Episode 5, "Death of a Mage"
by J.
(c) 2000
Tron Malkaszar, a curious high elf -- Matt Grossman
Thost, a really, really unlucky wizard -- AJ Drexel
Aran, a paladin -- AJ Drexel
Ivan aka Johann, a talented bard --
Norel Bolderdash, a hulking woodsman of the Adri forest
--
Nigil Palom, a noble from a far-distant land -- Kevin Osborn
All others --
The party is victorious over the goblins.
Thost: Well. That's it for the goblin lord.
Nigil: The hobgoblin women and a few children ran. But they are
harmless.
Norel: Nigil and I should return to the skeletons of the evil
necromancer and see if they are still there...
Tron: Oooooooog. Oh, it hurts, it hurts.
Skanda: Yeah, yeah.
Thost: We'll wait here.
Nigil and Norel go through a secret door which they believe will lead
them back towards the caves where they found undead. Suddenly the
secret door closes behind them and they are trapped in the darkness.
Hordes of hobgoblin women and children attack them from all sides.
Norel and Nigil fight back to back in the darkness. They are surrounding by
jabbing spears. Norel and Nigil are hit again and again. Minutes in the
heaving darkness pass, Norel is stabbed from behind repeatedly.
Norel: My blood flows... I grow weak.
Nigil: We must... hold on...
Meanwhile...
Skanda: They sure have been gone an awful long time.
Thost: Hmm... now that you mention it, I hear... clanging. I wonder if
they need help. I'll open the secret door...
Nigil: Take that!
Norel: Argh!!! Now the adolescents are attacking -- I can barely
stand.
Thost: Say, do you guys need any light?
The rest of the party joins in and quickly slaughters the last of the
hobgoblin women and children.
Norel: Whew... The last of them. I think we'd better leave.
Nigil: That's the last time we leave "noncombatants" alive.
Skanda: I have no more healing magic... we might consider returning
the keep.
Norel: Perhaps we should return to the bandit caves.
Tron: [burble] That's where Knobbyfoot is. [gurgle]
Thost: We'll spend the night in those caves.
They return to the bandit caves, only to find they have been
mulejacked.
Tron: [weak with pain] Where is he... Knobbyfoot!
Nigil: He's gone. I'm sorry.
Norel: I searched for tracks, but found no trace of him. Maybe
tomorrow?
Tron: (hobbles to entrance of cave) Knobby-foot... Knobby-foot, where
are you? Knobby-foot...
Nigil: Dude, stealing someone’s ride is low.
There is now answer other then the echoes of his voice. The heroes
soon bed down to sleep. Late on Norel's watch...
Norel: Huh? What's that... I hear a noise. I'll investigate. Hey, it's
a Kobold!
Kobold: (caught red handed, a stolen caltrop in one hand, a bit of
stone in the other) Eeeeep. (leaps for safety).
Norel: Not so fast! [sploik]
Kobold: Ack. (expires).
Norel: It's okay everyone. Go back to sleep.
Tron: (asleep) Poor... Knobbyfoot...
The next morning, Tron, Skanda and Johann rest in the bandit caves,
while Norel, Nigil and Thost search each of the cave mouths for
Knobby-foot. They search cave mouth after cave mouth, finding a
variety of tracks, some human, some monster... but no Knobbyfoot.
Norel: Uh-oh... I recognize these tracks. It's an
Owlbear. Deadly. They're known for jumping out and sur -
Suddenly a huge bear with the head of an owl jumps out and attacks Norel.
Owlbear: Hoo!!! (claws Norel)
Nigil: You don't say? [shwing] Hah! Take that, beast!
Thost moves in close and blasts the monster with a wave of magical flame.
Owlbear: Hoo!!!! (grabs Thost and gores him deeply with its beak)
Thost: Urk. (sprays blood)
Skanda: This looks really bad.
She begins sprinting across the valley towards this cave mouth.
Nigil: We must save him!!! (misses)
Norel: It's his last chance! (misses)
Thost: (dumps buckets of blood everywhere) Blub.
