The EARTH story - May 14, 1372
During the night the weather deteriorates. Clouds roll in from the south and the wind picks up. By morning it is raining steadily, the downpour being driven by a gail-force wind. You make worse time today due to the weather. The road rapidly turns to mud, and the horses struggle. Nevertheless, as evening approaches you see that you are descending into a broad, shallow valley. Through the centre of it flows a great river. On its banks, the road leads you to a village: Riverdale. The river, Faya tells you, is the Sohio: one of the major tributaries of the Mississippi, which it joins to the west. It must be over a mile wide at this point, you estimate.
Riverdale is a small, walled place. There are three gates: one in the northwest corner of town, through which the road you are traversing enters; a second gate leading to the docks, and a third one opening to the east, through which runs another road.
All about the walls of Riverdale you see camps as you approach. Obviously Imrimil's garrison is bivouacked here. You advance cautiously. All of you save Brennon have travelled through Nolthen before, and you know that you have to be careful here. As you pass the nearest of the camps you see that most of the troops are humanoid: goblins, orcs and half-orcs. They look to be an ugly lot, but well equipped and well fed.
You ride up the gate and present yourselves. Several heavily armed and armoured men inspect you. Most of you get but a cursory glance, but the sole elf in your party is regarded first in surprse and then with suspicion. Nevertheless, you are allowed to pass, and enter the town.
"Damn," mutters Faya to Kelar, as you move away. "I had forgotten that an elf in these parts would attract attention. We're sure to be watched, now."
"There's three inns in Riverdale," says Telgam, the warrior lord, who - up until this point - has said barely a word. "None of them's anything special. There's a few good taverns, though."
Faya leads you to an inn called the Granery, appropriately named because it lies next door to the granery. You take rooms for the night. As you were forewarned, the accomodations are spartan and not the cleanest that you have ever seen.
"We'll be meeting for dinner at the Mug House, across the street," says Telgam, and Kaboom nods. "Yer all invited, if ye like."
"What do you people want to do, while we are here?" asks Kithus. "I think I will just walk around the town a bit. Anyone wants to join me?"
"As long as Master Kaboom has nothing else for me today," Brennon says, "I'll join you for a walk around the city, Kithus. I could stand to pick up a few more supplies."
Kaboom nods again.
"You've got the night off."
"Sure," says Kithus. "Anyone else? If not, let's go, Brennon. See ya later."
"I think I will join you for dinner...let me get a room real quick. I don't think I want to be in the dorms tonight," Kelar says, smiling.
Turning to Brennon and Kithus, he says, "You might want to be back before dark. We have a lot to figure out now that we are in a town."
"Aye, I will be back before the dark, if nothing happens," says Kithus. "Besides, I will just take a walk."
"Kaboom, what are your plans? It might help with what we need to do...if you are staying here then we need to figure out some travel arrangements," says Kelar.
"We will be crossing the river in the morning," Faya replies, "Then heading south across South Nolthen. If you are looking to return to the western lands, then you should cross the river with us. Some miles to the south of the Sohio is a Great Road: the Saltar Road. We will be crossing it and continuing south. You, though, should head west down the road. A few days walk to the west you will come to the town of Bridgewater. It lies at the confluence of the Sohio and the Mississippi. At that point The Great Bridge crosses the Mississippi, and will take you into the western lands beyond."
"That sounds like a plan, so far. If we can't find any other method of transportion, Bridgewater sounds like the next logical move," says Brennon.
"Agreed, that does sound like the best plan," states Kelar. "Brennon, while you are out walking about see what you can find out about horses. We will need some soon. Make sure that they look like they can take a long journey."
Ayazin nods. "I think I will just take a leisurely walk around in the country for an hour or two and enjoy the sun again."
The druid and his wolf walk off at a brisk pace.
Kithus walks out of the door and goes down a random road, accompanied by Brennon and Sharone.
Kelar books his room and then joins Faya and her party at the tavern across the street.
It is evening, and Riverdale is becoming quiet, except for its inns and taverns. The place is a maze of narrow, winding streets connecting up several small squares. Almost all of the shops and businesses are closed at this hour. Hopefully you will be able to purchase your supplies, wagon and horses in the morning.
During your walk you make note of the following establishments of possible interest:
A house of healing
Several leather workers
A tailor shop
A blacksmith
A jeweler
A sage
Three temples (Heimdall, Balder, Sif) - none of them appear to be well
maintained
A winery
Three inns (including the Granery)
Three taverns (including the Mug House, where your companions are)
A men's clothier
A clothier specialising in leather goods
A shoemaker
A butcher
The stables
A wagonmaker
A general provisioner
A small military barracks
A gate in the south wall leads through to the docks. There you find several small boats tied up, along with a few more moored a short distance out in the Sohio River. There you spot Telgam talking to a man by one of the boats, apparently making arrangements to get across the river in the morning.
