The StormWatch Chronicles As seen through the eyes of Drano Battlehammer Part 7 Update: 14/04/1998 to drano September 5th, 596 Well, ladies and gentlemen. Where should I begin? With such a long weekend there seems to be so much to tell. I'd better fill my mug for this one . . . . . . I suppose the beginning will do just fine. I arrived in the Town of Ravenholt just after my companions Delahr and Borax. The evening was warm, but not unpleasant. As I entered the cabin, I overheard Sir Victdar of Eastwyck state, "This is a great night for fighting!" Little did I know at the time that this was actually foreshadowing in the greatest sense of the word. Cynesra, Chastity, Daereth, Squire Gabriel, and Sir Nork were all in attendance, as well as Adrian "War-Dog" and his companion `Rystrel (please forgive if my spelling leaves much to be desired). We knew others of our group would not be arriving until the 'morrow, if at all. Among those were Bishop, Tempus, and Koryon. We prepared ourselves quickly in order to arrive at Duke Andros' welcoming speech. We needed to be on time this weekend, more so than others, because the noble's tournament was to take place and the King himself would be coming to town. Opening ceremonies were grand, with many nobles I'd never even heard of presenting themselves to the Duke. The King wasn't due to arrive until Saturday, but his advisor was there, and stated the King was donating a prize boar to Ravenholt for a grand feast. We were to sing a war-song for him at the Duke's request, but that wouldn't be until Sunday. After the initial presentation of nobles, we began patrolling the fields of Ravenholt. Sure enough, as if due to the high concentration of heroes in one place, temporal rifts began opening. From them, creatures similar to humans came. Though they resembled humans in general appearance and speech, they had claws extending from their hands. It was with these claws that they attacked travelers, and their touch on naked flesh caused a foul rotting of the offended area. Fortunately, my present powers of healing allow me to cure disease and purify the blood. If we could manage to fight them without them getting through our armor and magical protections, we would be fine. Unfortunately, to our horror, we found that the felled creatures could regenerate only to come attack us again. Burning the bodies seemed to work on some. Others seemed more resistant. I felt assured of safety, though, knowing I traveled with some of the finest swords in the duchy. It wasn't until later, that I realized how fine those swords were. Gabriel, Borax, and I were patrolling the field. Gabriel was muttering something about finding "something to sharpen his blade on", when they appeared out of the darkness. Eight of the rotten creatures quickly surrounded us and with evil grins began to attack. . . . I'd never known exactly what the "Dance of Death" was until this moment. The three of us were completely surrounded and their claws rained viscous, venom-coated harm upon us. I held my shield in front of me and bashed skulls to the left and right. My arm raised and fell like the hammer I wield, and I felt a blow behind me. I spun quickly, ready to bash an offender, and felt a pressure against my back as Gabriel and I pivoted upon each other. He turned to fight my enemies and I spun to give battle to Borax's. I felt another thump behind me and back-pedaled a step into Borax, who used me to spin about and face the enemies I'd just turned from while I met the grimaces of those he'd just left. This went on for many long minutes with Borax and I frantically swinging at dark shapes milling about us while trying not to hit each other. Gabriel felled creature after creature but they kept coming incessantly. Just when I thought we'd never see the end of them, Daereth and Delahr arrived on the scene having heard the sounds of battle from afar. With the group now a competent quintet, the Dance was over and we stood gasping for breath. I bled from many wounds and felt a plague coursing through my veins. Quickly, I called upon Mother Earth to heal me, and halted the potentially fatal disease in its tracks. Next, I summoned forth her power to heal the many lacerations upon myself. Feeling better, we decided it might be wise to continue on in slightly larger force. We went to the cabin to get others of our group, but had to wait a few moments until they were ready for travel. Cynesra, War-Dog, `Rystrel, and I sat upon our porch, chatting pleasantly. Comments arose of a mysterious figure known as the "Dark Master." Apparently, it was some joke to ask another if they were the Dark Master, then command them to "drop their shield." I don't get it, but the reactions from various people were amusing enough. Soon, Sir Grimm came up the path in front of our cabin with a small entourage behind him. Cynesra cheerily called out, "Are you the Dark Master?" He responded, with a sideways grin, "Noooo. . . ." What Cynesra failed to notice, however, was that part of the entourage consisted of Duke Andros, who did not find this as amusing as the rest of us. He stopped and demanded we all remove our gloves, so our hands could be inspected for claws or some such nonsense. Then he chastised