were looking
for was "a noble's tabard". Sir
Victdar was kind enough to loan us his.
As I said, in all, we fell somewhere in the middle of the standings on the "hunt".
But another concern
reared its ugly head that would postpone the fighter's portion of the tourney.
A group of men called the
Red Guard were in town to give some deceased members a proper burial. They asked
many townsfolk to
go into the woods to the burial spot to help them "see their comrades off".
I found out later, that those who
ventured up to the burial ground were beset upon by more minions of the otherworldly
being. The one who
had warded us into the Great Hall the night before.
The fighters and caster's portions of the tourney were postponed until Sunday
afternoon, so we set about
cooking up some dinner. Koryon had extremely good fortune hunting the past few
days, so he had a lot of
meat to be cooked. He made a fire pit with some of the others and we proceeded
to have a feast of our
own. I headed down the road to where Squire Tatania, a young Sarr-woman, was
staying with Count
Gareth. She had invited me to share some fine beverage she called "root-beer".
Naturally, I heard "beer"
and had to go. It was a tasty brew, but lacked much of the kick of the darker
dwarven varieties.
I was soon called upon by Delahr. He had come up with a fine idea for an entertaining
presentation. It
would have music, acting, and storytelling... I think I'll call it a "musical"!
Yeah, "Delahr's Musical". I
almost blushed (but that would be very undwarven!) when he asked to use a song
I wrote last year about
how the magic had died. We went to the field to practice once or twice before
the presentation. He unslung
his guitar and I began to sing as a friend of Delahr's sat down. He introduced
her as Jatrina, a stone elf. I
was a little embarrassed to be performing in front of someone, as my voice is
far from the melodious tones
an elf might be used to, but this Jatrina didn't seem to mind and sat stoically
listening.
I've taken a moment to put the words down so that they won't disappear in the
retelling of tales over time:
A long, long time ago,
I can still remember how the magic used to make me sigh.
And I knew if I had the chance,
That I could make those monsters dance
and maybe we'd be safe for a while
But February made me shiver
with every spell that I delivered.
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn't take one more step
I can't remember if I cried
when I heard about his broken pride
But something touched me deep inside
the day the magic died
So bye, bye, kiss the magic good-bye
Cast our spells oh-so well but now that well has run dry
and those good 'ole boys, they drink their whiskey and sigh
singin' this could be the day that I die,
this could be the day that I die.
Now, for two years, we'd like to note,
we'd been livin' in Ravenholt
but that's not a safe place to be.
Well, the jester sang for the Duke and Queen
in a hat he got just for the team
and a voice that came from you and me
And while the Duke was bending down,
the jester stole his horn-ed crown
but before everyone had learned
the helm-et was returned.
And while a archer made his mark,
a young mage practiced in the park,
and we sang dirges in the dark,
the day the magic died.
And we were singin', Bye, bye, kiss the magic good-bye
Cast our spells oh-so well but now that well has run dry
and those good 'ole boys, they drink their whiskey and sigh
singin' this could be the day that I die,
this could be the day that I die.
And there we were all in one place
fighting Primus, lost in space
with no time left to start again.
So come on Drax be nimble, Drax be quick,
better call Anvil and Eastwick cuz'
They may be your only friends.
As I watched them fight the mage
my hands were clenched in fists of rage
knowing no single spell could make the wounded well
And as the flames rose high into the night
to light the sacrificial rite
I saw Primus laughing with delight the day the magic died
And he was singin', bye, bye, kiss the magic good-bye
Cast your spells oh-so well but now that well has run dry
and those good 'ole boys, they drink their whiskey and sigh
singin' this could be the day that I die,
this could be the day that I die.
I met a girl who sang the blues,
and I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away.
I went down to the sacred stone
left the others and went alone,
but the Oracle said the magic had gone away.
And in the streets the children screamed
the lovers cried and the poets dreamed
but not a word was spoken; the Healer's Circle had broken.
And the three men I admire most,
the King, the Prince, and Duke Andros
They caught the last ship for the coast
the day the magic died.
And they were singin', bye, bye, kiss the magic good-bye
Cast our spells oh-so well but now that well has run dry
and those good 'ole boys, they drink their whiskey and sigh
singin' this could be the day that I die,
this could be the day that I die.
Bye, bye, kiss the magic good-bye
Cast our spells oh-so well but now that well has run dry
and those good 'ole boys, they drink their whiskey and sigh
singin' this could be the day that I die,
this could be the day that I die,
Singin' this could be the day I die.
