On Elephant 15th (8/15), Bremlai, formerly sheriff and now chieftan of St. Orlan, summoned Tienarth’s Raiders. The day before, Jerker and Saul had put on a wild exhibition of a giant python, and they had found that snake in the swamps north of town, a place where they had agreed never to explore again. Fearing his wrath, they sent word to meet Bremlai at their favorite watering hole, The Iron Knight Inn. Tienarth, who was busy crafting a suit of magical armor, gave Jerker and the others a tongue-lashing over their disobedience.
Later that day, Bremlai arrived at the tavern. He was visibly upset. What is the original issue or was it the affront of their refusal to come to him? He furiously explained between coughing fits how their continued meddling in the swamps puts the entire town in danger. He has arranged protection for the town from the marauding armies of the empire with a seemingly small price–that citizens stay out of the swamp. The crowd in the tavern grumbled their disapproval with the band.
Aderian, who had not been to the swamp, stood and delivered a passionate speech about how Tienarth’s Raiders were the genuine protectors of the town. It was an inaccurate statement, for the group had studiously avoided conflict with the armies, even staying out of Slateholm for fear of being recruited (or worse). Never the less, the silver tongue of the pirate won over the crowd. Bremlai fumed. His face became a deeper shade of crimson. He coughed a few times more then pronounced them all fools, predicting doom for the small community if the agreement was violated again. He stormed out.
Plague in St. Orlan
The incident was recounted to Tienarth when the party returned home. The old elf explained why they were to cooperate with Bremlai, including how he represented an easy way to offload treasure. They agreed to attempt a reconciliation the next day, but as they prepared to go to town, news reached them of a plague inflicting many, including Bremlai himself. A few hours later, Tienarth himself fell ill. Fortunately, Nate was at hand to cure him of disease, else the work on the magical armor would have been ruined. The paladin, feeling prideful for his healing ability, encouraged the people of the town to bathe in the fountains in order to cure themselves.
During that week, they agreed to apply Nate’s curative abilities towards Bremlai. On 8/23, he headed into town where he was taken to see Bremlai, laying miserably in bed while attended by two of his beautiful wives. Nate called forth the power of Nebro and cured Bremlai instantly. The sheriff praised the Anointed One. Nate was silent on the conflict between the the official religion and his own heretical creed.
Ominous Events
On 8/24, Leverit rushed to Jerker, breathlessly jabbering about the troll heart. He’d been tasked with watching it where it was placed in a small cage at the bottom of a pit. It had suddenly grown back into a troll, but being inside a small cage, the troll body was instantly mashed into a stream of gore. Following orders, the young guard tossed burning oil into the pit, halting any further regeneration. Jerker praised the fellow for his attention to duty.
Over the following days, Tienarth began enchanting a mace for Nate. And they came to realize that once again, they all dreamed similar dreams. A vision formed of the lady trapped in the capsule now free and leaning at the prow of a ship. A strong sea breeze blew back her silky locks. This encouraged their fantasies of adventure over water. It also drew them back towards the mysteries of Doukreg where that lady still lay trapped.
As the month turned from Elephant to Snake, they suffered a terrible fright. In the early morning hours of 9/7, fire quickly spread across the tents in the homestead field. Sparks drifted in the wind towards the house, but a bucket brigade doused the flames before it was damaged. The tents where the various would-be adventurers loitered were all destroyed. Jerker took pity upon one of the lamenting fellows and soon all 17 of them had hands out. Some negotiation ensued, and they each walked away with fifty pieces of gold to re-provision their camps.
Out of this exchange, the party learned that a cloud of bats was seen just as the fire took hold. This inspired thoughts of arson perpetrated by the vampire Ithusar they’d met months ago in Tosasth. The suspected an attack of rats at the river camp to be his doing as well. He seemed to be a growing threat.
As a hedge against future fires, barrels were filled with water, and Aderian hired two of the campers to concentrate on fire suppression at the rate of 10 gold pieces a month.
Return to Doukreg
On the fifteenth (9/15), a party organized and walked towards Doukreg. Among them were Tienarth, Hocuspo, Jerker, Bart, Aderian, Ollie, Nate, and Ferris. They met no trouble nor even an incident of note over three days and arrived at Doukreg in the afternoon of the seventeenth (9/17). They headed down into the tunnels. As before, Tienarth transformed himself into a golden dragon.
Consulting their maps, Ollie encouraged a re-examining of a room on the first level where a skeleton lay. He edged around room, supposing the skeleton’s placement in the center of the room to be a point of danger. As he crossed the midpoint of the room, a flash of purple energy crossed from one side to the other, striking him. The others saw his stout dwarven body stiffen momentary, as Ollie dreamed of being in a smooth metal tunnel holding a mop. The next moment, he came back from the dream and proceeded to cross the room. The others waited.
Beyond the room was a short tunnel. The spiky form of a loadstar drifted towards Ollie. He called out in alarm and dashed back to join his comrades. As he did, he passed through the room again and again was struck by the purple energy. This time he watched his life play backwards. He remembered the battle with the snakes in the swamp. He saw himself defeating the troll singlehandedly. He recalled fleeing from stinging wasps in an old orchard. Reaching further, he arrived at the exact moment when he decided to give up being a weaver to become a fighter. And he concluded that it had been a mistake. He changed his mind and his history. He became a cleric of some obscure dwarven god instead.
