The StormWatch Chronicles As seen through the eyes of Drano Battlehammer Part 13 Update: 26/05/1998 to drano Once again, the tale continues.... Indeed, the tale goes on, though now I'm not certain that the original intent of these Chronicles is the same. I find that now, much of what these Chronicles say is being read by many more people in Ravenholt than I imagined. I only hope it doesn't get me in trouble... I arrived on Friday afternoon to a delightful surprise; Gabriel had fashioned a mantle for me to wear. A blue hood with black trim, which would tell others that I was a leader of this team. Gabriel and Nork also had similar hoods. Then, Cynesra approached me. A smile from her furry white face suggested that she was amused by something, but she handed me a bundle. The cloth was blue and black with silver trim. I excitedly opened it and found much to my delight, a new tabard. I had just come from the mountain where I had acquired a new shield. The protection was much lighter than my old one, but made of stronger stuff, so that it would stand up to blows almost as well. Delahr had personally painted my emblem on it which I thought was an improvement over the old one. So with my new tabard, shield and hood, I was to be one fashionable dwarf! I am most grateful and honored that these, my friends, would find the time to make these articles for me. The position of leadership is not one I sought, but rather, one that found me. I only hope to do the team proud and serve them well. It just makes me wonder... was I that poorly attired before now?... After receiving the gifts, we headed up to the Great Hall to welcome the nobles and greet the other travelers to Ravenholt this fine, warm weekend. We were exchanging pleasantries when, all at once, the doors to the Great Hall became warded with magic, and a booming voice screamed out at us, yammering something about us defeating him a year ago today. He wanted revenge and would take it out on us... Many of the great magicians and spellsingers of Ravenholt were in the room, however, so it was not too long before we were freed from confinement. A good thing they freed us, or it would have put some damper on the Commoner's Tourney. A tournament consisting of six parts: fighting, spell casting, puzzle solving, presentation of colors, the "hunt", and entertainment. We were looking forward to some great competition between members of Bladesworn, the other commoners of town, and ourselves. One of the conditions of the tourney, perhaps understood in the title, is that no noble may participate. In any case, we took to the field and defeated a few roving minions of evil before we were truly accosted by a large group of undead. They poured out of a tomb at the edge of the wood line far across the field. Rolling across the field toward town, like a wind of terror, the rotted corpses and skeletal forms fell upon us in waves. We had a good fight on our hands, but nothing life-threatening. It was in a matter of minutes that the entirety of that assault was put to rest. The next morning, we woke early to prepare for the colors presentation. "Colors" is the actual opener of the tourney and a chance for you to see all your competition. Here, you must present yourself and/or your team to a panel of judges who determine the best presentation and award points appropriately to the teams in categories from best to worst. I had thought I could avoid the tournament, as I do not like competition. But as is my usual luck, War Dog the Spellsinger didn't show, so I got drafted onto the team. Our six-man team consisted of Gabriel, Nork, Bishop, Tempus, Squire Delahr, and myself. We dressed in our best, put on our sashes, then I was told to "come up with something". What the heck I'm supposed to come up with for colors is a mystery. I don't own any balloons or have any dragons in my pocket, but I have some dwarven military experience. So I plan a simple drill in which we form two lines, start them at two adjacent corners of the rectangular presentation field, and have them march to the corners directly opposite. In the middle, the two lines would intersect, forming a nice cross. Then, when they reached the opposite corners, the two lines would turn toward the middle, march there, then turn and kneel. It came across quite nicely, and we tagged a first place ribbon onto our breasts. We spent much of the rest of the day preparing for the entertainment portion of the tourney, which would take place Saturday evening after the Feast, and working on the "hunt"; an event in which each team got a list of miscellaneous stuff, sometimes encoded in puzzles, to acquire. Things like, a noble's tabard, a four- leaf clover, and a small lizard. The short and long of that event is that we placed roughly in the middle, with no thanks to the Countess, who seemed to be working against us. We took time to enjoy the fine spring weather and remark about one of the contestants. His name was Vincent, a very young lad who had lots of desire and guts. He entered the tourney without any teammates, hoping to make a good enough showing in the non-combative parts of the tourney to win. We considered helping him, but were as yet