So Delahr comes up with this idea for a musical. It starts with Delahr the Bard
traipsing into the Great
Hall to tell a tale. The tale is of a young hero of epic proportions (played
by Nork, of course) arriving in
Ravenholt. He meets a young wizard (Tempus), hard at his studies, and proceeds
to tell him how he no
longer has his magic sword, as the magic went away (cue song). After I sing
this song, Bishop, playing a
death knight - a great, evil undead power equivalent to a hero of good - approaches
the duo. Bishop, not
feeling he could play the part of a minion of evil, hands the part over to me.
I think he's trying to tell me
something... Anyway, the death knight comes out and scares the duo into another
song called "More Dead
than Alive".
At the conclusion of that song, the hero attempts to destroy the death knight.
Now, I have to tell you, I
trust Nork with my life and there's little that he does that can really scare
me. But there's something about
the way he swung the sword at me - something about the gleam in his eyes and
the vicious grin on his face
- that made me really have to work at not flinching. After a few swings, the
death knight taunts the hero
and, with a few deft swings of his sword, puts the hero on the ground. The hero
bemoans his fate crying
loudly to the world. Who should hear those cries, you ask? 'Tis Cynesra, the
powerful "healer" of
Ravenholt. (Well, we couldn't get Cynesra, so Gabriel played the part... which
you might think is funny in
itself, but if you didn't see Gabriel's rendition of her, you really can't fully
appreciate the humor of the
situation.) The appearance of "Cynesra" is enough to spur the bard
to another song called, "Good Healing".
After searching the hero, she heals him and departs, leaving the wizard and
hero to face the death knight.
The hero says, "Oh no, what shall we do?"
The wizard steps up and throws a series of simple spells. They are called "disarm"
spells as they
temporarily remove an item from the grasp of the wielder. He throws the spells,
the death knight taunts
him, assured of his victory due to his innate protections to such magics. But
as we know, magic is
contained in the vessel of our bodies and is not ever full. The death knight
runs out of protections, the
wizard throws one more disarm spell and the death knight is weaponless. Obviously
upset, the death knight
shuffles away to find another weapon.
The musical was spectacular with particularly splendid performances by Nork
and Delahr. We tacked
another first place ribbon on our chests, as well as a few coins in our pockets.
You see, the entertainment
part of the competition is held before any who wish to view it, so that even
poor farmers from outlying
lands can enjoy some entertainment at no cost to their already depleted funds.
Some of the wealthier folk,
though, found it in their hearts and pouches to reward the performers for their
efforts. So it was with much
excitement that we went back to the cabin to celebrate.
We soon got called upon to travel to a cavern a few miles out of town. Inside
was an egg of chaos that
would hatch powerful minions of darkness that would terrorize everyone. The
Duchess couldn't let these
eggs hatch, so she called upon teams from town to go to the caverns - I think
there were four - and destroy
the eggs. Bladesworn was the first to go; they told us that the eggs were protected
by creatures of chaos
that attacked with teeth and claws, paralyzing their opponents with a touch.
They said that, though it was
difficult, a group like ours should have no trouble with it as long as we left
a group of reinforcements
outside. I guess the idea was to enter the cavern with as few people as possible
so that the creatures
wouldn't be alerted to our presence, then, when that group was tired, the other
could go in and finish the
job. Bladesworn thought we should have no problems... boy were they wrong!
We arrived at the cavern well after midnight. The group consisted of Gabriel,
Nork, Bishop, Koryon,
Tempus, Tristamere, Chastity, Borax, a member of the Red Guard, and myself.
We divided into two
groups - the first group was Gabriel, Nork, Tempus, Tristamere and myself. The
entrance to the cavern
was dark and foreboding, with a strange light coming from it. It appeared that
a glowing fungus
illuminated the cave. We heard some snarling and growling from within and ducked
our heads cautiously
inside.
No sooner did we get in the entrance to the cave then we were set upon by the
chaos creatures. Gabriel
and Nork started to cleave a path of destruction, but were halted as the chaos
beings fought back with a
ferocity like we've never seen. I'm not sure if they can communicate with each
other, but these seemed to
be the "cream of the crop", so to speak. I think that whomever controls
them was upset by the victory of
Bladesworn in the first cave and sent his best to make an example of us.
These chaos creatures were definitely different than the ones Bladesworn described
to us. To begin with,
they appeared taller and bigger than the ones we'd heard of. I heard one of
Bladesworn telling us how he
dropped them with two blows. These took a dozen each of Gabriel and Nork's.