You continue on, and eventually find yourselves at the eastern gate. Through it runs the road which heads for Lac Olith.
You spot a small ruin off to the right, just outside of the wall. It is a moat house, separated from the town walls and the mainland by an overgrown moat carved out of the riverbank. A decaying drawbridge spans the moat, and a narrow trail runs the short distance from the road down to the drawbridge.
The place looks deserted.
Standing at the start of the trail you spot Ayazin and his wolf, also regarding the ruin.
Brennon, Sharone and Kithus walk out through the gate and join Ayazin, standing just outside of it.
Ayazin says, "Look there at that ruin. Something intriguing about it, don't you think? Perhaps we could do a little exploring, since it doesn't look like we'll be meeting with our companions again soon."
"Okay, we'll do some exploring before we rejoin our champions," says Kithus. "So, let's go in."
Sharone looks at the ruins.
"Seems strange that ruins exist so close to habitation. Perhaps we should investigate before returning to the tavern for the evening?"
"What are we waiting for, an invitation?" says Kithus with good humor. "Let's go in."
Brennon follows Kithus, but before crossing the drawbridge, he inspects its condition.
The drawbridge is old and non-functional, but not about to collapse yet. The moat itself is shallow and overgrown with reeds.
The moathouse is roughly trapezoidal-shaped, and quite small. Obviously not designed as a true fortress, perhaps once it was used as a guard station or toll house, once. The north wall is only 10' long. In the middle of it is a large wooden door, barely ajar. There are small (10' diameter), almost ornamental, towers at each end. The east and west side walls run roughly south-southeast and south-southwest respectively, being about 20' long. At the back corners are two more small towers. These are perhaps 20' high.
You push open the door and peer inside. It is dark inside. Kithus draws a glowing dagger out of a sheath, illuminating the confines. You see before you an odd-shaped room (left wall runs 10' south, then about 27' west (door in 10' - 20' section), then a wall runs north-northeast for about 12' to where it meets the inside curved wall of the northwest tower (door). The place is barren, and littered with debris from outside (leaves, branches, etc.). There is nothing of interest here.
You open the door in the inside wall of the tower, revealing a small, circular-shaped room, somewhat less than 10' in diameter. There is nothing in here, either.
You next open the south door, and see before you another small room (right wall runs west for almost 10', them south-southwest for about 5'; left wall runs south for about 18' (door in 0' - 10' section), then west for about 17' where it meets the curving wall of the southwest corner tower (door), which connects it to the west wall).
Suddenly two large black shapes rise up out of the southeast corner of the room and move towards you.
"RRRRROARRRRR!" say the two black bears, as the move to attack the invaders of their lair.
Ayazin casts Hold Animal on the two bears.
You retreat before the advancing bears.
Brennon prepares a magic missile to send against the beasts as they charge foward.
Kithus draws his sword and prepares for the charge.
Ayazin's spell takes a half a minute to cast, and in that time the bears close on Kithus and Sharone.
The druid completes his spell. The bears hesitate for the merest instant, but are otherwise unaffected.
One bears swings a paw at Kithus but misses. He lashes out defensively with his two-handed sword and connects. The bear gurgles and drops dead at the ranger's feet.
The remaining bear bellows again.
Sharone also ducks an incoming paw. Swinging her mace, she brings it down hard across the animal's skull, crushing it, and it falls beside its mate.
You pause and catch your breath. Looking into the room from whence they came, you see the remains of a man in a back corner. Perhaps he was a previous visitor to this moat house...who did not fare so well as you. Now, all that remains of him are some well gnawed bones, some shredded leathers, a pack and a large sack.
Ayazin mourns the deaths of the two bears and pledges to Mielikki to cast more powerfully in the future, saying a few prayers over the two corpses.
"These were a mated pair," he says, "there might be cubs around. If there are, please don't kill them."
"Of course not. I did not really want them to die," Kithus says. "What should we do now, continue exploring?"
Sharone, cautiously searches the remains, the pack and the sack.
You find that the traveler was carrying quite a trove of goodies. You find a collection of 20 pairs of earrings (500gp per pair), a scroll, a suit of fancy-looking plate mail (sized for a dwarf) and a wand.
"How unfortunate," Brennon says, "A brother of the mystic arts. Perchance may I look at the wand?"
Sharone looks at Brennon, smiles and passes him the wand.
"Be my guest."
Brennon immediately notices a command word into the wand in a fine, flowing script: 'detect'
"Lets see what we got here."