unsure whether we wanted to help a rival who already had the backing of the Countess of Dragonshire. Viscount Daramor helped us create an old Capulan tabard by loaning us a ring of his with the symbol on it. I then attempted to recreate the symbol on my blue and black tabard. We were given points for it, but it "wasn't the answer the judges were looking for". I almost hurt my brain trying to unscramble a series of letters like "OLTBRDAEBSAA" to find that the item we were looking for was "a noble's tabard". Sir Victdar was kind enough to loan us his. As I said, in all, we fell somewhere in the middle of the standings on the "hunt". But another concern reared its ugly head that would postpone the fighter's portion of the tourney. A group of men called the Red Guard were in town to give some deceased members a proper burial. They asked many townsfolk to go into the woods to the burial spot to help them "see their comrades off". I found out later, that those who ventured up to the burial ground were beset upon by more minions of the otherworldly being. The one who had warded us into the Great Hall the night before. The fighters and caster's portions of the tourney were postponed until Sunday afternoon, so we set about cooking up some dinner. Koryon had extremely good fortune hunting the past few days, so he had a lot of meat to be cooked. He made a fire pit with some of the others and we proceeded to have a feast of our own. I headed down the road to where Squire Tatania, a young Sarr-woman, was staying with Count Gareth. She had invited me to share some fine beverage she called "root-beer". Naturally, I heard "beer" and had to go. It was a tasty brew, but lacked much of the kick of the darker dwarven varieties. I was soon called upon by Delahr. He had come up with a fine idea for an entertaining presentation. It would have music, acting, and storytelling... I think I'll call it a "musical"! Yeah, "Delahr's Musical". I almost blushed (but that would be very undwarven!) when he asked to use a song I wrote last year about how the magic had died. We went to the field to practice once or twice before the presentation. He unslung his guitar and I began to sing as a friend of Delahr's sat down. He introduced her as Jatrina, a stone elf. I was a little embarrassed to be performing in front of someone, as my voice is far from the melodious tones an elf might be used to, but this Jatrina didn't seem to mind and sat stoically listening. I've taken a moment to put the words down so that they won't disappear in the retelling of tales over time: A long, long time ago, I can still remember how the magic used to make me sigh. And I knew if I had the chance, That I could make those monsters dance and maybe we'd be safe for a while But February made me shiver with every spell that I delivered. Bad news on the doorstep I couldn't take one more step I can't remember if I cried when I heard about his broken pride But something touched me deep inside the day the magic died So bye, bye, kiss the magic good-bye Cast our spells oh-so well but now that well has run dry and those good 'ole boys, they drink their whiskey and sigh singin' this could be the day that I die, this could be the day that I die. Now, for two years, we'd like to note, we'd been livin' in Ravenholt but that's not a safe place to be. Well, the jester sang for the Duke and Queen in a hat he got just for the team and a voice that came from you and me And while the Duke was bending down, the jester stole his horn-ed crown but before everyone had learned the helm-et was returned. And while a archer made his mark, a young mage practiced in the park, and we sang dirges in the dark, the day the magic died. And we were singin', Bye, bye, kiss the magic good-bye Cast our spells oh-so well but now that well has run dry and those good 'ole boys, they drink their whiskey and sigh singin' this could be the day that I die, this could be the day that I die. And there we were all in one place fighting Primus, lost in space with no time left to start again. So come on Drax be nimble, Drax be quick, better call Anvil and Eastwick cuz' They may be your only friends. As I watched them fight the mage my hands were clenched in fists of rage knowing no single spell could make the wounded well And as the flames rose high into the night to light the sacrificial rite I saw Primus laughing with delight the day the magic died And he was singin', bye, bye, kiss the magic good-bye Cast your spells oh-so well but now that well has run dry and those good 'ole boys, they drink their whiskey and sigh singin' this could be the day that I die, this could be the day that I die. I met a girl who sang the blues, and I asked her for some happy news But she just smiled and turned away. I went down to the sacred stone left the others and went alone, but the Oracle said the magic had gone away. And in the streets the children screamed the lovers cried and the poets dreamed but not a word was spoken; the Healer's Circle had broken. And the three men I admire most, the King, the Prince, and Duke Andros They caught the last ship for the coast the day the magic died. And they were singin', bye, bye, kiss the magic