To make matters worse,
these didn't only paralyze you when they contacted your bare flesh; they also
caused other afflictions. Rot,
disease, paralysis, and the rare undead "drain" effect which causes
the recipient to feel tired, his arms like
lead weights, and he is essentially unable to do much except walk.
Undaunted, we thought that maybe the dark ones had put their best foot forward.
Tempus left his sword
and shield behind and splayed his arms apart to unleash magic much like a dog
shakes water from itself. I
heard his voice ahead of me incanting some of the most powerful celestial spells
I've heard. Names like
"Lightning Storm" and "Dragon's Breath" escaped from his
lips like you or I might quickly count to five.
The chamber literally lit up as if daylight had shone its face through the door
for a moment. Chaos
creatures caught fire or fell with electrical energies racing across their bodies,
and we pushed into the cave.
Tempus said, "Well, I can't keep THAT up for long!"
Two tunnels left the chamber we were in, one to the right and one to the left.
We heard snarling from our
right and went that way. We fought our way down hallways and through smaller
chambers until we came
to a chamber of pure chaos. The stuff dripped from the ceiling like so much
sticky yarn, that the room
appeared to be a large web of chaos. I noted that Tristamere seemed excited
all of a sudden.
The creatures came at us from behind and ahead. I held a tunnel while Gabriel
and Nork killed whichever
side of us seemed most threatened. I realized then that we couldn't hope to
live through this encounter
using the same tactics as Bladesworn. I waited until Gabriel came around to
my side again and said, "This
isn't working. At this rate, we'll never reach the egg."
Gabriel agreed so I suggested we stand ground and get the others in here. We'd
forget about the two-team
strategy and go all out. We would have one team cover the rear and the rest
of us would press on.
We called out to the others and no sooner did we ask, then Bishop and Koryon
came in swinging.
Apparently, they heard the sounds of our struggles and were waiting eagerly
to join in the combat. I heard
a number of squishy thuds in the front chamber, then Bishop's voice announced,
"All clear! Go on!"
Tristamere licked her lips and moved into the strands. I thought she would be
hurt by the pure chaos
energies, but the lip licking seemed more... "Lustful" than nervous.
She parted the strands for the rest of
us, creating a path to safety. We went through the chamber and discovered stone
steps leading up at the
other side.
We climbed the stairs and came into a huge chamber lit by torchlight. The illumination
of the many
firebrands was bright, but still not enough to light the ceiling of the vast
cavern. It was then that we heard
some unearthly howling. I thought of an old passage from a poem that read, "Unleash
the hounds", but I
didn't expect anything like this.
Bounding into the room was a gigantic mastiff. Its' fetid breath steamed in
the cool air of the cavern and
drool dripped from its gaping maw. Its shaggy fur was black as night and its
clawed feet click-clacked on
the stone floor. The scariest things about it though, were its red eyes. They
glowed with an inner flame -
the chaos that created it - and it regarded us with an unnatural intelligence,
seeming to wonder which of us
might make its first meal.
Perhaps even scarier, was the fact that we heard more of them coming...
It barreled into us, and felled Tristamere with one mighty claw. I knew we had
to get to her, but Gabriel
and Nork were busy with another one. Tempus tried to distract another one, but
his spells were almost
depleted. I raised my sword as the one that felled Tristamere came at me.
My sword and shield went to work parrying blow after blow as the creature tried
to get its slavering maw
upon my throat. It seemed almost unaffected by my blows, and made a sound like
laughter as its claws
ripped through my armor and into my flesh, but I was able to keep it busy long
enough for Gabriel and
Nork to hit it from behind. I quickly applied healing magics to Tristamere's
wounds and got her on her
feet. We would get only a few seconds rest before others would come; we could
hear them coming across
the cavern. So Gabriel ran to the top of the stairs and yelled for the others.
Then they hit us; another wave of hounds bounded up to us and we found ourselves
hard put to keep them
at bay. Tristamere went down again, Gabriel became "drained", and
Tempus paralyzed when the others
arrived.
Again, Bishop and Koryon dove into the hounds. Blood sprayed everywhere, some
of it ours, but we
were able to regroup again. Healing magics were applied to those afflicted by
disease and paralysis, and
the rest of our reserves were used to heal the wounded. Bloody and battered,
we quickly scoured the room
for the egg before other hounds would arrive.
Reunited again, Stormwatch, though hurting, stood ready for the next wave. Tristamere
rounded a corner
and caught sight of the egg. It was huge beyond belief and black as onyx with
little veins of red chaos
running through it. Tristamere almost howled with glee as she reached forward
and...
NO! I thought! She'll be burned to a cinder picking that up in her bare arms!
