The colours of the bloodstone swirl like a whirlpool that will drag Vark in if he looks too close or too long, but he tears his eyes away at the last moment and dark laughter echoes in the back of his mind.
You cannot resist me forever. Even now as you walk into the very pit itself, I feel your resolve weaken. We could be great together, but you will die here, alone in the dark, if you do not open yourself to me.
Jex sighs as he sees Hurrig's rage now building too.
"Calm, there will be plenty of time for vengeance. But now is the time for cool heads and proportionality. Where is this mine entrance? I can go ahead and you can join back with me to direct me at each junction. Or I can go straight down the road, they won't see me. I can free the prisoners and bring them back out through the mines if the coast is clear, or arm them and have them revolt from the inside. What we must not do us charge in angry and blind. That way lies only death, which I prefer to avoid, no matter how glorious and righteous you may find it." He gives a little wink trying to lighten the mood.
Vark furrows his brow in frustration. Still clutching the gem, he begins moving again. His steps are slow and cautious. After a few minutes he whispers a response to the stone. “M-maybe... maybe I would if you’d answer my questions. Who are you? What- what are you? How can I trust you?”
I have gone by many names, in many ages. You may call me Matthew. I was once a great wizard - a king amongst men. Now I am forgotten. Cursed to see the world only through this stone, but I possess great knowledge. I could give you the keys to greatness, if only you would accept them.
After walking for some time, Vark eventually comes to a fork in the tunnel.
Vark stops at the fork, leaning against one of the stone walls. “Do you know which way leads to Sheercleft?” he says, mostly joking. He’s still for another moment, exhausted. “I don’t know... you said I had to give myself to you... what- what does that mean?”
Open your mind to my power, Matthew replies. His voice is louder now, it blocks out all other thoughts. Let me in. Let me show you the way...
Vark feels a tingling on the back of his neck, like water lapping at a dam. His fingers vibrate with the arcane energy of a spell that is on the tip of his tongue, but if he only knew how it began.
The sorcerer pops off the wall in surprise at the noise and sensation. "Ah! Oh.. uh..." He turns back the way he came, wondering if his friends had noticed his absence. They were here to free Sheercleft and he had gone and gotten himself hopelessly lost and nearly killed. "I... uhm..." He turns again to the fork ahead. He has no idea which way to go, and the realization that either or both of the paths could take him farther from his friends, or worse: right into the goblins' lair sets in. "Uhm..." Nervous sweat drips down his forehead, tracing his branching scars. More than anything, he wishes he could talk to Aureanous. The wise giant would surely know what to do, if he was even still alive. Finally, Vark's gaze returns to the stone. The swirl of blood and shadow, the pulsing through his fingers. "I..." When Vark set out from home hoping to grow in power, to make something of himself, this was far from any fate he could have imagined. His eyes close and he takes a breath to steady himself. "Okay....... I'm ready." Now he opens his eyes again, and with a mix of resolve and desperation he stares into the stone, focusing on it, diving in and resigning himself to whatever was to come from it.
Vark feels himself growing drowsy, and his eyelids droop until they fall closed. His chin sinks to his chest and rests there for several seconds. Then he straightens with a start, and when his eyes open they burn red with no pupil.
He reaches out with one hand and sparks fly from his fingertips to the rock, scorching a pattern of runes that glows a brilliant electric blue. Slowly he walks in an arc around the cave, until the magic circle is complete. Then he steps inside, crouches and picks up a rock. It jolts like something stung it and skips out of Vark's hand and off down the left passage.
When the half-orc rises, the circle fades and his eyes return to normal, but ahead of him the way is illuminated by a long cloud of dim blue light.
Excellent, he hears Matthew tell him, though the voice is quieter and less overwhelming now. There is hope for you yet.
Then the voice is gone, and Vark is left alone in the dark. The misty blue path beckons him to follow.
Thurston poders the situation. He has been listening to his friends and thinking all night about their chances.