good-bye Cast our spells oh-so well but now that well has run dry and those good 'ole boys, they drink their whiskey and sigh singin' this could be the day that I die, this could be the day that I die. Bye, bye, kiss the magic good-bye Cast our spells oh-so well but now that well has run dry and those good 'ole boys, they drink their whiskey and sigh singin' this could be the day that I die, this could be the day that I die, Singin' this could be the day I die. So Delahr comes up with this idea for a musical. It starts with Delahr the Bard traipsing into the Great Hall to tell a tale. The tale is of a young hero of epic proportions (played by Nork, of course) arriving in Ravenholt. He meets a young wizard (Tempus), hard at his studies, and proceeds to tell him how he no longer has his magic sword, as the magic went away (cue song). After I sing this song, Bishop, playing a death knight - a great, evil undead power equivalent to a hero of good - approaches the duo. Bishop, not feeling he could play the part of a minion of evil, hands the part over to me. I think he's trying to tell me something... Anyway, the death knight comes out and scares the duo into another song called "More Dead than Alive". At the conclusion of that song, the hero attempts to destroy the death knight. Now, I have to tell you, I trust Nork with my life and there's little that he does that can really scare me. But there's something about the way he swung the sword at me - something about the gleam in his eyes and the vicious grin on his face - that made me really have to work at not flinching. After a few swings, the death knight taunts the hero and, with a few deft swings of his sword, puts the hero on the ground. The hero bemoans his fate crying loudly to the world. Who should hear those cries, you ask? 'Tis Cynesra, the powerful "healer" of Ravenholt. (Well, we couldn't get Cynesra, so Gabriel played the part... which you might think is funny in itself, but if you didn't see Gabriel's rendition of her, you really can't fully appreciate the humor of the situation.) The appearance of "Cynesra" is enough to spur the bard to another song called, "Good Healing". After searching the hero, she heals him and departs, leaving the wizard and hero to face the death knight. The hero says, "Oh no, what shall we do?" The wizard steps up and throws a series of simple spells. They are called "disarm" spells as they temporarily remove an item from the grasp of the wielder. He throws the spells, the death knight taunts him, assured of his victory due to his innate protections to such magics. But as we know, magic is contained in the vessel of our bodies and is not ever full. The death knight runs out of protections, the wizard throws one more disarm spell and the death knight is weaponless. Obviously upset, the death knight shuffles away to find another weapon. The musical was spectacular with particularly splendid performances by Nork and Delahr. We tacked another first place ribbon on our chests, as well as a few coins in our pockets. You see, the entertainment part of the competition is held before any who wish to view it, so that even poor farmers from outlying lands can enjoy some entertainment at no cost to their already depleted funds. Some of the wealthier folk, though, found it in their hearts and pouches to reward the performers for their efforts. So it was with much excitement that we went back to the cabin to celebrate. We soon got called upon to travel to a cavern a few miles out of town. Inside was an egg of chaos that would hatch powerful minions of darkness that would terrorize everyone. The Duchess couldn't let these eggs hatch, so she called upon teams from town to go to the caverns - I think there were four - and destroy the eggs. Bladesworn was the first to go; they told us that the eggs were protected by creatures of chaos that attacked with teeth and claws, paralyzing their opponents with a touch. They said that, though it was difficult, a group like ours should have no trouble with it as long as we left a group of reinforcements outside. I guess the idea was to enter the cavern with as few people as possible so that the creatures wouldn't be alerted to our presence, then, when that group was tired, the other could go in and finish the job. Bladesworn thought we should have no problems... boy were they wrong! We arrived at the cavern well after midnight. The group consisted of Gabriel, Nork, Bishop, Koryon, Tempus, Tristamere, Chastity, Borax, a member of the Red Guard, and myself. We divided into two groups - the first group was Gabriel, Nork, Tempus, Tristamere and myself. The entrance to the cavern was dark and foreboding, with a strange light coming from it. It appeared that a glowing fungus illuminated the cave. We heard some snarling and growling from within and ducked our heads cautiously inside. No sooner did we get in the entrance to the cave then we were set upon by the chaos creatures. Gabriel and Nork started to cleave a path of destruction, but were halted as the chaos beings fought back with a ferocity like we've never seen. I'm not sure if they can communicate with each other, but these seemed to be the "cream of the