All these visions happened in an instant and were not experienced by the rest of the party. Aderian fired an arrow and Jerker hurled a rock. The loadstar fell into a clattering pile of iron spikes. Ollie was nearly paralyzed in fear. He was now a cleric. The weapons he carried were of no use to him. He felt weaker. Yet, he encouraged the group to press on, to explore more chambers.
The moved west from the entrance chamber, stepping in shallow water to find another chamber where a twelve foot mechanical man stood. It turned to face Aderian, momentarily blinding the former pirate with a beam of red light. The sharp odor of ozone filled the air. The figure held an iron rod and stood over skeletal remains. It screeched, “Intruders! Intruders!”
Following standard battle procedure, Tienarth cast a spell of haste. Aderian, Jerker, Nate and Ferris rushed up to the towering brute. Tienarth joined them, but his dragon claws found no purchase. Bart, the lowly cleric, placed a spell of light upon the monster, perhaps blinding it. The rapid blows seemed to stun the mechanical man momentarily, and just as it seemed to falter it let out a cloud of noxious gas. It had no effect on the dragon, and Jerker and Aderian held their breath. Unfortunately, Ferris and Nate took the poison deep into their lungs. Gasping and clawing at their throats, they both fell down dead.
Hocuspo fired another blast from Tienarth’s wand. The mechanical man stopped moving. No aid could be offered to the two dead companions, except to fly them to Lah to be resurrected. Jerker carried them to the surface with ease where Tienarth, still in dragon form, flew with haste to Lah’s Retreat. Aderian carried the head of the robot, which he’d pried from the body, down to Grubbycheek’s mine. There the rest of the party waited for Tienarth’s return.
Ollie still felt confused an despondent over his changed life. He tried to explain the change, but none could see a difference in him. He found a secluded area of the mine and contemplated his fate. At one point he began to doubt the change as real and instantly the illusion was dispelled. He returned to his companions to announce his return to normalcy.
The Resurrection of Ferris and Nate
The next day (9/18), Lah examined the bodies and agreed to bring them back to life. Ferris, though not particular devout, had always honored the church, though he’d perpetrated several vile misdeeds such as stealing and murdering priests as they slept. After death, his soul drifted to a dim land of shadows where the light of the Anointed One was a distant star in the sky. Other souls wandered aimlessly across the barren landscape. Many times Ferris felt himself melting into the shadows, a worthless afterthought that no one noticed.
As Lah performed the ritual of resurrection, an inky black shadow coalesced before Ferris into the figure of an angel, an ebon figure nearly unseeable except by the outline of muscular limbs and spread wings. The angel whispered to Ferris an offer, a bargain. Back to the land of the living would he travel to resume his life, but now with a deeper understanding of the land of shadows and a renewed purpose. He knew that lest he redirect his life path, he was destined to return to the shadowy land forever and never to the light of the Anointed One. Stretched out on a marble slab, Ferris suddenly opened his eyes and drew in a breath of incense-tinged air.
The case of Nate the paladin was more complex, for he was a heretic to a priest of the Anointed One. He followed Nebro, and while he agreed with many of the same edicts and history of the official church, he did not agree to the absolute holiness of the Anointed One. After death, he found himself in a dark tunnel. He expected a great struggle, for his faith considered death to begin deep in the earth from which a steady climb must be made. Along the way, he expected many perils culminating in a battle with a dragon who can only be defeated by speaking his name. After this, Nebro would welcome his follower into eternal paradise. Nate felt sure he knew this secret name of the dragon, though it escaped his memory at that moment. He resolved to push onward and the name would bubble up into his consciousness along the way.
Time was uncountable. He may have walked for hours or for months, endlessly climbing through dark tunnels. Presently, he emerged from a crack in the earth to gaze down upon a snowy valley. He looked up to see a spire of granite on top of which stood a figure in a white robe, nearly indistinguishable from the terrain. He scrambled over boulders and ice to reach the figure, and as he did he felt a warmth growing inside. A feeling of recognition swept over him and he immediately bowed down to pray. Here was the Anointed One before him, beyond all doubt. A soft hand caressed the paladin’s cheek. “Rise up, my son,” he said. “I have come to bring you back to life in order for you to further my mission.” And Nate knew this was true. His former devotion to Nebro now seemed like a terrible nightmare. His faith in the Anointed One was absolute. He had accepted the true god as his savior and would forever follow in His path.
Nate felt strong, aged hands lifting him from a baptismal pool. His eyes opened and he faced Lah, his kindly eyes gently reflecting a mutual understanding.
Tienarth flew back to Doukreg on the nineteenth (9/19).
End Notes
- Days
- 8/15 Confrontation in the Iron Knight Tavern
- 8/16 A plague strikes St. Orlan
- 8/23 Nate cures Bremlai
- 8/24 Troll heart explodes
- 9/6 Tienarth enchants a mace for Nate
- 9/7 Fire burns down all the tents
- 9/17 Back in the tunnels under Doukreg
- 9/18 Ferris and Nate are resurrected
- 9/19 Tienarth flies Ferris and Nate back to the Doukreg mine
- Treasure: huge robot head
- Combat 3990 xp
- Loadstar 100 xp
- Iron Golem 3890 xp
- Characters 665 xp each
- Aderian (fight, lead) 745 xp
- Bart 732 xp
- Ferris (died & resurrected)
- Hocuspo 732 xp
- Jerker (fight) 738 xp
- Nate (died & resurrected)
- Ollie (underground, fight, lead) 685 xp
- Tienarth (passionate, haughty) 678 xp