The EARTH story - September 3, 1372
September 3rd is warmer but still overcast. Jo-owrn tells you that the party is closing in on Slave Lake, and that it exerts a moderating influence on the climate.
Sure enough, three hours after setting out, the Road runs down to the edge of the Baska River. It is a good two miles wide at this point, and is spanned by an ancient stone bridge. Off to the right the waters open up into a huge lake which extends out of your range of view to the east. Directly across from you, though, on the west bank, is a city: Dorvar.
Goodgulf tells you the tale.
During the heyday of the Empire Of Saltar, the City State of Dorvar was the most powerful of a number of free cities near its northern flank. Located at the intersection of two major trading roads and also an important fresh water port, Dorvar was a prosperous place. The lands about were wild but surprisingly fertile for such a northerly latitude; and the climate was much warmer. Many tens of thousands of people called themselves citizens, and the benevolent rulers built for themselves a magnificent summer palace on the island of Abbots Ripton.
When Saltar collapsed, though, the trade along the roads and rivers withered. At the same time, orcs and other fell humanoids moved into Urguth and assailed Dorvar's eastern borders. Simultaneously, the climate began to turn colder. The country declined rapidly. Its population fled, with most falling victim to monsters in the wilds, chilling winters, or into slavery in Urguth. Very few made it to other areas of civilization with the tale of the city's demise. In 602 TA, a triumphant army of orcs entered the city of Dorvar, and slew the few remaining defenders.
Now, the city has been abandoned for over 700 years. For a time Urguth held it, but in 664 were driven out by a large army of giants and trolls. They, in turn, retreated back into the mountains, leaving the city a mouldering ruin. The orcs fell back to their old borders along the Slave River, before turning their attentions to the southern borders of their fell kingdom. Since then, Dorvar has been a favoured lair for renegade bands of humanoids, giants, and even humans; not to mention a home for a growing population of monsters.
Just north of the bridge before you, tied to bollards along the wharves that run up the western side of the river, are three ships. Two are clearly merchantmen, while the last - and most distant - is smaller, perhaps a fighting brig.
From your current range of two miles you cannot tell if anyone is aboard them.
Tully says, "Like several others, I need to train!"
"So do I!" adds Tracy, "Twice!"
Jon says, "So do I, but twice twice. But time is of the essence and we can't afford to train at the moment me thinks. Besides here we have an ancient bridge and a city. I wonder if a sword is in here somewhere. Let's get the sword and then train."
"I think I need to train, too," confirms Kithus.
"Seems like we might have some competition," Al muses to the party, regarding the ships.
Jon makes sure that he has been healed up during the couple of days and makes sure he still doesn't have arrows coming out of him.
"Perhaps some scouts would be appropriate."
Kithus also checks himself for wounds. "I think Jon's right. It might be useful."
"I agree on all counts," says Mikodin. "While I, too, need training and more, we must continue on our quest. And we should send out scouts. Might I volunteer?"
"I would also like to volunteer," follows Kithus quickly.
Jon advises, "Mikodin, I think we will let the mages handle this one. I'm sure there is going to be lots and lots of trouble...."
As previously promised, Equinox hands Jon six black beads: "I believe that they blow up into fireballs, but as I said, I do not know that for sure as I have never used them."
Jon puts the six black beads in a pocket of his belt.
"Thanks...hope I never have to use them."
Beth asks in a low voice, "Jo-owrn, is this the bridge we're looking for? Or is this a different one?"
Jo-owrn shrugs.
"You tell me...or maybe Equinox and them should," he says, before continuing, "This wasn't the one I was thinking of. I've been over this bridge before; there's nothing magical about it that I know of. But maybe I was wrong."
Beth sends her familiar Raptor out to circle over the bridge and the river a few times.
As her hawk flies forward to look over the ships near the bridge, Beth's face assumes a faraway look. Eventually she returns to reality and says to the others, "The three ships all look a bit dilapidated. The two merchantmen are unloading crates and barrels from their holds, supervised by a peg-legged, hook-handed, patch-eyed, parrot-carrying sailor type. The brig has a few guys loitering on its deck."
Drinor asks, "Does it look like the brig is robbing the merchantmen or are they together?"
"No robbing going on," Beth says. "The guys on the brig just look like they're hanging out. Nobody in any of the group looks particularly concerned."
She shrugs. "For what that's worth. The outfit of that guy makes me think he's somebody we probably wouldn't want to tangle with if we didn't have to; perhaps if we move on minding our own business, they will too."
Drinor blinks at Beth. "If we move on, they will probably continue to rob, murder, rape and pillage the innocent! I don't see why we should pass up an opportunity to rid the world of some filthy pirates. I think our group has shown that we're quite capable of tackling tough opponents. I'd wager that a shot from Vardui's wand all by itself would be enough to send all three ships to the bottom! I say we make them sorry they ever flew the Jolly Roger."
Jon observes, "We are not sure they are pirates, nor are we sure they are evil. They're probably just slavers or worse. Let's find a spot to do a commune and some of the group to scout the town as the same time."
Beth sighs. "Well, sure, OK. Of course, the only reason we think they're pirates at the moment is that the guy in charge has a peg-leg, a hook for a hand, a patch over one eye, and a parrot on his shoulder. It might just be a fashion statement. Wouldn't we feel bad if that turned out to be true?
"And, anyway," Beth continues, "although Leslie will disagree with this, it's not obvious to me that we should take on as our personal responsibility every bad guy we come across. We're after this Sword, which could potentially have serious repercussions for for this entire world. We can only afford to spend so much time getting distracted by bad guys who need to be stopped."
"You make me sound like a paladin, Beth," sighs Leslie. "I actually tend to choose my battles and my foes. As for the people on those ships, I'm betting that they are pirates, but first we should find out just who they are pirating. The only settlements and ships on Slave Lake worth raiding are orcish. If they are after them then they have my blessings. They would have to go quite a way up the Baska River before they came to any human settlements worth attacking; the same goes for sailing down the McKenzie."
Drinor sighs. "Evil victimizing evil, wickedness inflicted on the wicked. Is the enemy of my enemy my friend, or not? I can never keep it straight..."
He trails off shaking his head, then sits down by the side of the road hunched over a book titled "Ethics for Dummies".
"I agree with Beth, getting the Sword is our priority at this time."
Aldarin interrupts, "In the time it has taken to discuss whether or not we should attack these alleged pirates couldn't we have already determined whether or not they are evil?". Looking around the group, "Doesn't at least one of us have the ability to 'Detect Evil'? If so, a minute amount of time could be allotted to determine the nature of this group of seafarers and then a decision could be made. Also, if we DO decide to eradicate them, how much time are we talking about? A few minutes, perhaps and hour at the most? Will this truly change the outcome of our original mission? If so, shouldn't we consider less sleep, or taking our meals on the march? Do not get me wrong, I to am aware of the importance of our mission but I also am aware of the plight of many along the way. If these men truly are pirates and we stop them from murdering ONE more person with the expenditure of only the time it takes us to eat a meal then I believe it IS our duty to see to their destruction."
Jon says, "Ooooh, hands up for attacking a town! I have never done that before."
Beth says, "Well, we will need to get a little closer before anybody could cast a detect evil, and we might want to think a bit on tactics before we get a little closer. Can anybody sneak up and cast that?
"Also, it's not so much the time it takes to fight these folks that would be the biggest problem," Beth adds. "It's the time it might take us to recover if the fight turns out to be harder than we expect. No sense picking fights you can avoid, especially if you have somewhere else you need to be. They're potentially dangerous.
"Anybody have a detect magic spell memorized?" Beth asks. "I don't. Or does anybody have a wand that will do the trick? This isn't the bridge that Jo-owrn was taking us to, but then, he was just guessing that that was the right bridge. Equinox, how much do you know about the bridge where we're supposed to find the Sword?"
"I have no more information about the Bridge," says Equinox, "But if we have to tangle with the pirates, I should think that ships at sea would not be too difficult to deal with since we have an overabundance of Druids and Mages in our party."
Tully says, "So, how do we determine if this is the bridge we need or not?"
"Dunno," Beth says. "Hopefully, Equinox will have some more lore that we can try latching onto. If not, we should scan the thing carefully for magic or other hidden stuff. All the meanwhile trying to avoid getting into trouble with the pira... er, the honest traders unloading their ships."
Kithus chokes on the mention of honest traders. Between coughs, he says, "We should leave then to their business for now. I suspect the goods are slightly less than honestly gained and put a heavy weight on their souls. We might relieve them of that burden and return them to their rightful owners."
"I know less than Jo-Owrn about the bridge," answers Equinox. "All I know is the Riddle says us to go North, and I know that Thor told me to go North. I wanted to find Jo-Owrn because Vardui said he knows more about the North than anyone. If we are all stumped, I suggest that we Commune again to see if Thor can set us on the right track."
Jon says, "Hey Beth, can you see anyone else in multi-coloured clothes? Perhaps we should have brought the beach balls along. After all, they match..".
The invisible Jon steps noisily forward with much fanfare, "Allow Geerzo to detect magic on the bridge. Geerzo please can you detect magic?"
"Screw you," says the sword.
Jon's invisible face goes white and for once he appears lost for words. Jon pauses and looks to the heavens as if appealing to a greater God.
"Arrrrrrh...errrrr...okay...my apologies..."
"I want my gems mounted in my pommel and encrusted on my scabbard before I'll answer any more questions from you!" elaborates Geerzo.
"Hmm," Beth says to Equinox, "I thought it was you who mentioned, when you joined us, that you had some prophecy or riddle or some such which stated that the Sword would be near some kind of bridge. Hearing that, Jo-owrn suggested this transdimensional bridge that he knew of, which is why we've been heading for it."
She shrugs. "So I guess we have to fully search this bridge just in case this is it, but I expect that we'll still be heading for the one Jo-owrn was thinking about. Plan of attack anybody? I think we should assume that we aren't going to tangle with the pirates; it would be nice to avoid doing that. But if we have to, we have to. It might be worth scouting out and keeping an eye on them, just in case they're agents for the new self-proclaimed Emperor of Saltar."
"Now wait a minute, Beth," Equinox objects. "You also know this riddle since you were present when we met Jo-Owrn and formed this present plan to find the Sword in the North."
"To recap, for everyone's benefit, the entire situation - as I understand it - is as follows:
"A cleric of Tyr in Sandas named Verona approached a party of adventurers - of which I was one member - and asked them to find the Sceptre, thinking she could use it herself to aid the forces of Nlad in their war against Mestom. This they did, but then they apparently started arguing about returning it to her, as some of them did not trust Verona. During the confusion a paladin named Zanax took the Sceptre and made off with it, apparently having his own plans for it. I left the party before this event.
"At this point it gets strange. Another party was adventuring in hell - and by now I was adventuring with them - on a mission to rescue one of their kind who had been imprisoned by this Vrith guy.
"The leader of the party, this arch mage named Occa, was captured and had his soul removed by Vrith. He stuck the soul of another man - an evil arch mage - into Occa's body and sent him back to grab the Sceptre. Zanax was intercepted and taken back to Hell, and so Vrith got the Sceptre. Occa - with the soul of this evil arch mage in his body - then returned with Zanax - who had also had the soul of another evil person put into it and been polymorphed into a female elf - having earned their freedom from Vrith.
"The not-Occa and the female elf - Ryshara - were found out and captured.
"Then the parties splintered. Thor told Al and I to go after the sword. The rest wanted to try to rescue Occa and Zanax. We came to Jo-Owrn while the others I suppose are after Occa and the Sceptre.
"At about the same time as all of this we learned of a riddle. The riddle goes like this:
'THE SCEPTRE, THE SWORD, AND THE ROBE
THE SOUTH, THE NORTH, AND THE EAST
THE SCEPTRE, THE SWORD, AND THE ROBE
THE GRAVE, THE BRIDGE, AND THE CITY
THE SCEPTRE, THE SWORD, AND THE ROBE
WHO SHALL HAVE THEM
SHALL HAVE AN EMPIRE
ARISE AGAIN.'
The sceptre is probably in Hecate's possession now and her minions are probably searching for the other artifacts right now. We know from Ray Jay that the Sceptre, or a replica, has been produced by a person claiming to be the rightful heir of the Empire of Saltar. We are trying to find the sword and so that it will not be found by the evil creatures trying to raise the empire. We presume the sword is in the North somewhere in the vicinity of a bridge but we have no further information as to the location of the sword. We came to Jo-Owrn after Vardui suggested so because he knows the North better than anyone."
"Huh," Beth says. "OK, I was hoping there was more to it than that. Have the other locations in this riddle been identified-- the grave or the city? Where exactly did this other party find the sceptre; could that be identified as a grave?"
Equinox takes a breath:
"When we met Jo-Owrn and gave him all this information, he suggested that we try to find an ancient magic bridge in the mountains West of Dorvar."
Equinox spreads his hands. "We have come pretty far. The question is what to do now."
"I think when we are questing for one item, we should not ignore the others. According to the riddle, the Robe is in a City. Here we have a ancient city. There is a possibility that we have the Robe in there," Kithus suggests with sudden inspiration.
"Except that the Riddle suggests that only the Sword is in the North," Equinox reminds Kithus. "The robe is supposed to be in the East. Instead of guessing about the whereabouts of the items, let's concentrate on preparing good questions for the Communes we are about to make."
Jo-owrn points to the Moga Thor, looming beyond Dorvar.
"Those are the mountains I was talking about."
Aldarin replies, "It appears that it is once again time for the priests or our group to seek advice from their gods. As for us, a quick search of the bridge with spells allowing us to detect magic may come across something, whether it be the sword itself or a magical ward protecting it."
"Ready when you are," says Laurie.
"I thought of something. There might be other interpretations. Think, if someone control of southern, northern and eastern lands. That person will have an empire, even if he/she doesn't have all the items. They don't need to collect the items, just the control the lands. Another interpretation, is each item correspond the control of a region. The items could be metaphors. I am not a historian or scholar, maybe one time or another, each region was united under the corresponding symbols. If Hecate controls the scepter, she controls the South already. A third way is the directions and places symbolize the powers of the items. Robe correspond with East and City. Sun rise in the east. It could be Robe of Dawn of something. Scepter correspond with South and Grave. It could be that it is the Scepter of Death.... Also, the order of the words maybe purposely scattered or don't follow the superficial correspondence. Them referred to in the riddle, doesn't have to mean all three items. It could be just two of them. If you look at it diagonally, The Scepter, The North, And The Robe. The other diagonal is And the Robe, The North, The Scepter. Maybe someone just need to have the Scepter and the Robe. The Sword is just to throw people off track."
Taking a breath, Kithus goes on, "Maybe my imagination is running wild. But I feel that we should not ignore other possible interpretations of the riddle and ignore the possibility that we might be wrong."
"I don't think that we are off track" replies Equinox, "but since the Sceptre at least has already been found it seems unlikely that the Riddle is only a metaphor."
"Do we want to come up with a list of questions first so we don't keep the gods waiting?" Beth says. "Here's the obvious one: will we find the Sword of Equinox's riddle near this bridge we see before us?"
"How about this one also: 'Is the Bridge to which Jo-Owrn is leading us the bridge referenced in the Riddle?'"
When you are ready, Laurie beseeches Tyr to answer her questions.
Meanwhile, Leslie turns invisible and advances onto the bridge.
"Will we find the Sword of Equinox's riddle near this bridge we see before us?"
"NO," thunders Tyr.
"'Is the Bridge to which Jo-Owrn is leading us the bridge referenced in the Riddle?'" she asks.
You do not get an answer.
"I'm not really leading you to a bridge," says the ranger with one of his wry grins. "I've heard stories of a magical bridge, and I'm taking you to the area where the legends say the bridge is, but that's about it."
Leslie returns, turning visible. She is putting away a small gold box.
"This bridge does not radiate magic," she advises, "At least not this end of it."
"Way to inspire confidence," Beth mutters to Jo-owrn.
"Sorry," says Jo-owrn.
She replies to Leslie.
"That together with Tyr's revelation suggests that we should just pass this bridge by and head onwards, unless somebody really desperately needs to fight the might-be-pirates," Beth says.
"If we can get by them," says Leslie.
"Other questions, anybody?" Beth asks. "How about, 'are we heading in the right general direction to find the sword?'"
Laurie asks the question.
3. "YES."
"Ask your lord about the city and the people in it. Are they evil? Would they try to stop us? Are they working for the people against us? And so on," suggests Al.
"Can you be specific with the wording?" requests Laurie.
"Alright, are we safe if we enter the city?"
4. "NO."
"Well, that says it all, no?" he asks the party.
"Are any of the inhabitants of the city trying to find the sword?" he asks.
5. "NO."
Equinox thinks a moment and then says: "How about this question: 'Is Jo-Owrn leading us toward our goal?'"
6. "YES."
"How many questions do we have?" Beth asks.
"I can ask fifteen questions in all," replies Laurie.
"If we've got a bunch left, how about the following two questions."
"First, will we be able to cross the bridge immediately before us without being attacked or otherwise molested?"
7. "MOST LIKELY."
"Second, do the people who will interfere with our crossing the bridge have any specific interest in the Sword or our quest?"
Beth adds as an aside to the others, "If the answer to that one is no, then it probably means that the people are just ornery and like to attack travellers, probably to rob them."
8. "NO."
Kithus asks, "Are there other teams seeking after the sword closer to it than we are?"
9. "NO."
"Does the city contain anything useful for us that will make our quest easier in the city that we could get quickly?"
"SAY WHAT?" thunders Tyr.
"I think you should rephrase that," suggests Laurie.
"Let me try," says Equinox and then asks Laurie, "How about this question: 'Would adventuring in this city before us be a significantly greater benefit to our quest for the Sword than if we were to not adventure in the city?'"
10. "NO."
Beth hmms. "I think we probably ought to cross carefully, mind our own business, and be on our way... but be ready to defend ourselves just in case. Sound good to everybody?"
"Sounds good to me", says Malvis.
"A couple of 10' invisibilities could get us through without too much trouble," suggests Sharone from her seat beside the road.
Tully says, "Agreed. Of course, we could also fly people across on the carpet. If we need to cross, that is."
"Sharone's idea sounds the safest. Flying across on the carpet could still get us spotted," Op Code nods.
"Why don't we just cross the bridge? Tyr said that we probably wouldn't have any problems. Using magic might draw attention to us that we otherwise wouldn't receive."
"If we've got the invisibilities, let's do that. Otherwise, let's just go; it sounds like we may have a chance of not getting molested even if we just walk, so let's give it the old college try. And if we are molested, we kick their butts," Beth says. She adds, "Maybe we should dispatch two people on the carpet, perhaps including Jon with his fireball beads, just in case aerial bombardment is called for."
Jon says, "I will not need to be on the carpet. Besides whoever is up there will be a major target. Not my idea of a good plan."
No one seems to have invisibility 10' radius, so you finally march brazenly over the bridge in full view of everyone. As you approach the far side the pirates notice you and pause in their labours to watch you suspiciously. One of the merchant ships is moored very close to the north abutment of the bridge; the other two vessels are tied up some 160 yards north. The pirates, you now see, are carrying crates and barrels into a building on the wharf.
"Avast, there!" one of them finally cries out at you...the one with the peg leg, hook hand, eye patch and parrot, "Where ye bound?"
At this point you are some 10 yards from the gate house which marks the end of the bridge and the entrance to Dorvar.
Tully smiles and waves. "To the North, looking for fun and excitement. Anything
up that way that you know of? We are new to the area."
"Cold an' snow!" the pirate replies, "Looking for excitement? Then sign on wi' us! Lots o' booty too, me lads! Arrrrr!"
Tully chuckles. "I love the snow...and, unfortunately, I get sea sick. Maybe next time around, though! Good sailing!"
He waves bye to the pirates and keeps marching along.
You pass over the threshold of the bridge and into Dorvar.
Most of the city is in ruins; its buildings little more than piles of rubble. The most intact buildings are close by the water.
The Long Valley Road runs west for some 30 yards and then turns north. The street is lined with buildings and most of them here are largely intact. The place seems to be quiet and ominously deserted, except for the men on the ships, who you now hear singing a sea chanty while they work.
After walking north about 80 yards, with Leslie and Jon scouting invisibly, you come to a large square overlooking the lake. Two of the ships are moored just north of the square along the wharf. Again the pirates stop and watch you. To the north a Great Road continues, while to the west runs another one. Several smaller streets run off of the square as well. Several temples border the square: you identify buildings dedicated to Freya, Untamo and Forseti, the latter being the largest. A set of stocks is down near the wharf; in them are several orcs (dead).
In the centre of the square is a signpost. You go over and read it:
The Barren Land Highway: North: To Radway Tower and the Mark Rachar Memorial Dungeon, Salford Orc Hold and Pale.
West: To Earl's Barton Crossing, Tacolneston and Dale's Bane.
The Long Valley Road: South: To Balthazar, Arbaz Ford and Skiilii.
"Dale's Bane!" exclaims the invisible Leslie in surprise.
"Been there, done that," says Goodgulf with a chuckle.
"I wonder how Danarian is doing?" says Vardui.
"Who?" asks Devlin.
"He was a ranger that we adventured with thirty years ago," says Vardui with a snicker, "And a boyfriend of Leslie's. Remember when you gave him a - "
"Never mind!" interrupts the ranger hotly.
" - in the middle of downtown Hork?"
"Vardui! Be silent!" says Laurie sternly.
"Anyway," continues the elf, "Danarian retired to Dale's Bane."
"On that note," says Jo-owrn, glancing nervously at the pirates who are still watching you, "We need to go west."
You leave the square and head west along the Barren Land Highway.
The road turns north after a hundred yards or so, then west again, as it wends its way through the ruined city.
Midway down the westbound stretch of street, however, you hear a door open behind you.
A door leading into what was once apparently a luxurious townhouse is now open, and coming out of it are over a dozen men in leathers and armed with broadswords!
They do not appear to be friendly, as they rush towards you!
They are perhaps 25 yards from the back of the party.
"Don't they ever learn?" Al sighs as he waits for the men to come to him. Once in range, he launches himself at the nearest warrior and cuts into him with Claw.
Op Code jumps to the front of the pack (facing the armed men that is).
"This should be a good fight," he proclaims as he draws his sword and rushes them.
Aldarin immediately drops a fireball into their midst, far enough away from the party so as not to catch any in the backlash.
Beth fires off a quick lightning bolt, starting some at least 5 yards past the end of the party, and extending far enough to catch as many of the men in leathers as possible.
Jon says, "I will act as look out on the roof of another nearby building. Bound to be more things coming."
He flies off and makes like an invisible pigeon.
Kithus turns around with a firm hand on the hilt of his sword. He draws it after Beth's lightning hits and if the armed men will come close enough for hand to hand combat.
Mikodin waits until the mages are finished with their fireworks, then he calmly awaits their charge, planning to plant a kick into the nearest one as they charge.
Drinor draws his flaming sword and moves toward the rear of the party, where he waits confidently for melee combat.
Ayazin moves his animals toward the front where he can keep a lookout for other dangers.
"Arf! Arf!" says the wolf, and goes running off towards the armed men, tail wagging.
Aron watches for the town guard to show up. If any houses catch on fire, he'll listen for cries of help and assist as needed.
Tully fires arrows at the warriors. His arrow strikes a man but does no damage.
He moves back away from the party and look around to make sure no one else is coming.
By the time Beth and Aldarin get their spells off the men are upon you. The building that they came out of explodes and crackles with electricity then bursts into flames.
A great melee begins.
Al easily connects with his shortsword of speed, badly hurting a man. His opponent fans. Al connects again and almost kills the man.
Beside him, Op Code is also fighting...or trying to, as he fans. Fortunately his foe fares no better.
Kithus sidesteps an attack and replies with his shiny new sword, connecting nicely.
Drinor easily avoids an attack, then chops into a man.
Ayazin's wolf rushes up to another fighter, and they start sniffing each other's private areas.
Equinox finds himself under attack. A blade bites him for 5 hit points. He answers with MC Hammer.
Kelar dodges an attack. The elf connects with his falchion sword, opening a small wound.
Mikodin steps under a swinging blade and kicks, but misses.
The remaining seven men go after Laurie, Rameen, Devlin, Grim, Tracy, Sharone and Aldarin, respectively.
At the same time, another door opens in another building in the block which had been ahead of you, and out pour over a dozen ogres!
"NOW it's a real fight!" Al says with a vicious smile.
The warrior strikes again and then looks for the next enemy to slay.
The man drops dead...then the body transforms into an enormous wolf.
"FOR THOR!" Al cries as he relishes the combat. He rushes after an ogre.
Beth merely mutters at herself in great annoyance for having wasted her single casting of that spell she had available today on a misestimation of distance and velocity.
Sharone shakes out her flail and raises her shield.
"You may surrender before this gets any worse," she offers her assailant.
"This is just startin', lady," her attacker snarls. "You can be my bitch!"
She ducks under the man's swinging blade as he jumps aside, avoiding her flail.
Jon yells, "Bombing run commencing...incoming."
Jon launches himself gracefully off his perch and flies towards the ogres at a height of about 40 feet and throws at them one of the black beads given to him by Equinox. Once the bead has been thrown Jon turns back towards his perch and the cover provided and continues to be the group's lookout.
The bead detonates between two of the ogres, throwing them both to the ground and injuring them. They jump up, cursing at the now visible elf.
Aldarin draws his twin swords and attacks the fighter on him with the flaming one.
The elf's flaming blade catches a man as his foe misses.
Mikodin shrugs at the sight of more combatants, and continues to fight the warrior in front of him.
"We must each cultivate our own gardens," he says cryptically.
The man fighting the monk chops downward with his broadsword, then curses as he strikes the overgrown cobblestones and raises little more than a shower of sparks. Mikodin then kicks him in the groin and the man drops, stunned.
Seeing the ogres, Kithus attacks the fighter he wounded with a frenzy, so that he would be able to quickly finish off the fighter and move to intercept the ogres.
His opponent's blade nicks him for 2 hit points before the ranger's blade cuts him again.
Equinox throws his Rope of Entanglement at the warrior fighting him and then, once the fighter is immobilized, whacks the fighter in the head with MC Hammer.
Suprised at suddenly finding himself trussed up and immobilised, the man offers no resistance as MC Hammer crushes his skull.
Again, the corpse transforms into a large gray wolf.
Seeing no guards showing up or hearing any children crying for help, Aron goes to protect his priestess of Tyr,
"This isn't Pleasantville," he says as he puts himself between the advancing ogres and Laurie.
Laurie is already fighting a werewolf, so Aron moves against the ogres. Targeting one moving to attack the priestess from behind, he hits the monster head first in its gut, knocking the wind out of the fellow. The ogre sits down, stunned.
Op Code fans again as the man on him bounces his blade off of the ranger's shield. Op Code finally connects, wounding the man.
Drinor swings his flaming broadsword but misses...as does his opponent.
Kelar takes a hit for 2 hit points, as he connects with his falchion sword again. His other blade bounces right off of the monster.
Laurie, who usually avoids combat if she can, finds herself facing a warrior. Using a rod, she catches the monster across his shoulder as he bounces his blade off of her shield.
Rameen, at her side, is upset that a werewolf has slipped by him to attack his mistress while he is dealing with another. The enemy cuts him for 3 hit points as the dwarf swings his glowing battle axe and misses.
"Weaklings," mutters Devlin, as he is hit for 5 hit points. Using his flaming broadsword this time, he misses.
Grim the druid is also fighting. Chopping deeply with his glowing falchion sword, his opponent howls like a dog, then hits him for 3 hit points.
"Help me, Op Code!" cries Tracy to her liege, as she retreats from the werewolf attacking her. He chops her for 4 hit points.
Leslie appears out of thin air, her longsword and dagger flashing. The frost brand buries itself into an ogre and he drops.
Nearby, Jo-owrn attacks another ogre, and he dies as well.
The remaining ogres move to attack Ayazin, Beth, Tully, Al, Sharone, Aldarin, Mikodin, Kithus and Equinox.
Getting impatient at the sight of advancing ogres, Kithus tries to rush his opponent to try to knock him off his feet. .
The monster jumps aside and chops his blade into Kithus for 2 hit points. he then licks the blade.
The ogre attacking the ranger misses him.
Jon take a quick look around for more monsters appearing but sees none. Then as if under some internal conflict takes out a staff for his left hand and a long sword in the other and once again launches himself from the rooftop aiming for the back of Tracy's werewolf. Muttering under his breath he says, "Should have stayed safe on the roof...bloody beads don't explode like a fireball...suppose better to find out now that latter....hit the monster hard and fast."
Jon is not very adept with the staff. In fact, he misses. Trying to use the glowing longsword as a second weapon does not work either, and he drops it.
The werewolf spins about and swings at Jon, but the elf jumps aside. Tracy takes the opportunity to escape, and Jon faces the fighter alone.
When Beth sees one coming towards her, she whips out her wand of paralyzation and tries to freeze it. The ogre dodges the ray and then clobbers her for 1 hit point of damage, mussing up her hairdo.
Equinox retrieves his rope from the now dead werewolf and throws it at the Ogre trying to attack him. While he is disentangling his rope from the corpse the ogre - the biggest of the lot, it seems, belts him for 6 hit points.
Aldarin continues to attack the fighter on him. "What are the creatures that they transform into wolves at death?"
"I don't know!" shouts Kithus to Aldarin over the battlefield noises, "But for some reason I think that was originally a wolf but a transformed to a human. Then upon its death, naturally it would be returned to the form of a wolf, since the spell would have been broken. It is just a guess, though."
The attacker bounces his blade off of Aldarin's stoneskinned hide as the elf nails him with his flame tongue. The man howls as Aldarin connects again.
The ogre attacking him, meanwhile, misses.
Seeing a second foe heading in her direction, Sharone switches from flail to her new rod.
"I hope this thing works." She flicks a switch and takes a swing at her nearest foe.
She connects handily with the rod. The werewolf, though, also connects, and she takes 5 hit points of damage. Her ogre hits her for another 9 hit points.
"Bring it on, big boy!" Al cries as he lunges with Claw, slicing into the nearest ogre.
The cavalier of course connects and the ogre misses. Al's second swing kills the monster.
Since the fighter (wolfwere?) is down and stunned, Mikodin turns to await an attack by an ogre.
"If only I had the training I so desperately need," he laments aloud.
He does not have to wait long, as one of the ogres that Jon's bead injured charges at him. Mikodin lunges out with his foot but misses, as does the ogre with his club. The two circle each other warily, looking for an opening.
Seeing that Laurie can take care of herself, Aron moves to attack the ogre going to Sharone. Aron hits the ogre from behind, getting the big fellow's attention.
Op Code is still dealing with his werewolf. Connecting with longsword #2 twice, he leaves the monster badly hurt.
Drinor is chopped for 5 hit points as he misses with his flame tongue.
Kelar connects with a lycanthrope as the monster fans.
Laurie hits her werewolf again.
Beside her, Rameen avoids the swinging blade of his werewolf and hits the man with his battle axe twice.
Devlin's opponent bounces his blade off of his shield as the warrior connects with his flame tongue twice, beheading him.
Grim hacks away with grim determination against his opponent, taking a hit for 4 hit points in the process.
An ogre knocks Tully around for 7 hit points. He takes out his longsword and stirs up a fine breeze with it.
Ayazin tries his luck with his scimitar and connects with an ogre. The ogre then nails him...or thought he did...but the druid was not quite where he thought he was.
Leslie swoops down on the ogre attacking Beth, killing the monster with one well-placed stab.
Jo-owrn helps out Tully, and another monster expires.
Vardui pours a flurry of magic missiles into the werewolf frolicking with Ayazin's wolf, killing it.
In similar fashion, Goodgulf unloads three magic missile spells into assorted monsters. Ayazin's ogre drops, as does Sharone's werewolf, while Grim's werewolf is hurt.
Equinox, finally getting his rope, sends it after the ogre that is bothering him, trussing him up.
Nine functioning werewolves remain, as well as five ogres.
Jon drops the staff and starts to cast mirror image.
Seeing an opening, the lycanthrope chops into him for 5 hit points, spoiling Jon's spell.
Jon draws Geerzo and tries to parry the werewolf attacks.
Aron tries another boot to the head on the ogre. The ogre catches his foot in an enormous hand and flips the monk through the air, then charges after him.
Aldarin continues to attack the werewolf thing on him with his flaming sword.
"Be sure to help out the spellcasters so that they can bring their powers into the fray."
Narrowly dodging a saliva slick blade, the elf cuts in low and chops down the man, who in death transforms back into wolf-form.
He turns on the ogre, just in time to avoid a blow.
Drinor continues the melee against the werewolves, swinging his flaming sword.
The werewolf clangs his sword off of the paladin's shield as Drinor hacks into him, leaving the monster near death.
Ayazin picks a new ogre to attack with his scimitar, and he commands his mountain lion to assist him in the combat.