But then she was there,
cradling it like an oversized infant and saying, "Let's get out of here!"
We fought off one more wave of hounds and raced for the stairs. Gabriel had
blazed a way ahead of us,
running through the strands of chaos in the room below, relying on his "frail"
form to keep him alive.
Tristamere was right in front of me when we hit the strands and the egg exploded!
The sticky, yucky chaos
goo from the egg covered us. I had a moment to look at her in shocked surprise
as she turned to me and
grinned, "That's how you destroy a chaos egg!"
We rushed to the front chamber on the last of our reserves when another group
of the chaos creatures
entered the room from the other side. We thought we were doomed as we turned
to fight one more fight
when we heard from behind us, at the entrance to the cave, "Stormwatch,
get out of there!" I turned and
saw two stone elves, one I recognized as Jatrina, mighty warrior of renown I'd
met earlier the other was
called Alrond, though I had not made his acquaintance. Jatrina put herself in
the path of the oncoming
horde and Alrond knocked an arrow to his bow while motioning for us to get out
of his line of fire.
Between us, we managed to beat the rest of the creatures and exit the cavern
to safety.
Looking at us, you wouldn't have thought us a bunch of great heroes. You might
have said, "There's a
bunch o sorry lads! Look at the wounds!" For indeed, there were wounds;
Gabriel and Nork almost looked
like Drae elves, so bruised were their bodies. Borax was looking a little ill
from all the gore that fell on
him. I sported a number of cuts and claw-marks, as did all the others.
Through the pain, I realized that this was one of Stormwatch's finest moments.
We stood together through
adversity, and came out alive - to a man. Though we were hurt badly, we were
not beaten, in fact, we were
victorious - we'd destroyed the egg and emerged to fight again another day.
We limped our way to the
Healer's Guild and after, to the Inn for some much-needed rest.
The next morning, Tristamere woke me with her usual panache. She said something
about the puzzles
event taking place in five minutes. I was much too groggy to understand, but
Tempus, being the friend he
is, made sure to get me out of bed. We rushed to the Great Hall to take part
in a tricky round of problem
solving. Fortunately, between Tempus and I, we managed to pull off the competition
and take second
place, though we were watching the blurry words of the puzzles swim by us.
We grabbed a hasty breakfast and muddled through our plans for the upcoming
fighter's tournament. We
hadn't failed to notice that Vincent would soon be fighting by himself against
all the other teams. So we
decided to help the young lad out and give him a team. Borax and
Koryon took up their blades and offered their services to the spry Hobbling,
who seemed quite elated with
the sudden turn of events.
Our team for the event consisted of three people whom I believe are some of
the mightiest warriors in the
land: Gabriel, Nork, and Bishop. The three fight with sword and shield, and
compliment each other very
well from years of experience fighting with each other. We had little doubt
that we should win this
particular part of the tourney, as, out of all our abilities, it is perhaps
our strongest. The real question was
how thee team of Vincent, Koryon, and Borax would fare.
I never seem to get used to them. Watching Gabriel, Nork, and Bishop fighting
inspires awe in me every
time I see them. They quickly, and sometimes brutally, took apart their opponents.
Team after team came
against them, and team after team failed to keep them from their inevitable
victory. Perhaps even more
impressive, due to their relative anonymity, was the fighting prowess of Borax
and Koryon. Vincent would
pick an opponent and press them mercilessly while Koryon would stand strong
against two other
opponents, allowing Borax to rain blows upon them from above. Borax's long arms
and skill with a pole-
arm make him a truly dangerous adversary, and Koryon's ever-increasing skill
in battle, make him an
opponent to be reckoned with. The fighter's tournament ended with Stormwatch
taking first place and the
underdog team of Vincent took a respectable tie for third. We were very happy
with our success, but the
time for celebration was not yet at hand.
The caster's tournament was to happen soon.
Tempus and Delahr were to be our two casters for this event. These two warrior-mages
have trained long
and hard for many years now and while each is a master of Celestial magics,
they both also have taken time
to learn the basics of Earth magic. There are few allies I'd rather have.
Tempus has undergone a bit of difficulty in the past few months, but he seems
to be master of himself once
again. Watching these two mages is like watching a bizarre, but graceful dance.
They weave their magics
while dodging the spells of others with practiced ease, and the vision is something
elegant, yet exciting.
I'm glad I got the chance to watch it one more time before Squire Delahr heads
for Knighthood and forgets
what it was to be Lioncourt. what it was to be the three templars. I wasn't
able to see much of the event,
however, as Gabriel came to me.