crop", so to speak. I think that whomever controls them was upset by the victory of Bladesworn in the first cave and sent his best to make an example of us. These chaos creatures were definitely different than the ones Bladesworn described to us. To begin with, they appeared taller and bigger than the ones we'd heard of. I heard one of Bladesworn telling us how he dropped them with two blows. These took a dozen each of Gabriel and Nork's. To make matters worse, these didn't only paralyze you when they contacted your bare flesh; they also caused other afflictions. Rot, disease, paralysis, and the rare undead "drain" effect which causes the recipient to feel tired, his arms like lead weights, and he is essentially unable to do much except walk. Undaunted, we thought that maybe the dark ones had put their best foot forward. Tempus left his sword and shield behind and splayed his arms apart to unleash magic much like a dog shakes water from itself. I heard his voice ahead of me incanting some of the most powerful celestial spells I've heard. Names like "Lightning Storm" and "Dragon's Breath" escaped from his lips like you or I might quickly count to five. The chamber literally lit up as if daylight had shone its face through the door for a moment. Chaos creatures caught fire or fell with electrical energies racing across their bodies, and we pushed into the cave. Tempus said, "Well, I can't keep THAT up for long!" Two tunnels left the chamber we were in, one to the right and one to the left. We heard snarling from our right and went that way. We fought our way down hallways and through smaller chambers until we came to a chamber of pure chaos. The stuff dripped from the ceiling like so much sticky yarn, that the room appeared to be a large web of chaos. I noted that Tristamere seemed excited all of a sudden. The creatures came at us from behind and ahead. I held a tunnel while Gabriel and Nork killed whichever side of us seemed most threatened. I realized then that we couldn't hope to live through this encounter using the same tactics as Bladesworn. I waited until Gabriel came around to my side again and said, "This isn't working. At this rate, we'll never reach the egg." Gabriel agreed so I suggested we stand ground and get the others in here. We'd forget about the two-team strategy and go all out. We would have one team cover the rear and the rest of us would press on. We called out to the others and no sooner did we ask, then Bishop and Koryon came in swinging. Apparently, they heard the sounds of our struggles and were waiting eagerly to join in the combat. I heard a number of squishy thuds in the front chamber, then Bishop's voice announced, "All clear! Go on!" Tristamere licked her lips and moved into the strands. I thought she would be hurt by the pure chaos energies, but the lip licking seemed more... "Lustful" than nervous. She parted the strands for the rest of us, creating a path to safety. We went through the chamber and discovered stone steps leading up at the other side. We climbed the stairs and came into a huge chamber lit by torchlight. The illumination of the many firebrands was bright, but still not enough to light the ceiling of the vast cavern. It was then that we heard some unearthly howling. I thought of an old passage from a poem that read, "Unleash the hounds", but I didn't expect anything like this. Bounding into the room was a gigantic mastiff. Its' fetid breath steamed in the cool air of the cavern and drool dripped from its gaping maw. Its shaggy fur was black as night and its clawed feet click-clacked on the stone floor. The scariest things about it though, were its red eyes. They glowed with an inner flame - the chaos that created it - and it regarded us with an unnatural intelligence, seeming to wonder which of us might make its first meal. Perhaps even scarier, was the fact that we heard more of them coming... It barreled into us, and felled Tristamere with one mighty claw. I knew we had to get to her, but Gabriel and Nork were busy with another one. Tempus tried to distract another one, but his spells were almost depleted. I raised my sword as the one that felled Tristamere came at me. My sword and shield went to work parrying blow after blow as the creature tried to get its slavering maw upon my throat. It seemed almost unaffected by my blows, and made a sound like laughter as its claws ripped through my armor and into my flesh, but I was able to keep it busy long enough for Gabriel and Nork to hit it from behind. I quickly applied healing magics to Tristamere's wounds and got her on her feet. We would get only a few seconds rest before others would come; we could hear them coming across the cavern. So Gabriel ran to the top of the stairs and yelled for the others. Then they hit us; another wave of hounds bounded up to us and we found ourselves hard put to keep them at bay. Tristamere went down again, Gabriel became "drained", and Tempus paralyzed when the others arrived. Again, Bishop and Koryon dove into the hounds. Blood sprayed everywhere, some of it ours, but we were able to regroup again. Healing magics were applied to those afflicted by disease and paralysis, and the rest of