Making sure no one is in the direct line of fire, Brennon points to the walls of the room where the corpse is and says, "Detect."
Kithus watches Brennon's new found "toy" (artifact) with slight interest.
The wand pulses, and points at the plate mail and scroll.
Sharone packs the earrings into her back pack, for division later.
Then she carefully packs all the bits of the plate armour into her backpack.
"Pity we don't have a dwarf in our group."
Kithus looks around the room for signs of other beings that might have recently came to this building.
"I guess that means we got all the interesting stuff here. Now, should we go back to the others now or follow the trail?" asks Kithus.
The ranger notes some tracks heading towards the east door. They are not fresh, but he suspects that they might be humanoid.
Sharone then says a short prayer over the body of the unknown traveller before following the humanoid tracks with the rest of the group.
"What kind of person do you think the previous owners of these goods were?" asks Kithus as he tracks.
The tracks lead to the door in the east wall. You open the door after listening carefully, finding yourselves in a narrow, odd-shaped room (right wall runs east for 10' (door), then northeast for 10', then north for about 10' (door), where it reaches the curving inner wall of the northeast tower. The left wall runs east for 10', then north for 10', where it also meets the tower wall. There is a door in the tower wall. This place is deserted, but Kithus manages to track the tracks to the door in the east wall.
You listen at the door, then open it.
Before you is a landing, perhaps 5' square. Off the south end of the landing is a flight of stairs, curving downwards to the west...into darkness.
Ayazin hesitates, then grins. "Well, shall we see what lies around the bend?"
"What lays arounds comes around," says Kithus in a matter of fact manner. "So, since we came this far, we might as well go down there."
"Agreed," Brennon says following the others down the stairs.
The stairs head down to the west, descending perhaps 25'. At the bottom is a passage, 10' wide and also heading west. Sharone pulls out a continually lit stone, and you see that the passage runs west for 50', ending at a door. There are two more doors in the first 10' section of the passage, north and south walls respectively. Finally, in the 30' - 40' section of the north wall is a passage heading north.
"I say we go on," says Kithus, as he starts heading toward the passage with his guard up.
"Shouldn't we check these doors out first, to make sure that nothing will be behind us should we get into a confrontation?" Brennon asks, pointing to the doors at the bottom of the stairs.
"Sorry, I forgot about that. Which one should we check out first?"
After a long debate you decide to check out the north (right) door first. This door opens into an empty room (20' square: 10' west, 20' north...hope someone is mapping this!). As it is an empty room, you find nothing in here, so you open the door in the south wall, across the passage. This also leads into an empty room (20' square: 10' west, 20' south).
That issue taken care of, you go west and take a look up the passage to the north. This passage runs for 40' and ends. There are doors in every 10' section of the east wall. There is a fifth door in the first 10' section of the west wall as well.
You note that the bottom left corner of the first door on the east side has been broken or has rotted away, leaving an opening roughly 1' square into the area beyond.
"Do you think some kind of creatures can enter to here through that hole?" says Kithus to the others.
Brennon examines the hole, to see if it was chewed through. "Perhaps a rather large rat of some kind. Or something of the insect nature."
When Brennon kneels down to examine the hole, he sees a pair of beady black eyes looking out through it back at him.
Suddenly an enormous rat lunges through the hole at the mage, landing a solid bite on his nose for 2 hit points.
Kithus kicks at the rat to get it off of Brennon.
The ranger's boot does the job, sending the rodent flying a short distance down the passage, and leaving the mage with a bloody nose.
However, more giant rats are pouring out through the hole in the door, and immediately move to attack you.
"Arragh," Brennon says wiping the blood from his nose. "That will leave a mark."
He blasts the attacking rats with a magic missile spell, hitting two targets with a missile each.
His missiles blow away two giant rats.
Ayazin grimaces in disgust. "These creatures give animals a bad name!"
He draws his scimitar and wades slashing into the fray.
Dodging the snapping jaws of a rat, the druid swings his blade, and misses.
"Arf! Arf!" says Ayazin's wolf, and tears the throat out of another rat.
Kithus jumps back, then draw his sword and starts to attack the rats that are in range.
A rat leaps at him - misses - and then is chopped in half by the ranger's blade.
Sharone swings her flail at another rat and misses. Still, she manages to avoid being bitten.
Ayazin and Sharone will have two rats apiece on them next round, while the rest of you will have one rat each. They are still pouring out through the hole in the door.
Brennon blasts the rats again with a magic missle spell. He splits the spell between his and any others provided his spell dooms his first.
The rat is slightly faster than the mage, this time, biting him for 2 more hit points and spoiling his spell.
Kithus starts to charge towards where most of the rats are and starts chopping with his sword in a frenzy.