Grabbing my shoulder, he said, "We need you. The Joyous Guard needs us
to help them. There's Vastan
now."
I've never had the opportunity to speak with Vastan. He is a man of slight build
- almost elf-like in
appearance - but perhaps the finest swordsman in Ravenholt history. I remember
watching him fight once.
He stood poised, perfectly still, until his opponent gave the slightest opening.
Then he moved in a blur and
quickly decapitated the foul monster with one swift stroke.
A short time ago, Vastan was called upon by the Joyous Guard - a group of lawful
warriors who try to
protect people from the forces of chaos - to be their leader and lord. He took
the position and I haven't
seen him since. until now.
Gabriel led me over to where Nork, Bishop, Koryon, Chastity, Corwyn,
and an unfamiliar white Sarr were gathering to help Vastan. I vaguely heard
Vastan explain that we needed
to recover a flower from a cavern long-abandoned by the living. He explained
further, that this would take
some effort, as many of these caverns are guarded by the undead, and items of
import, such as flowers that
live long past their normal lifetimes in absolute darkness are just trouble
waiting to happen.
I was trying to explain to Gabriel that the ordeal at the egg-chamber
from the previous evening had left me mostly drained of spells, but he would
hear none of it. I wonder at
the seeming frivolousness of elves. Gabriel, no matter how tired or depleted
of energies, is always ready to
throw himself into danger. I suppose that's why he's a hero.
I had lent my sword to Nork, who had broken his, as he is wont to do. So I looked
to Delahr for a blade.
He was entering the spell casting competition, so he gave me his. A fine blade
it was, balanced well for
one of his height, and coated in silver to harm the skeletal minions of evil.
I took it gladly, with many
thanks, and hastened to join up with the others.
Vastan looked at us all gravely, then with a flourish, swung his sword in an
arc, so quickly that a magical
portal opened. We stepped through into.
.dim light lit the chamber. We stood on a platform overlooking a lake of bones,
interrupted only by
small floating islands of rock. I surmised that one could feasibly jump from
stone to stone in order to cross
the lake, but the trip could prove dangerous as the rocks really seemed to be
floating and were not all that
sturdy. Mind you, I love rock. It's solid, hard, and can be trusted. It can
be made into weapons, houses,
forges, or tools. It does not, however, make a good floatation device.
Gabriel skipped onto one rock, then another, quickly followed by Nork. They
were using the stones as
jumping platforms to reach another solid platform across the vast chamber. I
watched the platforms rock
uneasily under their weight as they began to sink into the lake of bone. Apparently,
there were more than
one solid outcroppings of rock along the edges of the room. One could get to
them by hopping across the
lake of bone on the stone platforms.
Just then, Gabriel called out from across the chamber, "Look out!"
Emerging from the depths of the lake rose a skeletal form. Flesh dripped from
its rotten carcass as it
slogged through the bones to get to us. In one bony claw, it gripped an old,
rusty sword and it looked at us
intelligently, though the eye-sockets contained nothing but maggots. Koryon
and Corwyn moved to
intercept it while Gabriel hopped quickly back across the room to help. The
skeleton fell quickly to the
onslaught of blades, but others were surfacing from the depths.
Nork shouted from a stable platform across the room, "I've found what appears
to be a map on the floor.
It looks like we need pieces to make it complete, though."
So our course became clear; we had to comb the room and find the pieces of the
map while fending off
hordes of skeletons and zombies. After recovering the pieces, someone had to
assemble them in the map
on the floor. Chastity hopped over to the map to do the assembling while Bishop,
Koryon, and Corwyn
took up positions on the few stable rocks there were in the room. The Sarr-woman
and I backed-up the
warriors while Gabriel and Nork set about finding the pieces of the map.
A long, but light, battle ensued during which landed by the walking corpses
landed few blows. The
strikes by Stormwatch's finest were felt a bit more. Bone shards flew as blow
after blow landed on the
undead forms.
Soon, Chastity called out that she'd finished the puzzle. A previously concealed
door opened near her and
we hastened to go through it.
The next cavern we came to was similar to the last, except all the "floating"
rocks were much more solid,
and I felt it was possible to stand on them without fear of them tipping over.
No sooner did we enter the room, though, than a dark and frightening figure
emerged from the darkness
across the room. I think I might have described them earlier. It seemed ironic
that I played the part of one
in the musical the night before, but surer than %^&*, a Death Knight stood
before us.
It seemed to float on the lake of bone; its bony feet never touched the surface.
