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The party talk with Sgt. Chusuk, the leader of the remains of the men
holding the tower. Five men hold this stone tower, and there are two in
the other tower across the bridge. The goblins had been attacking in
droves for the past couple of days, on their way back from the sacking of
Corunglain, the party suppose.
The Sergeant doesn't mind the party staying in the tower, as long
as they have their own food. He supposes that relief from Darokin will
arrive eventually, but he isn't too hopeful. The group were planning on
heading south to the town of Favoro, but another strange note, this time
found in Czevbourne's bag in the morning, changes that. The note seems to
be in Czevbourne's handwriting, but clearly it is from Claudius. He
outlines the need for the party to recover the strange carving, and to
exercise care that it remain covered at all times. He says that he will be
able to return only when Celsus is also in the party's lands, and only
then after the new moon in the middle of the month. The group realise that
there are only about five more days to the new moon, and that they should
probably get set back out into the broken lands. During the same day, a
boat is spotted heading upriver. It flies the flag of Darokin, and the
guardsmen are relieved when they realise that they are here to relieve
them.
Lt. Bathas is in command of the boat, and takes in the party's
reports of what has happened (without the mention of Claudius). He takes
the mayoral chain from the party, and says that any of the party members
who need training will receive it, in Darokin. He brings reports of
'crazy' stories about lightning throwing goblins having been responsible
for the sacking of Corunglain. The group outline their intention to head
into the broken lands, and realise that supplies will be necessary. The
three favours previously assigned to training are used to acquire a
hammer, chisel and some metal tools, and a packhorse to carry the group's
supplies, and the stone design back to safety. It is getting late, and the
six set out on the following morning.
The first day north passes uneventfully, but Gruff has no luck
finding any extra herbs that he needs for his healing. The party camp by
the river, and set off bright and early the next morning. The area is once
more reached, and Haiko has a quick look around before the rest of the
party head over to where the circle lies hidden under a boulder. The
boulder is carefully removed, and replaced with blankets. Nobody knows
anything much about stone, or that kind of thing, but Haiko sets about
what looks like is going to be the long task of chiselling the stone
circle (about 5' across) out of the stone. The rest of the day is spent
with Haiko and Mat working away at trying to free the design.
The next day is the same, and the progress is slow. Mat is working
away, and somehow the party fail to notice two very large creatures
approaching. The horse is meat before the party have a chance to act, and
Dyxs names the large brutes as ogres. Dyxs stands to face one, and the
other, wielding the best part of a tree, seems intent on Czevbourne. The
ogres fail to hit their respective opponents, as do Dyxs and Haiko, the
only two party members close enough to have got an attack in this
round. Czevbourne takes out those leather straps, apparently in an effort
to count the ogres, but comes up with the answer two. Mat and Gruff move
towards the back of the ogres, Fourn to the front alongside Haiko and
Dyxs.
In the next round Czevbourne again studies his bundle of things,
but nothing happens. Mat hits one of the ogres with his staff for a little
damage, and Haiko leaps out of the way as the ogre blunders towards
Czevbourne. He swings around with his katana, hitting hard. Dyxs too hits
his ogre, with his second attack.
Czevbourne takes to attacking with his sling, and steps back to get a
swing. The ogre continues forward, and Mat, Dyxs and Fourn continue to
fight the stationary one. Mat gives the ogre another belt with his staff,
and Fourn finishes it with a good thrust from his two handed
spear. Czevbourne fails to hit the incoming ogre with his sling, and in
turn the ogre belts him into unconsciousness or worse. Next, the party
gain the initiative, and Haiko attacks the remaining ogre with his
katana. He hits, and does enough damage to drop the already injured
ogre. Gruff hurries to tend to Czevbourne. He patches up his wounds
without any of his waving or gibberish, and announces that he is
unconscious. He then sets about with his waving and gibberish, and
Czevbourne is soon on his feet. Without any other option, Haiko continues
chiselling.
That night passes uneventfully, and Haiko and Mat continue their
work in the morning, seeming to be making some progress. Early in the day,
Haiko jumps up from his work, startled, by a snake it seems. Mat, Fourn
and Gruff move in with staff and spears to assist. Mat manages to thump
the snake with his staff, but all Fourn does is hit the carving beneath
the blankets a solid thump with the butt of his spear. Haiko is bitten by
the snake, and lucky not to have been poisoned. In the next round again
Mat is the only one to hit the snake, and this time it scurries off, but
not before the slab has once more been accidentally hit. People figure
that the snake scurried off somewhere into the crack the party are
currently chiselling, but nonetheless, Haiko gets back to work. A few
minutes later, Haiko spots the tail of the snake. Mat is nearby, and
attempts to fling the snake away with his staff. He succeeds, and flings
away half a snake. The snake must have been crushed when the slab cracked
the second time. Work is almost finished on chiselling the stone design
free. By the afternoon of the next day, it is finished.
