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Author Topic: "He came from below" by Vyl'iath Ezra  (Read 120 times)

feniox

"He came from below" by Vyl'iath Ezra
« on: May 03, 2005, 04:13:00 pm »
Today saw the first, of what I am sure will become my long list of great deeds, occur. In fact, I was so pleased with this day, I decided to chronicle it, despite my hatred of writing, so this will be short.

Perhaps I should start at the beginning. After I left the temple of my Lord, I travelled for several days, and then awoke to find myself before a Dragon. After exchanging words with this dragon and being told the “mission” he has “chosen” me for, I passed into a city called Hlint, a small town with meagre defences, although it seems to be a trade post, and gathering place for all the sorts of adventurers that dwell in this land.

Not much of note happened then for a while, thanks to the years I spent in the temple and its surroundings I adapted to the light quickly, its painful rays no longer sear my skin and irritate my eyes, it is still and annoyance, and I miss the dark, but it is a bearable existence. I spent my first days in this place running errands for the local merchants and the like. As much as I despise the thought of being an errand boy for humans and surface elves, they pay well and my gold has enabled me to pay for a blade of the highest quality Dwarven iron.

Anyway, to the point in hand. Today was most glorious! It started out much like any other with me cleaving my way through the local lowlife as a way of finding amusement and spilling a little blood. People find it most favourable here for adventurers to “keep the roads clear of marauders” which has fast become my favourite reasoning for my actions, I cannot imagine they would take kindly to me telling them I kill for pleasure, much to “evil” for the pathetic collection of do-gooders that inhabit this land.

I have strayed from the point again…as the day progressed I joined a group of adventurers forming in Hlint, I do not know any of them, although I have seen a few of them around. They had decided to launch an invasion upon the blood clan lizard men who live to the east. I found this quite intriguing considering the size of the group, and that the lack of fighters and decided to follow along. They could provide me with an excellent bodyguard and at the very least, I could take some pleasure in seeing  their foolish deaths up close. However, the group proved to be more powerful than I was expecting, but fearful. The strength of some of the warriors was outweighed by their fear of death, it soon became apparent I needed to lead them a little more than I had tried to do until this point.

We were about the head into the very depths of the leaders lair when a discussion arose amongst the group, a bard named Geir, a nice enough man, but his caution could be mistaken for fear. He was obviously disheartened by the death of his brother shortly before, he wanted to turn back, but I persuaded him otherwise. I told him that a few of us would fall, but for the survivors the glory and the reward would far outweigh the loss. In the end they reluctantly followed me into the beasts lair, and there we did battle with the warlord. All the group fought valiantly, and one of the wizards fell, I do not recall his name, it matters not, although the others seemed a little dishearten still by this, at one point I thought they were going to flee and abandon me there by myself! Then it happened, I delivered the fatal blow to the lizard man warlord. I will not claim to have done it alone, the entire group played there part, but all the same, the fatal blow was dealt by my hand, and it is my sword which carries the stain of his cold reptilian blood. I yelled a cheer of glory as his body fell before me like a sack of potatoes, then I struck the head clean from the corpse and we fled back to the town using the cover of invisibility.

As glorious as this was, it was not the only thing that happened. Shortly after our return, our group went into the haven mines. We were being led by a powerful warrior named Cassius. All went well and the ogres toppled easily, until we came across a creature that even a seasoned warrior like he had not seen before. They fought hard, and died beautifully, but they were stronger than we imagined and it was not long before Cassius fell. After this, I and the remainder of the group discovered an ogre in a cell who spoke to us. He told us that a new ogre had taken over, killed the old tribe and imprisoned him there, he was so scared he opted to remain in his cage rather than face freedom and the wrath of the “ogrillion”.

We could not go on alone, it was decided to return for help, and help we received! Many warriors came our cause, including the legendary figure known as Gloin, the town smith and Dwarf who forged my blade. It was not long before we had reached the bottom and all the ogres lay dead, although what puzzles me is that this powerful leader was nowhere to be seen, which makes me wonder if he somehow fled and plans to return sometime in the future, perhaps to exact a revenge on the town of Hlint, or on Haven castle? I will keep my eyes open and my blade ready.

That is enough words for now, I tire of writing, and this has been documented well enough for the time being. I need to rest my eyes and weary arms. I pray that my lord will provide me with a day as prosperous as this tomorrow!
 

feniox

Entry 2
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2005, 10:54:00 am »
I sit here beside this window and look out over the waters of the Hampshire docks, I was lucky to get a room in this lodge, the people do not like my kind around here, they fear us, and rightly so! But I was fortunate enough to pass without them seeing my face, or any part of my flesh, I am fairly confident that they know nothing of my origin, though I keep the door on its latch all the same.