A wave of fear emanated
from its decaying form as it raised withered arms from the confines of its tattered
cloak. Here I saw the
difference in the one I portrayed last night, for I held a sword while this
one began casting spells! Its voice
was a rasping sound like a sword on a whetstone. Then I heard it casting the
most hideous of spells - the
Death Spell. Its' red, glowing eyes centered on Bishop as balls of utter darkness
left its outstretched hands
and headed right for my dwarven companion. Bishop appeared undaunted, however,
and leapt deftly,
hopping over spell after spell. The ebon orbs impacted on the stone beneath
Bishop's feet time and again
until the Death Knight gave pause. Thinking the Knight out of Death Spells,
Bishop raised his sword.
and was struck by one last nightmare orb. He fell heavily to the floor, a loud
thud in the otherwise silent
room.
Then everything happened at once; Koryon and Corwyn headed directly for the
Death-Mage while
Gabriel and Nork hastened to come at it from behind. Chastity moved swiftly
to provide powerful healing
magic to Bishop's still form. I checked our other companion and fretted about
what to do. I had no
powerful magics against the undead left; a healing spell or two were the last
of my reserves. My sword was
useless against the magical form of the spell-casting revenant. Or was it.
The Death Knight launched spell after spell at the nimble forms of my companions
as they sought to
surround it and strike it from all sides. Koryon was the first to land a blow,
quickly followed by Corwyn
with spell and sword. No sooner had they hit it then it turned and paralyzed
them with magical bolts from
its hands. Gabriel and Nork saw the problem - these beings were affected only
by magic weapons and as
we hadn't seen one since the great tragedy of yesteryear, we were hard put to
land a blow on the magical
hide of this denizen.
There is a spell, a Celestial spell, called Enchanted Blade which, when cast
on an individual, allows them
to swing a normal weapon as if it were magic. once. The spell can be cast at
any time, remaining upon
the recipient until such a time as that recipient feels the need to use it.
That time was now. Gabriel and Nork had had multiple Enchanted Blade spells
cast upon them at some
time or another, and they expended them with a vengeance now. Blow after blow
struck the Knight and it
reeled from the fury of the strikes, unable to recover enough to cast a spell
in retaliation. Just as the two
mighty heroes expended the last of their magic swings, Bishop, having been revived
by Chastity, went after
it. A bundle of black leather and glistening chain mail, he leapt onto the rock
platform directly adjacent to
the Death Mage and began a flurry of enchanted swings of his own.
I began to worry that we didn't have the necessary strength to stand against
this formidable foe. Gabriel
and Nork had used all of their blade spells, Bishop was quickly using up his,
and Nork was desperately
using magical scrolls in an attempt to stop the monster and destroy it. I had
only one Enchanted Blade
spell, myself, but I didn't think that my feeble attacks (compared with those
of Gabriel, Nork, or Bishop)
would be effective.
But then I remembered a gift. Tatania had given me a vial of some potent magical
fluid a few months
ago. She said it was a coating for my blade.
"It will allow you to cause great damage to an enemy," she said with
an impish grin, "but it will only work
once before it rubs off and becomes useless, so make that blow count!"
I quickly reached into my pouch and pulled out the vial. My hands shook as I
removed the stopper. I
could see Bishop dealing the last of his enchanted blows as Nork used up almost
every scroll he had. The
black viscous substance dripped from the tip of my sword and where the droplets
fell upon the stone, little
holes formed.
I took a hesitant step, then leapt onto a nearby platform. I looked down for
just a second and saw the lake
of bones beneath me. I shuddered once, then thought, "I'm needed."
That phrase repeated in my head,
giving me the courage to jump hastily to the next rock, making my way to the
Death Knight.
The undead mage turned to and fro, unable to decide which target would be next,
but assured of its
imminent victory. Bishop had used the last of his mighty blows and nearly taken
down the creature, but
was retreating without any way to harry the beast further. Gabriel looked ready
to fight on but knew it was
hopeless, as he hadn't a magical weapon with which to strike the foul thing.
Koryon and Corwyn stood
paralyzed by the effects of the Death Knight's spells, frozen masks of horror
or fear displayed on their
unmoving faces.
Then Nork read a scroll and threw a spell of fire at the mage. It turned to
deal with this new threat and
never saw me coming. I spoke the words that would release the mystical energies
of my Enchanted Blade
spell as I swung my coated blade at the undead mage's head. In slow motion,
the head came free from the
body and flew through the air, a parody of a smile on its lipless mouth, as
it sailed across the room and into
the lake of bone.