"Ok. About rallying the townspeople against the hobgoblins. It's a good idea but freeing and arming them will be no easy, nor fast, task. We should try to locate and talk to them. This will bring them hope and spark their fighting spirit once more. If they are just as half as brave as you my firends " says Thurston to the dwarves " they would be plannig their own escape by now. "
His looks turns more stern
"But we must face the truth here. They had been already defeated once. We cannot risk a rebellion, with the loses it will cost, without more information and without taking away their warleader, so the camp goes into havok. "
He takes a stick and draws the limits of the city and put some sticks and stones represeting buildings.
"This is Moradin's temple, this is the entrance of the mines and this is were we are... "he starts.
Bründir looks at the improv map and points to other peeble Thurston hasn't mentioned
"And that?"
The paladin looks at it, then to Bründir, then to the peeble again.
"uh... a stone.."he says throwing it away.
"Ok, I think that you could put the oil the tents here, here and here " he says pointing three different spots around the goblin campment. "After we have contacted the prisioners and gave them the meanings to free them from chains or jails or whatever they are keeping them stranded, then we could infiltrate the camp towards the main tent, clearing a path of sentinels if needed for those of us less stealthy not be discovered. Then we attack. One of us must be wait here "he points another point a little bit outside the camp " to fire burning arrows and lit the tents while we start our attack. That should cause confusion and give us the chance to kill their leader and will be the signal to the slaves to start their revolt. After that... it will be just make Thor and Moradin proud... " he shrugs. "But we will send them screaming to Hel"
He looks up and around
"Where's Vark? he should have come back by now. Can't we contact him with magic?"
Valaith sat quietly, watching over the town and their surroundings while the others did their planning; Valaith was a warrior, but she was not trained in this sort of warfare. Not to mention, the constantly twinge in her innards was distracting beyond belief. The self-preservation aspect of her mind screamed at her to climb into the back of Jex's wagon and cover herself with a blanket, ride this whole thing out; however, she had never listened to that voice before and would surely not do so now. She was watching the paths when something Thurston said catches her ear and her head whips about suddenly looking for their half-orc. "He's not back? Why did we allow him to go alone?! We must find him. We need our full strength if we are to do this."
Hurrig pipes up. "Oi! Don't we 'ave a scroll of clairvoyance? Where's that at? No one needs ta be goin' inta the town. We can gather some intel from here with that! Give it here!" Hurrig opens the scroll, "Where should we put tha thing? Outside the big tent?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Mavi Göz Mal - Half Orc Monk Level 1 Not Another Lost Mine of Phandelver
Drita - Aasimar Hexblade Warlock Lvl 3 Tomb of Annhilation
"Huh..." Bründir acratches his head for a moment, "Wondered what that thing did. Still do, I 'spose. Hell, I don' 'ave any right idea. One shot an' hundred places I'd like to see 'fore we just run in."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Characters:
Grishkar Darkmoor, Necromancer of Nerull the Despiser Kelvin Rabbitfoot, Diviner, con artist, always hunting for a good sale Bründir Halfshield, Valor Bard, three-time Sheercleft Drinking Competition Champion, Hometown hero
"The tent seems wise to me, especially if we can hear inside. If they are making plans, that will most likely be the place. It could also give us a notion of who is important, that I might find a solution to their threat."
Vark follows the misty trail through the winding tunnels for almost an hour, the pale blue light leading him ever deeper down into this subterranean realm beneath the mountains. He passes through several larger caverns and crosses numerous junctions in the labyrinth like network of tunnels, but the spell is clear and steadfast in the path it has lain out before him. However, it now seems to be leading him into a smaller, tighter tunnel, festooned with what look like enormous cobwebs.
"I would need ta get closer ta the temple. At least a mile before I can use this where we need it. We should wait for Vark though... wherever the twit went off too."Hurrig paces a little while he waits for the others to answer. "Have we heard anything from the elves?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Mavi Göz Mal - Half Orc Monk Level 1 Not Another Lost Mine of Phandelver
Drita - Aasimar Hexblade Warlock Lvl 3 Tomb of Annhilation
Jex scratches his chin as the wheels of his brain start turning. Things are suddenly clicking into place for him. He responds absent mindedly. "We asked for an army. Likely they'll be discussing a while before they are able to make a decision." He rubs his chin more roughly. Being half-elven he is unable to grow a full beard, but after several days of neglecting to shave, patchy fluff is beginning to appear on his chin and it is beginning to irritate him.
