2296 lines
125 KiB
Plaintext
2296 lines
125 KiB
Plaintext
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-----=====Earth's Dreamlands=====-----
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(313)558-5024 - Supra 14.4 - Sysop: Gug
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A Game Master Support BBS
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RPG, Homebrew Beer, & Fiction Text
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.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.
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From bwr@cbnewsj.att.com Thu Aug 2 08:53:52 1990
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From: bwr@cbnewsj.att.com (bruce.w.reisman)
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Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
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Subject: The Quest for Axe of the Dwarven Lords
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Keywords: story
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Date: 30 Jul 90 20:52:31 GMT
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Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
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Background: This adventure is from an ongoing dungeon that currently
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uses a modified form of RoleMaster. As the chronicles unfold, you'll
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notice that while spells were described by name in the beginning, we
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eventually switched to describing the apparent effects, so that no
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knowledge of the playing system is now required.
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Having defeated the "false gods", the party agrees to aid Felicia
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as she searches for the legendary "Axe of the Dwarven Lords". The whole
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affair seems misguided, the last Dwarves died centuries ago, but we can't
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let her run off by herself, so we come along. The chronicles begin as
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the party leaves Muerse (home of the sstoi'isslythi, aka, serpent-men).
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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WE SET OFF TO FIND THE AXE (AT LAST)
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It is mid-morning on the 17 day of Lo Spring in the year 6049
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The weather is:
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temperature: 88
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sky: clear
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wind: 30 mph (moderate gale)
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Crys (and others) ask if there are any legends known in the town about
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the caves (always some truth in them) or if anyone is known to have
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entered and returned from them. Supposedly searching for rumors, Todd
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and Elured manage to instigate a brawl in one tavern. [Ed. They later
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tell how they fought off more than a thousand sstoi'isslythi with their
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bare hands - in a town of five hundred or so ....]
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We uncover the following tales:
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1- Riches beyond imagining are to be found in the Dwarven ruins.
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2- The Dwarves were destroyed when their wells were poisoned.
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3- Undead dwarven spirits defend the ruins against intrusion.
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4- The cave entrance is guarded by cerebi.
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5- No one has ever returned from the catacombs.
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6- No one has tried to enter the catacombs in hundreds of years.
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We find a package, delivered by a peregrine falcon, waiting for us at
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Leethth's. It's addressed to Princess Leia, Lady Crystine or Sir Ragnor.
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Crys opens it. It's from Queen Ariel. She wishes us success and
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expresses hope that the enclosed 'pebbles' will prove useful. Winston
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has placed some kind of spell on them to make them explode on impact.
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Alicia sends the falcon back with our thanks. Ragnor takes eight to use
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with his sling. Crys pockets the last four.
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After lunch, Leethth shows us where the entrance to the catacombs can be
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found and wishes us luck. As we assemble near the opening, Alicia warns
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that there are five creatures moving about inside, between 50 and 100
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feet from the entrance. We fan out and prepare missile type attacks
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(both weapon and spells).
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Crys fires a 'cold ball' from her staff and follows with a 'fire ball'.
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Ragnor hurls one of the 'magic pebbles' from Winston with his sling -
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there's an explosion. Alicia says one is coming. We watch, but don't
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see anything until it appears right before us! It attacks Ragnor, Jhere
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and Elured with its three heads. Ragnor gets in a blow with his maul
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before he staggers back, Elured hacks it with his greatsword, Jhere hits
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it with an arrow and Leia with a 'fire bolt'. Todd attempts to jump on
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its back and knife it, but ends up sticking his dagger into its knee.
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The cerebus collapses under the onslaught and dies before making any
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other attacks.
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Kidd 'presences' four intelligences at the limit of his range, about
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sixty feet from the entrance.
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When no one is looking (though Jhere catches the action out of the corner
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of her eye), almost unconsciously, Alicia plucks a flower from the wreath
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in her hair. It transforms into a slender green reed: baalak! Just what
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she needs to heal Ragnor's shoulder. She casts 'instant herbal cures' on
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it. Leia brings a cup of water to a boil with 'boil water' from her holy
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symbol and Alicia brew the curing draught. Ragnor drinks it and finds
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that he can use his shoulder again. Kidd reports that the intelligences
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in the cave are still right at the limit of his range, unmoving.
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Todd goes in to try to entice them out. They don't take the bait. He
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systematically places torches to light the passageway. But when he
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tosses one that would light up the area that the intelligences occupy,
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it is immediately extinguished.
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We decide to attack on two fronts. Kidd can get behind them. Crys can
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get others behind as well. The rest will close from this side. A couple
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of us try to 'intuition' what lays beyond the creatures, but the spells
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come to an abrupt end when we try to pass.
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Crys casts the first 'leaving' on Elured. He appears behind them, lit
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torch still in hand. He places the torch and grabs his sword, just as
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one attacks him. Alicia warns of the sudden movement within the cave.
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Kidd uses 'leaving' from his circlet to come to Elured's aid. Crys does
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a 'time restore II' and casts 'leaving' on Jhere to get her back there
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quickly, as well. They arrive as Elured goes down under the attacks of
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a cerebus! They attack and distract the creature from finishing him off.
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We close from in front. Crys hurls a 'cold ball' into what she figures
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is the middle of other three cerebi. She figures well, but underestimates
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the area of effect within the cavern's confines and gets most of us as
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well! Leia uses 'firestorm' and 'triad of flame' from her holy symbol
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and Ragnor, Felicia and Todd move in to finish them off. Todd executes
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a brilliant manuever, leaping onto the back of one of them and sinking
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his dagger into it - this inspires all of us within sight! Crys casts
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'long door' upon one of them and it disappears from view - there is an
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ominous cracking sound from the ceiling above, but nothing falls on us,
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though we hasten from the spot.
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Soon it's all over except the healing. Somehow, Elured manages to repair
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his wounds enough to regain consciousness. Meanwhile, Alicia gives Jhere
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a fek nut from her supplies to stop her bleeding. Then she has all the
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injured gather close to her as she burns a nodule of rewk within her
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censer. As we inhale the smoke, much (in some cases all) of our wounds
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are healed!
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[Although we are unaware of it, Todd and Crys have crossed a 'symbol'
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that will manifest its properties and some later time.]
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Jhere reminds us that we left our supplies outside when we came in to do
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battle - so we'd better go out and gather them up.
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Alicia pulls another flower from her wreath, concentrates and says
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"gursamel". She also thinks to herself that it is important, there is a
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bone that needs to be healed, and it should be permanent. The flower
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withers in her hand.
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We retrieve our packs and head deeper into the cavern, it slopes
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downward gradually and begins to narrow and curve to the right.
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A passage joins ours from the left. Todd concentrates and believes
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that the side passage widens greatly after the first 10-20 feet. We
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decide to set up our camp just before the intersection.
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During the first watch Kidd is dreaming about finding the Axe of the
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Dwarven Lords in a cavern with a column when he's awakened by shouting.
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Todd is under attack by a nearly invisible gelatinous creature (Jhere
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later identifies them as 'chameleon amoebas'). Leia tries to discover
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if we're under attack by undead. Crys and Alicia try to put the thing
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to sleep (without success). Elured attacks the thing as it envelops
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Todd. It switches its attentions to Elured. He nearly smothers before
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Ragnor, Jhere and Felicia get him free. Jhere and Ragnor torch it.
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Ragnor and Felicia pound and slice it. It withers up and dies. Jhere
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gets another on the end of her staff and manages to pound it into the
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wall of the side corridor as yet another tries to embrace her. The one
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on her staff loses hold and she backs out as they slither off. Crys
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hurls a cold ball and Leia a fire ball into the area where we'd last
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fought them. We decide to spend the rest of the night outside and
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retreat to the mouth of the cave.
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The night is warm and uneventful for the remainder. Leia dreams of
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wandering through caverns and ancient ruins in seeking the Axe.
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We head back into the cavern after breakfast.
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Not too far beyond last night's "resting" place, Alicia warns us of
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something coming up fast. We barely have time to drop our packs and
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ready our weapons before they're upon us - huge hound-like beasts with
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dark coats and glowing eyes! [Ed. Night hounds.] One bites Ragnor,
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another bellows forth a cloud of foul vapors directly into Elured's
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face! Somehow he avoids succumbing to the odor, but the rest of us are
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knocked out! Leia's holy symbol glows futilely as she collapses before
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she can hurl Brigit's fire at the creatures. Ragnor pulps the one in
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front of him with his maul as Elured swings his two-handed sword
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ineffectively at the foul-breathed monster facing him. Other beasts
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crowd behind the leaders of the pack, slavering for the chance to gnaw
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the flesh from our bones. Crys awakens, having spent her unconsciousness
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in alternative time. She then uses the last moments of her saved time
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to instantly produce an electrical field encompassing most of the beasts.
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Leia's holy symbol glows brightly and she comes instantly awake. Ragnor
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and Elured are mauled by two of the creatures as Leia creates a storm of
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fire in their midst. Between Leia's and Crys' magic and subsequent
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fire bolts from them, the remaining beasts are quickly dispensed.
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Most of us are still unconscious, Ragnor is bleeding, Elured's left
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thumb was nearly torn off (but will heal in five hours, thanks to his
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marvelous recuperative powers).
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[to be continued, if there is interest ...]
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--
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- + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + -
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Bruce W. Reisman AT&T Bell Laboratories
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att!mtfmi!bwr 200 Laurel Avenue MT 3G-102
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908/957-6533 Middletown, NJ 07748-4801
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From bwr@cbnewsj.att.com Mon Aug 6 11:19:06 1990
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From: bwr@cbnewsj.att.com (bruce.w.reisman)
|
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Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
|
|||
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Subject: The Quest for Axe of the Dwarven Lords (2)
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|||
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Keywords: story
|
|||
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Date: 3 Aug 90 20:11:18 GMT
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|||
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Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
|
|||
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|
|||
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[oops -- the events in the previously published part 2 were jumbled during
|
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assembly (3 source files) --- this is an unscrambled version]
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[this will probably reach your site after part 3 ...]
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WE RECOVER FROM CANINE HALITOSIS
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WE PERSUADE SOME OGRES TO LET US PASS
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THE MIGHTY FALL AND KIDD SAVES THE DAY
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It is mid-morning on the 18th day of Lo Spring in the year 6049
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The weather is:
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temperature: ~70 (we're in the catacombs...)
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wind: 0 mph (calm)
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Ragnor is still bleeding badly; Elured tells him to dig into his belt pouch
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and pull out the vials (Elured's injured thumb prevents him from doing it
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himself). He selects one and Ragnor downs it's contents in a single gulp.
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The bleeding stops.
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Meanwhile Leia prays to Brigit to awaken the rest of us and her holy symbol
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again glows, but nothing else seems to happen. Then she goes into a trance
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to try to provide advance warning of anyone (or thing) approaching us.
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Jhere regains consciousness and finds Alicia, Todd and Kidd still in a coma,
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Ragnor and Elured busy trying to heal their wounds, Crys and Felicia
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discussing what to do next and Leia apparently meditating. She begins
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moving our equipment to one side of the passage, so we can be ready to move.
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She then lights her lantern and sets it in our midst and heads forward to
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stand guard, with an arrow notched in her bow. Elured meditates and after
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roughly nine minutes, his wounds are gone!
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We move past the dead night hounds (carrying our unconscious comrades) so
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we can eat without the unappetizing stench of their charred flesh. Once
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we are downwind of the carnage, we eat lunch. Eventually, all save Alicia
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are awake. Ragnor carries her slight form and we penetrate deeper into the
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cave. We reach a fork and decide to make camp for the night just inside
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the narrower branch. Jhere searches carefully (holding her torch as high
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as she can) for chameleon amoebas. She doesn't find any, but does discover
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a purple mold growing on the upper portion of the left wall! As Alicia has
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finally awakened (a little surprised to be in Ragnor arms), she asks to be
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lifted up to where she can examine the mold more closely. Ragnor steps to
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her aid, lifting her easily above his head. [Ed. his efforts are rewarded
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by a view of more than a bit of leg, but that's another story...] She casts
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two spells and shrugs, disappointed. As Ragnor lowers her to the floor she
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informs us that it's not an useful herb as best she can tell.
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We discuss making temporary earthen barricades (Leia can do it magically),
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but decide against it when we are told they will only persist for a few
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minutes. We eat dinner and set watches. Alicia burns a thurl clove in her
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censer and Ragnor inhales the vapors, recovering from some of his wounds a
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bit.
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The night passes quietly. After we breakfast, we explore the branch we've
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entered. In one direction, our way is blocked by rubble from an ancient
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collapse. Felicia climbs nimbly to the top, but cannot find any way over
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the obstruction, nor can we find a way around it. We turn back. Another
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corridor narrows to just a couple of feet wide. Kidd concentrates and,
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after a few minutes, tells us that it opens into a substantial chamber
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with no other exit. We return to the fork and once again proceed down the
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"main" passage.
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The passage curves slowly to the left. After less than a hundred feet,
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Alicia warns that six large creatures are headed our way. We halt and
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prepare to fight. They amble slowly closer, finally Kidd can sense them
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and tells us that whatever they are, they're not terribly bright. They
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halt about fifty feet from us, still out of view, and apparently engage
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in some kind of discussion (we catch a few unintelligible sounds from that
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direction). We wait.
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We're ready and waiting and waiting and ... whatever is around the bend
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isn't coming any closer. The argument grows in volume, but we can't
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understand the language. Finally, Ragnor can't stand it any more and
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raising the Maul of the Titans runs screaming toward the noise. Jhere,
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her staff still lit from Crys' spell, Elured and Todd follow in his wake.
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As Ragnor (and the light) gets close enough to see them, he slows a bit.
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They're humanoid and over eight feet tall - ogres!! The stench is nearly
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overwhelming. Still he comes up behind three of them, too involved in
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their argument to notice his approach, despite the noise he makes and bops
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the one on the left over the head with his maul - effectively converting
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the ogre to pulp! The others notice that.
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Crys rushes up and shoots a fire bolt at one that closes with Elured.
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Ragnor is temporarily put out of action by a bola. Jhere closes wielding
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her quarterstaff, but gets more the she gives. Leia blasts three with
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fire bolts, Crys is clobbered by a morning star. Todd slips into the
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midst of the hand-to-hand combat unseen and suddenly pounces on one from
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behind. Felicia and Alicia shoot arrows as the opportunity presents.
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Kidd shoots a fire bolt from his that goes awry, while Leia uses her holy
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symbol to deliver another to the largest of the ogres. Todd notices that
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one swinging at him and drops to the ground, the blow lands solidly - on
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the ogre that Todd had been attacking! Elured's rib is broken as Ragnor
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recovers. Ragnor pulps another as Crys shocks one, Leia hits one with
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a fire bolt and Jhere finally gets a solid blow in on one as it, in turn,
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clobbers Todd. The ogres are pretty groggy at this point and somehow or
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another we mop them up the next few moments.
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Jhere declares that she'd really love a bath! She's covered from head to
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toe with their stinking guts and blood (she'd slipped in it during the
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heat of battle) and most of the rest of us are pretty well splattered, too.
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Leia heals the tendon that was injured when Crys was struck by the
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morning star. Elured's rib is already setting, he tells us he can move,
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as long as we take it slow, and in a few hours he'll be as good as new.
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Crys creates a wall of water, and we top off our water supplies before
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splashing through it to remove the ogre gore from our clothes and our
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selves.
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While we're preoccupied with getting clean, Todd quickly searches the
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ogres' possessions and, after he washes up, he announces that he found a
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large number of tin pieces and a decent number of copper pieces, if any
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one is interested ...
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Kidd and Felicia give two abaas leaves each to Alicia. She burns three of
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them in her censer as Crys, Elured, Ragnor and Todd breathe in the vapors.
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All but Ragnor are fully healed.
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We divide up the copper pieces that Todd found. Elured takes some of the
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tin pieces as well. Felicia and Alicia recover some of their arrows.
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We reach a narrow bridge. Crys crosses first, unrolling her rope as she
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goes. Ragnor anchors one end with a spike, using his hand axe to drive it
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into the wall. Kidd takes the hand axe and a spike and vanishes, reappearing
|
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next to Crystine. He anchors the other side of the rope. We cross one at
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a time, holding onto the rope. Todd runs up and leaps completely across!