Then time regained its usual speed and the body slumped to the rock platform
upon which I stood. As
Gabriel looked at the body and recovered its spell-book, a bright sound, as
of a horn, sounded from the
middle of the room. There, on the central platform, appeared the most beautiful
flower I've ever seen. I
felt the power that radiated from the flora as we regrouped and prepared to
exit. Nork bent down and
gathered the plant gingerly in his hands, lifting it high in reverence and awe.
Then, we carried it and the
paralyzed members of our party out of the cavern.
We exited the portal to face an anxious Vastan (If you can picture Vastan looking
anxious) who gently
took the flower and thanked us for our help. He said he had to gather another
group to acquire another item
of power, but though we offered our assistance, he declined politely stating
that too much magical travel
could scramble a fellow's brains.
We made it back to the tournament just in time to watch Tempus and Delahr win
first place in the caster's
competition. Elated with our success, we thanked the other competitors for their
sportsmanship - they
were all fine casters and warriors - then retired to the cabin for some much-needed
grog.
The only thing left to the competition was the superlatives. Each group had
to come up with things like
the best goblin joke, the best impersonation of Houlie (a gypsy well known for
being a champion bear
wrestler), and the best short epic poem. I chose to step forward with a short
dirge to Northstar, a friend of
old that had died this past year - a swashbuckling hero, ladies-man, and hero
whose funeral I had missed. I
have fond memories of him though I only spoke a few words to him; "Down
again, eh?"
This is the dirge as I recited it, in remembrance of Northstar:
Here I am, lost in a wind
Round in circles sailing
Like a ship that never comes in
Standing by myself
Sing a sad song for a good lad
Sing a sad song for me
A sad song for the sailor
A thousand miles from the sea
I hope he can hear it.
In all, we ended up winning the Commoner's Tourney. A prize of many items was
ours, a veritable
bundle of weapons, armor, shields, potions, and scrolls to be divided by our
team. The prize was not what
thrilled me to the heart, though. My prize was in being a part of something
greater. I was part of a team - a
group that fought, sang, played, acted, toiled, bled, and laughed together.
A family of diverse peoples
forming a bond of companionship that I so desperately need.
This called for a celebration! But the celebration was not to happen yet.
The Duchess called the entire town together to stave off an attack of some great
evil. Borax was marked
and chosen to join a group of almost forty other people to travel a short distance
out of town to a ruined
keep. There, they would confront the evil being who had warded us into the Great
Hall two nights ago.
Other townsfolk, including Tristamere and Chastity, were powerful casters of
ritual magics and would
perform some spell of binding in a magic circle centered in the fields. The
rest of us would have the job of
guarding them.
Many groups from Ravenholt were chosen to guard various sides of the circle.
Stormwatch was chosen,
for our unique ability, to flank incoming chaos creatures. The Duchess ordered
us to join her court and, as
one, we would aid whichever part of the circle needed it.
I got to meet the Duchess herself, as well as some mighty heroes of her court.
There was Aleena, personal
bodyguard of the Duchess and Celestial Mage extraordinaire, Tavoc, the mountain
of a man who wields a
two-handed sword as if it were a plaything, and Sir Grim, a friendly knight
- not something I see every day.
Gabriel chose me, again, to accompany this roving engine of destruction on its
rounds. I had little time to
bemoan my fate, though, as the hordes of chaos creatures began swarming us.
Dark, hideous creatures like
the ones we fought in the cavern of the egg last night assailed us from every
direction. There were some
especially tough ones though, that were unaffected by weapons and most magic.
These came on toward the
circle until we figured out that they were affected only by healing spells.
One small healing spell would
destroy their chaotic bodies in an instant.
They were hitting one side of our defenses particularly hard, so we formed a
line there. I took up my
usual place behind the line where I can see more of what's going on and warn
my teammates appropriately.
Here, Aleena and I met each other numerous times as we apparently shared the
same position on our
respective teams. We passed each other continuously as we floated back and forth
along the line offering
healing and celestial spells where needed. I would occasionally jump into the
main line to hold it while the
mighty warriors repaired their armor or received healing away from the press
of combat.
At one point I fought beside the Duchess herself as she hacked and hewed her
way through the unnatural
foes. Then, one of the powerful ones charged the line. It came right for us
as blades fell upon it from all
sides. But the blades didn't pierce its hide, so I prepared a spell. It walked
directly toward me as I reached
out a hand, standing fast in the face of such a formidable opponent. Here, I
was in my element. It came on
without stopping until it reached my hand and I released a healing spell directly
into its chest. It stopped
cold and looked at me in surprise as its body convulsed and its skin boiled.