us about accosting nobles with such comments and bade us do it no more. [Cynesra's Note: Sorry, Your Grace. Silly Hour hit early. :] With that reprimand, many of our group turned in for the night. Gabriel, Northstar, Daereth, and I took the field with various members of Arkham and Capulus, including the good Baron Alaric himself. We began a fight with the nasty, regenerating, disease-ridden creatures that lasted well over three hours. Finally, at dawn, we finished the last of them and retired to our cabin to nurse our wounds and share a mug 'o ale. The ale went down well, as we thanked each other for mutual protection and companionship. We finally saw the insides of our eyelids as the first rays of sun came over the hills of Ravenholt. Ours was not a long rest, however, and by the time the sun had climbed a quarter-way into the sky, we were up and off to see the nobles tournament. The baronies of Eastwyck, Capulus, Dragonshire, and Westmarch were in attendance and we cheered them on, loudly. Then, with a sudden silence, the King came out of his pavilion and greeted the people of Ravenholt. Taking a seat at one end of the arena, the king was joined by the Duke and Duchess, as well as various other influential nobles. These would be the judges for the tournament. The nobles began with a presentation of their colors, then a race to accumulate items from a list given by the judges. We helped the barony of Eastwyck, as we keep their company often and they allow us to stay with them when in Ravenholt. They did well over the course of the afternoon and placed high in the treasure hunt. We enjoyed a pleasant afternoon in the sun. Chastity made a fine concoction of wine, which I fear may be too strong for irregular drinkers. She then invited Gabriel and myself to share the bottle with her, so we went for a walk in the fields and had a grand time until, with a sudden cry, Gabriel freaked out! As a wild elf, and member of the Wolf Clan, Gabriel has strong ties to the spirit of the wood. He began pacing back and forth, like his four-footed friends of the forest, and I will swear he actually grew fangs! He paced for a short time, snarling and spitting, before he suddenly took off toward the woods. I ran after him, not understanding what was going on, but not wishing harm to come to my friend and traveling companion. Come to think of it, there was also a fear that he might harm casual passers-by as well. He really seemed to have regressed into an animal-like being more than an elf. After a harried chase, he finally slowed and turned to me saying, "Ehawk! I need Ehawk NOW!!!". Just then, Johann, the spell-caster from Anvil, showed up and bade me search for Ehawk the Forest Lord, as he would be the only one who would know how to handle Gabriel and whatever was causing him to become bestial. I searched high and low, and finally found him emerging from the "friendly woods." He stated that the "Blight" was about and causing this effect on Gabriel as well as other wild elves of the wolf clan. I needed to bring Gabriel to him and summon StormWatch to help stop the "Blight." We quickly amassed a group of some fifty people, from all different walks of life, and followed Ehawk into the woods to seal the cursed earth that was the Blight. It was here that I met Ezariah, the Lord Magistrate of Ravenholt, and a gypsy. He said he'd heard of me . . . (hmm . . . I'll have to keep my voice lower in the tavern. . . .) He accompanied our team into the woods, prepared to battle the Blight in protection of the town. The preparations we made, however, did not quite prepare me for what I saw. The earth, itself, was torn asunder and from it boiled a blackness so foul, no life near it lived. This Blight also seemed sentient and pulsed with a black heart that throbbed as we approached and attempted to perform the ritual that would seal the earth and cure the forest. The ritual was a long, arduous process that required eight wild elves of the wolf clan to insert seven coins into the earth, one at a time. While this was going on, Ehawk would enter the circle formed by the eight elves, and insert himself directly into the Blight. This would upset the Blight and it would defend itself by bringing forth creatures made of wood to attack and attempt to interrupt the ritual. The more coins in the earth, the tougher the creatures would become. The coins were made of King's Silver, which as all dwarves know, holds great magical power. The big "catch" to this, was that the eight elves could not be touched while the ritual was happening, as it would break their concentration. That, and Gabriel was the last to put the coins into the earth, meaning that the defenders would be trying their utmost to stop him. . . . We set about defending the ritual participants, and did rather well for a time. The tree-creatures came at us with limbs swinging and emitting poisonous spores. At one point, I turned to see how things were in the circle, and realized that the woman defending Baron Northridge (one of the eight) had moved to comfort Ehawk, who lay in the pool of roiling chaos bleeding from multiple wounds. This left the Baron with no protection from the random poison spores and tree-creatures except for one Emerald