"Thurston, do you still have that spyglass? It strikes me that unless any of you speak goblin, all we are going to get of any use is a view inside that tent. If we can see a part of a meeting of the leaders, we can establish a hierarchy from where they stand or sit, who shouts at who and the like. I'll then know who I need to eliminate. I can scout out the camp and find the slaves, if I were them I would keep them above ground, too much chance for escape and organisation if they are left below with the tools, I'd keep them up where I can guard them properly and send them to work from there every day. If we find them, I can take them a roll of weapons if I enter the camp disguised as a hobgoblin. For now we should get closer, watch with the glass and try to see a meeting, then I'll go in and leave oil for a fire on one side, start a riot on the other, and in the chaos eliminate the leadership. You lot can have a nap or something."
He grins mischievously at the last part as he gives a wink.
"Ah, well if yer so sure about it all, guess I can do my best to contribute." Bründir flops on the ground and rolls over in his cloak.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Characters:
Grishkar Darkmoor, Necromancer of Nerull the Despiser Kelvin Rabbitfoot, Diviner, con artist, always hunting for a good sale Bründir Halfshield, Valor Bard, three-time Sheercleft Drinking Competition Champion, Hometown hero
Vark continues his descent, still holding the stone out in front of him as if the object itself is a small living creature. He's mostly silent as he goes, not wanting to attract attention from anything that might be down here. But after another hour, the thought of his friends wondering where he is begins to nag at him. He lifts up the stone to whisper to it. "Uhm... M-matthew... I was wondering if you have any way to uh... communicate with others? I was supposed to be back at camp quickly... can you tell my friends that I'm ok? And... that they should continue without me. Hopefully when I get out of here, the siege will be underway and I can just join in." The bottom of his staff pokes at a small cobweb as he waits for an answer.
The colours of the bloodstone swirl like a whirlpool that will drag Vark in if he looks too close or too long, but he tears his eyes away at the last moment and dark laughter echoes in the back of his mind.
You cannot resist me forever. Even now as you walk into the very pit itself, I feel your resolve weaken. We could be great together, but you will die here, alone in the dark, if you do not open yourself to me.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Jex sighs as he sees Hurrig's rage now building too.
"Calm, there will be plenty of time for vengeance. But now is the time for cool heads and proportionality. Where is this mine entrance? I can go ahead and you can join back with me to direct me at each junction. Or I can go straight down the road, they won't see me. I can free the prisoners and bring them back out through the mines if the coast is clear, or arm them and have them revolt from the inside. What we must not do us charge in angry and blind. That way lies only death, which I prefer to avoid, no matter how glorious and righteous you may find it." He gives a little wink trying to lighten the mood.
Vark furrows his brow in frustration. Still clutching the gem, he begins moving again. His steps are slow and cautious. After a few minutes he whispers a response to the stone. “M-maybe... maybe I would if you’d answer my questions. Who are you? What- what are you? How can I trust you?”
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
The voice chuckles.
I have gone by many names, in many ages. You may call me Matthew. I was once a great wizard - a king amongst men. Now I am forgotten. Cursed to see the world only through this stone, but I possess great knowledge. I could give you the keys to greatness, if only you would accept them.
After walking for some time, Vark eventually comes to a fork in the tunnel.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Vark stops at the fork, leaning against one of the stone walls. “Do you know which way leads to Sheercleft?” he says, mostly joking. He’s still for another moment, exhausted. “I don’t know... you said I had to give myself to you... what- what does that mean?”
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
Open your mind to my power, Matthew replies. His voice is louder now, it blocks out all other thoughts. Let me in. Let me show you the way...