The stone design lies in two pieces. About one third of the design
in inscribed on the piece that broke off, but due to the amount of excess
rock around the edges, the chunks of rock are of approximate size. It is
going to be difficult to get them home. Czevbourne says he can work out
what the design is meant to look like when it is completed, and, seeing as
it is after the new moon, the party decide to uncover it to see if
Claudius comes through. Czevbourne does that strange thing with his bundle
of stuff and the pieces of leather, and when he seems to be finished he
directs the two pieces of stone be put together, along with a couple of
other stray chunks that he gets to fit correctly.
After a couple of moments, a huge snake appears. In two. The party gain
the initiative. Mat and Haiko both attack and miss. Then the snake strikes
at Fourn. He is hit, but not envenomed. Dyxs fails to hit the snake with
his longsword, then Fourn and Gruff both attack with their spears. Fourn
sticks it for a good deal of damage, and Gruff finishes it off. The
message that Czevbourne found said that if the first thing through wasn't
Claudius, then it isn't time. Quickly the two halves are wrapped in the
blankets again.
The connection between the little and the big snake is made, and when
people think on it they are sure that the snakes were exactly the same
apart from their size. The time has come to see about getting the blocks
back out of the broken lands. Fourn, Dyxs and Haiko haul the larger piece
to the river. As they are reaching the river, a boat is spotted sailing
away from them. Fourn and Haiko give chase to flag it down, but a couple
of fired arrows change their mind. Still, they don't think it was flying a
Darokin flag.
About an hour later, the two large rocks have been hauled to the
river, and the party are ready to head south. Dyxs is just about strong
enough to carry the smaller one on his own, but the pace is going to be
slow. The larger piece is lashed to a spare shield, and Fourn ties it up
so as that it can be dragged along the sandy shore on the shield. This is
by no means ideal, and is also going to be slow moving. No more than a
couple of miles are made before it is time to camp for the evening.
During the night, the party are attacked. Two gnolls lead about six
goblins, and four boars. By the time everybody is awake, Haiko is already
down. Gruff tries to placate the boars, but only manages the two nearest
him. Dyxs goes to get his shield from the pile of stuff on the boulder,
but Czevbourne slips off the boulder and hampers him. Dyxs and Mat are
struck by the goblins, and none of the goblins injured yet. Dyxs reports
that the gnolls have called out for the goblins to attack Gruff.
Czevbourne takes out his pack of stuff to do that thing he does, but is
frustrated when all the goings on prevent him from doing whatever it is he
does. Gruff doesn't get a chance to spout his mumbo jumbo at the two
remaining boars, and they remain to attack the party. All of the goblins
bar one move to attack Gruff, and Dyxs kills the one he was facing. Mat is
hit by one of the remaining boars, and falls down, into the shallow
water. Fourn throws his net and misses, and as the round ends something
attacks one of the gnolls from behind, apparently killing it. The party
see four humans, apparently monks, two coming out of the water, and two
from land, out of the darkness.
In the next round, the goblins and monks both act before the party
does. Dyxs manages to pick up his shield, and Gruff and Fourn both fail to
hit the goblins surrounding Guff with their spears. Five goblins and one
gnoll remain standing.
One of the monks is attacking the remaining gnoll. Another is in
the water, attacking goblin and boar. The third has been directed to
Haiko's katana, and the final is assisting in attacking the goblins
surrounding Gruff. The monk in the water is struck by the goblin he is
facing, then mauled severely by one of the boars. His only reply is to
swing wildly into the air with his fist. Gruff is scraped by one of the
four goblins attacking him, and the other three miss. The gnoll is dealt a
blow by the monk that is fighting it, and the last monk scores good damage
on one of the four goblins. The third monk picks up the katana, but only
seems able to stare at it, overwhelmed. The boar attacking Czevbourne
messes up, and bites hard on the pile of rocks behind him, instead of
gnawing his leg. The boar is bloodied, and takes off in pain. Czevbourne
has a chance to do that thing he does, but nothing happens. Dyxs hits one
of the goblins for plenty of damage.