The rats meet him. Dodging the snapping jaws of another rodent, the ranger kills it instantly.
Ayazin, meanwhile, duels with two rats. One misses him, then the druid fans with his scimitar again. The second rat also misses...barely, and a third rat moves to join the fray.
"Yip!" says the wolf, as a rat bites him on the tail for 2 hit points and hangs on. The wolf spins around and tries to put all those hours he has passed chasing his tail to good use, without effect.
Sharone, a grim expression on her face, swings again with her mace and kills a rat. The second rat attacking her gnaws her gam for 1 hit point, and another rodent moves up as well.
Ayazin has three rats on him; Brennon has two; the wolf has two; Sharone has two and Kithus has one. No more rats are coming out through the hole in the door, and one unoccupied rat is waiting for an opening.
You have killed six rats.
"Ow," Brennon says, perturbed that his spell was foiled by the smelly little beasts. "I'll show you."
Brennon slashes the closest rat with his dagger, as it bites him for 2 hit points. That is its last bite, as the mage kills the critter. The second rat misses him.
Then he tries to move back from them.
The remaining rat attacking him follows.
Kithus goes in front of Brennon so that the rats can no longer attack him and tries to kill any incoming rats with his sword. The ranger kills another rat with ease, and the final unoccupied rat takes its fallen comrade's place.
Ayazin continues hacking away with his scimitar.
The druid finally connects, and another rat bites it. The other rats press the attack, though. One rat which looked as if it should have taken a large bite out of his shin inexplicably misses.
The wolf manages to dislodge the rat on his tail, then rips its throat out.
Sharone swings wildly with her mace and misses. A rat bites her for 1 hit point.
The battle continues for awhile before you emerge victorious. Brennon kills the last rat attacking him without suffering any further injuries. The wolf does in the last rat attacking him. Kithus easily kills his rat and then turns to help Sharone, who is missing with annoying frequency. Ayazin has finally learned how to use his scimitar, and quickly polishes off his rats. Kithus is bitten for 2 hit points before he can slay his foe.
At last, all of the rats are dead, and you regain your breath. Everyone has taken damage but for Ayazin. Brennon is badly hurt.
You open the door that the rats came through, and see beyond a 10' square cell, unfurnished but for a pile of filthy straw in a corner. Searching it reveals nothing but rat feces.
You realise that you have been gone from the others for several hours. Kelar and the rest are probably starting to wonder where you are.
"Shall we press on or head back?" Brennon says, biting through the pain of his wounds. "I could use some healing, though, before we go too far."
Ayazin nods. "We certainly haven't found very much so far. Let's make a note to explore further some day when we have more time."
The druid then casts Cure Light on Brennon, for 3 hit points.
"Okay, let's go back," Kithus says with a smirk. " I am feeling a little hungry."
You retrace your steps and leave the dungeon below the old moat house. Approaching the gate into Riverdale, the guards give you a cursory inspection before admitting you.
You make for the Mug House. When you arrive you find that Kelar Kaboom and the others have already left, so you go across the street to the Granery. The innkeeper directs you to Kelar's room.
You head upstairs and go to the door. Kithus knocks, and after a moment it opens and you see Telgam standing there.
The wanderers have returned from their walk. Brennon, Sharone and Ayazin are surprised to see Farad with Kelar, Faya and the others.
Farad notes the presence of a newcomer: a young man in leather armour with a sheathed two-handed sword. The newcomer sees a serious looking grey elf in plate mail and shield.
Obviously the latest arrivals have run into some fun and games: Brennon, Ayazin's wolf, the young man and Sharone are all covered in a number of bloody bites. However, perhaps it was not entirely unprofitable, for they seem to be carrying more equipment than they had previously.
Farad raises an eyebrow. "That a Patrol you ran into?"
"I sure hope it wasn't," says Kelar, looking at the others.
"Those look like animal bites," says Faya.
"What happened and do we need to be expect anything coming looking for you?" asks Kelar.
"Yes, these are animal bites, rats to be exact," says Kithus. "And no, I do not think so, unless there are more of those fur balls and they know where we are."
Farad looks concerned. "Rats with equipment?"
He looks over their wounds. None of them look serious. "Why don't you stop just hinting at what happened and just tell us straight. If you fought lycanthropes that could mean a different sort of trouble."
Ayazin laughs heartily.
"Nothing of the sort. We found a deserted structure, some sort of old fortress, and after an unfortunate encounter with some bears..." he shakes his head sadly, "We found the remains of an adventurer, and took this equipment from his corpse. The rats were unrelated."
"Well that was certainly an interesting evening. I am famished," Brennon says, still cleaning his wounds. "I could certainly use the time to rest and try to catch up on relearning some spells."