 The events from last night still stand vividly in my mind, and I think it best that I make record of them, lest I forget something important if I need the information again.

I turned up at the arranged meeting place on the docks and prepared to await the noble who had requested an escort, and am loathed to think I lent my services to a human noble, but at the same time, the benefits outweigh the humiliation of it all, and had I not, I would not have stumbled into the situation that I did.

It started out normally enough, I sat on the docks with another, a common mercenary by the name of Cole norseman. Shortly after the rest of the adventurers arrived, quite a varied group it was as well. I found  myself in the company of a halfling girl, a surface elf, and worst of all…a paladin of rofirein. I did not reveal myself as a priest of Baraeon, I am sure it would not bode well with such a character, fortunately enough, he did not press on the issue, neither did he take long to decided he trusted me.

We started to grow impatient by this point, the noble was certainly taking his time, although I am sure he was only doing it to prove a point that he was in charge. When he did arrive, we introduced ourselves to him, and he appointed Tobin the paladin as his “captain” for the trip…the paladin! But, in to give him credit, he led us well. I think this Tobin will rise in power and may even one day be a strong leader for the forces of rofirein, if he lives that long…

After being appointed our duties we set sail for point harbour. It was up to me to stay at the rear of the group and use a bow to ward of possible attackers. Whilst the back of the group is a fine place to be, I despise using missile weapons when my sword is perfectly good, and craves blood! All the same, I stayed where I was told, I did not want to cause disruption at this point.

The trip itself was fairly uneventful, only once were we attacked…a chance encounter with a group of mercenaries camped in a forest we had to travel through, the group fought well and they were dispatched quickly, although it was not without myself and two others being blinded by some foul trickery.

A little further down the road our employer stumbled and collapsed on the ground, his leg was twisted and sore. Once again I did not mention being a clergy of Baraeon in case one of the group took it upon themselves to kill me when my back was turned, also I did not consider this “noble” to be worthy of me calling upon my lord for. We headed back slightly to a castle located on the top of a hill, the noble knew the owner and he agreed to let us stay for the night….this is when things got truly entertaining.

We were sat around in the huge hallway when a veritable feast was laid out before us, all of it human food, none of it appealed to me at the time, I did not trust this ranger who served it and thought it best that I touch nothing.  This thought did not occur to any others in the group it seems as they all seemed to go at the food before us like wild dogs, especially Cole. I sat and watched him stuff two heaped plates of food into his mouth, throwing it all over himself and spitting it out whilst talking and eating, truly this man has the manners of a common pig!

The only other who did not seem to eat was Fenrir the Dwarf, although he occupied himself with the Ale, clearing most of it away by himself. It was while this was happening the noble decided he wanted to share tales with us! He told his name was Basil, son a rich banking family from karthy, with a brother in point harbour, and his sister still in Karthy. He went on to describe to use a complicated tale of vampires, dragons and Karthian thieves guilds, in particular “Gang 13” who he said to be assassins of the most skilled kind, although I have my doubts at to whether they could rival the assassins of back home…it is unlikely.

Then he finished and demanded…yes demanded that the rest of us tell him stories, he started with the halfling girl, who went into a whole tale of ogres mages in the haven mines, imprisonment and the subsequent death of some dwarf or another. The tale was very long and most of us were drifting into sleep by the time she was finished. The noble was about to tell me to tell him a tale, to which I would have outright refused! He hired me for my sword, not my gift with words, but he then decided it was time for bed instead.

I headed off in search of a room but found nothing, I wandered into one and found the animal Cole, I disturbed his sleep but managed to leave before he realised who I was. Then I went into the other room and found the halfling girl under the bed, frustrated I returned to the main area, to spend my night in my armour, and without praying to my lord.

Even in sleep I could not get peace! That dwarf fenrir snores like thunder! He kept us awake most of the night and did not even realise he was snoring when we told him! Then the ranger came and told us there was no response in the noble’s room. We kicked in the door and found him dead on the floor. His possessions were gone.

We discussed this for a long time, and searched the house, we found nothing. The matter of his missing possessions rule out natural causes, although there did not seem to be any evidence of a struggle. This leads me to the belief that a wizard must have been involved.  The rest of the group seem to think he died at the hands of a thief, or a skilled assassin, but I have heard of no assassins who can leave a room and then lock it from the inside, making me think teleportation must have been used.

There are many complexities here, I will not include them all, but merely close this entry by saying that I believe the sister may have some involvement, she was in Karthy where the noble, basil, was travelling to, and as far as we are aware the only item of value in his possession was an amulet, worthless in the scheme of things, but of great sentimental value to the family. We shall see….
 

feniox

Prelude to a game
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2005, 03:07:00 pm »
A few days ago something most unusual happened. I heard rumours of a group that would be gathering outside Fort Velensk, so I went along to see what I could learn, and see what I could see. Whilst the group was stood around talking I hear a voice, apparently no other could hear it. I moved closer to the source and then all of a sudden a halfling appeared by the lake a short way away, I pointed him out to the group and we approached him immediately.

He told us that he needed us to help him distract the guard in Fort Velensk so that he could help his friend, he gave up no more information than this, but most of the group blindly decided to help him anyway, despite the obviousness that something wrong was going on.

Once inside the Fort nothing much happened, and to cut the story down a little, the group got split up and we set off searching for the halfling after he disappeared. We searched numerous buildings, including the arena, but found nothing. When the halfling did eventually show himself, he was accompanied by some hideous beast unlike anything I had ever seen, he resembled the beast known as a centaur, yet was different. His lower body was like that of a common lion, yet ontop he had the torso of a very well built human, and his head was that of a lion also. He spoke some strange language, we could not tell what, and in his left hand he held a large spear. It was obvious from the outset that this creature was strong.

Much talking happened over the next while, much was said that is of no importance or relevance, but in the end the group established that the creature (which we later found out to be known as a Wemic) had come from one of the Dragon Isles in order to hunt a polar bear, and wanted out help. We led him to the barbarian islands, using our invisibility spells to keep him hidden from the captains during the sail. The hunt itself was neither long, nor particularly interesting, apart from watching a foolish wizard in the group get cut down beneath the blades of some gnolls which he angered with his stupidity and rash actions.

The most interesting note to make about the event, was that the Wemic, although an obvious savage, and despite the considerable difficulty of the language barrier, seem to form a close bond with one member of the group, an Elf by the name of Nith'wiel (who for the record, also cannot speak common), a ranger. It seems this elf hunter and the Wemic had a mutual respect, as did I come the end, although I hate to admit it, I grew to like the beast.

I have no doubt we will see more Wemic, and I am interested to see if they are all as honourable and noble as the one we met this day (named Mukanda), or whether they shall be used by the superior race as mere pack slaves like goblins...

Today was most...interesting. It started out like most others, in that I was simply wandering around in a vague hope of finding some like minded companions, or a group that I could pay attention to and see what information I could gather from the local events, when something odd happened.

I was walking through the town of Hlint, when I saw a Drow, from quick inspection I could tell he was new to the surface and that I had little to fear of him, but what intrigued me more was the company he kept. He was stood with an elf, nothing strange in this alone (overlooking the obvious Drow-surface elf incompatibility) but then I heard the Drow say something in reference to the Inn, and the elf replied as if he had never seen one before, although he tried to give the impression he knew the place well.

I followed the two inside at a distance, masquerading as an adventurer making a quick stop at the inn to buy food for my journeys, it was whilst stood near the innkeeper that I heard the elf make another comment which implied he did not know how to use a chair correctly, which I considered most strange considering the intelligence of most elves, and the fact that even a small Dwarven child can use a chair! I stood around for a few minutes more before deciding to move on so as not to make myself look suspicious, then to my luck the elf asked me to join them both at the table.

Soon after I sat at the table the elf fell asleep and I set about questioning the Drow present, I discovered his name to be Necromedon, a follower of the traitor Az'atta! needless, I exchanged words with him for a while, and to an extent, befriended him. It was then that the elf awoke, and introduced himself as "Tops", a curious name for an elf, even by surface standards, but I didn't question him over it. He told us he was working as an "ambassador" on the surface world for his master, who he did not give the name of. He told me also that his master was a lord of games, and that this world had been chosen for him and his brother to play their next "game" on. I could not help feel that he was choosing me to become involved in this game...

Shortly after he left, a halfling arrived, he was more friendly, and yet less forthcoming at the same time than the elf had been. After a few minutes of persuasion, I got a name out of him "Timmy" although I am certain that this was not his true name. He persuaded our names out of us, and said that he needed them so that we would have names in the game, then he told us not to join the elf for he was the losing side, then he too left.

I have no idea what "game" the masters of these two beings intend to play, but I know they are of great power, both of the servants could speak the Drow language, and many others as well. They told us the masters knew of the armies of bloodstone, and that they would steer clear of that, but could not pass up the opportunity to play a game on a world such as this, with so many adventurers around to use as pawns.

Necromedon seemed a little worried about the conversation that transpired, but I am not, I have no fear of these masters, and full confidence that this is another situation which can be manipulated, and, if done correctly could yield unimaginable power to me, whatever beings I am dealing with must be able to be outsmarted, and I have faith that my lord will assist me in my task.

Now I must wait for the game to begin...