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|
Some take the extra precaution of tying a rope about their waist with a loop
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around the rope. There is a cracking sound, often loud, near the center of
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|||
|
the bridge as most of us cross. Jhere comes last, wrapping the rope about her
|
|||
|
arm as she goes. The bridge collapses when she's halfway across!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Felicia leans over the side with her torch and calls out to Jhere. No answer.
|
|||
|
The rope is taut, but she can't see the end. Then she hears Jhere call for
|
|||
|
help. Ragnor and Felicia reel her in. Crys floats down and holds on to the
|
|||
|
rope to alleviate some of the weight. Jhere is battered and limps slightly.
|
|||
|
She unwraps the rope from her arm - circulation painfully returns. She has a
|
|||
|
swig from her waterskin and says she's ready to continue. Meanwhile Elured
|
|||
|
makes a light snack of jerky doused with mustard. We proceed.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We reach a fork in the corridor. Leia and Alicia pray for guidance from their
|
|||
|
deities and we choose to turn right. They, at least, are convinced that that
|
|||
|
way is the shortest route. A couple hundred feet further, a passage joins
|
|||
|
>from the left. Neither Alicia nor Kidd sense the impending attack.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Ragnor knocked down by a ice bolt - with both arms broken! Todd is stabbed by
|
|||
|
a dagger. Jhere's adversary spits at her! It burns through the clothes on
|
|||
|
her back, destroys her bedroll and her backpack and some of the contents of
|
|||
|
the pack as well. The flesh of her back feels as though it's on fire!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Crys thrusts her torch into the face of the now visible, humanoid creature
|
|||
|
that felled Ragnor - it avoids the flame easily. Crys senses that an essence
|
|||
|
attack against her fails. Elured starts to ready his greatsword, Felicia and
|
|||
|
Alicia string their bows. Leia reads a rune of "dark blinding", but it seems
|
|||
|
not to work. Jhere crouches and attempts to parry and twist out of the way
|
|||
|
as her foe strikes at her with a club. She is stuck viciously in the back!
|
|||
|
Pieces of bones pierce vital organs and she crumples to the ground as her life
|
|||
|
energy seeps away. Kidd points his staff of fire bolts, and misses! The
|
|||
|
creature attacking Todd stabs him twice in the chest with a dagger - the
|
|||
|
second blow punctures his heart! He reels backward, the dagger still stuck in
|
|||
|
his chest, and falls in a heap.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Leia prays to Brigit as she flees our attackers; Crys leaps back to safety as
|
|||
|
well. Elured has more ribs broken as he's struck by the one wielding a club.
|
|||
|
Felicia shoots at one point blank as it fits an arrow to it's bow and fires
|
|||
|
past her at Leia (both are hit). Alicia shoots at one that spits on Kidd as
|
|||
|
he reads a rune - it burns away the sleeve and some of the skin on his left
|
|||
|
arm as he shields his face.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Crys drinks a potion and becomes invisible (unfortunately her clothes don't,
|
|||
|
but she doesn't notice), with the rod of the false gods, she charges back into
|
|||
|
the fray. The one with the bow shoots Leia again as it in turn is shot by
|
|||
|
Felicia. Leia's holy symbol comes alight. Kidd's rune takes effect sooner
|
|||
|
than it should and takes over the mind of the club-wielder, ordering it to
|
|||
|
attack the others! The one that spat on him last round turns to where Todd
|
|||
|
lays and bends to extract its dagger.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Felicia shoots the bow-wielder again at point blank range, it doesn't fire!
|
|||
|
The dagger comes free and the creature is more than a bit surprised when it
|
|||
|
is struck by the one Kidd controls! It strikes back with the dagger. Elured
|
|||
|
hacks it with his sword. Crys uses the "death-ray" setting and finishes off
|
|||
|
the bow-wielder (after Alicia and Felicia feather it again with arrows). The
|
|||
|
one Kidd controls and Elured finish off the dagger-wielder. Leia keeps Kidd's
|
|||
|
and Jhere's spirits from departing their corporal forms, just before she
|
|||
|
collapses from blood loss! [Ed. Leia finally got close enough to recognize
|
|||
|
the creatures as neng, demon-spawn, but fell unconscious before she could tell
|
|||
|
anyone.] Crys concentrates and suddenly the remaining creature is badly
|
|||
|
wounded. Felicia and Elured finish it off as Kidd orders it to turn its back
|
|||
|
to them and rest against the wall.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Crys suggests that we try to get up our strength a bit before continuing.
|
|||
|
Those of us who are able, agree whole-heartedly....
|
|||
|
--
|
|||
|
- + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + -
|
|||
|
Bruce W. Reisman AT&T Bell Laboratories
|
|||
|
att!mtfmi!bwr 200 Laurel Avenue MT 3G-102
|
|||
|
908/957-6533 Middletown, NJ 07748-4801
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
From bwr@cbnewsj.att.com Mon Aug 6 11:19:13 1990
|
|||
|
From: bwr@cbnewsj.att.com (bruce.w.reisman)
|
|||
|
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
|
|||
|
Subject: The Quest for Axe of the Dwarven Lords (3)
|
|||
|
Keywords: story
|
|||
|
Date: 3 Aug 90 19:55:39 GMT
|
|||
|
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
[Editor's note: lines beginning with the first letter of a character's name
|
|||
|
and a close bracket indicate private experience of that character -- you'll
|
|||
|
see what I mean in a moment :-)]
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
WE HOLD THE ENEMY AT THE PASS; PICK UP OUR PIECES AND CARRY ON
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
It is late morning on the 19th day of Lo Spring in the year 6049
|
|||
|
The weather is:
|
|||
|
temperature: ~60 (we're in the catacombs...)
|
|||
|
wind: 0 mph (calm)
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia plucks a flower from her wreath while praying to Mielikki for an herb
|
|||
|
to heal Todd. The flower withers in her hand.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Leia's prone form seems to burst into flame; we don't dare get too close to
|
|||
|
her, but her flesh doesn't seem to be burning. After a moment, her bleeding
|
|||
|
ceases!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
l] Leia falls down and down and down, through darkness into a land of
|
|||
|
l] healing fire. She catches a glimpse of a beautiful flame-haired
|
|||
|
l] woman, who smiles at Leia, then opens her hands hurling a huge ball
|
|||
|
l] of orange flame towards her. Leia bows before her goddess and is
|
|||
|
l] bathed in the healing fires.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Elured, Felicia and Crys search the creatures for any belongings or money they
|
|||
|
might have. They find two shields, a club, a composite bow and quiver with a
|
|||
|
dozen arrows, a dagger and three scrolls. Elured wants Alicia to determine
|
|||
|
what kind of magic is contained in the scrolls, but she is occupied with the
|
|||
|
injured.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Kidd collapses from blood loss. Alicia murmurs over him for a while and his
|
|||
|
wound closes.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Leia rises to her feet, all her wounds gone, as the flames about her subside.
|
|||
|
She offers a prayer of thanks to Brigit and asks her aid in healing Todd,
|
|||
|
Jhere and Ragnor, who still lies moaning on the ground. Her holy symbol glows
|
|||
|
brighter. A flame leaps from it to Todd's chest, but he doesn't stir.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia prays again to Mielikki, asking for something with which she might aid
|
|||
|
the injured. Almost without knowing it, she plucks a flower from her hair.
|
|||
|
It transforms into a silver berry - mirenna!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Another flame jumps from Leia's holy symbol, this time to Jhere's back, healing
|
|||
|
the fracture there. Again, healing her liver and spleen. Then to each of
|
|||
|
Ragnor's arms, healing the fractures there.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Now, at last, Alicia can use the mirenna. Dragging the fallen close to each
|
|||
|
other, calling Ragnor close as well, she burns it within her censer. Kidd's
|
|||
|
eyes flutter and he comes awake, Ragnor and Jhere are fully healed, Todd's
|
|||
|
eyelids flutter but he lapses back to a state at death's threshhold. Kidd is
|
|||
|
warned not to try to move for a day, until the healing that Alicia has done
|
|||
|
for him becomes permanent.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Elured finally gets Alicia's attention. She concentrates and states that the
|
|||
|
scrolls contain essence and so does the bow and the club! Elured gives the
|
|||
|
scrolls to Crystine for further analysis. Kidd asks for the bow and arrows.
|
|||
|
As the dagger is of fine alloy, we add it to Todd's pack.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
After Crys determines the content of the scrolls, she suggests that the party
|
|||
|
not proceed further until we rest through a night to heal and get back our
|
|||
|
strength. We carry Todd and Kidd away from the dead neng and prepare a camp.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Jhere discovers the full extent of the damage that the acid spit did to her
|
|||
|
garments and belongings: her pack, some of its contents, and her bedroll are
|
|||
|
destroyed; all the clothing on her back has been burned completely through.
|
|||
|
She dons a spare tunic from what's left of her supplies, in addition to what
|
|||
|
she was wearing, and distributes her other supplies between Ragnor, Felicia
|
|||
|
and Leia, who assure her that the extra weight is no burden. She offers her
|
|||
|
herbs to Alicia and potions to Leia as a gift of thanks. They accept.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Leia burns the club for light after the oil runs out in Jhere's lantern. Then
|
|||
|
we add another flask after the club burns out.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
After supper there is a near altercation between Elured and Crys. We ignore
|
|||
|
it, too tired to get involved, and it sputters out. During the middle watch,
|
|||
|
Elured and Jhere, Elured spots something(s) flying near the roof, out of clear
|
|||
|
sight. He prods Leia awake with his boot and shouts to alert the rest of us.
|
|||
|
Whatever it is, it flies away. The remainder of the night passes without
|
|||
|
incident.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
After lunch, Kidd seems ready to travel, but Todd still shows no vital signs.
|
|||
|
Leia assures us he will recover.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We try to decide which is the shortest way to go. Leia concentrates, then
|
|||
|
points left, then right, then left. Alicia concentrates and asks Mielikki
|
|||
|
if going left is the shortest way to the Axe of the Dwarven Lords. She gets
|
|||
|
a "no", so she says we should go right. Kidd says wait a few minutes and he
|
|||
|
see if he can figure out the correct answer. After fifteen minutes he tells
|
|||
|
us our choices:
|
|||
|
1) The way to the right grows very narrow and twisty, he dropped
|
|||
|
his pack to get through. No other problems, though, and it does
|
|||
|
eventually widen.
|
|||
|
2) The way to the left ends in a 5-10' hole with a solid floor
|
|||
|
about 60' feet below. He didn't investigate the bottom further.
|
|||
|
3) There is a branch corridor off the left choice that ends in
|
|||
|
a large cavern with a 30-40' hole dropping 20' to a solid bottom
|
|||
|
There are animal droppings (bats?) in the cavern. After jumping down
|
|||
|
the hole and starting to investigate, he thinks he discovered
|
|||
|
something deadly.
|
|||
|
Leia tries to locate the great axe directly and succeeds! She announces that
|
|||
|
it's through the wall of the corridor and down at about a thirty degree angle.
|
|||
|
She's a bit perplexed because she's sure she should know how far away it is,
|
|||
|
but can't tell, as though something were interfering with her spell! We elect
|
|||
|
to go right.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Crys shrinks Todd to less than half his normal size when we reach the narrow
|
|||
|
spot, that makes him a lot easier for Felicia to handle. She also lights
|
|||
|
various objects and people so we have adequate light to see where we're going.
|
|||
|
Eventually, we all make it through, though it takes us a half hour or so.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The passage widens gradually to thirty feet, before beginning to narrow again.
|
|||
|
When the passage is only ten feet wide, Alicia suddenly warns us that around
|
|||
|
eleven creatures are slithering toward us from the direction we're headed!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Jhere leans her staff (still lit by Crys's spell) and readies her bow.
|
|||
|
Felicia sets (little) Todd against the wall and strings hers. Crys and
|
|||
|
Leia murmur quietly. Jhere goes down on one knee so that Felicia can
|
|||
|
shoot over her. Leia's holy symbol comes alight.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Finally the onslaught begins - a creature with a man's torso and a long
|
|||
|
serpentine body slithers around the corner brandishing a two-handed sword!
|
|||
|
Jhere shoots it with an arrow. It slashes Ragnor's side before being
|
|||
|
crushed beneath his magic maul. Crys produces a cloud of potent static
|
|||
|
electricity just around the corner and warns us to stay back. Several of
|
|||
|
the creatures are caught within it.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Jhere and Felicia shoot at the one that they can see. After a few rounds,
|
|||
|
it dies. Crys steps up to the corner and fires a cold ball from her staff.
|
|||
|
Then she realizes that one of them is a dear friend. She steps back, not
|
|||
|
willing to risk hurting her friend and asks why the rest of us don't talk
|
|||
|
before we shoot!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Kidd and Jhere move up to the corner. Kidd is struck by one that closes
|
|||
|
immediately, but manages to strike back with a fire bolt from his staff.
|
|||
|
Jhere starts to shoot at another that closes with her, but Crys pushes her
|
|||
|
and causes her to lose her grip on the arrow, so she cannot fire. She takes
|
|||
|
a minor wound in the left side. Jhere falls to the ground, feigning a mortal
|
|||
|
wound. Leia blasts her assailant with a bolt of fire from her holy symbol.
|
|||
|
Felicia feathers it with an arrow.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The floor beneath one of the fallen creatures glows cherry red. We can feel
|
|||
|
the heat even standing near the corner. The smell of roasting flesh drifts
|
|||
|
our way. Jhere enjoys the warmth.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Crys recognizes that Kidd's opponent is not her friend and blasts it with a
|
|||
|
water bolt from her palm. It retreats as does Jhere's foe as Jhere rolls to
|
|||
|
her knees and fires a parting shot. Felicia tries to tackle Crys, but she
|
|||
|
is instead thrown to the ground! Jhere tells Crys that she should go tell
|
|||
|
her friend that we won't hurt them if they won't hurt us. Crys says sure
|
|||
|
and starts digging for a potion in her pack. Ragnor moves up to the corner
|
|||
|
and is rewarded by being struck with a sling bullet that cracks a rib!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Leia unleashes a fireball and catches several of the creatures within its
|
|||
|
blast. Kidd stares intently at Crys and she drops into a deep slumber. We
|
|||
|
wait, poised for the next attack. Kidd tries to detect any minds within his
|
|||
|
range. He says they seem to have gone! Alicia cannot locate them either.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
She boils a crushed fek nut and gives the infusion to Ragnor to drink. His
|
|||
|
bleeding stops immediately. Kidd gives his last two abaas leaves to Alicia.
|
|||
|
She burns those and one she had been previously given within her censer as
|
|||
|
Felicia, Jhere, Kidd and Ragnor gather close. They're wounds are healed,
|
|||
|
save for Ragnor, who still sufers from minor bruises and a cracked rib.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Though Kidd concentrates for several minutes, he reports that he cannot find
|
|||
|
the serpent-men anywhere.
|
|||
|
--
|
|||
|
- + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + -
|
|||
|
Bruce W. Reisman AT&T Bell Laboratories
|
|||
|
att!mtfmi!bwr 200 Laurel Avenue MT 3G-102
|
|||
|
908/957-6533 Middletown, NJ 07748-4801
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
From bwr@cbnewsj.att.com Mon Aug 6 11:20:31 1990
|
|||
|
From: bwr@cbnewsj.att.com (bruce.w.reisman)
|
|||
|
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
|
|||
|
Subject: Re: The Quest for Axe of the Dwarven Lords (4)
|
|||
|
Keywords: story
|
|||
|
Date: 3 Aug 90 21:37:47 GMT
|
|||
|
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
WE AVOID THE STAMPEDE
|
|||
|
WE NEARLY LOSE JHERE TO THE NIGHT HOUNDS
|
|||
|
ALICIA FLIES CIRCLES AROUND A DRAGON
|
|||
|
WE MEET TWO NATIVES OF THE CAVERN
|
|||
|
WE REGAIN A COMRADE AND GATHER SOME TREASURE
|
|||
|
WE MEET A BAKER'S DOZEN MANTICORES & NEGOTIATE PASSAGE AS USUAL
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
It is mid-afternoon on the 20th day of Lo Spring in the year 6049
|
|||
|
The weather is:
|
|||
|
temperature: ~60 (we're in the catacombs...)
|
|||
|
wind: 0 mph (calm)
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia reads a scroll, Ragnor's rib starts to mend. Elured goes to search
|
|||
|
the dead bodies and finds only one! Aside from a few small coins, the only
|
|||
|
thing of any value is the iron two-handed sword. Kidd assures him that it
|
|||
|
has no magical properties, but Elured prevails upon Alicia to check as well.
|
|||
|
She, too, claims that it does not contain magic. Elured throws it aside in
|
|||
|
disgust and starts hacking and kicking the dead serpent-thing (upon death it
|
|||
|
transformed into a serpent). We back away.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
When Elured calms down and approaches us, Crys decides he needs to be cleaned
|
|||
|
up a bit and hurls a water bolt at him! Elured is not fazed a bit.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We eat supper and camp for the night. It passes uneventfully. Kidd has a
|
|||
|
dream about a small, stout man wielding a mighty axe. Ogres are slain with
|
|||
|
a single blow. The axe glowing as it strikes. There is a great battle going
|
|||
|
on. This small, stout man (Kidd is later told that he must be a dwarf) is in
|
|||
|
the middle of it. The ogres try to stay clear of him. The dream ends with
|
|||
|
the battle still continuing.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We breakfast, then carefully round the corner. We continue until a passage
|
|||
|
joins from behind. Kidd concentrates for a bit and tells us that dangerous
|
|||
|
giant humanoids await us in that direction. Leia again indicates that the
|
|||
|
axe lies downward and through the wall, an undetermined distance away.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We decide to continue straight ahead. As Jhere passes a narrow point, the
|
|||
|
floor of the passage starts to get warm and glow red! We panic and try to
|
|||
|
run across the area before it gets to hot. Kidd falls and slightly bruises
|
|||
|
his hip. He discovers that it's not getting that hot after all.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We come to another place where the corridor divides into four passages. Leia
|
|||
|
again seeks the Axe and points down one of the openings, but downwards through
|
|||
|
the floor. Alicia prays to Mielikki for guidance and says that's the way we
|
|||
|
should go.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The passage slowly curves to the right, until we're headed the opposite way
|
|||
|
>from when we entered it. Alicia suddenly cries out that uncountable beasts
|
|||
|
are running straight towards us! But they come so quickly that we don't have
|
|||
|
time to react. They are jackalopes. Obviously running in fear, they don't
|
|||
|
seem to notice us as we press against the walls and try to climb clear. Jhere
|
|||
|
fends their antlers away with her quarterstaff. Before we can climb, most of
|
|||
|
us a struck by the racing beasts - Leia has a leg broken and cartilege in her
|
|||
|
knee torn, the rest take only slight wounds. After a few minutes, the herd
|
|||
|
passes. For some reason, they seem to have steered clear of Alicia.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia prepares a fek nut for Felicia, who's bleeding slightly. Leia drinks
|
|||
|
a potion from her pack to heal the leg and one given to her by Kidd for her
|
|||
|
knee. The leg will still hamper her for about a day, until it fully recovers.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Kidd cannot locate any sentient creatures within his range, so we continue.
|
|||
|
After a bit, Alicia warns that several creatures await us. We close to
|
|||
|
about forty feet, then Kidd concentrates and tells us that things waiting
|
|||
|
for us are night hounds!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Jhere lays her staff down and strings her bow. Crys releases a 'cold ball'
|
|||
|
>from her staff, the explosion sends a noticible breeze past us. Moments
|
|||
|
later, the night hounds discover our whereabouts and run, slavering toward
|
|||
|
us. The onslaught leaves Jhere paralyzed from the neck down, Ragnor dazed,
|
|||
|
and several of us in comas ranging from a few moments to several hours.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
But despite the ferocity of their attack, Crys triggered a static electric
|
|||
|
storm in their midst and Leia, her holy symbol aglow, created a rain of
|
|||
|
fire balls. Ragnor managed to almost crush to death the nearest to him and
|
|||
|
Elured, aided by Crys and Leia's magic, finishes off that one and another
|
|||
|
within the reach of his mighty sword. When Ragnor recovers, he manages to
|
|||
|
trip over an imaginary unseen deceased turtle and doesn't regain control of
|
|||
|
his marvelous maul until the battle is all but over. Leia lets the fire
|
|||
|
continue until the beasts are reduced to little more than charred cinders.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia plucks a flower from her wreath, now only nine remain, and it becomes
|
|||
|
a small amount of purple lichen - wifurwif! She murmurs a blessing over it
|
|||
|
and burns it within her censer. The vapors heal Jhere's spine. Next she
|
|||
|
burns a klandun leaf, and Jhere feels the paralysis lift.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
At Elured's behest, Alicia attempts to discover if there is any magic in the
|
|||
|
area occupied by the slain night hounds. All she can sense is Leia's power.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We eat and camp for the night. Ragnor cannot travel for a day - the spell
|
|||
|
Alicia used to stop his bleeding is a weak one, easily broken. Crys places
|
|||
|
an alarm forty feet to either side of our camp, if anything moves through
|
|||
|
those areas, a bright light will illuminate it. The night passes quietly.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We break fast. Kidd goes into repeated trances, attempting to locate the
|
|||
|
correct path, for where the night hounds had stood when we first sensed them,
|
|||
|
the passage offers four alternatives. And those alternatives branch more
|
|||
|
times! After nearly a half an hour of mental seeking, Kidd presents the
|
|||
|
choices that lay before us. Alicia asks Mielikki's guidance. We choose to
|
|||
|
follow the second corridor to the left, which ends abruptly in a 20' deep pit.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
When we reach the pit, Jhere examines it carefully, then announces that there
|
|||
|
are closely spaced hand and foot holds on the near wall! We begin to discuss
|
|||
|
who should go first.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We climb down into the pit. When we reach the bottom, the only wall
|
|||
|
illuminated by our torches is the one we climbed. Alicia warns us of
|
|||
|
ten large creatures about 150' away in one direction and five medium
|
|||
|
creatures over 200' away in another. As they don't seem to be aware
|
|||
|
of us, we ignore them for the moment. She tosses an acorn to try to
|
|||
|
discover how far it is to the opposite wall, but can't tell.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Leia tries to determine which way we should go. All ways (left along
|
|||
|
the wall, right along the wall and straight away from the wall) seem
|
|||
|
equally good to her. Concentrating, she finds that the five things that
|
|||
|
await us to the right can kill her, before she can see them, using some
|
|||
|
kind of cold-based attack. Going straight out from the wall brings her
|
|||
|
to water, but she can't tell how far it is to the other side.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia warns everyone to stand back and then transforms herself into a
|
|||
|
thyfur! Crystine gestures and makes an incantation and light springs
|
|||
|
forth from one of Alicia's talons, illuminating a 50' radius. She takes
|
|||
|
Crys on her back and Todd's body in her talons and flies slowly toward
|
|||
|
the water. On the far side of the underground lake, where a stream flows
|
|||
|
>from it, Alicia and Crys disturb a group of large bats. They flutter
|
|||
|
around until Alicia lands, dropping Todd and letting Crys dismount. She
|
|||
|
then flies shuttle service for the rest of us, except Jhere, who chooses
|
|||
|
to walk across the lake instead!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
After we are all together, Alicia flies downstream, tracing the stream.
|
|||
|
Suddenly, she sees a 40' cave drake running towards her. She whirls away
|
|||
|
and heads back toward us. The dragon gains on her, hampered by the low
|
|||
|
ceiling (under 30') and stalactites, Alicia cannot fly too quickly without
|
|||
|
risking injury. She is forced to turn and parry the dragon's attack.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Her loud cries attract our attention, though her light does not illuminate
|
|||
|
us, we can see the two adversaries in its glow. We charge to her aid.
|
|||
|
Between Ragnor's maul, Crys' cold ball from her staff, Leia's fire-based
|
|||
|
attacks from her holy symbol, Felicia and Jhere's arrows, Alicia's slashing
|
|||
|
claws, and Elured's sword, we prove too much for it. But not before Elured
|
|||
|
lays dying from acid in his lungs!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia lands and returns to her normal form. She burns an herb within her
|
|||
|
censer which heals Elured's lungs and allows his own recuperative powers
|
|||
|
to bring him back to conciousness and, finally after a couple of hours, to
|
|||
|
full health. A beam from Leia's holy symbol carresses Todd's remains; she
|
|||
|
announces that his soul will continue to abide within it for another eleven
|
|||
|
days and prays his heart will have regenerated by then.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Meanwhile, Felicia leaps across the water and tries to recover her arrows
|
|||
|
>from the dragon's corpse. She only manages to retrieve one arrow; it's
|
|||
|
Jhere's. Returning, she tries to leap the stream again, but manages to
|
|||
|
splash into it midway across instead. She swims back to us, chilled from
|
|||
|
the water and the cool air.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia detects two large creatures on our side of the stream, almost 300'
|
|||
|
away. They don't seem to have noticed the battle or us ... yet.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We eat lunch. Alicia monitors the two creatures - they eventually wander
|
|||
|
out of her range. After lunch we follow along the stream; Alicia warns
|
|||
|
that the creatures are dead ahead. When we close to about 100', we decide
|
|||
|
to cross the river and avoid them. We backtrack several feet to a point
|
|||
|
where the stream banks are only about 10' apart.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia walks across on the water's surface, ferrying our supplies. After
|
|||
|
Felicia jumps across, Ragnor rests the head of his maul on the near bank
|
|||
|
and tilts the handle across until she can reach and balance it. He then
|
|||
|
tries to jump across, but comes up a few feet short with a good splash. He
|
|||
|
swims the rest of the way. Elured also fails to clear the water, swimming
|
|||
|
the remaining distance awkwardly due to his injured shoulder. Leia strips
|
|||
|
off all of her clothing before making the attempt, bundling it for Alicia to
|
|||
|
carry. She easily lands on the far side, but has to put up with Elured and
|
|||
|
Ragnor ogling her until Alicia reaches her with her garments. Crystine,
|
|||
|
Jhere and Kidd also jump across without difficulty and Ragnor reels Todd's
|
|||
|
body over with a rope that he secured under Todd's shoulders before
|
|||
|
crossing. As we get organized, Alicia informs us that the two creatures
|
|||
|
have crossed as well, although they still have not come nearer to us.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Kidd takes the torch and concentrates for a bit. He tells us that they are
|
|||
|
granite-faced, hostile, humanoid creatures of about 12' in height.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Crys asks if they seem to be actually made of stone and Kidd replies
|
|||
|
affirmatively. She then says that she can get rid of one if someone can get
|
|||
|
rid of the other. Ragnor says he'll do it. Crys takes the torch and
|
|||
|
advances with Ragnor next to her and the rest of us in support, except
|
|||
|
Elured, who mumbles something about his tendon not being healed yet and that
|
|||
|
he'll stay with Todd's body.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
When Crys and Ragnor are about 30' from the creatures, they move towards us.
|
|||
|
Whatever magic Crys tries, failed. We see her reach out to touch the cave
|
|||
|
troll (for that's what they are) nearest her, then in the wink of an eye, she
|
|||
|
is 20' away and the torch she had carried is wedged at its feet. Ragnor is
|
|||
|
even less successful: his opponent strikes before he can, fracturing his
|
|||
|
left shoulder, and when he finally recovers enough to swing back, he pulls
|
|||
|
his groin swinging the massive maul. Leia blasts one with three bolts of
|
|||
|
fire from her holy symbol before it hurls a rock at her, breaking her right
|
|||
|
hip and knocking her to the ground. Kidd also attacks them with fire bolts,
|
|||
|
using his staff. Meanwhile, Felicia and Jhere circle behind the creatures
|
|||
|
and start shooting arrows at them, while Alicia shoots from one side. Crys
|
|||
|
digs through her pack and pulls out the false god's "death ray". She uses it
|
|||
|
to make the one attacking Leia vanish just before it can finish her off.
|
|||
|
Felicia is very upset when her bow breaks and she grabs her battle axe and
|
|||
|
runs up to the remaining one. She cleaves it nearly in two with a mighty
|
|||
|
swing, ending the battle.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We do not have anything with which we can heal Ragnor's and Leia's fractures,
|
|||
|
but Alicia plucks a flower from her wreath and it transforms into a stalk of
|
|||
|
gursamel. She mutters a spell over it to make it produce instant results,
|
|||
|
then burns it in her censer so that Leia and Ragnor may inhale the vapors.
|
|||
|
Leia's holy symbol glows brighter and she lays her hands on Ragnor's groin,
|
|||
|
healing the pulled muscles (and putting a grin on his face).
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Elured saunters up to the lifeless troll and begins looting the body. He
|
|||
|
announces that there are lots of bronze pieces, if anybody wants any.
|
|||
|
Unfortunately, Felicia saw the glitter of gold and a flicker of blue in the
|
|||
|
things he had pocketed. He eventually admits to having gold pieces and a
|
|||
|
large sapphire (which Crystine examines and tells him is worth about 20gp).
|
|||
|
We divide up the gold pieces, Elured and others give gold pieces to Leia to
|
|||
|
sacrifice to Brigit.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Most of us gather around Leia as she gives a prayer of thanks to Brigit and
|
|||
|
again asks for Todd's speedy recovery. Alicia prays to Meilikki a short
|
|||
|
distance away. Suddenly, the pile of coins erupts into brilliant orange
|
|||
|
flame. As the fire fades, it seems tinged with green. The coins are gone.
|
|||
|
Elured offers the sapphire to Leia to sacrifice and she intones other
|
|||
|
prayers. After several minutes, it too blazes with a brilliant orange fire
|
|||
|
and is consumed.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia joins the circle and burns an enhanced rewk nodule in her censer. We
|
|||
|
have the impression that Todd looks "better" and ask Leia about it. She says
|
|||
|
no, but Elured says yes. Alicia burns a clove of thurl in her censer and
|
|||
|
Todd's eyelids flutter. It's a while before he can sit up and longer before
|
|||
|
he can walk unassisted. When Elured relates our adventures, Todd is
|
|||
|
surprised that we didn't seek the dragon's lair.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We decide to camp by the river and seek it in the morning. Jhere persuades
|
|||
|
Leia to heat a rock to serve as a stove. It also warms the air nearby and,
|
|||
|
after supper, Jhere curls up and sleeps comfortably for the first time since
|
|||
|
entering the caves.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
In the morning, after Crys eats, she makes a waterwall. Alicia, Crys, Elured
|
|||
|
and Jhere refill their canteens. Jhere concentrates for a bit and then
|
|||
|
indicates that there are three nearby paths, two ahead of us that branch
|
|||
|
confusingly and one behind us that leads to a city. We return to the slain
|
|||
|
dragon so she can pick up its tracks. Other than being slightly
|
|||
|
inconvenienced by backtracking across the stream, Jhere has no major problem
|
|||
|
in tracing the tracks back to its lair, a substantial depression in the floor
|
|||
|
of the cavern.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Kidd takes the torch, concentrates, and states that there is a huge pile of
|
|||
|
coins within. Ragnor stands guard as the rest of us go in. Sorting through
|
|||
|
the hoard we come up with some gold, some silver, vast amounts of copper, a
|
|||
|
rod, and a wallet containing oddly shaped metal tools. Alicia tells us that
|
|||
|
the rod and wallet are imbued with essence. Crys takes the rod (she
|
|||
|
discovers that each charge functions as a three times essence multiplier).
|
|||
|
Todd takes the wallet, assuring us that he can use its contents.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Leaving the lair, Leia tries to guess which path we should choose. She
|
|||
|
suggests either of the two closer ones. We find a narrow portion of the
|
|||
|
stream and jump across, having decided to try the passage to our right.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We enter a tunnel that narrows rapidly to 5' wide before slowly widening and
|
|||
|
curving to the left. We halt at an abrupt drop. We can't see the far side.
|
|||
|
We can hear water that we estimate to be 100' below the edge on which we
|
|||
|
stand. We decide to try the other path and retrace our steps.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
When we near the second tunnel, Alicia warns us that 13 large creatures wait
|
|||
|
inside. Kidd determines that they are less than friendly. We prepare for
|
|||
|
battle.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Kidd detects a dozen intelligences inside the tunnel we intend to use as an
|
|||
|
exit from the great cavern. We prepare to fight our way through. Jhere,
|
|||
|
Alicia, Elured and Leia (with her holy symbol aglow) cross to the far side of
|
|||
|
the opening. That proves to be a mistake - whatever the creatures are, they
|
|||
|
can see in the dark - darts rain upon the four. Alicia and Jhere are at
|
|||
|
death's door; muscles in Elured's left arm are severed and he cannot wield
|
|||
|
his great sword. Jhere clamps the wound in her forearm with her other hand
|
|||
|
in an attempt to control the blood loss.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Crys releases a charge from her new rod, tripling her available spell points.
|
|||
|
Felicia is clawed by one as it emerges from the tunnel, but a blow from her
|
|||
|
battle axe tears into its abdomen, more than repaying it. Ragnor slings one
|
|||
|
of the exploding pebbles into the tunnel, after leaning his maul against the
|
|||
|
cavern wall. Besides the creatures, the blast catches Felicia. Leia fires
|
|||
|
three bolts of flame with her holy symbol. Hit by two darts, Ragnor is
|
|||
|
blinded and knocked to the ground in a coma that will last for two days.
|
|||
|
Crys attempts to double Felicia's rate of action, but for some reason casts
|
|||
|
the spell on Todd instead. Leia hurls a fireball into the tunnel - now
|
|||
|
things are getting hot for the manticores (the illumination of the fire
|
|||
|
spells has allowed us a look at them). Alicia falls unconscious from blood
|
|||
|
loss and Elured tries to work his way over to her.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Crys uses some of her "saved time" to act against the manticores before they
|
|||
|
can do more damage. She creates an illusion of a wall across the opening,
|
|||
|
leaps in front of the opening and fires a cold ball from her staff into their
|
|||
|
midst. She notices that she seems to be a little confused and indecisive as
|
|||
|
she fires a second cold ball, leaps away, then back. She follows with two
|
|||
|
fire balls and another cold ball before leaping away again. She cancels her
|
|||
|
illusion and illuminates her hand with a light spell.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Leia feels the might of Brigit's hand as suddenly she seems able to move
|
|||
|
twice as fast and feels as though she has the strength of a giant. She draws
|
|||
|
her broad sword and runs howling into the tunnel. Inspired, Felicia and Todd
|
|||
|
and Crys follow.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Jhere grows slowly weaker and suddenly collapses with a stroke as Elured
|
|||
|
reaches Alicia. Elured administers a potion of healing to Alicia. She casts
|
|||
|
a spell which causes her bleeding to stop. Then she tries to go to Ragnor's
|
|||
|
aid, but the wound re-opens and she collapses before she can reach him.
|
|||
|
Elured places a mirenna berry in her mouth. She again regains consciousness
|
|||
|
and stops the bleeding. She tries to use a flower from her wreath to heal
|
|||
|
Ragnor, but it withers rather than becoming a useful herb.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Kidd gives one of the manticores a shock, then follows up with a fire bolt
|
|||
|
>from his staff (doing some damage, for once).
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Leia, with a little help from Todd, quickly dispatches one manticore while
|
|||
|
Felicia finishes off another. They advance deeper into the tunnel. The
|
|||
|
creatures have been dazed by the elemental spells hurled earlier by Crys and
|
|||
|
Leia. Unfortunately, as Leia and Felicia start to attack the next two beasts
|
|||
|
they discover that not all are incapable of action. Darts strike Felicia in
|
|||
|
the chest and Leia in the arm. Leia staggers, nearly blacking out from blood
|
|||
|
loss before suddenly being healed by Brigit. Kidd blurs the vision of
|
|||
|
Felicia's adversary. Leia and Todd finish off the one facing them. Leia
|
|||
|
uses her holy symbol to create a rain of fire deeper in the passage. The one
|
|||
|
that attacked them has vanished. Soon, the remaining ones are finished off
|
|||
|
between Felicia, Leia and Todd, with magical assistance from Crys and Kidd.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
As the rain of fire reduces the last few to ash, we are healed of our cuts
|
|||
|
and bruises by the power of Brigit, channeled through her servant, Leia.
|
|||
|
Ragnor, however, still lays in a coma and Jhere suffers from the damage
|
|||
|
caused by her stroke. Alicia burns aliantha in her censer. It neutralizes
|
|||
|
the poison contained in the darts (although only Jhere seemed to be
|
|||
|
affected), cures any diseases we might be fighting and provides us with four
|
|||
|
weeks' nutrition. Jhere feels that her condition is somewhat improved,
|
|||
|
though her strength and motor coordination still have a long way to go.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Crys asks Leia if the rod is cursed; Leia concentrates and reports that she
|
|||
|
doesn't detect any. Elured searches the remains and pockets 7 silver pieces
|
|||
|
and 10 copper pieces. Trying to extract a poisoned dart from the tail of
|
|||
|
one, he gets it stuck in his hand. Fortunately, Crys gives him a potion that
|
|||
|
neutralizes poisons and he suffers no ill effects. He gives up trying to get
|
|||
|
some of the poison. Todd examines Crys' rod and is able to tell her that it
|
|||
|
was forged in a cavern not to far from here.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Leia leads a prolonged, intense prayer session on Ragnor's behalf. After
|
|||
|
about thirty minutes, a glowing pavilion appears. Leia enters Brigit's
|
|||
|
domain and receives her blessing. She asks for help for Ragnor. No reply
|
|||
|
seems forthcoming, so she thanks Brigit and leaves, intending to have him
|
|||
|
carried within. Before we can pick him up, the pavilion fades.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Leia attempts to get the direction of the Axe of the Dwarven Lords, but
|
|||
|
fails. Kidd mentally explores the tunnel ahead. The center path comes to a
|
|||
|
dead end. The right path must have some kind of trap, he expects we will be
|
|||
|
buried under fallen rock and dirt. The left path forks, and a swarm of bats
|
|||
|
prevents his full exploration.
|
|||
|
--
|
|||
|
- + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + -
|
|||
|
Bruce W. Reisman AT&T Bell Laboratories
|
|||
|
att!mtfmi!bwr 200 Laurel Avenue MT 3G-102
|
|||
|
908/957-6533 Middletown, NJ 07748-4801
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
From bwr@cbnewsj.att.com Tue Aug 7 09:50:14 1990
|
|||
|
From: bwr@cbnewsj.att.com (bruce.w.reisman)
|
|||
|
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
|
|||
|
Subject: Re: The Quest for Axe of the Dwarven Lords (5)
|
|||
|
Keywords: story
|
|||
|
Date: 6 Aug 90 15:26:18 GMT
|
|||
|
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
WE DECIDE THAT DISCRETION IS THE BETTER PART OF VALOR
|
|||
|
TODD OPENS A DOOR & KIDD LOOKS INSIDE
|
|||
|
LEIA & JHERE SHED SOME LIGHT
|
|||
|
ALICIA MEETS A CAT; JHERE TURNS ON A FOUNTAIN
|
|||
|
TODD & ELURED MAKE A RUN FOR IT
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
It is early morning on the 23rd day of Lo Spring in the year 6049
|
|||
|
The weather is:
|
|||
|
temperature: ~60 (we're in a great cavern ...)
|
|||
|
wind: 0 mph (calm)
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Jhere discards her food and water as an un-necessary burden thanks to the
|
|||
|
aliantha. We rest near the tunnel opening, hoping for Ragnor's speedy
|
|||
|
recovery.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We notice a bat flying out of the tunnel, but pay it no heed. We switch to
|
|||
|
a lantern as the torch burns out. Several hours have passed, enough so that
|
|||
|
it's probably dusk outside. It's quiet. Too quiet....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia senses 10 creatures coming towards us from across the cavern. We
|
|||
|
douse the lantern and follow along the cavern wall away from the tunnel.
|
|||
|
Alicia turns into a thyfur, but in the dark cannot see to fly or land! Leia
|
|||
|
prays, igniting her holy symbol. The creatures pass us by. Alicia uses
|
|||
|
Leia's holy symbol as a guide and doesn't land too badly. Todd creeps
|
|||
|
blindly along the wall to the opening. He doesn't find the creatures.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Suddenly something grabs Jhere. She feints fainting (still not strong enough
|
|||
|
to fight). It turns out to be Todd.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We stay put for two uneventful nights. Todd and Kidd try to dream about the
|
|||
|
axe - Kidd dreams of perishing in a landslide and Todd has a bizarre dream of
|
|||
|
being swallowed by a fire-breathing dragon. Kidd tries to find a way through
|
|||
|
the tunnel, but keeps sensing fierce foes blocking the path.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Jhere's condition gradually improves and Ragnor recovers from his coma. Crys
|
|||
|
is still suffering from having overextended herself and cannot cast spells.
|
|||
|
We decide to go on anyway.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We penetrate about a hundred feet into the tunnel before stopping, sure that
|
|||
|
creatures lie in wait ahead.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia uses one of Crystine's invisibility potions and casts a spell granting
|
|||
|
the ability to speak with animals. She tries unsuccessfully to persuade the
|
|||
|
bats that we are their friends, and that the should help us against the other
|
|||
|
creatures.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Kidd gives Ragnor a potion that will hopefully restore his vision, but no
|
|||
|
immediate improvement is noted. Leia steps around the curve of the corridor
|
|||
|
and changes into her ceremonial gown. She returns to the party and leads
|
|||
|
most of us in a prayer to Brigit for guidance, safety and deliverance. The
|
|||
|
men are especially attentive. Her gown is of fiery orange silk, embroidered
|
|||
|
with gold flames. It has long bat-wing sleeves, a high collar, a short train
|
|||
|
and is slit down to the navel in front. Her glowing holy symbol focuses much
|
|||
|
attention on that slit. Despite the impressive service, no guidance is
|
|||
|
received. While she changes back to her traveling clothes, Alicia offers a
|
|||
|
prayer to Mielikki, with no more success. After a heated debate, we decide
|
|||
|
to try another way in - a few of us are in favor of giving up the quest
|
|||
|
completely!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia plucks a flower from her wreath, it transforms into grayish root -
|
|||
|
baldakur. She murmurs a blessing over it then prepares a cup of broth from
|
|||
|
it which she gives to Ragnor to drink. A moment later, he blinks. His
|
|||
|
vision is restored. He thanks Alicia.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Jhere guides us toward the remaining path into what we hope is the dwarven
|
|||
|
city. About a hundred feet from the tunnel Alicia warns us that eight large
|
|||
|
creatures await us at the limit of her range. Jhere confirms that that is
|
|||
|
where the path we seek lays.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Despite Crys' exhausted state (she still cannot cast spells), she advances
|
|||
|
to within 50 feet of the creatures, readying her staff of cold balls. Leia
|
|||
|
prays, causing her holy symbol to glow and advances to about 100 feet from
|
|||
|
the creatures, flanked by Kidd and Felicia. Alicia transforms into a thyfur.
|
|||
|
Jhere retreats back to the tunnel entrance. The creatures argue loudly among
|
|||
|
themselves, and don't seem to notice us. Too bad. Crys' cold ball and
|
|||
|
Leia's fire ball alert them to our presence, as well as weakening them a
|
|||
|
bit. We catch sight of huge doors beyond them. Leia blocks that path with a
|
|||
|
wall of flames. Kidd concentrates his attention on first one, then another
|
|||
|
of the foul monsters. Leia's fire spells illuminate the creatures enough so
|
|||
|
that we can identify them as ogres. Crys and Leia continue to alternate cold
|
|||
|
and fire spells for a few moments as Todd circles behind them and Ragnor and
|
|||
|
Elured close. Felicia misses with an arrow and switches to her battle axe.
|
|||
|
Ragnor's mighty maul makes mincemeat of the monsters as Todd gets in some
|
|||
|
deadly dagger attacks from behind and Elured and Felicia slice them with their
|
|||
|
blades. Alicia (in thyfur-form) strikes at them with her claws. Soon they
|
|||
|
all lay dead. The only injuries we've taken are when Alicia intercepted a
|
|||
|
fire bolt intended for one of the ogres (crippling her right wing) and
|
|||
|
Felicia fended off a flail with her head (losing her left ear).
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
As the battle with the ogres subsides, Jhere notices sounds echoing from the
|
|||
|
tunnel behind her: beastly growls and snarls, rocks crashing into walls and
|
|||
|
smacking into flesh, the soft "zing" of smaller missiles, the crunch of teeth
|
|||
|
and weapons against bone and gristle. With a furious flapping of wings, ten
|
|||
|
or twenty bats suddenly emerge from the opening. A few minutes later, the
|
|||
|
sounds grow less frequent, then cease, save for the occasional crunch of
|
|||
|
teeth on bone....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia pulls a flower from her wreath, praying for something to heal her
|
|||
|
burns. The flower transforms into yellowish grass - alambas - over which
|
|||
|
she murmurs a spell. Twice. At her request, Crys finds the brass pot in
|
|||
|
Alicia's pack, fills it with water and heats it with a torch.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Crys gives Felicia a potion of minor vessel repair, which stops her bleeding.
|
|||
|
Leia's holy symbol illuminates Felicia's head, where her ear had been, and
|
|||
|
Brigit channels an ear regeneration spell through Leia. No immediate result
|
|||
|
is apparent.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia boils the alambas in the pot. After it cools, she applies it to her
|
|||
|
burns - they heal instantly.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Meanwhile, Jhere returns from the tunnel entrance and tells us what she
|
|||
|
heard. She insists that there's no chance that we can get through that way.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Kidd concentrates on the doors facing us and says that there doesn't seem to
|
|||
|
be anyone on the other side. Todd concentrates and reports that he can't
|
|||
|
find any reason not to open the doors. So we try. The doors are each 15'
|
|||
|
square with elaborate carvings. Several party members recognize that the
|
|||
|
symbols are dwarven writing, but Crys can only make out the words "friend"
|
|||
|
and "home" and can't understand anything else. No one else can read dwarven
|
|||
|
at all. What we take to be hinges at the outer edges suggests that the
|
|||
|
doors swing outward but, after fruitlessly pulling and pushing on the doors
|
|||
|
for several minutes, we tell Ragnor to try to smash them with his maul.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
He gives several mighty swings - the maul bounces off without so much as
|
|||
|
chipping or marring the surface! He tries the stone adjacent to the door,
|
|||
|
but the maul refuses to let him swing! Crys tells everyone to stand clear
|
|||
|
and aims the rod of the false gods at the doors, using the highest setting.
|
|||
|
Nothing seems to happen! She quietly puts it away.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Crys suggests that we search the lower portion of the door again as dwarves
|
|||
|
aren't very tall. We do and Todd discovers a hemispherical decoration about
|
|||
|
18" in diameter that moves inward when he pushes on it. He pushes it all the
|
|||
|
way in - nothing happens. Ragnor locates the matching decoration on the
|
|||
|
other door and pushes it in. Everyone else has backed well away, but nothing
|
|||
|
happens. Todd and Ragnor push them simultaneously, with no result. Todd
|
|||
|
says to try first one then the other, so he pushes his in again and releases
|
|||
|
it. As Ragnor starts to push his in, the door in front of Todd swings
|
|||
|
silently open. Todd gets out of the way. When Ragnor releases his, the door
|
|||
|
before him also opens. We are very impressed with the engineering. The
|
|||
|
doors open soundlessly, though they are 4' thick and apparently haven't been
|
|||
|
opened in years. A thick, undisturbed layer of dust covers the floor inside.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The air has a stale smell to it. Todd steps a short ways inside and reports
|
|||
|
that the inside walls are smooth and without decoration, other than the
|
|||
|
mineral grain of the rock. He decides to come back out. Kidd seeks inward
|
|||
|
with his mind. He discovers regular passageways, massive doors and that the
|
|||
|
way to the right is blocked in all halls by rubble from some ancient
|
|||
|
upheaval. As he finishes he mental exploration, the doors swing closed.
|
|||
|
About ten minutes have passed since we got them open.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia and Ragnor are elected to stay outside while we explore. They open
|
|||
|
the doors. Leia concentrates, attempting to find the direction to the "Axe
|
|||
|
of the Dwarven Lords". She does not locate it. Simultaneously, Kidd tries
|
|||
|
to mentally examine the rooms beyond the doors he'd noticed in his earlier
|
|||
|
mental probe of the ruins. He finds gems and weapons and varying degrees
|
|||
|
of discomfort in the four large chambers that lie beyond the first four
|
|||
|
pairs of doors.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Kidd leads us to the room he feels we should explore first. Unnoticed,
|
|||
|
Todd slips away to try his luck in one of the rooms from which Kidd has
|
|||
|
told us to stay away. Jhere, Kidd and Leia wait outside as Crys, Elured
|
|||
|
and Felicia enter the room. They discover that inserting their torch into
|
|||
|
a hole at the corner of the entrance causes a large section of the wall to
|
|||
|
glow, illuminating perhaps a sixth of the total room. Crys finds a large
|
|||
|
golden crystal and a huge purple one and puts them in her pouch. Felicia
|
|||
|
finds two reddish-brown stones and keeps them. Elured gets more and more
|
|||
|
frustrated at everyone finding things before he does. Felicia hears a
|
|||
|
rasping or scraping noise as we search ...
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Jhere and Kidd position themselves behind the door, ready to slam it shut.
|
|||
|
Leia prays, igniting her holy symbol. Jhere hands her torch to Kidd, so
|
|||
|
she can conserve her strength and concentration for the door. She feels
|
|||
|
warmth radiating against her chest. Reluctantly, she pulls out her holy
|
|||
|
symbol ...
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The group inside the room has inserted the torch into a different slot.
|
|||
|
The illumination reaches a stagnant fountain. Eight large creatures, with
|
|||
|
humanoid torsos, serpentine tails and wings, are draped on and around it.
|
|||
|
Their eyes stare balefully in our direction. Felcia has just picked up a
|
|||
|
huge blue cystal; she quickly inserts it into her pouch and begins to
|
|||
|
retreat from the room. Elured drops his pack and reaches for his sword.
|
|||
|
Crys sees an extraordinarily handsome man, dressed in black, near the back
|
|||
|
wall of the room. He gestures, smiles at her, and starts to walk toward
|
|||
|
her. We all notice an irregular rasping noise as something approaches
|
|||
|
>from the dark side of the room. Crys yanks out the torch.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Elured yells at her to put it back (we can't see them, but they can
|
|||
|
probably still see us). She does. The man has vanished, but a cloud of
|
|||
|
vapor floats rapidly toward the group from where he had been. Felicia,
|
|||
|
Elured and Crys try to run for the door as Leia steps through it. Calling
|
|||
|
on her sacred power she attempts to repel the cloud of vapor, seeing it
|
|||
|
for what it is - an undead - a vampire! The cloud envelopes Crys for a
|
|||
|
moment as Felicia and Elured make their escape. Then Crys gets out of the
|
|||
|
room, too, as the vampire hastily retreats as far as it can from Leia.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Jhere joins her in the doorway. Not just Leia's holy symbol is alight,
|
|||
|
she herself radiates a reddish glow. Another image, that of a fiery red
|
|||
|
woman seems superimposed over her own figure. Kidd notices the same
|
|||
|
phenomenon with Jhere, except that the second figure is blue instead of
|
|||
|
red. Almost shoulder to shoulder, the glowing figures step into the room,
|
|||
|
Jhere futilely fighting the compulsion that moves her. Now they can see
|
|||
|
a row of zombies marching forward from the rear, just barely illuminated
|
|||
|
by the glowing wall. A blast from Leia's holy symbol disolves them.
|
|||
|
A similar blast from Jhere's holy symbol briefly illuminates two stunning
|
|||
|
women in the darkest part of the room as one of them vanishes and the
|
|||
|
other begins to change shape.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Leia paces toward the left side of the room, followed closely by Felicia
|
|||
|
and Elured as Jhere heads toward the right (unlit) side. Jhere's aura
|
|||
|
casts sufficient light that she can easily walk without danger of tripping.
|
|||
|
Leia blasts a second row of zombies, they turn about and collide with the
|
|||
|
row behind them. A blue beam from Jhere's pedant causes the dissolution
|
|||
|
of a bat. The glowing figures penetrate deeper into the chamber.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
A red beam from Leia's holy symbol destroys four zombies as a blue beam
|
|||
|
>from Jhere's does likewise. Jhere murmurs a prayer of protection to Freya
|
|||
|
and again tries to fight the compulsion that ties her to this battle - to
|
|||
|
no avail.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Beams from their holy symbols dissolve the vampire that previously had run
|
|||
|
>from Leia and the last zombies as Elured scoops up the pack he'd dropped
|
|||
|
and a nice-looking steel two-handed sword and a copper and silver arm band
|
|||
|
>from a nearby forge. They once again notice the creatures around the
|
|||
|
fountain - still watching, waiting ...
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The compulsion that held Jhere passes, but the blue Lady aura is still
|
|||
|
about her. Thinking that she'd like to see the fountain in operation, she
|
|||
|
notices a wheel near the base on her side ...
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
While we fight the undead, Todd reaches the door of a room that Kidd had
|
|||
|
warned us to stay away. He hesitates with his hand on the door handle. He
|
|||
|
steps back and concentrates, seeking inside with his mind. He finds gems
|
|||
|
and weapons lying about, but nothing that seems threatening ... still, he
|
|||
|
remains uncomfortable about entering alone. He wavers for several minutes
|
|||
|
before finally going back to get his good friend, Elured.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
* * *
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Meanwhile, Alicia suddenly feels something soft rubbing against her legs.
|
|||
|
Startled, she jumps away - how did it get to her without her being warned
|
|||
|
by her censer? A black cat, with eyes like glowing blue sapphires, meows
|
|||
|
plaintively at her and moves in to rub against her again. Alicia prays for
|
|||
|
communication with the animal and begins to talk in its tongue. It wants
|
|||
|
her to scratch it. She does for a bit, as tries to get it to answer her
|
|||
|
questions. It proves most uncooperative, but purrs contently when ever she
|
|||
|
scratches. It swipes at her holy symbol, playing with it while she holds
|
|||
|
it in her arms. Alicia grows angry and tosses the cat away from her, only
|
|||
|
to discover that it somehow takes her holy symbol! She makes threats at it
|
|||
|
and tries to invoke Mielikki's power ... to no avail. Eventually, a rather
|
|||
|
amused Ragnor calls, "Here kitty, kitty, kitty." And hears a "meow" in
|
|||
|
reply. Alicia takes up the call and the cat is suddenly back at her legs.
|
|||
|
She picks it up and her holy symbol returns. She asks its name. It says,
|
|||
|
"Kkatttt ... eri."
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
* * *
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Todd beckons to Elured from the door. Elured sheaths his old sword and
|
|||
|
carries his newly acquired one ready in his hands. Todd urges Elured to
|
|||
|
come with him and plunder another room. They slip away unnoticed.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
* * *
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Jhere heads for the valve that might control the fountain. The geryons
|
|||
|
(the humanoid-torso'd serpent-bodied winged creatures within) prepare to
|
|||
|
greet her, weapons at the ready. Crys grabs the rod of the false gods from
|
|||
|
her pack and asks Felicia if she can borrow hers as well. Kidd readies his
|
|||
|
staff of fire bolts. The glows about Leia and Jhere are slowly diffusing,
|
|||
|
no longer giving the appearance of a double image. Felicia draws her bow
|
|||
|
and we attack the geryons. The battle holds a few surprises: Jhere is
|
|||
|
quite effective, despite the aftereffects of her stroke; Crys casts no
|
|||
|
spells, but instead blasts away with the two rods; only Crys takes any
|
|||
|
injury - the creatures attacking Leia and Jhere seem unable to harm them.
|
|||
|
Soon the geryons are all slain.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Jhere runs to the wheel and tries to turn it one way, then the other. The
|
|||
|
second choice is successful and she opens the valve fully. The fountain
|
|||
|
jets form a hauntingly beautiful abstract sculpture as the glow about Leia
|
|||
|
finally dims out and the one around Jhere blazes intensely before vanishing
|
|||
|
as well. Slowly the stagnant water and blood are drained from the fountain
|
|||
|
and the water runs clear.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Jhere persuades us to toss a donation to Freya into the fountain, joining
|
|||
|
the coins that already line the bottom. Jhere finds a tiara on a nearby
|
|||
|
forge and tosses that within. She seems to see the fountain light up,
|
|||
|
brilliant blue, leaving her dazed with a beatific expression on her face.
|
|||
|
Her quarterstaff is marked with new runes and she feels better than she has
|
|||
|
since her manticore poison induced stroke.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Crys gathers gems and jewelry from the remaining portion of the room. Some
|
|||
|
of the gems, she is able to identify, others she is not.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
* * *
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Meanwhile, Todd and Elured play a game of "after you" at the door of the
|
|||
|
other room. Finally, Elured opens the door. He takes no more than a step
|
|||
|
inside before spinning about and running blindly down the hall screaming at
|
|||
|
the top of his lungs. Todd closes the door. Then drawn by the treasure
|
|||
|
and the realization that nothing actually seemed to have harmed Elured, he
|
|||
|
opens the door and cautiously pokes his head in. Elured's cries haven't
|
|||
|
fully faded in the distance before he joins in, following as fast as he is
|
|||
|
able, leaving the door ajar behind him. After bouncing blindly off
|
|||
|
dead-end passages, they reach the entrance to ruins and pound screaming at
|
|||
|
the massive doors, unheard by Ragnor and Alicia ...
|
|||
|
--
|
|||
|
- + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + -
|
|||
|
Bruce W. Reisman AT&T Bell Laboratories
|
|||
|
att!mtfmi!bwr 200 Laurel Avenue MT 3G-102
|
|||
|
908/957-6533 Middletown, NJ 07748-4801
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
From bwr@cbnewsj.att.com Thu Aug 9 08:16:26 1990
|
|||
|
From: bwr@cbnewsj.att.com (bruce.w.reisman)
|
|||
|
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
|
|||
|
Subject: Re: The Quest for the Axe of the Dwarven Lords (6)
|
|||
|
Keywords: story
|
|||
|
Date: 8 Aug 90 17:50:13 GMT
|
|||
|
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
ELURED AND TODD BUILD A BONFIRE
|
|||
|
ALICIA DISCOVERS THAT A CAT MIGHT HAVE 9 LIVES
|
|||
|
TODD SEES A GHOST & RAGNOR MAULS IT OVER
|
|||
|
JHERE AND FELICIA DISPOSE OF THE SPECTERS
|
|||
|
ALICIA HEALS THE WOUNDED
|
|||
|
ELURED OPENS A DOOR
|
|||
|
TODD LEADS US INTO DANGER, THEN EXITS
|
|||
|
TO THE VICTORS BELONG THE SPOILS
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
It is mid-morning on the 25th day of Lo Spring in the year 6049
|
|||
|
The weather is:
|
|||
|
temperature: ~60 (we're in the dwarven ruins ...)
|
|||
|
wind: 0 mph (calm)
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
While Crys, Felicia, Jhere, Kidd and Leia discuss what to do next, the
|
|||
|
creatures freed by Elured and Todd begin to wander the ruins, scenting
|
|||
|
the life force of living beings. First Todd, then Elured, recovers from
|
|||
|
his fright. The flesh at the back of Leia's neck crawls, then Jhere
|
|||
|
tells everyone to be quiet, she thinks she hears something outside the
|
|||
|
room. Kidd goes to investigate, just in time to close the door, with
|
|||
|
Felicia's help, barring a hoard of pallid, deformed undead, with terrible
|
|||
|
fangs and cruel claws, from entering. Leia and Jhere start to pray; soon
|
|||
|
both of their holy symbols are aglow with power....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Elured heads back to where he dropped his sword, but encounters the roving
|
|||
|
ghouls before he reaches it. He turns about and runs back to Todd. Side
|
|||
|
by side, Todd with his dagger and Elured with his greatsword, they face
|
|||
|
the onslaught of the undead. Todd ignites the first to fall using his
|
|||
|
torch. They kick or throw additional bodies onto the pyre as the ghouls
|
|||
|
fall to their prowess....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia decides to determine if Kateri has a life essence and concentrates.
|
|||
|
The cat does indeed ... and the power of its essence is so awesome that
|
|||
|
Alicia is stunned for nearly two minutes! Alicia and Ragnor decide that
|
|||
|
enough time has passed and proceed to open the doors. As the doors swing
|
|||
|
open, Alicia sees the ghouls and yells out to Elured and Todd and they beat
|
|||
|
a hasty retreat. Kateri bounds out of sight as Alicia strings her bow and
|
|||
|
Ragnor grabs his maul. Soon more ghouls join the burning pile....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Crys begins a systematic search of the walls of the room, seeking another
|
|||
|
exit....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia retreats, moving behind Elured. Unfortunately this creates an
|
|||
|
opening for the ghouls, who begin to surround the small group. Todd leaps
|
|||
|
over them, back into the ruins, intending to run for help. Instead,
|
|||
|
something so frightens him that he runs the opposite direction, screaming.
|
|||
|
Ragnor and Elured both go down under the fangs and claws of the undead;
|
|||
|
Alicia prays fervently for help from Mielikki as the pyre gutters out. In
|
|||
|
the darkness, *something* strikes out at the remaining ghouls, as fearsome
|
|||
|
to them as they are to the living. They cower away from its fury....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Crys can find no other exit. Kidd carefully pushes the door open with Jhere
|
|||
|
pulling back on it. Jhere yanks it closed, shuddering, when they find the
|
|||
|
ghouls still waiting outside. Crys decides to search the fountain. Kidd
|
|||
|
comes over to assist her. After several moments concentration, he assures
|
|||
|
her that the water is much too turbulent to permit their passage. The group
|
|||
|
decides to face the inevitable and takes up positions in a semi-circle
|
|||
|
around the doorway....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Todd recovers from his fright and, steeling his nerves, starts back up the
|
|||
|
corridor. Opposite the entrance to the ruins his way is blocked by a ghost!
|
|||
|
Todd attacks ineffectually with his dagger and soon lies unconscious, his
|
|||
|
lifeblood trickling away....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Ragnor levers himself upright with his hammer. He can just make out the
|
|||
|
silhouette of ghoul cowering by the door. A few moments later the ghoul
|
|||
|
and the last of its cohorts lie crushed by blows from the maul. Elured
|
|||
|
slowly regains consciousness as Ragnor douses one of the bodies with oil and
|
|||
|
carefully ignites it with a spark from his tinder box. He pushes a couple
|
|||
|
more of the corpses into the new pyre before he notices the ghost ... and
|
|||
|
Todd's torch lying on the ground. As he closes with the ghost, another
|
|||
|
joins it! But a mighty swing of his maul dispatches the first and nearly
|
|||
|
the second as well! Another undead, seeming little more than a tattered
|
|||
|
cloak and glowing white orbs (a specter), hurls a lightning bolt at Ragnor,
|
|||
|
then rapidly retreats, having been grievously injured by a blow from his
|
|||
|
maul. The ghost and specter attack Ragnor, stunned from the lightning bolt
|
|||
|
he can only parry, but they do him no further damage. As the ghost finally
|
|||
|
fades out from the aftereffects of the blow that Ragnor struck earlier,
|
|||
|
Ragnor recovers enough to step around the corner. The specter follows,
|
|||
|
careful to keep him in sight, but out of reach. As the specter comes into
|
|||
|
view, Alicia and Elured, who had been piling bodies onto the fire, scream
|
|||
|
and run blindly into the center of the great cavern....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
CRYS PERFORMS A VANISHING ACT
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
It is mid-morning on the 25th day of Lo Spring in the year 6049
|
|||
|
The weather is:
|
|||
|
temperature: ~60 (we're in the dwarven ruins ...)
|
|||
|
sky: ??
|
|||
|
wind: 0 mph (calm)
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Elured and Alicia finally recover from their fright ... after splashing
|
|||
|
through the stream that runs through the center of the great cavern.
|
|||
|
Elured manages to get a torch lit and calls out for Alicia. Alicia sets
|
|||
|
out toward him, buts slips in a crevice and breaks her wrist, losing
|
|||
|
consciousness from the pain. Elured jogs in the direction he heard her
|
|||
|
cry out....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Ragnor tosses the last of the ghoulish bodies into the fire, then starts
|
|||
|
chasing the specter. The specter keeps backing up to stay out of the reach
|
|||
|
of Ragnor's maul, so it doesn't have time to aim its lightning bolts. Todd
|
|||
|
follows in Ragnor's wake, lighting their way with a torch. Suddenly, Ragnor
|
|||
|
is hit by a lightning bolt - the specter has been joined by another....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Jhere tries to cautiously push her door open using her quarterstaff, and
|
|||
|
fails. Felicia flings hers open, then runs in fear at the sight of the
|
|||
|
ghouls. Crys also flees. Kidd uses his fire bolt staff, Leia summons the
|
|||
|
power of Brigit and Jhere takes a couple of shots with her bow. Only a few
|
|||
|
ghouls survive the initial attack, but they are quickly joined by three
|
|||
|
ghosts and a specter! Leia collapses, struck by a lightning bolt from the
|
|||
|
specter, but taking a ghoul with her. A ghost closes with Jhere and she
|
|||
|
switches to her quarterstaff, and is able to hold her own for the moment.
|
|||
|
Crys fires the rod of the false gods at the specter, but nothing happens!
|
|||
|
She is hit by a lightning bolt as the specter turns its attention to her.
|
|||
|
Felicia, her battle axe raised, closes with a ghost, as Crys again tries the
|
|||
|
rod against the specter. The rod explodes! Crys, a ghost that had moved to
|
|||
|
attack her, and part of the fountain vanish. Water pours out toward the
|
|||
|
back of the chamber....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Elured finds Alicia, tosses her to his shoulder and starts to walk back to
|
|||
|
the dwarven ruins. As he reaches the pyre that Ragnor built, it flickers
|
|||
|
out. And Alicia's eyes flicker open....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Elured drops Alicia by the entrance as she painfully recovers consciousness.
|
|||
|
As she gropes through her herbs for a remedy, Kateri comes up and begins
|
|||
|
licking her injured wrist. Almost instantly, the pain fades and in moments
|
|||
|
it seems as though it were never injured. As she strokes the cat's fur in
|
|||
|
gratitude, she notices her censer glowing faintly - Elured has moved so far
|
|||
|
away that the torch sheds no light here. Alicia says a prayer to Mielikki
|
|||
|
and joins Elured, with Kateri padding silently beside her.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
They head cautiously into the ruins. After a bit, they come upon Todd,
|
|||
|
Ragnor and two specters. None of them are moving at all. Elured tries to
|
|||
|
chop one of the specters with his sword, but the blade passes through it
|
|||
|
without doing any damage. They continue to the chamber where Elured had
|
|||
|
last seen the rest of the group. Again Alicia and Elured find a motionless
|
|||
|
tableau. Water from the broken fountain waits unmoving at the back of the
|
|||
|
room. Suddenly Alicia notices Leia lying mortally wounded by a ghoul and
|
|||
|
rushes to her side. As she plucks a flower from her wreath, she hears the
|
|||
|
gushing of the fountain and everyone starts to move again.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Felicia takes a mighty swing at a nearby ghost and causes it to dissipate.
|
|||
|
Jhere similarly dispatches a ghost with her quarterstaff. Kidd blasts the
|
|||
|
last ghoul into flame with his staff of fire bolts. Alicia's flower becomes
|
|||
|
a mirenna berry. She burns it in her censer. The fumes are so potent that
|
|||
|
Alicia's and Leia's life forces are greatly strengthened and the unnatural
|
|||
|
existence of a ghoul is terminated - it collapses into a pile of old bones.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Meanwhile, the specters outside make short work of Ragnor and Todd, blasting
|
|||
|
them with lightning bolts before they can do any damage. Elured, who had
|
|||
|
left the room to aid them, soon meets the same fate. One of the specters
|
|||
|
fades out due to injuries Ragnor had inflicted in the one blow he'd been
|
|||
|
able to strike (much earlier), and the other glides toward the chamber. As
|
|||
|
it does, Ragnor's maul strikes it from behind. The specter whirls to face
|
|||
|
its foe, but no one is standing!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Inside, Jhere is twice struck by lightning bolts but, aided by Freya, she
|
|||
|
strikes back at the specter with her staff as Felicia chops at it with her
|
|||
|
battle axe. Soon it dissolves into nothingness, only to be replaced by the
|
|||
|
remaining specter from outside. Felicia finishes that one off with a swipe
|
|||
|
of her battle axe, but is blasted by a lightning bolt from its cold orbs
|
|||
|
before the specter disappears.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Jhere channels power to Alicia, so that she can cause an alambas poultice
|
|||
|
she has prepared (from another flower in her wreath) to function instantly.
|
|||
|
Otherwise, despite her best efforts, Leia will die. It works!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
While the effort to revive Leia is under way, something closes the wounds
|
|||
|
of Todd, Ragnor and Elured. The party gathers outside and exchanges herbs
|
|||
|
and potions to revive the unconscious and heal much of the injuries we've
|
|||
|
taken in the battle. Ragnor revives first, and is surprised to find the
|
|||
|
"Maul of the Titans" resting near Elured. He looks back and forth between
|
|||
|
the two before finally shaking his head and picking up the hammer. Elured,
|
|||
|
once he comes to, reminds Todd that the door they'd opened is still that
|
|||
|
way and they head up the corridor to take care of it. Todd closes the door
|
|||
|
as Elured picks up his dropped sword. Todd fixes Elured with a knowing
|
|||
|
look, but Elured denies that that was the reason for the trip.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Kidd and Felicia race to the main entrance. We join them shortly. They
|
|||
|
didn't make it in time - we're closed in.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
While we ponder our next move, Jhere calls out to Kateri. To Alicia's
|
|||
|
consternation, the cat responds by coming over to Jhere, who strokes its
|
|||
|
fur. Kateri purrs and looks quite pleased....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Todd finds torch holders in all four corners of the intersection. He
|
|||
|
sticks a lit torch into one and, as expected, the wall lights up in both
|
|||
|
directions. The glow is uniformly orange, except in the middle of the
|
|||
|
wall leading to the entrance. There he finds a brown circle about a foot
|
|||
|
in diameter. Lighting the opposite wall from a torch holder reveals the
|
|||
|
same pattern. Elured marks that spot and Ragnor switches the torch back
|
|||
|
to the other holder. Todd and Elured try pushing the walls at the
|
|||
|
indicated places. Nothing seems to happen at first, then Elured's hand
|
|||
|
suddenly sinks into the wall and the door on his side swings open. Led
|
|||
|
by Jhere, we make a hasty exit.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia is offended that the cat seems to enjoy Jhere's attentions at least
|
|||
|
as much as her own. She refuses to talk to Jhere.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Ragnor offers his fur-lined boots to Elured, to replace the ones destroyed
|
|||
|
by one of the lightning blasts. Elured accepts, they fit perfectly. Kidd
|
|||
|
ends up offering his fur-lined boots to Jhere, to use in place of her
|
|||
|
sandals. Jhere tries them on and finds that they fit well enough and that
|
|||
|
they're much warmer. She thanks Kidd.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We spend the night just outside the entrance to the ruins. Kidd tries to
|
|||
|
dream about getting to the Axe. He sees a corridor, about half as wide as
|
|||
|
the ones that we've explored. It slopes down steeply then is blocked by a
|
|||
|
cave-in. In his dream, he digs and digs and digs.... Finally, he emerges
|
|||
|
into a natural tunnel. He wanders a bit before finding a large cavern.
|
|||
|
In the cavern, beyond a huge column, he sees an axe of marvelous workmanship
|
|||
|
lying on the floor.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
After we've rested, Kidd relates his dream. Todd decides to seek an opening
|
|||
|
into the corridor of Kidd's dream through the rooms we've encountered. We
|
|||
|
open the great doors once again. Kateri leaps from Jhere's shoulders and
|
|||
|
disappears into the ancient delvings. Todd steps into the doorway and goes
|
|||
|
into a trance. After several minutes he tells us that he found many weapons
|
|||
|
of fabulous quality, including battle axes, a dagger, and a two-handed sword,
|
|||
|
in one of the rooms. He did not find any hidden entrances, though.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The doors swing shut as their automatic time limit is reached. Alicia and
|
|||
|
Jhere are upset that Kateri has not returned. A few minutes later, the cat
|
|||
|
rubs up against Alicia legs....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Leia, Kidd and Felicia give potions of healing to Jhere, Todd and Ragnor.
|
|||
|
After extensive debate, we decide to give Todd's room a try. Jhere argues
|
|||
|
vigorously against going and finally goes in only because everyone else is.
|
|||
|
Todd consumes a potion of heroism and his enthusiasm for the venture rises.
|
|||
|
Todd and Ragnor get the doors open and lead the way. Kateri pads quickly
|
|||
|
and silently ahead of the party.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
When we reach the room, Kidd concentrates and, after he recovers from being
|
|||
|
stunned by Kateri's astonishing life force, he tells us that there are five
|
|||
|
sentient beings just inside the room and to the left of the door. Alicia
|
|||
|
tries to determine if they're living, but can't detect anything. She's
|
|||
|
tells us to expect undead. Todd opens the left door and Leia hurls a ball
|
|||
|
of fire from her glowing holy symbol into the approximate area that Kidd
|
|||
|
designates. Kateri slips unseen into the room before Kidd slams the door
|
|||
|
shut.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Kidd reports that there are still five creatures inside. We decide to
|
|||
|
charge into the room.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Todd goes first diving and rolling into a crouch several feet from the
|
|||
|
door. Ragnor follows, without the theatrics. Kidd goes next, fitting his
|
|||
|
torch into the holder by the left door and illuminating that wall and about
|
|||
|
a quarter of the chamber. Felicia, Leia and Elured enter the room as the
|
|||
|
other door is opened by Alicia. Alicia and Jhere pause at the threshhold.
|
|||
|
The five creatures turn out to be mummies, but before we can close with
|
|||
|
them, one vanishes in a brilliant flash. Leia strikes at three of the
|
|||
|
remaining ones with simultaneous fire bolts.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
As Ragnor moves closer to the mummies, we notice a glowing column, perhaps
|
|||
|
15' from the mummies, approximately 8' tall and 4' in circumference, so
|
|||
|
bright that we can't look directly at it. The column moves as Ragnor comes
|
|||
|
between it and the mummies. Todd tries to circle widely so that he can
|
|||
|
approach unnoticed (actually, so he can grab the dagger he sensed was in the
|
|||
|
back of the chamber. Felicia and Elured, both, head for the nearest mummy.
|
|||
|
Alicia shoots an arrow at the glowing column; it misses.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Another mummy vanishes in a sudden flash. Kidd hits one with a fire bolt
|
|||
|
>from his staff. Felicia and Elured make short work of one, as Ragnor hits
|
|||
|
another, squashing it. Todd runs screaming from the room - we can't see what
|
|||
|
frightened him. Alicia moves in looking for a clear shot with her bow. The
|
|||
|
column moves rapidly toward her. Jhere insists that the column is Kateri;
|
|||
|
Kidd quips that it's a guardian angel. Ragnor, Elured and Felicia destroy
|
|||
|
the last mummy. There is a flash in the darkness near Alicia - she goes
|
|||
|
racing from the room, screaming with fright. Leia steps toward the center of
|
|||
|
the room. The column glides closer to her. Another light flares briefly in
|
|||
|
the darkness. As Leia looks toward that spot, several daedhels emerge from
|
|||
|
the darkness behind her.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Jhere shouts out a warning to Leia. She whirls about and hurls a bolt of
|
|||
|
flame into the on-rushing demon. Felicia is not so lucky; preoccupied
|
|||
|
with searching for another torch holder, she doesn't react to the demon
|
|||
|
until too late. Her leg is severed by a magical invocation and she falls
|
|||
|
to the ground unconscious, her lifeblood spurting from the wound. Elured
|
|||
|
has his arm broken similarly, Kidd is stunned and Ragnor suddenly realizes
|
|||
|
that he better get out of here fast and tries to slip away quietly.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
A sudden burst of light marks the demise of another phantom (they never
|
|||
|
reach the rest of us, but Todd and Alicia unfortunately got too close).
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Ragnor's path is intercepted by a demon who strikes before he can, slashing
|
|||
|
Ragnor's arm and stunning him. Kidd blasts a demon with his staff of fire
|
|||
|
bolts, Jhere clobbers one with her quarterstaff and Leia hits another with
|
|||
|
a fire bolt. Despite his injury, Elured manages to hack a demon with his
|
|||
|
new two-handed sword. There is another brilliant flash as the last phantom
|
|||
|
is unmade, then everything goes dark. Something reattaches the bones and
|
|||
|
blood vessels between Felicia's left leg and her body, stopping the blood
|
|||
|
loss. The demon slashes at her, bringing her closer to the final night.
|
|||
|
The demon attacking Jhere misses. Jhere continues to pray fervently to
|
|||
|
Freya and swings blindly, striking something with a satisfying crunch.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Elured concentrates and his arm begins to heal. The darkness lifts and we
|
|||
|
can see again. Jhere discovers she has killed her adversary and rushes to
|
|||
|
Ragnor's aid. Leia attacks using her broadsword. Ragnor's and Felicia's
|
|||
|
opponents continue to hack at them. Kidd blasts another demon with his
|
|||
|
staff. We suddenly have our strength renewed [all concussion hits restored]
|
|||
|
and carry on the fight with new vigor. Felicia regains consciousness in a
|
|||
|
blaze of pain. Disoriented she looks up at the demon that has been striking
|
|||
|
at her and becomes convinced that it's her friend!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Leia finishes off Ragnor's assailant with a swing of her sword as Kidd does
|
|||
|
in another with a fire bolt. Jhere closes on the demon poised over Felicia
|
|||
|
Felicia cries out in agony as the nerves and muscles of her leg are rejoined
|
|||
|
by a another spell and then again to Jhere not to hurt her friend. Jhere is
|
|||
|
momentarily taken aback, but as the demon turns toward her, she raps it with
|
|||
|
her quarterstaff anyway. Moments later, she kills the demon with another
|
|||
|
blow and Felicia sobs over the broken body. Ragnor slips quietly away while
|
|||
|
we're not looking. Todd and Elured scavenge gems, jewelry and assorted
|
|||
|
weapons from the room. When Felicia comes to her senses, she picks up two
|
|||
|
fancy axes that Todd points out. Alicia sheepishly makes her way back into
|
|||
|
the room then, standing in the middle of the room, she concentrates for
|
|||
|
several minutes, seeking traces of magical power.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Elured is pleased to hear that his new sword is magical. A dagger that Todd
|
|||
|
thought would be, is not. A battle axe that Felicia had ignored is, and she
|
|||
|
adds that to her collection. Jhere looks for Kateri, but the cat is nowhere
|
|||
|
to be found. Eventually we notice that the glowing column and Ragnor are
|
|||
|
also gone.
|
|||
|
--
|
|||
|
- + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + -
|
|||
|
Bruce W. Reisman AT&T Bell Laboratories
|
|||
|
att!mtfmi!bwr 200 Laurel Avenue MT 3G-102
|
|||
|
908/957-6533 Middletown, NJ 07748-4801
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
From bwr@cbnewsj.att.com Mon Aug 13 11:07:15 1990
|
|||
|
From: bwr@cbnewsj.att.com (bruce.w.reisman)
|
|||
|
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
|
|||
|
Subject: Re: The Quest for the Axe of the Dwarven Lords (7)
|
|||
|
Keywords: story
|
|||
|
Date: 10 Aug 90 14:48:06 GMT
|
|||
|
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
[Several people have requested descriptions of the PCs ... the events in this
|
|||
|
adventure took place during 1988 and the first half of 1989 ... the following
|
|||
|
information is a reconstruction based on the data available to me and my
|
|||
|
recollections ... classes & levels are based on ICEs "Character Law"]
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
CAST OF CHARACTERS:
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia level 4 animist
|
|||
|
Sex: female Height: 4' 11" Hair Color: blond
|
|||
|
Race: human Weight: 94 pounds Eye Color: blue
|
|||
|
Age: 17 (young adult)
|
|||
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
Crystine (aka Crystal) level 8 magician
|
|||
|
Sex: female Height: 6' 1"? Hair Color: blond?
|
|||
|
Race: human Weight: 150? pounds Eye Color: blue?
|
|||
|
Age: 19?
|
|||
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
Elured Cise level 5 healer
|
|||
|
Sex: male Height: 6' 0" Hair Color: dark brown
|
|||
|
Race: human Weight: 187 pounds Eye Color: black
|
|||
|
Age: 16 (young adult)
|
|||
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
Felicia level 6 fighter
|
|||
|
Sex: female Height: 6' 4" Hair Color: blond
|
|||
|
Race: human Weight: 160 pounds Eye Color: green
|
|||
|
Age: 18 (young adult)
|
|||
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
Jhere Bremor level 6 ranger
|
|||
|
Sex: female Height: 5' 10" Hair Color: light brown
|
|||
|
Race: human Weight: 162 pounds Eye Color: brown
|
|||
|
Age: 26 (mature)
|
|||
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
Kidd R. Uing level 6 mentalist
|
|||
|
Sex: male Height: 5' 5.5" Hair Color: auburn
|
|||
|
Race: human Weight: 150 pounds Eye Color: green
|
|||
|
Age: 25 (mature)
|
|||
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
Leia level 8 cleric
|
|||
|
Sex: female Height: 5' 1" Hair Color: black
|
|||
|
Race: human Weight: 98 pounds Eye Color: blue
|
|||
|
Age: 27 (mature)
|
|||
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
Ragnor (aka Raphael I. Ponti) level 8 fighter
|
|||
|
Sex: male Height: 6' 3" Hair Color: shaven
|
|||
|
Race: human Weight: 187 pounds Eye Color: gray
|
|||
|
Age: 23 (mature)
|
|||
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
Todd Awir level 5 seer
|
|||
|
Sex: male Height: 5' 10" Hair Color: red
|
|||
|
Race: human Weight: 177 pounds Eye Color: brown
|
|||
|
Age: 20 (young adult)
|
|||
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
LEIA FINDS A WAY & RAGNOR MAKES A HOLE
|
|||
|
WE FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE, WALK SOFTLY AND CARRY BIG STICKS
|
|||
|
WE DISPATCH SOME EARTH ELEMENTALS
|
|||
|
ELURED AND ALICIA SMOOTH THE WAY
|
|||
|
FELICIA GETS THE AXE OF THE DWARVEN LORDS!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
It is early morning on the 26th day of Lo Spring in the year 6049
|
|||
|
The weather is:
|
|||
|
temperature: ~60 (we're in the dwarven ruins ...)
|
|||
|
wind: 0 mph (calm)
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Leia once again goes into a trance to try to locate the axe. We lead
|
|||
|
her around the room then around the ruins. Once she locates it, we
|
|||
|
continue, until we're able to triangulate the exact position. At the
|
|||
|
point where we seem to be closest, we stop and discuss our next move.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We've not found the path of Kidd's dream and the axe seems to be about
|
|||
|
20-30' below and off to one side from where we are. Leia decides to
|
|||
|
hold a formal ceremony invoking Brigit's aid. Jhere holds up Leia's
|
|||
|
cloak as a screen while she changes into her priestess' gown.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Leia recites a psalm in praise of Brigit as Felicia and Todd gather
|
|||
|
close and the rest look on respectfully (though Ragnor is still missing):
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
"She wakes up dancing with fire
|
|||
|
Driving out the darkness
|
|||
|
Lighting up the day.
|
|||
|
Warm us, oh mighty Brigit.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
She walks alongside violence
|
|||
|
Ripeness of the afternoon
|
|||
|
Powerful river of burning fire
|
|||
|
The blazing sun.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
She burns like fire in the hearth,
|
|||
|
everywhere at once.
|
|||
|
Shelter us in your flaming embrace,
|
|||
|
Turn our enemies from us.
|
|||
|
Great Brigit, yes."
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
She follows with a request for Brigit's guidance and her holy symbol glows
|
|||
|
brightly in response. Slowly, the wall of the corridor vanishes, revealing
|
|||
|
a stone pathway to a glowing pavilion. Without hesitation, Leia steps into
|
|||
|
it. Todd attempts to follow her, but finds himself back in the corridor.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
l] Leia enters Brigit's holy dominion of fire. There she supplicates
|
|||
|
l] Brigit's aid in finding a path to the Axe of the Dwarven Lords.
|
|||
|
l] A three dimensional map impresses itself on her mind. It takes a
|
|||
|
l] while before she can assimilate the information and make sense of
|
|||
|
l] it. Then she studies the map, seeking a route to the axe and finds
|
|||
|
l] several - all blocked by the massive cave-in that we've already
|
|||
|
l] encountered. She thanks Brigit and leaves the pavilion, bringing
|
|||
|
l] with her a perfect memory of the map.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Over six hours pass as we wait for Leia's return. Jhere wants to enter the
|
|||
|
pavilion, but the altar burns brightly with Brigit's flame - denying her
|
|||
|
entrance. We discuss what to do about Ragnor - clearly something is wrong.
|
|||
|
Finally, Leia returns and tells what she's learned. We decide to dig down
|
|||
|
to a natural corridor below us. Leia knows where we should make the attempt.
|
|||
|
Felicia and Alicia set out to try to persuade Ragnor to rejoin us. With the
|
|||
|
Maul of the Titans, he should be able to knock a hole through more quickly
|
|||
|
than we can hope to dig it. Unnoticed, Jhere slips quietly into the glowing
|
|||
|
pavilion.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
j] Jhere finds herself standing by a lake with stepping stones
|
|||
|
j] forming a penta-star in the middle. One of the points of
|
|||
|
j] the penta-star is just within jumping distance. Her holy
|
|||
|
j] symbol is still glowing. The ambiant temperature is quite
|
|||
|
j] comfortable. The colors are so sharp it looks "unreal":
|
|||
|
j] the water is crystal blue, with no sign of a bottom; the
|
|||
|
j] stepping stones are mirror-like silver; there's no sun, but
|
|||
|
j] a rainbow arches perfectly overhead in a deep blue sky. She
|
|||
|
j] seems to be standing on the shore, but no surface is visible
|
|||
|
j] beneath her feet. Looking down, she feels as though she's
|
|||
|
j] standing on nothing!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
j] Jhere instinctively jumps for what seems solid - the stepping
|
|||
|
j] stones. She thinks she's going to miss the stone and land in
|
|||
|
j] the water ... but she makes it.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
j] Feeling much more secure and relaxed, and mentally as well as
|
|||
|
j] physically peaceful, she attempts to step gracefully from
|
|||
|
j] stone to stone till she reaches the center of the penta-star.
|
|||
|
j] Standing on the center stepping stone, the oddest thing happens
|
|||
|
j] when she looks back along the way she came ... she seems to be
|
|||
|
j] looking down a long, long tunnel with a bright light at the end,
|
|||
|
j] but she can't make out any details. In fact, she has the same
|
|||
|
j] experience when she looks along any of the radii ... just like
|
|||
|
j] her first visit to the pavilion.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
j] She shrugs her pack off and carefully places it near the edge
|
|||
|
j] of the center stone by the arm leading back the way she came.
|
|||
|
j] She then places her bow and staff carefully at her feet, kneels
|
|||
|
j] by the edge and clasps her holy symbol and starts to pray...
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
j] "Oh, Freya, mightiest, yet gentliest of powers, you know
|
|||
|
j] my heart and mind. We've always been close (yet
|
|||
|
j] distant). In all things in love and nature and water
|
|||
|
j] I have always followed thy will.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
j] I did thy bidding when you had me seek the alien
|
|||
|
j] abominations and join this young and often foolish
|
|||
|
j] (though definitely courageous) party whose willingness
|
|||
|
j] to foresake their lives has been proven over and over...
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
j] Forgive me for so arrogantly denying thy will that I be
|
|||
|
j] more directly involved in channeling your powers. Thank
|
|||
|
j] you for thy symbol of your power, protection and love.
|
|||
|
j] Thank you for providing me with an instrument to carry
|
|||
|
j] out your will.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
j] I beseach thee. Grant me enlightment to understand and
|
|||
|
j] use, to your honor and glory, these manifestations of
|
|||
|
j] your universal strength. Help me help the party survive
|
|||
|
j] their quest.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
j] All honor be done to thee!"
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
j] And she reverently dips her hand in and takes a sip of the water.
|
|||
|
j] A feeling, as of a gentle massage, ripples through her body. And
|
|||
|
j] all her tensions ease away. She finds that she now understands
|
|||
|
j] all the capabilities of her rune-carved staff.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
j] She again thanks Freya and dips her (still glowing) holy symbol
|
|||
|
j] into the water. She turns and picks up her weapons and starts
|
|||
|
j] back along the way she'd come. Suddenly, someone appears at the
|
|||
|
j] far end of the row of stepping stones and starts toward Jhere.
|
|||
|
j] The newcomer is a woman about Jhere's height and weight, with hair
|
|||
|
j] nearly the same shade of light brown. She's wearing a jerkin of
|
|||
|
j] soft leather, has a short bow slung over her shoulder and wields
|
|||
|
j] a quarterstaff in her hands. As she draws closer, Jhere feels as
|
|||
|
j] though she's looking at her twin. Suddenly Jhere realizes that
|
|||
|
j] the newcomer is going to attack her!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
j] Jhere braces for the woman's attack, and yells, "STOP!" as the
|
|||
|
j] woman reaches the stone just before the middle. The woman doesn't
|
|||
|
j] stop....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
j] Jhere is not going to allow herself to be blindly attacked by
|
|||
|
j] something that appears to be her. But she waits for it to strike
|
|||
|
j] first and only defends herself, hoping for an opportunity to
|
|||
|
j] wrestle the creature to the ground and disarm it.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
j] Jhere deflects the first swing. The second swing catches her on
|
|||
|
j] her forearm. Jhere continues to parry. Regardless of who or why
|
|||
|
j] she's being attacked, she feels it's wrong to be fighting there
|
|||
|
j] especially with something that may indeed be "her" in some other
|
|||
|
j] incarnation....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
j] Jhere deflects most of the next blow. She gets an opening and grabs
|
|||
|
j] at her adversary, attempting to toss her into the water, but misses.
|
|||
|
j] Her "twin" makes her pay dearly for the attempt, striking her soundly
|
|||
|
j] across the forearm and flicking the other end of the staff into
|
|||
|
j] Jhere's stomach. Stunned, Jhere drops her staff and totters at the
|
|||
|
j] edge of the stepping stone. The next blow cracks a rib and knocks her
|
|||
|
j] unconsious into the lake....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
j] Jhere awakens, floating in the lake, fully healed. Her attacker is
|
|||
|
j] fitting an arrow to her bow. Jhere dives under the water as Jhere's
|
|||
|
j] "twin" shoots. The shot misses! Jhere swims toward the stone, hoping
|
|||
|
j] it's platelike and not a pillar, with the idea of trying to rock it
|
|||
|
j] sharply and knock her foe off balance and into the water. The
|
|||
|
j] stepping stone seems to be about a foot thick and four feet in
|
|||
|
j] diameter, floating on the surface. Jhere grabs the edge, but can't
|
|||
|
j] budge it!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
j] On realizing she won't be able to tip the stone and that she is
|
|||
|
j] running out of air and is increasingly weighed down by her soggy
|
|||
|
j] clothes (especially Kidd's fur boots), she continues to swim under
|
|||
|
j] the stone to the other side and strongly pulls herself up and lunges
|
|||
|
j] for her foe's ankles either to shove her into the water or to pull
|
|||
|
j] her feet out from under her and tackle her. Jhere gets kicked in
|
|||
|
j] the jaw and knocked back into the water as she tries to climb onto
|
|||
|
j] the stone. The wound heals immediately. Her adversary readies
|
|||
|
j] another arrow ...
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
j] Jhere takes a deep breath and sinks and swims under and behind her
|
|||
|
j] foe, having noted which side her quarterstaff is lying on and again
|
|||
|
j] quickly lunges up onto the stone rolling for her staff. Jhere rams
|
|||
|
j] her staff into her adversary's thigh, bruising her badly. Jhere's
|
|||
|
j] foe staggers but doesn't fall as Jhere rolls to her feet. Jhere is
|
|||
|
j] too close for her "twin" to be able to shoot, so the "twin" drops
|
|||
|
j] her bow and grabs for her quarterstaff.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
j] At this point Jhere, holding her quarterstaff horizontally in front
|
|||
|
j] of her leaps at her "twin". Caught in the act of picking up her own
|
|||
|
j] staff, the "twin" cannot parry. Jhere's attack cracks ribs and
|
|||
|
j] smashes the twin's nose, she falls into the water, unconscious. And
|
|||
|
j] disappears.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
j] Jhere falls to her knees by the edge of the stone and looks over the
|
|||
|
j] side looking for her "twin". And she starts to cry. In shock and
|
|||
|
j] fear and anger. She sits back and pulls off her boots and wrings
|
|||
|
j] them out as best she can and pulls her bow over next to her. Then she
|
|||
|
j] looks for the "twin's" bow and staff and finds that they are gone.
|
|||
|
j] Kneeling, she again prays to Freya, thanking her for preserving her
|
|||
|
j] her and asking for enlightenment about what has transpired. Then
|
|||
|
j] Jhere pulls the boots (they're dry!) back on and starts back down the
|
|||
|
j] arm of the penta-star. She reaches the last stone and, trusting her
|
|||
|
j] memory and Freya, leaps outward ...
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Jhere, her clothes dry, emerges moments after she enters, before anyone has a
|
|||
|
chance to miss her. Meanwhile, Alicia and Felicia play tag with Ragnor in the
|
|||
|
hallways of the ruins. Finally, they get him to listen to what the have to
|
|||
|
say. After much persuasion, Ragnor agrees to follow Felicia back to the rest
|
|||
|
of us. Felicia keeps thinking that it would have been a lot easier if Alicia
|
|||
|
would have listened to her and shown Ragnor some leg. Ragnor still won't
|
|||
|
approach the party too closely and, when Kidd comes out to talk with him, just
|
|||
|
keeps backing away. Kidd concentrates (twice) and Ragnor suddenly takes a
|
|||
|
great liking to him. Kidd asks his good friend Ragnor to knock a hole in the
|
|||
|
floor at the spot Leia indicates. And, after the rest of us step back (so
|
|||
|
he knows we're not going to jump him), he knocks a hole all the way through
|
|||
|
with a single blow! The opening is a little over three feet in diameter and
|
|||
|
at least ten feet deep - our torches don't show the bottom.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia leans over the opening and then tells us that she doesn't detect any
|
|||
|
activity below. Elured says we ought to wait a while (like a few hours so
|
|||
|
his arm can finish healing), so we can be sure nothing comes to investigate.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We decide to rest the night to give Elured's arm a chance to finish healing
|
|||
|
and so that we recover our full strength before entering the caves below.
|
|||
|
We keep a careful watch over the hole, but nothing comes out of it. In fact,
|
|||
|
the night passes without event, other than Ragnor slipping away again.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
This time we send Kidd, Alicia and Todd out to get him. When they find him,
|
|||
|
Kidd again manages to cast a charm on Ragnor so that he'll come along.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Meanwhile, Leia prepares to sacrifice a gem that Elured has given her to
|
|||
|
Brigit. Elured tries unsuccessfully to make a similar sacrifice to Diancecht.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We gather around as Leia offers her prayer. The gem vanishes with a brilliant
|
|||
|
flash of fire. Ragnor is cured and Elured finds that the world suddenly goes
|
|||
|
silent. We find that Elured can't make a sound and give thanks to Leia and
|
|||
|
Brigit.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Todd suggests that Leia hurl a fireball into the hole before we start down.
|
|||
|
Kidd and Alicia check and, to no one's surprise, they discover that something
|
|||
|
waits below. Leia uses her holy symbol to throw a fireball. An instant later
|
|||
|
fire blasts those of us gathered near the hole. Ragnor takes the worst injury,
|
|||
|
losing the use of his left arm.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
But the power released from the gem still lingers, suddenly Ragnor's arm is
|
|||
|
healed. Leia wonders what kind of monster lays in wait and the answer pops
|
|||
|
into her head - demon dogs! She calls on Brigit to dispell the beasts and
|
|||
|
the howling that began when Leia cast her fireball abruptly quiets. We lower
|
|||
|
a lantern on a rope. The beasts below stare balefully up at the hole, but
|
|||
|
don't move. Cautiously, Felicia slides down. She is not attacked. Jhere
|
|||
|
follows. And then the rest of us. Only Elured slips, falling more than half
|
|||
|
the distance and shattering his wrist.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
A moment later his wrist his healed, as Leia holy symbol flashes. Jhere prays
|
|||
|
silently, invoking Freya's aid to increase the might of Ragnor's attacks. And
|
|||
|
so, the battle ends anti-climatically as Ragnor smashes each of the demon dogs,
|
|||
|
one at a time, with the maul. Felicia and Todd join in on the last one in a
|
|||
|
frenzy of violence.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Just as we kill the last of the demon dogs, a whirling ball of earth comes
|
|||
|
around the corner, hurtling rapidly toward us. More follow, forming a line,
|
|||
|
like beads on a string. Only these beads are 5' in diameter and anything
|
|||
|
but pretty. They are earth elementals.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Leia prays for Brigit's divine intervention. Jhere prays to Freya. Both
|
|||
|
holy symbols grow brighter. Felicia swings her new battle axe, but as she
|
|||
|
strikes, the elemental entraps her left arm. Leia hurls a fire bolt from
|
|||
|
her holy symbol, Elured swings his sword, Kidd fires a fire bolt from his
|
|||
|
staff, Ragnor fumbles his maul and Alicia fumbles an arrow. Todd leaps up
|
|||
|
"behind" one the elementals and stabs with his dagger. Felicia's arm is
|
|||
|
released by the elemental that was holding it. Ragnor pounds one back into
|
|||
|
the ground that gave it birth. Leia turns one to dust with an enchantment
|
|||
|
passed from Brigit. Elured slashes with his sword again. Jhere crushes the
|
|||
|
nearest elemental with a blow from her staff (though it deals her a minor
|
|||
|
bruise in exchange). Alicia misses with an arrow. Todd stabs at another
|
|||
|
with his dagger, after leaping onto it from behind. Leia, with Brigit's
|
|||
|
guidance, turns another to dust. Ragnor smashes another into the cave floor.
|
|||
|
Elured is stunned by an elemental, as Jhere slams into it with her staff.
|
|||
|
Alicia is swallowed up by one - the swirling particles sever her windpipe!
|
|||
|
Todd stabs it with his dagger, but it doesn't release it's hold. Leia turns
|
|||
|
it to dust, still blazing with Brigit's power. Elured begins to recover from
|
|||
|
his injuries and slashes the elemental that hurt him. Jhere finishes it with
|
|||
|
a terrific wallop from her quarterstaff. Leia prays for Alicia's life and an
|
|||
|
orange glow bathes Alicia's throat closing the wound.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The elementals have all been destroyed. Leia offers a prayer of thanks and
|
|||
|
asks for our speedy recovery from our injuries. Everyone suddenly feels
|
|||
|
refreshed and invigorated.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Felicia can barely restrain herself. We are at last so close to the end of
|
|||
|
her quest. She leads us quickly around the last turns to the cavern where
|
|||
|
the Axe of the Dwarven Lords lies waiting. As she rounds the final turn, she
|
|||
|
is struck by a lightning bolt!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
She somehow staggers back to us. Kidd concentrates on what lies ahead - he
|
|||
|
finds a swirling column of earth, 10' in diameter and roughly 15' high, just
|
|||
|
beyond the cavern entrance. In the center of the cavern, a marvelous axe lies
|
|||
|
on the floor.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Felicia heads in again, with Kidd at her side. A pit opens beneath their feet
|
|||
|
and they fall to the bottom. Through magical means Kidd lands unharmed, but
|
|||
|
Felicia is not so lucky. As Kidd digs through his pack for a rope to tie on
|
|||
|
her so he can pull her out of the pit, he hears a cracking noise overhead. He
|
|||
|
looks up as the cavern ceiling caves in....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Hearing the crash, we dare to glance around the corner and see the ruin that
|
|||
|
marks the demise of our companions. Leia takes one of her earrings and offers
|
|||
|
a prayer to Brigit:
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
"Oh Brigit, Great Keeper of the Fire.
|
|||
|
Yea though we walk through this cavern of darkness,
|
|||
|
We fear no evil.
|
|||
|
For you are with us.
|
|||
|
Guide us, protect us and aid us in our quest.
|
|||
|
Oh Great Brigit,
|
|||
|
You are our one and only flame."