Owlbear: Hoo! (rips Thost in half)
Thost: (dies in a spray of blood and innards)
Nigil: An opening! (lunges forward and drives his sword deep into the
owlbear).
Owlbear: Hoo. (expires)
Tron: (From back at the cave mouth, where he watched the short, brutal
battle). That was unduly harsh. Maybe next time I won't be so fast to
volunteer for point-man.
Skanda: It's too late. Vatun, Thost's god, was long since banished to
a distant plane, and cannot muster the power to resurrect him. He has
gone on to the
this age.
Norel: ... Where the brave may live forever.
Nigil: Do you think we should burn his body?
Skanda: I know not.
Tron: It'd be cheaper just bury him...
Norel: There's a blizzard coming. I fear a pyre would not burn.
Nigil: We should return, I think. We are weak... and the wind is
beginning to pick up.
Thought it is early in the day, the heroes begin to return to the
keep. A wickedly cold wind cuts down out of the North and blows sharp
snow into their eyes, and against their exposed skin. Tron is dragged
on a travois, and Thost's remains follow close behind.
Laurl: Hail! The day has been hard on you...
Skanda: One of our number was killed.
Laurl: I'm sorry to hear that. Things have not been well here,
either. First the murder of that bard -- no one liked him, but all the
same... Now this. Abercrombie has taken ill.
Norel: Taken ill?
Laurl: He's very sick.
Nigil: We can visit him.
Abercrombie is being tended by a tall, blond man. An attractive and
demure young girl is in the corner. The man introduces himself as
Gabriel, a knight of the Sun and Moon. This is an order of knights
who serve Pholtus, Skanda's god.
Skanda: What is wrong with the priest?
Gabriel: I don't know. But i fear that he is near death. I know of
nothing that can bring a spirit back when it has gone so far...
Norel: The cup. We can try the cup. Johann -- have you the cup?
Johann: Of course. Here -- have him drink from this.
Soon, Abercrombie's fever has receded and he is deep in a natural
sleep.
Skanda: I will watch him for the night.
Gabriel: That is good magic. He will live. Will you join my sister
Jola and myself for dinner?
Nigil: Sounds good to me... (scopes out Jola)
Tron: I'm feeling better. I'll join you for dinner.
After dinner, the heroes, Gabriel and his sister sit around the table.
Jola: So, after our parents were killed in the wars, he took me
in. Now, I go where he goes - it is safer in this unsafe time.
Gabriel: These are dark times. My brotherhood was cast out of the
abbeys where we have lived and trained for generations. Our chapels
were fouled, and our symbols cast down.
Gabriel begins to chat with Norel about military tactics.
Nigil: Soooo... it must be a hard life following your brother around.
Jola: Oh, it's okay, I guess.
Nigil: What does he do, mostly?
Jola: I don't know too much about what he does. I think we're going to
Ratik. He says there is much service to be done there. And things are
ever so dangerous in the
outlawed.
Johann: Ugh... I don't feel so good. I feel a bit weak. I wonder
what's it's from?
Norel: I feel fine.
Nigil: I feel a bit feverish myself.
Tron: Now that you mention it...
Norel: You went diving in the troll-water. I did not.
Gabriel: I have heard of such things. Dark waters breed evil things.
Johann: I have been finishing Sir Robin's last song. Devereau gave me
his paper's -- and he had been working on this.
Johann sings an epic song about Sunndi - betrayal of the dislikable
Ahlissan duke by the "The Cloaked Ones", the part of a "wicked man" in
bringing down the duke, ("And thus evil begat evil, and mangy hounds
fed on mangy hounds," and finally "The Cloaked Ones" defeated and the
crowning of an Olven King, Havenor.
The next morning, the character talk to the now-better Father
Abercrombie.
Abercrombie: I must thank you. You saved my life.
Nigil: Do you have any ideas how we might heal this disease that has
afflicted us?
Abercrombie: Take these herbs as a tea, once a day. It may help...
Norel and Nigil begin to train with Devereau and Jadale.
Jadale: And then -- the overhand blow, when they least expect it. That
is good. You will learn.
Nigil: Now teach me more about the usage of the dagger against large
opponents.