Vark feels a tingling on the back of his neck, like water lapping at a dam. His fingers vibrate with the arcane energy of a spell that is on the tip of his tongue, but if he only knew how it began.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
The sorcerer pops off the wall in surprise at the noise and sensation. "Ah! Oh.. uh..." He turns back the way he came, wondering if his friends had noticed his absence. They were here to free Sheercleft and he had gone and gotten himself hopelessly lost and nearly killed. "I... uhm..." He turns again to the fork ahead. He has no idea which way to go, and the realization that either or both of the paths could take him farther from his friends, or worse: right into the goblins' lair sets in. "Uhm..." Nervous sweat drips down his forehead, tracing his branching scars. More than anything, he wishes he could talk to Aureanous. The wise giant would surely know what to do, if he was even still alive. Finally, Vark's gaze returns to the stone. The swirl of blood and shadow, the pulsing through his fingers. "I..." When Vark set out from home hoping to grow in power, to make something of himself, this was far from any fate he could have imagined. His eyes close and he takes a breath to steady himself. "Okay....... I'm ready." Now he opens his eyes again, and with a mix of resolve and desperation he stares into the stone, focusing on it, diving in and resigning himself to whatever was to come from it.
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
Vark feels himself growing drowsy, and his eyelids droop until they fall closed. His chin sinks to his chest and rests there for several seconds. Then he straightens with a start, and when his eyes open they burn red with no pupil.
He reaches out with one hand and sparks fly from his fingertips to the rock, scorching a pattern of runes that glows a brilliant electric blue. Slowly he walks in an arc around the cave, until the magic circle is complete. Then he steps inside, crouches and picks up a rock. It jolts like something stung it and skips out of Vark's hand and off down the left passage.
When the half-orc rises, the circle fades and his eyes return to normal, but ahead of him the way is illuminated by a long cloud of dim blue light.
Excellent, he hears Matthew tell him, though the voice is quieter and less overwhelming now. There is hope for you yet.
Then the voice is gone, and Vark is left alone in the dark. The misty blue path beckons him to follow.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Thurston poders the situation. He has been listening to his friends and thinking all night about their chances.
"Ok. About rallying the townspeople against the hobgoblins. It's a good idea but freeing and arming them will be no easy, nor fast, task. We should try to locate and talk to them. This will bring them hope and spark their fighting spirit once more. If they are just as half as brave as you my firends " says Thurston to the dwarves " they would be plannig their own escape by now. "
His looks turns more stern
"But we must face the truth here. They had been already defeated once. We cannot risk a rebellion, with the loses it will cost, without more information and without taking away their warleader, so the camp goes into havok. "
He takes a stick and draws the limits of the city and put some sticks and stones represeting buildings.
"This is Moradin's temple, this is the entrance of the mines and this is were we are... " he starts.
Bründir looks at the improv map and points to other peeble Thurston hasn't mentioned
"And that?"
The paladin looks at it, then to Bründir, then to the peeble again.
"uh... a stone.." he says throwing it away.
"Ok, I think that you could put the oil the tents here, here and here " he says pointing three different spots around the goblin campment. "After we have contacted the prisioners and gave them the meanings to free them from chains or jails or whatever they are keeping them stranded, then we could infiltrate the camp towards the main tent, clearing a path of sentinels if needed for those of us less stealthy not be discovered. Then we attack. One of us must be wait here " he points another point a little bit outside the camp " to fire burning arrows and lit the tents while we start our attack. That should cause confusion and give us the chance to kill their leader and will be the signal to the slaves to start their revolt. After that... it will be just make Thor and Moradin proud... " he shrugs. "But we will send them screaming to Hel"
He looks up and around
"Where's Vark? he should have come back by now. Can't we contact him with magic?"
PbP Character: A few ;)
Valaith sat quietly, watching over the town and their surroundings while the others did their planning; Valaith was a warrior, but she was not trained in this sort of warfare. Not to mention, the constantly twinge in her innards was distracting beyond belief. The self-preservation aspect of her mind screamed at her to climb into the back of Jex's wagon and cover herself with a blanket, ride this whole thing out; however, she had never listened to that voice before and would surely not do so now. She was watching the paths when something Thurston said catches her ear and her head whips about suddenly looking for their half-orc. "He's not back? Why did we allow him to go alone?! We must find him. We need our full strength if we are to do this."
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
Thurston nods
"I agree I don't know, he was gone before I woke up this morning"
PbP Character: A few ;)
Hurrig pipes up. "Oi! Don't we 'ave a scroll of clairvoyance? Where's that at? No one needs ta be goin' inta the town. We can gather some intel from here with that! Give it here!" Hurrig opens the scroll, "Where should we put tha thing? Outside the big tent?"