Then, it was no more than a
puddle seeping into the ground.
I turned quickly to pull out of the main line and let an able warrior in when
I saw Aleena on the ground.
A stray spell had hit her and chaos bubbled from the wound that it inflicted.
I reached down and
summoned up more healing focusing the magic directly on the wound. The blackness
poured out of the
wound as it closed and her eyes fluttered. She hopped up, ready for more, and
looking for her Duchess.
That done, I moved along the line to where I saw Malace. He was casting reflective
spells on warriors in
the front line so that when they were hit by stray spellfire, it turned the
harmful magic back on the caster.
Just then I saw a hole open up in the line and I thought that a creature might
try to rush in. So I quickly
moved to fill the gap and found myself standing next to the mountain called
Tavoc. He was bloody and
bruised but seemed to be enjoying the fray as he said, "Oh good! A shield!"
The huge man stood just behind my shoulder and, as a chaos creature would rush
me, I would ward off its
blows while Tavoc cleaved it to pieces with a sword that stood a good foot taller
than me. A shorter man
could not effectively wield such a weapon, but the giant made it look like swinging
a dagger around in his
mighty ham-fists.
The battle was over in a matter of hours, and we had weathered it without a
casualty, but the forty heroes
who had gone to the cavern to confront the evil one, were unsuccessful in their
endeavor. He had escaped
to terrorize us another day.
Sweaty and tired, we headed for the cabin for a beer. Bishop went into his private
stock and found
something he called Thunder and Lightning. A mighty brew that only a strong
drinker could handle. Some
others joined our party - Jatrina the stone-elven warrioress, Aleena the Duchess'
bodyguard, Garth the
barbarian warrior, and Brendel Poundstone, a dwarven warrior and craftsman.
We all began drinking and reveling in the weekend's victories. Many stories
were told as the fine brew
passed our lips. But we were missing something, as the drink wasn't as potent
as it might have been. So
we sought out Tatania for some assistance. Our travels took us to the tavern
where the group happily got
intoxicated. We laughed over stories as ale flowed until we heard a knock at
the tavern door. There, we
saw a young lad from Dragonshire that we've had a laugh with in the past. So
it was with some mirth that,
when the tavern keeper asked who it was, and the lad announced "Dragonshire",
that Tempus shouted from
his mug, "PISS OFF!"
That was when the Countess Altair came into the tavern.
It is with some relief that, in her spirits, she decided that the remark was
in fact not insulting. She let us
continue our drunken revelry in happiness without reprimand as we giggled delightedly
into our mugs.
We had had enough of the confines of the tavern, and the warriors among us decided
to try their hands at
some brawling with whatever poor goblins happened by town. As we crossed the
field singing and chatting
contentedly, Malace and members of Eastwyck stopped us. Malace reached out and,
through magic
removed the drunken state from the mind of Koryon.
Rightfully upset, Koryon hrumphed off into the darkness followed by Bishop.
I asked Malace why he would do such a thing, as it is generally considered offensive
and in bad taste to
cast spells on other townsfolk. He only looked at me sadly. Then, he reached
out and took hold of my
hand. He drew it to himself and placed it upon his stomach where I felt the
all too familiar warm, sticky
substance.
Malace held my hand to his bleeding body as he said, "Chaos. I need your
help."
I drew my hand back and shouted for the team. In retrospect, I'm sorry I did,
but the situation had startled
me sober, and I felt panicked. Malace had been nothing but kind to me but here
he was asking for help. I
realize now, that I overreacted to the situation and shouldn't have yelled,
but I felt unnerved. In any case, I
would later apologize to Bishop, especially.
The team quickly gathered for the world's shortest rescue trip.
Apparently, Malace was asking us to help get another chaos egg, but the map
to the cavern where it was
secreted was unfinished. So we shed our gear once again and went in search for
more beer.
The next day, as Bishop got over his hangover, we held a short meeting for Stormwatch.
One of the
topics was membership for Tristamere. She'd been traveling with us for some
time and I felt she had
shown every aspect of a valued team-member, nay, family member that we looked
for. The decision was
short and unanimous - Tristamere is now a member of Stormwatch.
A funny thing happened then. I was wandering down the road past the Eastwyck
cabin when Malace
called me over. He had a small yellow feather and a piece of wire in his hands.
He spoke riddles to me as
he affixed the feather to my pouch. I'm not sure what the significance is. I
figure it's either a luck charm, a
magical protective, or a curse. knowing Malace, it could be any of the three.
But there it is, hanging from my pouch as I take a long pull from my mug and
wonder.