Devereau: Clear your mind. Let your eye see the track of the arrow. Be
the bow. LOOSE!
Norel: Damn. Just short.
Devereau: Again. You will learn.
That evening...
Wilf the Innkeeper: Tax collector's in town.
Norel: Taxes, bah.
Tron: He might be a good fellow to know. Let's have dinner with him.
Vigog the Taxman: I'm so sorry to bother you -- to put you out of
sorts. I really am. It's the last thing I'd mean to do.
Nigil: Join us for dinner...
Vigog: Innkeep -- if you please, the best room in the house, for me
and my men.
Wilf: Urg. Uhh... (whispering) Honey -- clear our stuff out of the
nuptial chamber. It's booked tonight -- don't ask.
Calista: But --
Wilf: It's for the TAX collector.
Vigog: So what do you guys do around here?
Norel: We find stuff. In the caves.
Thorlech the Fisherman: They mesh with stuff, they shouldn't, that's
what. They stir up trouble. Before they came --
Tron: (glares threateningly at Thorlech)
Thorlech: And I was just about to sit down.
Vigog: Tell me more -- my life is so boring.
Tron: We kill monsters.
Thorlech: Or get killed by 'em. Heee heee heeee [hack] [cough]
Tron: Grrrr.
He marches over to Thorlech's table, grabs the old man by the arm
and throws him out into the night.
Thorlech: I was goin' home anyway, I was!
Vigog: [sigh] I hate my life. No one ever likes the tax collector.
Nigil: No kidding.
Suddenly, the door slams open and a large, square-jawed fellow bursts
in, bringing snow and brisk night air with him.
Aran: Ho ho. Mighty chilly out there. Innkeep -- your finest room!
Wilf: Uhhh... okay. (To himself) Finest is a relative term.
Aran: And dinner -- hot! Mind if I sit here?
Vigog: Not at all.
Tron: So how much do you think we'll owe?
Vigog: Well... it won't be cheap. First, I have to nail you 10 silver
for being a humanoid. Are you foreigners?
Tron: Uhhh... yes.
Vigog: Well, that means 3% of your wealth instead of 2%.
Tron: Oh. I mean, uhhhh... (slips a gold crown into Vigog's hands)
we're local.
Vigog: Oh yeah. That means 2%.
Aran: [blink blink] Strange customs in these southern lands.
Tron: Thanks buddy. Can I buy you another drink?
Vigog: It's a hard job I got... Shalister pays his taxes, but everyone
knows it won't last. One of these days, he and Hastern are going to go
at it - I just know it. That'll be the civil war we all fear - but I
guess I won't have to collect taxes from the
Norel: Uh-huh. Go on.
Vigog: I don't know much about who would be on what sides, were there
a war. Hastern and Shalister don't like each other. And the orcs -
Shalister hates them, but Hastern tolerates them. And there have been
barbarian raids down to Bellport again! Things were better when I was
a young...
Tron: Let me refill that for ya.
Vigog: Thanksh. Let me tell you about -- [thump]
Nigil: (Gambling with Vigog's guards) Must be rough being a guard for
a tax-collector.
Guard 1: Hah! An eleven. I'll take that.
Guard 2: It's not as bad as it seems.
Guard 3: We're based out of Stringen - Rinshern's city. This is easy
duty - we got lucky - my brother got killed in the forest - it's a
constant war there. Our duties could be a lot worse.
Aran (the newcomer) introduces himself as a paladin of Hieronyous,
god of valor. He was originally from the northern
which was recently overrun with barbarians. Currently he is roaming
the land looking for wrongs to right and evil to smite.
Norel: We do that stuff to. Well, the smiting bit anyway.
Aran: I have heard that somewhere nearby there is an evil temple,
where dark gods are worshiped. Erishkagl is one – she is the enemy of
glory and honor.
Nigil: Well, there's these caves...
Several days later...
Tron: My dagger has been stolen.
Norel: You had better tell Devereau -- it could be used in a crime,
and you wouldn't want to be blamed for it.
Tron: Good idea. I'll inform him immediately. And tonight, I will
watch on the walls. There is foul play afoot.