the Sarr. She lay in front of the Baron, between him and the pool and absorbed the random chaos that occasionally flew from the pool. I quickly entered the circle and used my proficiency in the healing arts to maintain a constant vigilance over the Baron. My shield was in front of us, soaking up much of the harmful chaos until suddenly, Malace -- a healer from Eastwyck -- was hit by a poisonous spore that affected his mind and caused him to go berserk! He ran into the circle and threw death magics at Ehawk and Jatrina in the pit. Baron Alaric showed up quickly, but the damage was already done. The pool spit the two dead bodies some fifty feet into the air before they came back to the earth with a sickening thud. Malace was quickly subdued and a young she-elf named Calico jumped into the pit to apparently offer her life-energies to the ritual. The pool then spewed forth chaos, harming all in the circle. I saw all go black for an instant . . . then light suddenly returned thanks to the good Baron Alaric's healing powers. I quickly checked Baron Northridge and healed him. Looking to my left, I saw that Chastity had been required elsewhere in the circle, and Gabriel lay face- down in the forest earth -- apparently dying. I quickly reached over and summoned earth magic to heal him. He blinked rapidly, then came to his knees. Chastity came back from wherever she had gone and attended to the rest of his wounds. Baron Northridge had placed the last of his coins into the earth when the pool surged and once again emitted chaos. I saw the earth rushing up to meet me . . . then the sky as one of Baron Alaric's squires smiled weakly down at me. She helped me to my knees and examined the Baron again. He now had blood running from his chin, as the forces within the Blight pulled at his wolfish side. He pawed at the earth and drooled -- almost an animal, himself -- and I healed him again. Emerald was now in front of me, snarling something in the tongue of Sarr. So I carefully reached out and examined her. The chaos had apparently wounded her to the point that a scratch from a twig would have felled her. She was going on some inner strength, I knew -- something beyond natural limits. I quickly called forth the power to heal her as well, and the glassy look in her eyes cleared somewhat. There was no time for thanks, though, as the pool's defenses were at their summit. Gabriel had begun inserting his coins into the earth and shadowy dragon figures swarmed those outside the circle. I was hit by a stray spell, but my magical shield protected me from its effects. Finally, Gabriel finished the last coin, but the pool only seemed angrier. It was then that I saw, to my horror, Gabriel dragging himself towards the pool. Someone screamed, and I quickly reached out and grabbed him. He was resisting me, but was too weak to pull away. A person next to us said, "He's OK! Let him go!", but he only tried to crawl into the pool again. I grabbed him once more, but Calico looked to me and said, "Let him go, he has to enter the chaos to end all this." Reluctantly, I released him. Sadly, I watched as one of the great heroes of Ravenholt fell into the pit and was engulfed by the earth. In an eye-blink, there was nothing left except the now-healed earth, and a bunch of tired, stunned folk from the town called Ravenholt. Chastity and I were next to each other, perhaps the last to make contact with Gabriel Wolvestride. She looked at me in disbelief, with a tear in her eye, and asked simply, "He's gone?" I didn't know what to say. I'd seen many die in my time, but I'm sure she hadn't. The poor girl had just married Gabriel one short month ago. I felt despondent, but couldn't quite believe it myself, so I suggested we head quickly to the Healer's Guild, a place where spirits go that have not accomplished all they could in their lifetime. Here, they are resurrected, their spirits given life anew. We raced to town and the Guild, but of Gabriel's spirit, there was no sign. A mad dash to the other magic circle in town begot similar success. Hope had all but left Chastity's young eyes entirely. It was then that it dawned on us . . . YES . . . . We saw E-Hawk and Jatrina as we dashed from the woods! They must have come up somewhere! AHA!! The Unicorn Pool! -- the pool of life! We were just about to run for the Unicorn Pool, when the Duke himself, stopped us in our tracks. "You will go nowhere!" he said in a commanding tone. "First you will rest for three minutes, then you may continue on your way!" Apparently, he saw the anguished look on our faces, for he quickly walked away on "other business" and purposely disappeared behind a ridge of trees, allowing us to continue our search. Gabriel was indeed found in the Unicorn Pool, much to our joy. We celebrated with a feast, enjoying steaks, chickens, ale, and something called a "sheesh-ka-bob." Mind you, I have no idea who this "Bob" is, but the tasty snack on a stick hit the spot! The ale poured freely and we rejoiced in the reunion of Gabriel and Chastity, short though their parting had been. That evening, Koryon showed up in town, but seemed weary from his travels and went fast to sleep. The rest of us went to the great hall to enjoy the entertainment