He looks around to see if everyone has made it back from the original party. "So where have you all been?"
"Everyone else is waiting back in caves where we got separated. If you are all ready, we can go ahead and head back there now."
"But, could we have something to eat before we gets going?" asks Kithus.
Suddenly you hear heavy footsteps in the hall outside.
There comes a loud knocking at the door.
Nellie the cleric of Mielikki looks concerned.
"I know that knock," says Kaboom.
Telgam the warrior mutters under his breath, and takes a place by the door, so that he will be hidden by it when it is opened.
Faya shakes her head, and opens the door.
Standing on the other side is a man. He has huge, kinky and wild red hair and green eyes. He has chain mail, and wears a large helmet with horns sticking out of each side. He is festooned with axes of various shapes and sizes. He is dirty and messy, and a distinctive odour permeates the air around him.
"I thought it might be you, friend Lothar," says Faya wearily, as Nellie sort of stands behind the druid, eyes wide.
"Hi," says Lothar shyly, "I was, well, um, wondering, whether you would let me join in your adventure?"
Lothar's gaze gravitates toward Nellie and he blushes, "I mean, if that is alright with you? Please?"
Farad turns toward Kelar and his companions. "Do they mean to accompany us as well, or is he talking about the other group?"
Suddenly Telgam steps out from behind the door and conks Lothar over the head with the butt of his dagger.
Lothar gurgles, goes crosseyed, and drops.
"I think he meant your group," the warrior says.
Farad looks up. "I take it he wasn't a friend of yours?"
"He's been pestering poor Nellie."
The elf shrugs.
"Please?" implores Nellie of Farad.
Farad turns to Nellie. "You the only one going?"
"No...I am staying with Faya. Could you please take Lothar...far away?"
Farad shakes his head. "Solve your own problems. I won't take someone who is disruptive with me. Our group has enough worries."
The elf looks over at Kelar and the rest of his companions. "Let's go."
"Farad, settle down...he is just bothering the lady. I don't see as he will be any problem for us. Besides we kind of owe them for the help they showed us," says Kelar to Farad.
"Let's get going," says Kelar as he moves over and tries to pick up Lothar.
"Thank you, Kelar," says Nellie gratefully, and she leans over and gives him a kiss on the cheek.
"We'll ride outside the city limits and then I'll teleport the party," says Farad.
Confused about what is going on, Brennon checks his stuff, and follows the others when they depart.
"How did he find us?" asks Kithus.
"Dumb luck, perhaps?" suggests Faya.
"Then Lothar is a very 'lucky' man," says Kithus jokingly to Nellie.
She snorts.
"But seriously, the chance of him finding us just like that is pretty small."
"Thank you for taking Lothar. He certainly seems to be devoted young man," says Faya, as Kelar and Telgam lift his limp form to his feet. "We met him in a tavern in Black Gate weeks ago. He made a pest of himself with Nellie, and finally the tavern keeper threw him out. That he was able to follow us all the way here to Riverdale says something for his abilities. But I think that Nellie would prefer not to have him around. If you need a strong arm then he should be a good addition to your party. Before he became incoherent from the drink he let it out that he was a mercenary from the northern lands."
"Now, we must part," says Kaboom. "We will not be accompanying you outside of the walls. The guards may get suspicious."
The mage turns to Brennon.
"It looks as if you will have to complete your training elsewhere," he says. He pats the leather bag where he keeps his crystal ball. "I will look in on you occasionally. If you ever have occasion to visit Saltar then look us up."
You part company. Telgam alone accompanies you, as he helps Kelar with Lothar.
Brennon follows Farad, looking foward to rejoining the rest of his companions, and getting back to the business at hand.
Passing through the same gate that you originally entered Riverdale through, you head northwest out of town. All about the walls of Riverdale you see fires from camps as you leave. Obviously Imrimil's garrison is bivouaced here. No one pays you any heed, though, and soon you find a deserted hollow.
Farad departs, fading slowly out of the Prime, taking Kelar and the still groggy Lothar with him. Sometime later he reappears, then departs again with Kithus and Sharone. When he next comes back he takes Brennon. Finally, hours after he began the task, he takes Ayazin and his wolf.
He takes each of you to the astral plane: a silvery realm without bound, illuminated in a soft, glowing light. Nearby is a silvery pool. He guides you over to it, concentrates, and what appears to be an image of a cave forms. He then leads you into the image, and you step through it.
Several hours after Farad departed from Beth, Mikodin, Jon, Raz and Aldarin, he returns with Kelar and a young man who is slowly regaining his senses. The elf departs, and over the course of the next several hours reappears several times with more of your companions, plus a second stranger.
