Life without the Wizard
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| Arius fitted a traditional Berduskian noble outfit, only to find it too tight around his belly. |
This responsible yet profitable task was assigned to certain Kaius Sapphirequill (yours truly) and he began his tremendous work by listening the complete story so far, told by the rest while Arius was wanking some enchantment on his sword.
As Arius completed his ritual, everyone were ready to began their journey to the Purgatory, burned down village some miles west from Iriaebor. There were rumored to be a man called Syrralt, ex-priest and traitor of Lathander who had stolen the Bowl for his own dark deeds. The heroes were to capture and bring justice on him, and to return the bowl to it's righfull owners. As Melkor was still missing, it was decided that Cidela Pepperpath would act as substitute for now on.
Journey to the Purgatory began with unconvential measures. Our braves loaded their mounts to a barge that was destined to sail up the river Reaming all away to the Sunset Mountains. Master of deception, Douglas, disguised our riverfaring posse and their mounts, and none of the authorities questioned these "miners" and their "beasts of burden". Journey via the river went well and our strike force stranded few miles before the Purgatory to close with it by feet/hooves. On 23rd of August 1372Dr they began approaching the Purgatory, known as the village of Orp Sarkan before it's fiery demise in 1368dr when the Skull Riders rode in, slayed and burned the whole village.
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| The Purgatory, one can't wait to have a vacation there! |
Everything in Purgatory was in ruins. Only stone foundations and charred structures remained. In the middle of the village was the market square, place where a great massacre occured four years ago. Dozens of stakes stood there, with charred, impaled corpses of the villagers still hanging in them. Our heroes were disgusted and upset from this heinous massmurder of innocent people. No signs of Syrralt were seen, until they discovered a tent hidden inside a ruined house. Their investigations at the tent came to sudden stop as unidentified riders approached the market square. Our defenders of justice hide themselves and eavesdropped the riders, who were mercenary vanguards lead by a Skull Rider. Fifteen men began patrolling the ruins, some of them Kothians, some Skogarrim, and five of them Blackhelms, Darnonese soldiers.
Our magnificient hiders continued to hide, and investigate the tent, and they discovered strange writings and trigonometric diagrams that depicted a certain location in the ruined village. Carefully inching to avoid the soldiers attention, they moved to the location and found a basement. Inside it they discovered a ropeladders that descended into a narrow chute. By using these ropeladders, they soon found themselves from a underground passage. Eventually the passage came into a halt and opened into dark underground cave. They saw glimpse of torchlight from the otherside of the cave, and witnessed how Syrralt tried to join into Undersea-God-Cult of fishmen, Kuo-Toa. The situation provoked combat, and a scaling began. Our seekers-of-lost-relics had quite a nuisance from Kuo-Toa harpoon-men who hurled their weapons with deadly accuaracy. Nevertheless, the bug-eyed seamen were bout to suffer a defeat, when the unexpected happened.
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| Curiously, the Kraken stripped Arius and clad him a loincloth! |
From the middle of the cave, where a 50ft wide pool of underground water lied, rose a tremendous monster, a kraken, a creature of immense size and diabolical intelligence. The kuo-toa began shrieking "It's Moolowik the Hoarder" and the balance of the battle quickly changed, as the gargantuan entity began amassing both Kuo-Toa and our braves with it's 60ft long tentacles. Quick in wit, our bold warriors began an expeditious retreat, as Douglas managed to nick the bowl. The Kraken, Moolowik, caught Arius as he was running into the passage, but instead of eating him straight-away, the masterbrain proposed a deal to our dim-witted prince-to-be. Arius agreed with the giant-squid, and he was released to live another day. He only had to promise to bring a steady supply of human sacrifices to the abomination, and the creature would crush the riverharbor of Iriaebor when the heroes would try to seize the capital. Forthright suggestion don't you think.
Like the rat leave a sinking ship, our heroes escaped the Purgatory and began their trip back to Berdusk. And soon the Font of Rising Sun was back in the goldring-rich hands of the worshippers of Lathander. And then, yet another adventure unfolded for our heroes.
Change in Order
While our proud adventurers were in Berdusk, Cidela Pepperpath's father, General Almatheus Ochrefield suggested that they should open up the border a little bit. What he meant was that the heroes would infiltrate the borderstation Morihig, which was located at the great gate that dominated the landscape. This gate was the only way through the massive bulwark, and the camp Morihig was the main base for the soldiers stationed in the guardtowers of the bulwark. Inside the camp, they would track and assassinate General Traaghar, a evil man in responsible of many unnecessary deaths of civilians trying to leave cursed Darnon. His demise should open his post to Colonel Erebald who Ochrefield knows to have sympathies for the rebels, and much lesser thirst for blood, unlike the current commander general Traaghar.