Mavi Göz Mal - Half Orc Monk Level 1 Not Another Lost Mine of Phandelver
Drita - Aasimar Hexblade Warlock Lvl 3 Tomb of Annhilation
Iznik Sylnithas - Half Drow Blood Hunter Level 2 Precipice of Voids
"Huh..." Bründir acratches his head for a moment, "Wondered what that thing did. Still do, I 'spose. Hell, I don' 'ave any right idea. One shot an' hundred places I'd like to see 'fore we just run in."
Characters:
Grishkar Darkmoor, Necromancer of Nerull the Despiser
Kelvin Rabbitfoot, Diviner, con artist, always hunting for a good sale
Bründir Halfshield, Valor Bard, three-time Sheercleft Drinking Competition Champion, Hometown hero
"The tent seems wise to me, especially if we can hear inside. If they are making plans, that will most likely be the place. It could also give us a notion of who is important, that I might find a solution to their threat."
Thurston agrees.
"Do it my friend"
PbP Character: A few ;)
Vark follows the misty trail through the winding tunnels for almost an hour, the pale blue light leading him ever deeper down into this subterranean realm beneath the mountains. He passes through several larger caverns and crosses numerous junctions in the labyrinth like network of tunnels, but the spell is clear and steadfast in the path it has lain out before him. However, it now seems to be leading him into a smaller, tighter tunnel, festooned with what look like enormous cobwebs.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
"I would need ta get closer ta the temple. At least a mile before I can use this where we need it. We should wait for Vark though... wherever the twit went off too." Hurrig paces a little while he waits for the others to answer. "Have we heard anything from the elves?"
Mavi Göz Mal - Half Orc Monk Level 1 Not Another Lost Mine of Phandelver
Drita - Aasimar Hexblade Warlock Lvl 3 Tomb of Annhilation
Iznik Sylnithas - Half Drow Blood Hunter Level 2 Precipice of Voids
Jex scratches his chin as the wheels of his brain start turning. Things are suddenly clicking into place for him. He responds absent mindedly. "We asked for an army. Likely they'll be discussing a while before they are able to make a decision." He rubs his chin more roughly. Being half-elven he is unable to grow a full beard, but after several days of neglecting to shave, patchy fluff is beginning to appear on his chin and it is beginning to irritate him.
"Thurston, do you still have that spyglass? It strikes me that unless any of you speak goblin, all we are going to get of any use is a view inside that tent. If we can see a part of a meeting of the leaders, we can establish a hierarchy from where they stand or sit, who shouts at who and the like. I'll then know who I need to eliminate. I can scout out the camp and find the slaves, if I were them I would keep them above ground, too much chance for escape and organisation if they are left below with the tools, I'd keep them up where I can guard them properly and send them to work from there every day. If we find them, I can take them a roll of weapons if I enter the camp disguised as a hobgoblin. For now we should get closer, watch with the glass and try to see a meeting, then I'll go in and leave oil for a fire on one side, start a riot on the other, and in the chaos eliminate the leadership. You lot can have a nap or something."
He grins mischievously at the last part as he gives a wink.
"Ah, well if yer so sure about it all, guess I can do my best to contribute." Bründir flops on the ground and rolls over in his cloak.
Characters:
Grishkar Darkmoor, Necromancer of Nerull the Despiser
Kelvin Rabbitfoot, Diviner, con artist, always hunting for a good sale
Bründir Halfshield, Valor Bard, three-time Sheercleft Drinking Competition Champion, Hometown hero
Vark continues his descent, still holding the stone out in front of him as if the object itself is a small living creature. He's mostly silent as he goes, not wanting to attract attention from anything that might be down here. But after another hour, the thought of his friends wondering where he is begins to nag at him. He lifts up the stone to whisper to it. "Uhm... M-matthew... I was wondering if you have any way to uh... communicate with others? I was supposed to be back at camp quickly... can you tell my friends that I'm ok? And... that they should continue without me. Hopefully when I get out of here, the siege will be underway and I can just join in." The bottom of his staff pokes at a small cobweb as he waits for an answer.
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger