A Wanderer's Take on the Tsunami Disaster

[SiliconMagician]

Ragnar Ogresbane(formerly Uhtred Ragnarson) stood on a rise in the fields outside of Port Hempstead, looking towards the city.

His vantage point would normally allow him to see over the city walls into the streets proper, were it not for the blasted rain and fog that hung perpetually over the city ever since the tsunami wiped out a good portion of the Mistonian coastline.

The terror of that night came back to him. He had been in the woods south of Krandor, tracking down an ogre band that had waylaid a group of travelers just hours before, killing the leader of the group and forcing the rest to flee for thier lives toward Krandor, all made it.. except one elderly man who wasn't paying attention..stumbled off the road and was snatched up by the sprout of an assassin vine. His screams only served to panic the group once more, and they ran into Krandor seeking some assistance.

There Ragnar stood, looking for a lost gold coin among the knee deep muck that was the town of Krandor these days, when the crowd bowled him over, each terrified citizen stepping over him and pressing him into the foul, viscous mud. Were it not for his armor, the weight of the crowd would have killed him. He nearly drown in a puddle as it was.

When he managed to extricate himself from the mire, he hollered at the people to slow down and explain what happened. They told thier tale and he immediately set out to find the creatures.

After the aforementioned denizens were efficiently dispatched, the weather turned quite foul. The rain suddenly went from a light spatter to a downpour in a matter of seconds. The wind picked up and the trees splintered around him, huge branches crashing the ground as the gale blew through his helm, whistling loudly and making him deaf.

He danced right and left, avoiding timbers as they fell with as much frequency as the rain. On he ran down the road, finally making it to the front gates of Hempstead. He opened the gates, stepped inside the portcullis and was on his way into the deliar temple to get dry when a crowd of citizens, thier faces pale with fright, children in thier arms, were running towards the gate screaming at the top of thier lungs.

"RUN! RUN! THE DELUGE IS COMING RUN!" and Ragnar found himself swept up in the mass of flesh as the terrified crowd ran for high ground. He turned and ran with them, looking back in time to see water crashing down the avenue leading from the dock district. The water was dark, and angry. Filled with debris and mud of all sorts. Bodies as well.. bloated and dead. Even worse, the ones who were still alive, clinging to whatever flotsam they could, screaming to the Gods above to save them from the sucking foam.

He was literally expelled from the gate by the bodies pressing from behind and he ran for the hempstead fields. The sounds of the water filling the courtyard inside the city was echoed and amplified by the walls. It sounded as if a giant drain had been opened, the giant sucking noise accentuated by the cracks and pops of timbers being splintered into toothpicks, and the continued screams of the doomed echoing into the night air..

Those screams haunt his dreams on occasion. He imagines it would be what going to one of the hells sounds like.

On he ran, as he looked back the wave crashed through the gates, heaving the two gate guards off thier feet and carrying them some hundreds of yards down the road before they were finally, miraculously, deposited onto a small rise, where they managed to climb up and weather out the flood.

The rest was a blur of fear, hunger, exhuastion, and the dead and dying as Ragnar assisted as best he could in rescue efforts in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. Once they people that could be immediately helped were herded either to the fields or the tower academy, Ragnar collapsed in a dry, barely standing portion of the Scamps Mug and fell fast asleep.

The next morning, Ragnar stood up and waded through the disgusting floodwaters, now made quite foul by the effluent from the flooded sewer systems. He made it the gate, and made his way to Hlint, where he booked a new room in the Wild Surge Inn(ironic isn't it?).

Soon he was back to work again however, as the recent flooding had flushed all sorts of foul creatures out of thier stench filled holes and out onto the roads. Many a time Ragnar would pass the stripped and naked bodies of unwary travelers and pilgrims tossed into the bushes on the side of the road.

Now, Ragnar patrols the roads often when moving from point a to point b. Often, should you look to either side of the road, or listen closely you will hear him butchering some evil beast and releasing it's soul from the mortal coil to bond with whatever dark god the beasts follow.

Keep an eye for him.. but if you bring up Hempstead.. do not be surprised if he gets a stare that looks a thousand yards long.. and keeps the conversation short and to the point.

[SiliconMagician]

"I 'eard there be an expedition formin on the docks, what they might be expeditin fer I have no clue", said the guard standing watch at the gate to Ft. Vehl. He was a large man, and looked quite capable of cleaving a man in two without the slightest provocation.

Ragnar had no intention of provoking the large man, instead.. he pressed several true into the mans palm and thanked him, then proceeded through the gate and headed towards the dock district.

The smells of the city stung his nose, this city was a bit dirtier than hempstead, for sure. The destitute and poor were laying in the gutters, and fighting over scraps of food thrown out the windows with the chamberpots from those more fortunate souls above.

Ragnar pushed past the throng and entered the gates to the dock district. Immediately upon passing the gate he spied the unusual profile of a dwarf. Ragnar had met only a very few of the stocky folk in his time on Mistone, and he was curious as the man was powerfully built and carried a massive axe over his shoulder. His beard was the longest Ragnar had seen on the squat little people, and this assured him that THIS dwarf, was up to something.

"Excuse me master dwarf", Ragnar said..

"Aye?" the dwarfs beady eyes peaked out from behind the nose protector of his large war helm.

"I understand that there is to be an expedition forming. I'm looking for information about it.", Ragnar stated briefly, looking down and believing that this particular dwarf could handle himself well in a fight.

The dwarf apparently wasn't so sure about Ragnar, he studied his tarnished copper armor, and the odd mismatched white and crimson helmet, elvish style no doubt, on Ragnars head. It was when his eyes fell on the fine, custom made iron sword Ragnar had over his shoulder that a measure of respect crossed the old vets features. Such weapons were not merely given away, but earned by deeds. Especially by such a young buck as the one that stood in front of him.

"Perhaps lad, but before we go ye best be understandin where we goin. There be certain resources that are needed in Hempstead and we aim to collect them, but where WE goin ain't no walk in the park. It be DREGAR, we headin to.. dangerous place for one such as yeself", the old dwarf spoke from behind his bushy beard.

Dregar? Ragnar had heard much mention of the place. Filled with mythical beasts of immense size that would kill a man in mere seconds. A place to be feared, and not trod lightly by the inexperienced. Even his young pride knew that this was indeed a dangerous undertaking.

Ragnar agreed with the short little fellow and without a word the guy bounded off down the road, leaving Ragnar shocked at the speed the little dwarf could muster.

Ragnar followed as best he could, trying ot keep up with the dwarf in the taller crowd. He disappeared into a door of a house and motioned Ragnar inside, he stepped in and was greeted by the eerie yellow light of a magical portal in the floor.

The dwarf pinched his nose closed, winked once at Ragnar, and jumped into the center of the portal. With a whoosh and a pop, and the sparkle of glittering dust he was gone. POOF! Just like that..

Ragnar shrugged, closed his eyes and stepped into the void..

Quite suddenly he was standing inside a large courtyard between two massive walls, surrounded by a group of diverse persons.

Several men and women in various attire, and various weaponry. Magical backup was provided by a mage as well and this party of adventurers looked truly ready for what was about to happen, if only Ragnar truly understood what was about to happen.

The veteran adventurers smirked at Ragnar's pauper armor, and odd, mismatched elvish helm. The doubt in their faces was evidently plain and they wondered why such a greenhorn as he was even thinking about joining them into the wilds of Dregar.

Ragnar shrugged, "High Risk, High Reward!" was all he could say.

The rest of the party just shrugged and moved out of the city gates. After several hours of trudging along the roads the guide, a small halfling.. took the party off the trail and led them into a thickening woods.

They came to a clearing a few minutes walk back into the trees and Ragnar stopped suddenly. Odd, was the ground shaking? He looked around and noticed the birds a few hundred feet away flapped away wildly in a flock and then an explosion of tree branches, and a hugh humanoid hulking beast came bounding towards the party.

It growled menacingly and held a huge war axe in its hand. The party sprang into action, the 3 warriors of the group, swords drawn and a glow with mage fire, frost and various enchantment hollered war cries and plunged down onto the creature.

The battle was chaotic, but fast. The beast falling in a matter of moments to the skilled adventurer's blades. Afterward, adrenaline coursing through his veins, Ragnar commented on never seeing such a creature before.

One of the party merely chuckled and replied that he was only the beginning and far worse was to come.

Ragnar gulped and nodded, then followed the party deeper into the woods.

The party had been right. Ragnar soon found himself deep in a wood, standing shoulder to shoulder with 4 other adventures, holding back an equal number of lumbering giants. The creatures would slash wildly, howling and bellowing and spitting with rage, the skilled warriors worked together as one. Chopping each giant down like a group of skilled woodsman dropping an ancient oak.

The fight continued through the woods and intensified as the party burst into a camp of at least a half dozen of the creatures. The chaos that ensued around the fires of the camp was astounding and all Ragnar could remember was the blur of combat. A dodged slash here, a quick parry there. Hacking at the giant creatures legs, taking huge chunks out of them, trying ot drop them to the ground for the coup de grace.

Ragnar, already exhausted from the ordeal of just getting to the woods commented wryly on the situation. The seasoned warriors around him, now seeing that he was just as willing as they to face down the beasts.. showed a trifle bit of respect in thier tones and chuckled. Stating that worse yet lay ahead.

"Worse?" Ragnar asked. But got no reply.

The party hiked to a sheer cliff with steps dug into the side of it that led down to a giant cave opening. The halfling scout was first in, and disappeared into the mouth, but not before showing her bright white teeth in a flashing grin showing from beneath the cowl of her cloak.

The party followed a few moments later...