Finally, all of you are together again. While only a few days have passed, it seems like months.
The newest arrivals find themselves in a smallish cavve. There is a small pool here, and an exit leads into a rough, natural tunnel. Here to greet them are a woman, a man, a wood elf, another man, a high elf and a middle aged man in plate mail.
The newcomers are both humans, apparently warriors. By the time everyone is back together, the groggy one has regained his senses.
The middle-aged man grins.
"Good to have you back," he says, then turns to the newcomers. "I'm Jo-owrn. I'm a ranger from Omaha."
The name 'Omaha' means nothing to the two strangers.
"From where?" asks Lothar, then, shaking Jo-owrn's hand, "I am Lothar. I am a warrior." Then, "My head hurts. Where the heck am I?"
Beth turns and greets the newcomers. "I'm Elizbeth Eastlake, but everybody just calls me Beth. I'm the least impulsive of the impulsive sorcerers in this group. Farad is, of course, the most impulsive."
Beth is a woman of average build, who looks to be in her mid to late thirties. She has an open face with a slight nose, thin lips, widely set apart brown eyes and thin eyebrows. Her black hair is shoulder-length, wavy, and appears to be ever so slightly out of control. She'se wearing a maroon cloak over a sleveless dark green blouse and grey knickers. Those near her will smell the slight aroma of cinnamon and other spices about her.
Overhearing Beth, Raz becomes aware of the newcomers. Turning to the two fighters he says, "Hello, my name is Raz. I'm a mage. If I can be of service let me know."
Raz is a tall, thin human with dark hair and a light beard. He is wearing the usual mage garb.
The half-elf druid bows toward Lothar. "I am Ayazin, son of Ayazin, druid of the Blackwood and servant of Mielikki. This wolf is a friend of mine. I believe I know the rest of you...?"
Ayazin scans the faces of those around him, looking for anyone he hasn't yet met. He sees no other strangers.
A tall regal elf steps forward and bows slightly, "I am Aldarin Bloodhawk, from a distant world. Well known for my sword and magic amongst my friends."
He is dressed in dark greys and blues and wears his hair long and loose.
"Oh, where's my manners?" Brennan says turning to Lothar. "I am Brennan."
He bows slightly. Brennan is an average sized human, dressed in black and red-trimmed robes. He has a scar that starts over one eye, and runs down the curve of his face, splitting his lip. His eyes are a deep crimson.
"I am glad to make your aquaintance."
Farad nods toward the two newcomers, repeating his name in case Lothar did not have the chance to hear it before. "Farad Golamarth."
The elf turns toward the others.
"Apparently our companions promised that these newcomers could join us. I leave it up to them to vouch for their character. I was against it." he says bluntly.
"Kithus Icyrus, at your service," says Kithus to the newcomers.
A young, simply dressed, man steps forward and, bowing, introduces himself, "I am Mikodin, a seeker of wisdom and inner peace, a protector of the weak, and a user of the martial arts."
Then, straightening, he extends his hand and says, "Welcome, Lothar. It was not so long ago that I was awakened in the midst of this group, so I can feel for your disorientation right now. Were you killed also?"
"Nothing of the sort," a young man says, striding foward towards Mikodin and the others from behind Lothar. "Boy, its good to see you all again."
Brennon grins widely, his robes and face showing signs of recent battle.
Lothar grasps Mikodin's hand in greeting but does not bow.
"The martial arts, eh? Me too. Where are your weapons? Nothing beats a good axe, or four." says Lothar brandishing his weapons with a laugh and a grin.
"Where I come from, Warriors do not bow - they just smash each other." Lothar grabs Mikodin and bear hugs him and pushes him away with another grin.
Then Lothar shakes his head in disgust. "I was not killed. Some idiot whacked me in the back of the head from behind."
Raising his voice and turning to the party he roars out to everyone: "I will forgive whoever did that, although it is against my nature to forgive an assault, if I am allowed to serve in this party for treasure and gain and to protect the life of the lovely Nellie."
Lothar looks for Nellie, raises his axe over his head with both hands and announces in a serious voice: "I am now your protector. My life before yours, you sweet thing, you."
He does not see Nellie in the group. Beth is there, though.
Lothar mutters, "Hoowoo, baby!" to himself as he eyes Beth.
Kithus chuckles at Lothar's serious announcement, especially at the last part, but not out of disrespect.
Farad shakes his head. "She has spurned your love, and did not come with us. That is in part why you were struck by one of your former companions. They shipped you away with me before you could awaken."
"Oh, you are right, she is not here. This bump on my head must have really addled my brains," says Lothar.