portion of the tournament. The nobles all put on fine shows, mostly in the form of skits poking fun at one individual or another. Of particular mention, the barony of Westmarch poked fun at dark elves, the barony of Eastwyck, and the Duke and Duchess, themselves. I've never met such comical stone elves! Their race always seemed somewhat . . . "anal" to me. The preparations for their skit included a wall of force between themselves and the audience. The jests at dark elves poked fun at their extremely high sense of honor. I was not aware of this, but it appears that dark elves would kill themselves for having forgotten to flush the loo. The Baroness Ganthe was made fun of in regards to her clean toes. Apparently, they are suckled by all her court as well as certain, celestial-casting warriors from other teams. . . . Finally, the Duke and Duchess were the butt of a jest regarding their inability to sire any children -- a touchy topic, I would suppose. They seemed to take it for what it was, though, all good fun. Eastwyck sang a song poking fun at many of the powerful, dark figures that plague Ravenholt and the surrounding duchies. Among them, the mysterious Dark Master, Warlord Sagramore, and . . . Northstar? Odd item, there. Capulus did a skit depicting the rigors of becoming a knight. The large, dangerous- looking, pillow-weapon was good for a chuckle. Dragonshire's depiction of commoners of Ravenholt was funny, but in poor taste, I think. It showed the commoners as being slow speaking, and dim-witted, though in truth, I've found many of them as bright, if not more so than some people of rank. After that delightful presentation, we were called on a mission to acquire a magic stone from a ruined stronghold. Its power would help form something greater in the future, I heard. We went with members of Anvil into the ruins and quickly fought our way through a few guardians. Then, across a lava-filled chasm, we saw the stone. A few planks had been set across the lava, but looked for the most part, unsafe. Also, across the chasm stood those who had come before us -- long-dead adventurers. Johann was with us, and threw a well-placed wall of force up on the far side of the chasm, allowing us to cross most of the way undeterred. Then, with a flash, he dropped the wall, and our brave warriors, Marsan, Gabriel, Nork and Delahr took the undead swiftly down. By the time I had crossed, there was only healing spells needed. We grabbed the stone, searched the area, found some small treasure, and left. Back at the tavern, we counted our "take" and found it meager for the danger involved. We split up after that, I found myself with Chastity, Borax, Koryon, War-Dog, 'Rystrel, and Malace of Eastwyck. Chastity expressed a desire to travel with Baron Northridge, so I told Borax I'd be back in a moment -- I was escorting Chastity to Baron Northridge's entourage. We quickly found them and, knowing Chastity, the Baron agreed to allow her to travel with him. I'm not sure he remembered me from earlier that day, at the Blight, but I thought it prudent to not bring the experience up again. He asked if I would join him as well, but I suggested that I was tired and perhaps other members of StormWatch would join him. He agreed and followed us to the cabin where we'd left Borax and the others, but they were gone! I decided at that point to join them, as no one else from our team would be there, and I'd feel terrible if something happened to Chastity. Not that the Baron and his men are incompetent, mind you. Fortunately, Gabriel decided to join us as well. After some time, our patrol found the town fairly secure, so we took a break. In a short time though, as is the way in Ravenholt, a fight broke out between creatures and townsfolk. We were joined by Cynesra as we quickly went to the battle and put an end to it. We continued patrolling the town, with the Baron offering passing folk a "Fatty" -- whatever that is. He was heard to say, "Come here! We're gonna give you a fatty!". Must need to be a Baron to understand. . . . We came back to the cabin after patrolling, for a drink and some pleasant company. As soon as I walked through the door, though, I was accosted by Koryon demanding where I'd been! "Where I've been?!" I roared. "Where were you when Chastity and I came back earlier? We'd only been gone a few moments, we'd told Borax we'd be right back, and when we got there, you were gone!!!!" This seemed to shut his trap, and he headed out of the room in a huff. I took the rest of the time that evening to relax and meet a fellow dwarf, Brendel Poundstone. An interesting history, that one . . . but a story for another time. The next morning was the combat and spell-casting segment of the tourney. We watched in awe as Baron Northridge proceeded to enter only himself in the physical combat portion of the event. Even more amazing was watching the other nobles nobly fight him one-on-one. You see, a team in this segment may have up to three people on a side. This meant that the Baron would have to battle teams of three by himself. Unbelievably, he beat the team of Eastwyck, one after the other. Then, in a show of bad form, Dragonshire utilized all three of their fighters simultaneously! The