While the ogre pursues Aron, Ayazin jumps at it from behind, landing a solid hit with his scimitar. His cat, who has been in a funk since Farad left, stretches, yawns, and moves to attack as well.
Equinox conks the Ogre on the head with MC Hammer and again retrieves his rope and uses it on another monster.
"Well I hope this doesn't get any more exciting," grumbles Kelar as he swings again at the fighter.
The man fans at Kelar as the elf does likewise.
"Who wants some?" Al questions as he looks at the nearest enemy and attacks with his usual gusto.
"I do!" bellows a new ogre, as he fatalistically steps up.
Al obliges by slicing deeply into the monster, who fans with his club. The cavalier then kills him.
"Thanks, Leslie!" Beth calls, as Leslie fells the ogre who was attacking her. Looking around and seeing Sharone in seemingly the most distress, Beth will target the ogre attacking Sharone with her wand of paralyzation-- assuming she can get a clear shot.
The ogre, looming over Aron, suddenly freezes up solid.
Op Code will, after finishing off the werewolf, will run over and attack the werewolf that was on Tracey.
He quickly kills the werewolf and rushes over to help out Jon.
The ogre facing Mikodin sees his eyes flicker off in the direction of Aron for an instant and he lunges. The monk is belted for 9 hit points of damage. Mikodin lashes out but misses.
Kithus is still trying to deal with a werewolf and an ogre. The lycanthrope misses him this time but the ranger connects and kills the monster. The ogre strikes a glancing blow, though, for 2 hit points.
Sharone, now free to move around, smashes a stunned werewolf.
Tracy does likewise to the ogre that Aron stunned.
Laurie clobbers her werewolf again as he attacks without effect. Vardui appears behind him and with a well placed back stab kills the monster.
Nearby, Rameen takes another slice out of his werewolf as Jo-owrn turns and stabs the monster in the flank. It drops.
Grim is still fighting seriously on. With a last swing of his glowing falchion sword he finishes off the werewolf.
With a yell Devlin fans his dramatically in the direction of the werewolf attacking Drinor.
Leslie helps out Mikodin and kills the ogre attacking him.
The battle draws to a close.
Jon, trying to pick up his longsword while parrying with Geerzo, deflects the werewolf's attack. Op Code jumps into the fray and lands a solid hit.
The werewolf attacking the paladin dodges Drinor's attacks but not Devlin's and it drops.
Kelar is cut for 6 hit points as he chops into his adversary. Leslie swoops down from above and with her longsword kills the monster.
Aron kills the paralysed ogre.
Aldarin turns on the ogre attacking him, dodges a hit and buries his blade into the creature's gut. The monster howls. Jo-owrn jumps in, slicing him down.
Kithus finally gets to deal with the ogre that has been bothering him. he catches a glancing blow for 2 hit points before disemboweling the monster with one swift swing.
Only the werewolf on Jon remains. Al muscles into the fray and polishes the monster off.
The street is littered with the dead.
Searching the corpses quickly, you find nothing on them. The building that the werewolves came out of is in flames, but you then search the building from whence the ogres came. This was once an ale house, you surmise. In here you find 260gp.
You head north through the city...hoping that nothing else comes your way.
You pass a few more blocks when you suddenly hear a reptillian shriek from behind and above that makes your blood run cold.
Looking back, you see a green dragon, wings outspread, drifting with seeming slowness though the air above the street...heading straight for you. And behind it comes a second green dragon!
The lead dragon is perhaps 200 yards away and 30 yards up at this point.
You are on a street lined with buildings in various stages of decay.
"This is not good," Beth says. "Everybody spread out, we don't all want to get caught in a poisonous cloud of dragonbreath at once. I wish I'd saved my lightning bolt!"
As the lead dragon comes into range, Beth attempts to target it with a "Polymorph Other" spell. She will attempt to turn the dragon into a miniature schnauzer.
Equinox slips on his ring of invisibility and disappears.
Kithus stares almost in disbelief at the dragon. Then as if suddenly remembering how to move, he follows Beth's advice. He tries to find a defensible area, and takes out his bow and arrow and as soon as the other people attack, he will pelt the dragons with arrows.
Al launches himself into the air and flies up to the approximate level that the dragon is at. he waves his sword at the creature and yells, "You couldn't hit the side of a barn, you ugly overgrown lizard!"
As the dragon nears him, he activates his wraithform.
Aldarin dodges into a doorway and flings a lightning bolt at the lead dragon, forking it into the other if possible.
Jon holds his breath and flies at right angles (using cloak) to the approaching dragons, looking to either get away or for some obvious cover.
To Laurie, Aron says, "Unless you can defend yourself against the dragons, please come with me and take cover in one of the nearby buildings."
Laurie follows Aron with Rameen bringing up the rear.
Mikodin races to a doorway, and attempts to shoot the dragons with his crossbow.
Sharone looks to enter a building with some kind of roof intact. She will wet a bandana to cover her mouth, nose and eyes trying to avoid the deadly cloud from the dragon. She can do little to stop this aerial threat.
Kelar moves to an open doorway and casts a lightning bolt at the lead dragon, trying to fork it into the other one if possible.
"This is not looking good for us," says Kelar as he moves. "Someone might want to keep an eye out for other reinforcements."
Vardui turns invisible, as do Goodgulf and Leslie.
Suddenly the lead dragon breathes, engulfing the street in a cloud of poisonous, burning chlorine gas, swinging his head back and forth as he floats up the street to catch as many of you as possible in his searing breath. Right behind him, the larger dragon does likewise.
Drinor is engulfed, and takes 12 hit points of damage.
Mikodin takes 6 hit points. His bolt misses.
Devlin also takes 12 hit points of damage, and laughs at the monster.
"Weakling!"
Tracy, staying near Op Code, is burned for 12 hit points.
Op Code takes 6 hit points of damage.
Ayazin is also burned for 12 hit points. His pets have scattered.
Grim, raising a wand and speaking a word in Elven, is engulfed for 24 hit points. He chokes out the command and a ray shoots out of the wand and strikes the lead dragon. Suddenly its body freezes, its breath stops, and it continues to float lazily up the street, losing altitude...to fly into the side of a building where the street turns west.
The second dragon catches Al in its breath as he begins to fade out, and the cavalier takes 16 hit points of damage. Also caught are Jo-owrn, Beth and Tully. The bard takes 16 hit points of damage as well. Beth takes 32 hit points of damage...and all the colour flows out of her clothing. She gasps out the last word of her spell...and a miniature schnauzer lands at her feet.
"RUFF!" it says, obviously annoyed at this turn of events, and attacks her!
The rest of you hold off on your spells and missiles.
Suddenly Equinox reappears.
He shouts, "There is a third Green Dragon to the North, about 120 feet away, behind that building right over there!"
He motions to the next building beyond the one that the first dragon crashed into.
He looks for Jon.
"If you are not going to use the beads that I gave you, give them back to me!"
"Damn," Al says as he turns into a bleached blond, but smiles as he sees both dragons go down. He becomes substantial again and casts a Cure Serious Wounds on himself, for 14 hit points of healing.
After his spell takes effect, he flies towards where Equinox pointed, eager for his blade to taste dragon blood.
First, Kithus tries to kill the polymorphed dragon with arrows.
Beth jumps back as the dragon/dog jumps at her. It tears her bleached britches off her and she is bottomless.
Kithus' arrow just grazes Beth's earlobe.
Devlin is there, and after casting a quick glare at the ranger attacks the polymorphed creature with his bastard sword. The miniature schnauzer easily dodges him and continues to pursue Beth. The warrior swings again and this time connects with the dog, and it yelps.
Drinor also jumps into the fray, and slays the creature.
Jon turns invisible and takes cover behind a chimney. He prepares a lightning bolt.
Tully makes sure he isn't near any clump of people and thinks better of firing his arrows into a melee. He keeps an eye out for the other dragon.
"If it's on the ground, then I may be of some use," Aron tells Laurie. "I'm going to see if I can help."
Aron cautiously approaches the building Equinox referred to.
Equinox turns into a raven again and flies over to the paralyzed dragon. Then he converts back to human form and begins whacking at the paralyzed dragon with MC Hammer until it is dead.
"Yo! Yo!" says MC Hammer, as the dragon dies.
Equinox gained 2 more hit points when he changed back from raven form.
Aron and Al move past Equinox, towards the building where the third dragon lays in wait.
Suddenly it rears its head up above the crumbling wall of the shell of the building, and you see the largest green dragon yet!
"You shall die now, knave," he rumbles, and then breathes on Al!
But the cavalier does not die...even though he suffers 28 hit points of damage.
And finally, a fourth dragon flies up into the air behind the large green, and swoops down at you!
"You HAVE got to be kidding me," Al chuckles, "Is that it? FOR THOR!"
The dragon pulls back as the cavalier flies in and breathes again. Al takes another 28 hit points of damage. Al then connects with his scimitar twice.
"HOLY BAT SHIT!" Op Code remarks. He unleashes two magic missile spells at the fourth dragon to divert its attention from the other spell users.
His missiles do a lot of damage into the last dragon, which is a fairly small one. It stays airborne, though, and dives in for a strafing run.
Ayazin shifts shape into a badger, then back to human form as he begins casting a Summon Insects spell to inflict on the fourth dragon.
Drinor charges to assist Al with the third green dragon.
Beth pulls her pants on.
Then she whips out her wand of paralyzation, and attempts to use it on the flying green dragon as it flies in.
Mikodin, from the vantage point of his doorway, attempts to shoot at the flying dragon with his crossbow.
His quarrel nicks the dragon as it flies by.
Tully opens up on the new green dragon with his bow.
As the smaller dragon exhales Tully's first arrow strikes it in the eye.
The dragon crashes to the street in a cloud of its own noxious fumes, dead.
Kithus, after seeing that his arrows might hurt his own party members, re-shoulders the bow and draws his sword again. He charges the dragon that Al is fighting.
Aron dives for cover again.
Jon tries to keep out of direct sight of the dragons and the spells likely to go off as he moves silently, in shadows and invisible, to be in a position to attack and to use the beads from behind on the dragon.
One dragon remains, significantly hurt. The body of the creature is behind the wall of a building; only flying people can get directly at him.
Al swings his blade again and connects, but it is only a glancing blow. For a third time the dragon breathes on him, and he again suffers 28 hit points of damage. The cavalier is looking hurt as he raises his blade again and lands a more satisfactory blow.
The dragon, near death and out of gas, lashes out with teeth and claws but Al is faster. Dropping under the looming maw, he slashes open its jugular, and the dragon drops dead.
You pause and catch your breath while the fumes clear.
Then, you enter the shell of the building which was apparently their lair.
Inside you find treasure: 4750cp, 23,250sp, 10,000ep, 24 gems (100gp ea.), 4500cp, 8 jewelry (10,000gp ea.), 10,000ep, 1625sp, 3750ep, 3 potions, 2 scrolls and a ring.
You gather up the goodies and limp out of Dorvar before anything else can attack you.
You travel for a few miles out into the forest and then make an early camp. Then, the clerics go to work, healing everyone as best they can.
You pass a quiet night.