Next time, the goblins act first. The gnoll fails to hit the lead monk,
but the boar again gores the monk in the water, and he falls. His goblin
opponent has a swipe as he is going down, but misses. The lead monk has a
sword of his own, and hits the gnoll, killing it. Czevbourne was winding
up his sling to attack the same gnoll, and fires off into the air. The
monk with Haiko's katana attacks the boar that felled his comrade; he
hits, and kills the injured creature. Dyxs slays one of the goblins
attacking Gruff with his first attack this round, and a second with his
second attack. The other monk strikes one of them for a little damage.
The remaining goblins flee. One of the monks manages to take one of them
down as they part, but a couple get away. As soon as the battle is over,
the monks make to take off. Dyxs hauls the corpses out of the water, and
Gruff sets about healing people. He isn't able to save the dead monk. The
other monks leave. Czevbourne asks them to return Haiko's katana, but they
say nothing, and run off into the darkness. Haiko was merely unconscious
for the duration of the battle, and Gruff revives him easily. Mat, on the
other hand, reports Gruff, is a gonner. Haiko is more than a little
displeased at the loss of his clan katana, and recognises the attire of
the dead monk. He is from a clan opposed to Haiko's own, and they probably
only intervened to steal the valuable katana. The dead monk has some
rations on his corpse, and they are piled on top of the rock with the rest
of the stuff. Mat's backpack is removed, smelly from the dead goblin ears,
and then his leather armour, that it might be sold in the future.
Mat coughs and splutters as Dyxs sits him upright to remove the
armour. Gruff shrugs, glad that he was wrong about Mat's condition. The
party aren't really in any condition to start hauling things again, and
decide to rest up until afternoon, then put in a couple of hours travel
before dark. Gruff is running short on herbs, but after the few hours of
rest during the day, reckons he can find some more. Haiko, Gruff and Dyxs
wander off in search of some of the herbs Gruff needs to do his healing
thing, and the rest of the party wait. Gruff finds about a half dozen, and
heals Dyxs and Mat. The party continue 'till nightfall, and settle down to
sleep. Czevbourne wakes the party during the night, to say that he thought
he saw a pile of little boars, running towards him. Gruff hears something,
and wanders off into the dark with the lantern. He returns to say it was
nothing, and the party go back to sleep. The party are woken twice more by
small disturbances, but in the morning, all is well.
In the morning, as the party are trudging south, rock in tow, a
lone figure is spotted, walking towards the party. He has a similar
dishevelled appearance to Gruff, and Gruff calls out in grunts and
guttural speech. He seems friendly enough, and is built like a brick
shithouse. He gestures to Dyxs to put the smaller rock on top of the pile
on the shield, and Dyxs obliges. He takes hold of the ropes, and sets off
at what seems to be just less than normal walking speed. He is strong. By
the end of the day, the bridge guardtower is sighted. Gruff wants to have
a look around for some herbs before reaching the tower, and as the party
look back to the man pulling the load, all they see is the rope dropping,
and a boar walking off into the broken lands. Gruff finds a few more herbs
for his bag, and patches Mat up a little, before Mat wanders on forward to
call out to the guards in the tower. Two soldiers walk out of the tower on
foot, and the party walk onwards to meet them. The party are allowed back
into the guardtower, and decide to remain there for a week and the return
of Lt. Bathas, hopefully to get a lift on the boat, south to Darokin.
Indeed, the party spend an uneventful week in the guard tower, and
Lt. Bathas returns a week later by boat, once more checking on
things. After another three days downriver, the group have safely arrived
in Darokin City. Haiko sets off to talk to the other members of his order
in Darokin, and although the party could probably stay at the barracks,
Haiko (or his order) isn't eager for the military to get a hold of the
stone. It is now well past the new moon, and it is decided to uncover the
stone to see if Claudius comes through. The stone is moved to Haiko's
chapter house in Darokin, and Czevbourne does his trick to be able to see
how to put it back together. A few novices and the rest of the party are
waiting around. Haiko suggests that maybe it might work better outside,
and he and the master wander out to a small adjoining yard. A small evil
looking black 3ft tall thing with wings appears on the circle. It carries
a small pitchfork, and almost immediately, points it at three of the
novices in the corner. Burning spikes fly into two of them, killing them,
and igniting the wood panelled corner they were standing in. Dyxs charges
towards the creature, and at the same time, Fourn winds up to throw his
net. He fumbles, and sends it spinning around Dyxs, wrapping him to the
ground. One of the monks runs off out of the room, another is nowhere to
be seen. Two are dead, and the other four move in to attack the
creature. Mat ducks out the main door.