battle was fast and furious, but in the end, after the dust had settled, Baron Derrick Northridge of Westmarch stood above his three foes, the victor! As it came out, he won the combat portion single-handedly! The crowd roared its approval as the Baron proudly claimed his first-place ribbon. The casting part of the tourney was equally exciting as both words and spells flew. The action was fast and furious, and in the end, Eastwyck had won from the prowess of Malice and a Sarr named Story. It was then that we were requested by the Duke to perform a war-song for the King. The song had so impressed him at the commoner's tournament, earlier this year, that he bade us repeat it now. Brought to us by Rystrel and Adrian War-Dog, the song tells the tale of the great fight, and why we do it. We were dressed in our best, honored that the King would have commoners perform before him. And perform, we did. Our voices rolled across the arena and through the fields, and the din of the crowd of gathered commoners and nobles alike died when the first words were sung. Not a sound, but our voices were heard for the entirety of the performance. As the last chord rang out, only the sounds of the nearby woodland creatures, rejoicing in the melody, could be heard. We knelt and the King rose. He spoke then, and these words will stay forever in my heart. "I am impressed. This song, in my opinion, embodies the very heart of all that this town stands for! Thank you, StormWatch." With that, we turned beaming, and among the praises of even the nobles, we strode proudly from the arena. While waiting nearby to hear the results of the puzzle portion of the tourney, I was tapped on the shoulder by Garth, a barbarian warrior from team Anvil. He bade me hurry, for my presence was requested. I ran with him to meet with Seneschal Serrek, Gabriel, and Nork, as well as two others whom I do not know. We would be escorting Serrek and the two strangers to the Oracle. The two strangers had offered to serve the town by asking their questions in the name of Ravenholt. You see, the Oracle only answers two questions of any one person in that person's lifetime. For their services, they would be paid ten gold coins each; a healthy sum. We arrived at the entrance to the Oracle in short order. The cave was dark and foreboding, but we were undaunted. Crossing a suspended bridge, Gabriel and Nork cleared our way to solid ground. Therein, I cast a light spell and we proceeded deeper into the cave. Through a crawl space into a chamber, we went. Then, we stopped, as we heard guardians in the adjacent chamber before us. A classic confrontation ensued with Gabriel's and Nork's shields blocking the hallway, their swords cleaving the guardians into pieces. Garth's polearm rained bloody terror down upon the enemy from between the two shields, and Serrek and I stood directly behind them with healing spells at the ready. The guardians never really stood a chance. In the next room was a candle, already lit, powered by magic. We found another on the body of one of the guardians and lit it, revealing a secret door. Through the door, we went, into a small room of death. Therein was a gallows and beyond, a glowing skull. The strangers asked their questions, but it wasn't enough. One more question had to be asked. I stepped forward, not having any questions to ask of my own, and asked one for the town. Serrek was pleased and bade the other question I asked be personal. Gabriel suggested we find Koryon's daughter. With that, I strode forward and discovered where Koryon's daughter would be just one month from now. He would be so pleased! We left far more easily than we came, I taking the gallows with me. We arrived back in town and found Cynesra had been delivered an invitation to tea from a death knight. We assembled five others to go with her. A more powerful group has seldom been seen in one room, I gather. Gabriel, Nork, Daereth, Cynesra, and Viscount Daramor, Head of the Mage's Guild. Cynesra turned and asked me to accompany them on this trip. My jaw hit the floor, to be requested to accompany this band of heroes was an honor beyond honors! We prepared ourselves, waiting for the minion of the death knight to come for us... As it turned out, Tristemere, a powerful healer, ended up in my place, and the mission was successful. All arrived back safely, with not a blow dealt. The trip had made most of the members of the team very testy, though. Arguments were breaking out over foolish things, and "moody" does not begin to describe the feeling in the air. Nork called us together for a team meeting which ended up in a story-telling session. Out in the field under the night sky, we shared a part of ourselves that most others do not know. In the telling, we gave each other a part of ourselves that will, I believe, make us precious to each other. I learned much about the people I call friends and wouldn't trade them for all the gold in the earth. I thanked the bottom of my mug for such great favors, and wondered what else could possibly happen?! I should have shut my mouth, for I'm told we're off in the morning to recover a magical chalice from some dark master or something . . . hmmm . . . methinks this requires more grog. . .