"I don't know if I would call it spurned more like doesn't want anything at all to do with you no chance no anything. And as a favor to her I took you with us because of what they did. If you so much as blink wrong you will be out of here. Understand?" says Kelar quite seriously.
Lothar blinks at Kelar. "Back off, tough guy. And don't try to horn in on Nellie. She may not know it yet, but I really like her. She'll dig me yet, you'll see."
"Beth or Raz," Brennan asks, "Would either of you be willing in taking an apprentice? I could use some training in the magical arts. I started training while we where trying to find you, but had to stop when Farad arrived. I would greatly appreciate it."
Raz smiles and points to Beth. "I think she'd be a better mentor than I. I..ahh...tend to lose focus a lot."
Beth winks at Raz.
To Brennan, she says, "Sure, I'd be willing to share the benefit of my age and experience with you. Maybe some magical skills as well! How experienced are you? We should make sure that I'm more accomplished than you before I try to teach you! I've only fairly recently learned how to cast fourth order spells, and I'm still looking for an opportunity to turn somebody into a frog."
"Thank you milady. I have only learned the area which covers 1st order spells, but am ready to advance to the second order of spells," Brennan says.
Brennan shakes Mikoden's hand. "What happened to all of you when we went through that door? We wound up on a country road many miles from here."
Jo-owrn turns to Kithus and Lothar.
"Years ago there was an uprising of giants in the northern Rocky Mountains," he starts, "They were starting to threaten the civilised lands, so a party of adventurers was assembled and sent in to deal with them. I was one of the party. We fought the giants and eventually discovered that the drow - the dark elves - were behind the uprising. We pursued them into a maze of tunnels under the mountains, and finally made it to their city. There, we were transported to plane of their goddess, Lolth. We fought her, and killed her.
"Everything seemed fine for the next few decades. Then, I noticed that the giants were getting restive again. At the same time, an arch-mage named Ray Jay had learned that the drow high priestess who had led the previous uprising was starting to take an interest in things on the surface of Earth, again. He sent these fellows - "
He motions to Beth, Raz, Aldarin, Sharone, Kelar, Farad and Ayazin.
" - North to meet me, and to go into the underworld to see what she was up to...as well as to do a more complete exploration than we did the first time. We got here this past winter and cleared the giant lair above. We met Brennan and Mikodin there. Next, we headed into the Underworld. For the past few months we've been exploring the tunnels and caves of the underworld; battling drow and whatever other bad fellows we've encountered.
"I guess about a week ago we came across a regular dungeon complex. We started to explore it. On the second day we walked through a doorway...and all got teleported to different places.
"I ended up in a place where I was practically weightless. Farad, Mikodin and Aldarin were there, too. Where we appeared was a sign on the wall, it read -
"Federation Of Galaxies, Bureaucrat Of Science And Technology. Monitoring Station 125454 AJHGF, OJ-287. Dedicated Octobr 9, 11,512AD.
"We explored the place. Saw some of the strangest stuff I've ever come across. Finally, we heard a noise. We tracked it, and met up with some giants, a dwarf, and a mage who was supervising them. They were digging out a room. The mage was named Razamataz, and he used to be a member of the party that I was in when we killed Lolth. Everything comes around, I suppose. Turns out he built the dungeon that we were all exploring, here in the Underdark. He teleported us back here...in exchange for a promise of future service."
Jo-owrn takes out a tin cup, scoops up some water from the pool, and sips it before continuing.
"Before we left, though, he gave us some information about the Underdark. There's a portal at the entrance to the Underdark, from the giant king Snurre's dungeon. Snurre's stronghold is on Earth, but these tunnels are on another world, Oerth. We stepped through the portal without even knowing it, so now we're on Oerth. So, it turns out that the drow priestress - Eclavdra is her name - hails from Oerth. I wonder whay she's so interested in Earth?"
From the side a wood elf with bright blue eyes and dark hair appears.
"Hello, my name's Jon...I'm a sort of scout. Don't get too close though. I have a habit of dying, recently. My short sword Geerzo can detect magic. That may help...and my spell books are open to the group."
"I wish Nellie were here," says a wistful Lothar.
And then to everyone: "Still no one has told me where the heck I am. Is it such a difficult question?"
"Actually yes. Other than being underground in caverns ruled by the drow, we don't know where we really are. These passageways have some sort of magical portal that has taken us from our homeworld of Earth to your world of Oerth. Where that barrier lies we don't know, but when we exit these caves you will be in our old world, several days travel from our base in Sandas."
Jo-owrn shakes his head, and pulls at an ear lobe.