That night, on the wall, Tron sees a cloaked figure sneak from the
Inner Gatehouse, through the narrow, snowed streets, to the house of
Quince the Tailor, just below him. He sneaks close to the chimney,
and listens carefully...
Quince: Oh that feels good!
Female Voice: Give it to me baby!
Tron: Errr. "Give it to me baby?"
Quince: Oh, Jadale!
Jadale: Oh, Quince!
Tron: This sucks.
Days pass -- Nigil finishes his training, but Norel continues. Mendel
the Merchant returns to the keep and is grilled closely by the heroes.
Nigil: Did you kill Sir Robin?
Mendel: Kill who?
Nigil: The bard. Did you kill him?
Mendel: Uh, nooooo. Why?
Nigil: He was murdered.
Mendel: He had it coming.
Norel: You're missing one of your... concubines. What happened?
Mendel: Chantel ran off with someone better looking than me. Not hard
to find. Can I interest you in fine...
A few days later the heroes return to the caves. Johann stays back at
the keep. Aran the paladin of Hieronyous returns with them, and he
brings Tella, the stable girl, as his page and servant. He is looking
for an evil temple full of undead, and this definitely seems like a
good place to start. They return to a room that they had seen
previously, where row on row of skeletons and zombies stand
silently. They come up with a cunning plan.
Aran: Atttaaaackkk!
Skanda: I turn thee, evil dead! Or maybe not.
Tron: [hack]
NIgil: [hack]
Norel: [hack]
The awakened dead move forward implacably, swinging heavy fists and
rusted swords. The heroes mostly hold the line, but a badly wounded
Tron retreats. Tella the stable girl attacks with her dagger and
kills the skeleton that was threatening him.
Tron: I had it under control.
Tella: Sure.
Suddenly, they are locked in place by strange and sticky webs.
Tron: Urg. Can't move.
Tella: We can struggle out...
Tron: Look, behind us!
A skeleton and zombie are standing there. They seem to be more
"lively" than the standard shambling undead, and talk to one another
in courtly accents.
Skeleton: Ho ho -- what have I caught?
Zombie: I don't know, dear, but I'm sure they'll make fine creatures
for us.
Skeleton: Hmmm... they seem to be destroying our servants without too
much difficulty. (Whispers something to "Zombie.")
Zombie: If you think so, honey-buns.
Norel: That's more than I wanted to know.
Several spells flash past, and Nigil falls to the ground unconscious,
just as Tella and Tron manage to struggle free. The stand over Nigil's
body and defend it from the lumbering zombies. Several more minutes of
hard fighting pass, and finally the last of the undead are hacked
down. Aran tosses a flaming torch on the magical web, and it burns
itself up in a quick flash of flame.
Aran: They're getting away through the door to the outside! Damn --
they made it out, and it's locked.
Norel: Grrrr... can't open it. It must be magically locked.
Tron: We can go out through the goblin caves! Let's go!
They quickly run through the warren of caves to the outside. Across
the narrow canyon, they see a line of half-a-dozen zombies porters
carrying a variety of valuable looking goods. The Skeleton and the
Zombie urge them on, but, seeing the heroes, break for a threatening
looking cave mouth.
Tron: Damn! If we're lucky, we can take 'em down with arrows.
A brief slaughter follows, and all of the zombie porters are destroyed.
Tron: Woo hoo! Stuff!
Nigil: Excellent. It looks like they were trying to get away with
their valuables. Luckily, we were here.
The heroes quickly collect the valuables. Aran smashes up the
apparently magical laboratory that they porters were carrying.
Aran: Foul science. Be gone!
Nigil: Hey, look -- on the hill -- a kobold.
Norel: [twang]
Kobold: Agh. (Railing death)
They and trudge back to the keep, loaded down with treasures. The next
day they return early in the morning and search the remainder of the
Skeleton and the Zombie's lair. They find little of value -- but they
do find Thost's torn and decomposed remains.
Nigil: I told you we should have burnt him.
Tron: That stinks. Hey -- a secret door! It opens into some kind of
rough passageway.
TO BE CONTINUED...