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The gemstone from her earring vanishes in a flash of flame and her ring glows
|
|||
|
brightly again, indicating the presence of divine power. She utters a plea
|
|||
|
to Brigit on behalf of Kidd and Felicia....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The rock that piled upon becomes a fine powder. An implosion sucks the powder
|
|||
|
away leaving only their bodies in the pit. Todd crawls toward them but can't
|
|||
|
reach them before he's stunned, doubled up in pain by some unseen force....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
On his second attempt he reaches them and exhausts his magical abilities by
|
|||
|
levitating them from the pit; pushing them toward us once they clear the top
|
|||
|
of the pit. Then he crawls from the pit himself.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Meanwhile, Jhere invokes Freya's aid for Kidd as Leia calls on Brigit to save
|
|||
|
Felicia. Their holy symbols glow blue and orange, respectively, then their
|
|||
|
patients are likewise bathed in glowing light. They begin to breathe again,
|
|||
|
though Kidd takes a bit longer to regain consciousness.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Todd hurls a dagger at the swirling column, missing it, before ducking back
|
|||
|
around the corner to rejoin us. Now that Felicia has regained consciousness,
|
|||
|
Leia focuses her attention on the column as well, blasting it with three bolts
|
|||
|
of fire from her holy symbol....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Though apparently unaffected by Leia's fire bolts, the swirling column (an
|
|||
|
earth guardian) responds by causing a wall of earth to form, blocking us from
|
|||
|
the corner.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Ragnor starts to pound his way through the wall with his maul....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Elured offers a large amber stone to Diancecht with a prayer to aid the party
|
|||
|
in completing Felicia's quest. The stone disappears with a bright flash -
|
|||
|
everyone is suddenly healed of their injuries. Felicia's broken ribs mend
|
|||
|
instantly as the injury is transferred to Elured (who suddenly regrets the
|
|||
|
phrasing of his prayer). Elured concentrates to initiate the healing of his
|
|||
|
ribs and withdraws to the back of the group.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Ragnor stops his assault on the wall long enough to find out who healed him.
|
|||
|
He is astonished to discover that it was Elured's doing, then he thanks him.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia and Jhere ask if anyone has picked up gems suitable for sacrifice to
|
|||
|
their deities. Todd and Elured each turn a peridot over to Alicia. No one
|
|||
|
seems to have found an opal, to Jhere's disappointment.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia offers both gems to Mielikki with a prayer to help Felicia get the Axe.
|
|||
|
The gems vanish in a blaze of green light. A breeze starts to blow past us
|
|||
|
toward the earthen wall. The wind picks up until it reaches gale force. We
|
|||
|
cling desperately to the passage walls. The earth wall rapidly wears down and
|
|||
|
the wind dies down as well. As we catch our breath, a fog begins to form.
|
|||
|
Soon the mist reduces our vision to arm's length.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Felicia drinks a potion of speed that Leia gives her and creeps carefully
|
|||
|
forward. When she reaches the pit, she lowers herself down. The wind has
|
|||
|
piled so much dirt into the bottom that she can reach the rim. The soft dirt
|
|||
|
silences her steps. When she reaches the opposite side, she hauls herself out
|
|||
|
and presses closely to the cavern wall. Her view is totally obscured by the
|
|||
|
mist. Clinging to the wall, she goes far enough to believe she has past the
|
|||
|
earth guardian, then heads out at an angle toward where she hopes the Axe lies.
|
|||
|
A few steps take her right to the column! She quickly heads back to the wall.
|
|||
|
A tremor shakes the ground, loose rocks fall all about. Somehow, we escape
|
|||
|
injury. She follows the wall a bit further, then heads toward the center of
|
|||
|
the cavern again. Amazingly her sense of direction is so good that she nearly
|
|||
|
trips over the Axe!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
She picks it up, dropping the one she'd been carrying. The Axe of the Dwarven
|
|||
|
Lords feels warm to her touch, as though it were alive! As she picks up the
|
|||
|
Axe, the fog begins to dissipate. She jogs back the way she'd come. With the
|
|||
|
potion's aid, she clears the pit and rounds the corner before the mist lifts
|
|||
|
enough to reveal her to the swirling column.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
She tells us that it's time to clear out and leads the way, but before we reach
|
|||
|
the first turn, our way is blocked by a line of earth elementals. She strikes
|
|||
|
the first one with the Axe - it collapses into the earth from which it was
|
|||
|
formed. Ragnor moves up to stand beside her as Felicia chops into the second
|
|||
|
elemental, destroying it. But she was hit by its fringe and hesitates and the
|
|||
|
next approaches. Ragnor pounds it with the maul and is bashed in return by the
|
|||
|
elemental. A moment later Felicia finishes it off as Ragnor recovers. The
|
|||
|
next rolls toward them....
|
|||
|
--
|
|||
|
- + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + -
|
|||
|
Bruce W. Reisman AT&T Bell Laboratories
|
|||
|
att!mtfmi!bwr 200 Laurel Avenue MT 3G-102
|
|||
|
908/957-6533 Middletown, NJ 07748-4801
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
From bwr@cbnewsj.att.com Tue Aug 14 08:32:59 1990
|
|||
|
From: bwr@cbnewsj.att.com (bruce.w.reisman)
|
|||
|
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
|
|||
|
Subject: Re: The Quest for the Axe of the Dwarven Lords (8)
|
|||
|
Summary: exciting? conclusion
|
|||
|
Keywords: story
|
|||
|
Date: 13 Aug 90 15:53:37 GMT
|
|||
|
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
AND WE THOUGHT GETTING IN WAS ROUGH ...
|
|||
|
LEIA SEES A GODDESS
|
|||
|
WE SEE A FAMILIAR FACE
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
It is early morning on the 27th day of Lo Spring in the year 6049
|
|||
|
The weather is:
|
|||
|
temperature: ~60 (we're in caves beneath the dwarven ruins ...)
|
|||
|
wind: 0 mph (calm)
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Felicia and Ragnor prove too powerful for the earth elementals, demolishing
|
|||
|
each one in turn as it reaches them. Ragnor pauses to polish the gore from
|
|||
|
his hammer. Alicia burns some gursamel in her censer - the fumes cause
|
|||
|
Elured's broken ribs to knit instantly....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We climb up the rope through the hole and make our way back to the great
|
|||
|
doors of the dwarven delvings. Employing the same routine we've used in
|
|||
|
the past, we open the doors and exit....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We follow along the wall of the great cavern to the underground lake. Jhere
|
|||
|
walks across as Alicia becomes a thyfur and ferries the rest of us. On the
|
|||
|
far side, Alicia alerts us that some thing is moving to intercept us before
|
|||
|
we can climb out of the cavern. Leia prays - her holy symbol blazes - and
|
|||
|
causes a wall of fire to spring up between us and our would-be assailants.
|
|||
|
They turn tail and run! It seems that ice hounds are terrified of fire....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We climb up to the corridor that we used on the way in. As we continue up
|
|||
|
and out, our way is barred by a party of stone trolls. Felicia, using the
|
|||
|
Axe of the Dwarven Lords, cleaves the first one nearly in two. The others
|
|||
|
retreat out of sight and we continue on our way. A huge rumble shakes the
|
|||
|
corridor ... not for the first time ... some loose fragments tumble about
|
|||
|
and we wonder whether a collapse is imminent....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We are unopposed as we snake through a narrow passage, coming ever closer to
|
|||
|
the entrance to the catacombs. We reach the collapsed bridge. Todd leaps
|
|||
|
across, carrying one end of a rope. After he secures it, we follow....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We near the final turn and come to an abrupt halt. The sounds of many
|
|||
|
monsters' growls mingle in a horrible cacophony ahead. A fire ball explodes
|
|||
|
at the end of the tunnel we want to take. Kidd concentrates, attempting to
|
|||
|
discover the nature of the battle....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Kidd tells us that the sstoi'isslythi are camped outside. Between the exit
|
|||
|
and where we stand, a large number of creatures are massed ... seeking
|
|||
|
egress. Whenever one of them attempts to charge out, the sstoi'isslythi hurl
|
|||
|
some potent magic against it to drive it back. It appears to be a stand-off,
|
|||
|
but effectively prevents our departure. The cave trembles again....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We retreat a bit, then Alicia warns of creatures coming up behind us. We
|
|||
|
duck into a side corridor....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Leia, Alicia and Jhere offer prayers to their deities. Leia offers her
|
|||
|
other earring and a psalm to Brigit:
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
"In Fire we walk
|
|||
|
Fire before us
|
|||
|
Fire behind us
|
|||
|
Fire above us
|
|||
|
Fire under us
|
|||
|
Fire all around us
|
|||
|
In Fire it is returned
|
|||
|
In Fire it is returned."
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
She concludes with a prayer for rescue from this awful place. The jacinth
|
|||
|
disappears in a flash of orange fire, and so do Leia and Todd! Jhere's
|
|||
|
prayer for support in answered with a glow from her holy symbol. Alicia
|
|||
|
offers a gem (provided by Elured) and various herbs. The jewel vanishes
|
|||
|
in a flash of green fire, the herbs are refused. Alicia mutters under her
|
|||
|
breath when no obvious aid appears.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We decide to try to help ourselves. Felicia and Jhere take the lead.
|
|||
|
Kidd follows, bearing a torch, with Alicia. Elured comes next and Ragnor
|
|||
|
provides a rear guard.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The first creatures we encounter are geryons. They are not expecting an
|
|||
|
attack from behind - too bad. Felicia and Jhere make quick work of them,
|
|||
|
with a little help from Elured and Alicia.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Four sabertooth tigers give us only slightly more trouble. Alicia causes
|
|||
|
them to go to sleep and our weapons make their slumbers permanent. Jhere
|
|||
|
takes a thigh wound that closes miraculously before too much blood is lost.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The noise of that battle alerts the stone trolls beyond. The closest of
|
|||
|
their numbers turn to face us before we can surprise them. Felicia's Axe,
|
|||
|
Elured's sword and Jhere's staff end their miserable existence ...
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The creatures now realize that they're trapped between two powerful forces
|
|||
|
and that they have no place to run. The going from here on is going to be
|
|||
|
much tougher ...
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The blades of Felicia and Elured combined with the crushing power of Ragnor
|
|||
|
and Jhere's weapons prove too potent for the stone trolls. Alicia's bow
|
|||
|
seems surprisingly effective, as well. Soon the bodies of thirteen of those
|
|||
|
ferocious fighters lie like broken stone columns in our wake ...
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
A fire ball explodes somewhere between our battle and the cave mouth ...
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We next encounter a group of mountain trolls. Though we quickly dispatch
|
|||
|
five of them, still more remain. Felicia is now bleeding from a hip wound,
|
|||
|
Ragnor falters with a painful bruise to his leg, Elured pauses to repair
|
|||
|
some of the wounds he's taken and Jhere is beginning to feel the weight of
|
|||
|
her accumulated cuts and bruises ...
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We battle forward. Kidd suddenly feels himself yanked down into solid rock.
|
|||
|
Using his circlet, he moves himself upward 500 feet at a 60 degree angle. He
|
|||
|
materializes about 300 feet in the air, above a huge mass of sstoi'isslythi,
|
|||
|
and saves himself from falling into them by casting an accelerated levitate
|
|||
|
spell on himself.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
As Kidd vanishes from our midst, we are plunged into sudden darkness. Our
|
|||
|
eyes adjust quickly and we find we can see our foes, at least in silhouette,
|
|||
|
thanks to our proximity to the exit. We're almost there!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We kill the remaining mountain trolls and begin battling a group of nagas.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
* * *
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
l] Leia finds herself in the almost familiar surroundings of the inner
|
|||
|
l] sanctum of Brigit's pavilion - though she's unsure as to how she
|
|||
|
l] came to be there. She walks along a radius of the pentastar to the
|
|||
|
l] center, kneels and offers a prayer for the party's saftey.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
l] A beautiful woman clothed in flame appears before her. She assures
|
|||
|
l] Leia that the party is in no great danger and offers her hand. Leia
|
|||
|
l] clasps it with hers, not fearing that the fire will harm her - it
|
|||
|
l] does not. The woman turns with Leia to face one of the endless
|
|||
|
l] tunnels that appear when gazing along a radius from the center.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
l] Abruptly, Leia and the woman (Brigit?) are at the other end of the
|
|||
|
l] tunnel (or is it the same place?), standing in the center of another
|
|||
|
l] pentastar...
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
t] Todd finds himself in a place of blinding light, surrounded by voices
|
|||
|
t] raised in shrill, but somehow pleasing, song. He cannot see anything
|
|||
|
t] or anyone - the brightness seals his sight. He calls out. No one
|
|||
|
t] answers. He shouts Leia's name. All he hears is the singing. He
|
|||
|
t] offers a prayer to Brigit. It grows brighter in front of him. Out
|
|||
|
t] of the brightness a blazing figure appears. His first impression is
|
|||
|
t] that it is Leia, but more powerful, more sensual than he's ever seen
|
|||
|
t] her. The fiery woman speaks: she tells him to guard her servant, Leia,
|
|||
|
t] with his life. She turns and vanishes into the light. Todd suddenly
|
|||
|
t] is standing before a multitude of sstoi'isslythi. Leia, glowing
|
|||
|
t] brightly, stands nearby. He moves up to her side.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
l] For days upon days, until she has no idea of the time that she has
|
|||
|
l] spent, Leia attends the fiery woman each waking moment. From her,
|
|||
|
l] Leia learns the secret ways of the greatest of Brigit's accolytes.
|
|||
|
l] She gives Leia a new holy symbol and strengthens the magic of her
|
|||
|
l] sword. Somewhere, sometime during her stay, Leia misplaces her pack.
|
|||
|
l] But there is nothing in it which she requires by the time she departs.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
l] As Leia leaves, brought back along the path between the pentastars,
|
|||
|
l] she is told that she is to serve as Brigit's representative in the
|
|||
|
l] world. Leia first attempts to find her usual exit from a pavilion,
|
|||
|
l] between two pillars; but she cannot find any. Instead, she sees a
|
|||
|
l] shimmering in the air before her. Unsure, she summons her courage
|
|||
|
l] and steps closer and closer and ...
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
l] Leia suddenly is standing before a multitude of sstoi'isslythi. Todd,
|
|||
|
l] who was standing nearby, moves up to her side.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
The sstoi'isslythi seem in awe of Leia. They scarcely move. Kidd sees the
|
|||
|
sudden brightness of their appearance and astonished to see that Leia is the
|
|||
|
cause. Leia tells the sstoi'isslythi that they are friends and after a bit, a
|
|||
|
familiar voice (and figure) comes from the back - Leethth makes his way toward
|
|||
|
them.
|
|||
|
* * *
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Felicia takes a stunning blow and cracks from the strain of battle. Screaming
|
|||
|
like a madwoman, she suddenly runs wildly down the center of the tunnel and out
|
|||
|
of the cave, barely stopping in time to keep from colliding with Todd and Leia.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Leethth translates for Leia, telling the masses that they are friends. Then he
|
|||
|
begins examining the Axe of the Dwarven Lords that Felicia is anxious to show
|
|||
|
him. Leia and Todd head into the cave to help the rest of us get out....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Jhere attacks the naga that crippled Elured. Elured moves clear but is
|
|||
|
attacked by another. Ragnor strikes a mighty blow at yet another naga
|
|||
|
and is slashed in return! He staggers toward the exit bleeding badly.
|
|||
|
Alicia shoots a naga, but her bow breaks!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Leia and Todd are attacked by chameleon amoebas. Todd kills his with a
|
|||
|
single thrust, but is left lying on the cave floor, badly stunned by the
|
|||
|
attack. Leia hurls small balls of fire at her attacker, barely noticing
|
|||
|
the weak strike it made at her. A bright orange glow leaps from Leia to
|
|||
|
Todd; he quickly rises to his feet and intervenes between Leia and a naga
|
|||
|
moving toward her.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
A blue glow extends from Jhere to Elured; his slashed tendons start to
|
|||
|
mend. An amoeba attacks Ragnor, doing him a slight injury before he
|
|||
|
staggers clear. Elured is struck again, badly, as he attempts to make
|
|||
|
his way out. Todd slays the naga with a single blow! Leia fries the
|
|||
|
amoeba that persists in attacking her. Jhere smashes a naga over the
|
|||
|
head with her staff. Its attack misses. Elured's slashed muscles begin
|
|||
|
to heal, as he is again bathed in a blue glow from Jhere.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia attempts to prevent a naga from attacking, but her spell misfires
|
|||
|
and she is stunned. Todd engages another naga, before it can get to Leia,
|
|||
|
killing it with two swings and taking only minor injury. A sword of flame
|
|||
|
forms on Leia's hand and she uses it to slay the last chameleon amoeba.
|
|||
|
The remaining naga is occupied with Jhere - Todd leaps on its back,
|
|||
|
stabbing his dagger through its ear into its brain; Leia swings her blade
|
|||
|
of fire into its tail. It abruptly ceases to live. We make our way out
|
|||
|
without further difficulty.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Alicia stops Ragnor's and Felicia's bleeding. They are carried on litters
|
|||
|
to Leethth's dwelling. We spend the rest of the day and night there,
|
|||
|
telling Leethth of our (mis-)adventures and answering his endless questions.
|
|||
|
Leia's inner glow persists. Any of the sstoi'isslythi that come near to
|
|||
|
her seem to go out of their way to please her; to cater to her every need.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
We rest that night feeling safe for the first time in days....
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
* * *
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
THUS ENDS THE QUEST! ... but their exploits continue!
|
|||
|
--
|
|||
|
- + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + -
|
|||
|
Bruce W. Reisman AT&T Bell Laboratories
|
|||
|
att!mtfmi!bwr 200 Laurel Avenue MT 3G-102
|
|||
|
908/957-6533 Middletown, NJ 07748-4801
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|