Mikodin cocks his head slightly, then frowns in thought, and asks, "When you say 'our old world', do you mean my world, Oerth, or yours, Earth? Now it's my turn to be confused. Lately people have been talking about times and places that I truly cannot comprehend. Are you saying that sometimes when we are traveling in these drow tunnels, we are on Earth, and sometimes, in the same tunnels, we are on Oerth? How can we be in two places, when we are in one place? Are we being teleported to identical sets of tunnels? Do these tunnels exist in two realities at the same time? I am afraid my mind is somewhat confused on this point."
"Alright, I still have no idea where I am, or what you are talking about, but thanks for trying."
"I think it's just Farad-talk," says Jo-owrn, finally gathering his thoughts together. "From what Razamataz the arch-mage told us, we are now - here - in Oerth. When we first entered these tunnels from old Snurre's dungeon we passed through some sort of portal which took us from Earth to Oerth. Now you, Mikodin, and you, Brennon, are from Demon's Neck, which means you're from Earth. I don't think any of us are from Oerth.
"Which reminds me," he continues, in his slow drawl. "Brennon, you said something about training? The next time we take a break to train I'd like to make a trip to your home town. It's not that far from Snurre's dungeon, and I haven't been down that way for a few years. Razamataz said that an old friend of mine had retired there...and I'd like to find out if he was telling the truth."
He pauses.
"So, where to next? Sounds like we're all ready to go drow hunting. I was thinking, though..."
He looks at each of you in turn.
"...None of us exactly has a lot a magic, even me. We'll need all the help we can get against the drow; we know that already. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but arch mages like Razamataz seem to be able to get together quite a collection of magical knick-knacks...and since he created that dungeon we were poking around in when we were all teleported, I'm wondering if he's got a pile of stuff in there hidden somewhere. Heck, he hardly remembered the place, so I figure anything we find in there is ours for the taking. I was thinking maybe we should take one last walk through the place, p'raps with some sort of detect type spell. Can any of you mages cast locate object? How about you, Sharone?"
"Hmm," Beth says. "The Drow are resistant to magic, so this may end up fruitless, although indirect magic is always good to have. But, finding new magic toys is one of my favorite pastimes, so sign me up!"
"A pile of stuff? Treasure? Magic? You can sign me up right now!" says Lothar "I am ready to go."
"Are we going to be teleported back there?" says Kithus.
"Naw, we can walk," replies Jo-owrn. "It's just a few hundred yards up the passage. The exercise'll do us good."
Farad looks up. "Ah, I was of a mind to avoid the place myself. Archmages do not take lightly to their lairs being raided, and usually protect the things well. But you know the fellow better than I. If you think its a good idea to try it, then I'm willing."
"Razamataz didn't seem to care, did he? Funny guy, he was. Guess he still is. We know he likes teleport traps. Might be a good idea if someone kept a detect magic going when we head in. Don't want to get scattered across the heavens again," says Jo-owrn.
A voice says, "I will offer to take point and with Geerzo we can detect magic but a detect traps would be helpful. Guess we expect to find those very soon. Just follow the glowing short..."
"I think I might be able to help somewhat," Brennan says fishing the wand from the folds of his cloak, "This item can detect those things that might be magical in nature. Hopefully the caves will not interfere with it if we go searching through there. We also obtained a scroll but have not looked at it as of yet."
With that, Mikodin simply shrugs, looks around for anyone to enlighten him, and prepares himself for even more guard watches while the magicians rest to regain their spells. He does, however, walk over to his old friend, Brennan, and says, "Someday, we must tell each other our adventures we had for the past few days. Personally, I am still trying to figure out exactly what my adventure was, or where it was, or even when it was."
"I can't wait to get back to Sandas," mutters Raz, "A bed...hot meal...visit to the library...maybe some gaming..."
Farad nods. "Yes, but we still have a mission to accomplish. As yet we've not penetrated the drow lairs deeply enough and only had skirmishes with caravans in and out."
He looks over at Beth. "Have your maps ready?"
Farad proposes that this next time we move in ethereally. This will allow us to move invisibly, but also at a much faster rate than walking. Also we can easily avoid travellers by moving into the surrounding stone when they arrive. Thus we can get into the drow city proper. A quick dispel magic will bring us all simultaneously back to reality."
"I could you some time to refresh for our previous adventure before you arrived, so I might have a few spells handy when going into battle." Brennan says
Farad nods. "I need the time as well. I was thinking leaving by tommorrow at the earliest."
"Well, I'm ready now, but I'll wait for you all to read your books and stuff," says Lothar. "Where's the eats? I'm hungry!"
Aldarin usees the time to create a few continual light and darkness stones.
"The more the merrier."
Farad the elf then moves off to rest. He's had a busy day and his head is pounding by now.
You post watches, and the rest of you sleep.