To execute the change in order, the schemers left Berdusk and disguised themselves through the gate. While
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| Dash-line is the way in, dot-line is the way out. |
Finally as all the in's and out's, cons and pro's were mapped, our vigilantes begun to move. They assaulted four soldiers patrolling at the Hope's End and escorted a coal cart to the camp. Cidela was to drive the cart, and as they would close the inner gates, a cart wheel would broke to cause distraction. Douglas managed to jury-rig the wheel perfectly and the distraction went as planned. Cidela coloured it futher with her womanly virtues.
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| Cidela used pair just like these. |
Our braves crossed the campbridge to the southern portions and stayed hidden inside a tent, until the time was right. Approx. 2.am Douglas began to sneak towards the HQ. He climbed to the Generals window with the aid of Jareds air walk spell. Luckily the general was asleep, although just faintly, and Douglas performed the notorious Coup-de-Grace, and the assassination was done. They escaped the camp by going out to meet some local girls, and the gateguards didn't notice their hoax. As they left the camp, they forced the whole shacktown of Hope's End to escape with 'em, as they knew that when the murder would be discovered, a great deal of violence would rain down on the civilians.
After the incident at the Morihig borderstation, our heroes once again crossed the Crossing of Hastur, from where they met commoners who were willing to join the rebellion. This oppinion was shared by many that they came across and one led to another and our alpha-rebels found themselves from village of refugees known as Treeward, located in the northern parts of Reaching Woods. There they stayed for three months, instructing able men and women in the secrets of martial warfare. Many were ready to sacrifice themselves for the better tomorrow, and our humble revolutionares soon understood that Darnon was changing, and the moment of truth was closing rapidly. Familiar foresters, Constantin Almert and his sidekick Viril Massar, continued to hone the skills of their upcoming rebel army, as the heroes were needed elsewhere. A call of distress came from the Pass of the Setting Sun in the eastern borders of Darnon, at the Sunset Mountains. There the Order of The Black Cliff had outsourced the responsibility to direction thats atrocity triumphed even the infamous Captain Irongrave. Place where the evil lurked was called Mor Shathûr.
Man Called Tree
It was mid-november and our fellowship proceed towards the city of Hluthvar. Day before it, a curious incident occured. On a small hill lied a rustic cabin accompanied by a weathered tree with dark red leaves. This aroused our adventurers attention. They rode past four gravestones and at the cabin they found one yet to be buried. A skeleton of a man rested on a small bench nect to the cabin door, holding tight on a rusty sword. Before our dear anthropologists managed to search the cabin for loot, a deep whispering voice caught their attention. In the old tree was a man, chained to it. He was old, grey and his skin was rindy as the tree. Bark had covered over half of the chain around the tree, and was slowly engulfing the man itself. Man was bent to the shape of the tree trunk, and his bones were clearly dislocated. The man told our heroes how he had been chained to the tree over a lifetime, as his captor rested under the first and most worn-out gravestone, near the cabin. Man who's skeleton rested near the cabin was his last guard, and the grandgrandson of his captor, Alestur Grimmoir.
Man Called Tree, as he called himself, had murdered and raped Alesturs young wife somewhere around the late 1240's. Rightfully enraged, Alestur had fastened him around this tree outside their homevillage of Hluthvar which now was a city. There he sworn to see the Man to wither and languish until the end of his miserable life, as death would be to pleasant for a murderer like him. Fed only to keep him barely alive, the Man outlived Alestur, who's son Sarmald continued his fathers duty. Eventually Sarmalds son, Farmald put his father to rest and continued his grandfathers calling. But the chained man lived on, and the decades turned into a century. Eventually, Alesturs grandgrandson Haravald, last of his dried out lineage, died somewhere around 1350's and the Man Called Tree was left unguarded. He believed this to be a boon, as none would feed him anymore. But he didn't die.
Man Called Tree suspected that the tree had something to do with it, as he recalled the leaves to be bright green when he was tied around it. Now the leaves were blood red, and Man Called Tree was sure that the wretched plant had grown roots inside him. He asked the heroes for amnesty, and hoped them to strike the rusty blade of Alestur through his heart into the rotten core of the cursed tree. Although he showed no signs of regret, the heroes agreed to do so. Man Called Tree's last wish was that the adventurers would bury poor Haravald who had died in watch over two decades ago. And as the blade reached the trees core, Man Called Tree finally had his rest.
After burying Haravald, the tree dropped it's first red leaf, that slowly floated to Haravalds grave. Our scales of justice continued their journey and left the site that had confined four generations in a one act of revenge, and continued towards the pass of Setting Sun. They passed Hluthvar, a small city that was just a village when Man Called Tree had done his heinous act, and decided to liberate it as soon as Melkor would return as they had heard that great terror was practised in there.
And as their mounts hooves struck lightning, the darkness of the Pass of Setting Sun rose before them, and the darkness had a name,
MOR SHATHÛR