One of the monks manages to hit the creature, but the fire is
spreading rapidly, even more so after the creature seems to concentrate
and point his pitchfork at it. Fourn helps Dyxs try to get free of his
net, and Czevbourne does his thing with the leather pages, but nothing
happens. As the round ends, the fire has spread enough to injure the
prostrate Dyxs, and Fourn will have to start dragging him away from it. By
this stage the master has returned to the main room, and gives orders for
the novices to stand back, as he rushes into the growing fire in the
corner to confront the creature. Czevbourne falls to the growing blaze, as
does Dyxs, and Gruff and Fourn haul them to safety, that being the street
outside the chapter house.
Dyxs finds himself coming to in the street. Gruff stands over him,
and the burning chapter house can be seen just past him. The master is
there too, looking quite singed, but alive. Everyone realises that it is
very important to get the stone covered over, but at the moment the
building is an inferno, and the most that can be done is to help with
extinguishing it. Time passes, ferrying water back and forth. There seems
to be some sort of explosion inside the chapter house (although nothing
the monks own could account for it) and the flames turn a strange colour
of blue. An inky black cloud seems to form over the building, and Gruff
reckons that it looks a bit like Claudius. He is correct. Haiko's master,
only now realising the importance of the man (in standing against
Celsus) rushes back into the burning building. He returns with the charred
corpse of Claudius. There is nothing the party can do other than to
continue to help putting out the fire. Alarm bells ring out across the
city. Dyxs says that the city is under attack, and panic breaks out. Along
with the throngs of people in the streets, the party are thrown in
different directions. Lightning can be seen streaking through the sky, and
people running in every direction. Goblins are outside the city, so it is
said, throwing lightning from their hands.
The streets mill with people, but after a while, the screaming
stops, and is replaced with cheering. The goblins have been broken, they
say, by a man called Czevbourne. Eventually, the party manage to meet up
with each other. Czevbourne is being hailed as the saviour of the city,
apparently having turned back the goblins in a wave of fire, according to
some of the guardsmen on the walls at the time. There is to be a banquet
that evening, with Czevbourne the guest of honour. The rest of the party
get to tag along. The party are seated beside the king's table, and during
his speech, the king announces, to much adulation, that Czevbourne shall
receive a first class favour, for whatever it was he did to save the city.
The next morning Czevbourne is off talking with the king's scribe,
and Dyxs and Fourn take the opportunity to go to the barracks to see if
they can be trained, to use up the debt owed for the return of the mayoral
chain.
It turns out that Dyxs and Fourn aren't up to being trained, but the
availability is still there, should they find themselves able
enough. Czevbourne returns from his appointment as Baron Czevbourne. In
exchange for his first class favour he has received his title, and
ownership of the small island from where he comes. A boat has also been
laid on, to transport Baron Czevbourne and the party to Greenleaf
Island. The stone table, properly covered, is loaded onto the boat, and
the party set off for Acheros, on the edge of the large inland lake.
According to Czevbourne, Greenleaf Island is basically unpopulated, apart
from a couple of crazies living in the hills. It seems like a good idea to
get a couple of farmers and tradesmen over to the small island (about 3
miles by 1 mile), especially because Czevbourne doesn't have to pay taxes
for the first ten years. Therefore, the party delay in Acheros to see if
any settlers can be found.
Acheros happens to be Fourn's hometown, and the local gladiatorial
arena is still going. Expecting to take about a week to find some
settlers, the party are gladly put up in the barracks. A crier is hired,
offering land on Greenleaf Island, directing people to the barracks to
talk to Haiko and Czevbourne. Fourn and Dyxs sign up to fight in the
following days afternoon (lesser) events in the gladiatorial arena,
earning one copper piece, and the chance to do some betting. Haiko and
Czevbourne wait at the barracks for the next couple of days, talking to
prospective settlers.
Fourn gets a chance to suss out the other six entrants in the afternoon
knockout, and figures he's up against someone 'good'. A sandy arena about
30ft in diameter is the venue. There is a house healer, but they don't
mind Gruff standing ready for Fourn. For Fourn's fight four weapons have
been strewn about the sandy ground. A net, a flaming torch, a staff and a
trident.
The match begins, and they both dash for the net. 'good' snatches it up,
and runs for the torch. Fourn barrels into him, making it hard for him to
swing the torch. They scuffle a bit, and 'good' manages to hit Fourn a
belt with the flaming torch. Fourn gives up punching, and runs for the
trident. 'good' manages a parting blow, injuring Fourn some more. The heat
and the sparks are too much, and Fourn drops to the ground. 'good' is the
chivalrous sort, it seems, and stops attacking and holds Fourn up for
Gruff to get a look at him. Gruff dashes in, and tends to Fourn naturally,
without any gibberish.
The next scheduled bout is Dyxs'. He is fighting someone classed by Fourn
as 'fair'. This time a single trident is placed in the middle of the
arena, and both men are held back, to be released at the same time. Both
dash in, but Dyxs gets the better hold, and ends up with the trident
pointing at his opponent. In the next round, 'fair' is still trying to
wrest the trident free, but Dyxs just uses the momentum to attack, and
makes quite a mess of 'fair'. Both Gruff and the house healer run in, but
'fair' is quite dead.
In the next round, Dyxs is fighting Fourn's 'good' opponent, this time
with two staves in the centre of the arena. 'good' manages to get to the
centre well before Dyxs, and picks up both, tossing the second behind
him. Dyxs attacks with fists, and hits for a little damage. 'good' strikes
Dyxs with his staff. In the next round, Dyxs misses his punch, and falls
to a second blow from the staff. Gruff rushes in, and easily tends to
Dyxs.
In the morning, Dyxs and Fourn are still a little bruised, and
Gruff tends to them once more. Mat takes to doing a bit of town crying
himself, and Haiko and Gruff go off outside the city to gather the herbs
Gruff needs to do his healing thing. By the time the week is up,
Czevbourne has recruited two farmers, a mason, a fisherman and a
carpenter. Jeremiah the carpenter is to head over to the island to check
it out for the rest of the folk, if he's happy, the others (and their
families) are going to come over a week later.
The six party members and Jeremiah get dropped off on the
island. It is only about 3 miles by 1 mile, so it is decided to walk
around it to have a look. After a few hours, and towards the hills in the
centre, everyone just falls asleep. When people wake up, a man is talking
to Czevbourne. It is Davros, Czevbourne's old mentor.
Jeremiah heads back to Acheros on the boat that evening, and a
week later, the two farmers and their families, the mason, the fisherman
and Jeremiah himself arrive. Work begins immediately, but Czevbourne says
he will need to spend the first two months working with Davros in the
hills. For the most part, Dyxs and Gruff spend the two months wandering
the island. Czevbourne is busy being trained by Davros. Haiko, Fourn and
Mat help with the construction of the first houses and farmsteads. A boat
isn't scheduled to stop at Greenleaf Island for another four months, and
during that time, the work is ongoing. By the time the six months are up,
the town of Czevbourne and the farms are more or less completed, and
Jeremiah and the others are thinking about defence (what, with being from
Darokin) and are eager for a town wall to be built.
When the scheduled merchant boat arrives, the party head over to
Acheros, promising to send over hired labour to help with the construction
of the town wall. Fourn has a few gold pieces, and that goes towards
hiring a crew of men for Greenleaf for six months.
Fourn and Dyxs and Gruff secure accommodation at the arena, Fourn and Dyxs
promising to fight at the weekend, Gruff earning his keep as a second
healer. Haiko talks with his local chapter house, and it turns out that he
can be trained. That will require a two week stay in Acheros. Fourn, Dyxs
and Gruff are sorted at the arena, Czevbourne and Mat stay at the barracks
and Haiko at his chapter house.
Dyxs and Fourn both fight twice more in the next two weeks. Dyxs
manages to win the first weeks afternoon event, but doesn't go forward for
the evening one. In the second week, two monks enter the competition. They
destroy their opposition in the afternoon event, and the winner fights in
the evening event. He is narrowly beaten in the final by a professional
gladiator. Haiko isn't familiar with their clan (or whatever) but it seems
that they were only fighting for a quick and easy (for them) way of
getting some cash, then left Acheros.
When the two weeks are up, and the work crew long since sent to Greenleaf,
the party head back towards Darokin city. The first two days on the good
road pass without incident. On the morning of the third, the party
swordplay on the road up ahead. Everyone speeds up, to see mounted
guardsmen, fighting goblins. By the time the party arrive, the goblins
have broken. Czevbourne fetches one of them with his sling, and the
guardsmen run the others down. The guardsmen are pleased to see Baron
Czevbourne when he announces himself. Gruff tends to one of their injured
comrades. He is bleeding badly, but Gruff restores him to
unconsciousness. He then patches him up some more, good enough to ride his
horse. The guardsmen were heading towards Acheros, but escort the party
the rest of the way to Darokin. The mounted guardsmen drop the party off
at the west gate of Darokin City, and a couple of on-duty soldiers
recognise Czevbourne. They say they're off work in a couple of hours, and
ask Czevbourne out for a few drinks.
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