our reserves were used to heal the wounded. Bloody and battered, we quickly scoured the room for the egg before other hounds would arrive. Reunited again, Stormwatch, though hurting, stood ready for the next wave. Tristamere rounded a corner and caught sight of the egg. It was huge beyond belief and black as onyx with little veins of red chaos running through it. Tristamere almost howled with glee as she reached forward and... NO! I thought! She'll be burned to a cinder picking that up in her bare arms! But then she was there, cradling it like an oversized infant and saying, "Let's get out of here!" We fought off one more wave of hounds and raced for the stairs. Gabriel had blazed a way ahead of us, running through the strands of chaos in the room below, relying on his "frail" form to keep him alive. Tristamere was right in front of me when we hit the strands and the egg exploded! The sticky, yucky chaos goo from the egg covered us. I had a moment to look at her in shocked surprise as she turned to me and grinned, "That's how you destroy a chaos egg!" We rushed to the front chamber on the last of our reserves when another group of the chaos creatures entered the room from the other side. We thought we were doomed as we turned to fight one more fight when we heard from behind us, at the entrance to the cave, "Stormwatch, get out of there!" I turned and saw two stone elves, one I recognized as Jatrina, mighty warrior of renown I'd met earlier the other was called Alrond, though I had not made his acquaintance. Jatrina put herself in the path of the oncoming horde and Alrond knocked an arrow to his bow while motioning for us to get out of his line of fire. Between us, we managed to beat the rest of the creatures and exit the cavern to safety. Looking at us, you wouldn't have thought us a bunch of great heroes. You might have said, "There's a bunch o sorry lads! Look at the wounds!" For indeed, there were wounds; Gabriel and Nork almost looked like Drae elves, so bruised were their bodies. Borax was looking a little ill from all the gore that fell on him. I sported a number of cuts and claw-marks, as did all the others. Through the pain, I realized that this was one of Stormwatch's finest moments. We stood together through adversity, and came out alive - to a man. Though we were hurt badly, we were not beaten, in fact, we were victorious - we'd destroyed the egg and emerged to fight again another day. We limped our way to the Healer's Guild and after, to the Inn for some much-needed rest. The next morning, Tristamere woke me with her usual panache. She said something about the puzzles event taking place in five minutes. I was much too groggy to understand, but Tempus, being the friend he is, made sure to get me out of bed. We rushed to the Great Hall to take part in a tricky round of problem solving. Fortunately, between Tempus and I, we managed to pull off the competition and take second place, though we were watching the blurry words of the puzzles swim by us. We grabbed a hasty breakfast and muddled through our plans for the upcoming fighter's tournament. We hadn't failed to notice that Vincent would soon be fighting by himself against all the other teams. So we decided to help the young lad out and give him a team. Borax and Koryon took up their blades and offered their services to the spry Hobbling, who seemed quite elated with the sudden turn of events. Our team for the event consisted of three people whom I believe are some of the mightiest warriors in the land: Gabriel, Nork, and Bishop. The three fight with sword and shield, and compliment each other very well from years of experience fighting with each other. We had little doubt that we should win this particular part of the tourney, as, out of all our abilities, it is perhaps our strongest. The real question was how thee team of Vincent, Koryon, and Borax would fare. I never seem to get used to them. Watching Gabriel, Nork, and Bishop fighting inspires awe in me every time I see them. They quickly, and sometimes brutally, took apart their opponents. Team after team came against them, and team after team failed to keep them from their inevitable victory. Perhaps even more impressive, due to their relative anonymity, was the fighting prowess of Borax and Koryon. Vincent would pick an opponent and press them mercilessly while Koryon would stand strong against two other opponents, allowing Borax to rain blows upon them from above. Borax's long arms and skill with a pole- arm make him a truly dangerous adversary, and Koryon's ever-increasing skill in battle, make him an opponent to be reckoned with. The fighter's tournament ended with Stormwatch taking first place and the underdog team of Vincent took a respectable tie for third. We were very happy with our success, but the time for celebration was not yet at hand. The caster's tournament was to happen soon. Tempus and Delahr were to be our two casters for this event. These two warrior-mages have trained long and hard for many years now and while each is a master of Celestial magics, they both also have taken time to learn the basics of Earth magic. There are few allies I'd rather have. Tempus has undergone a bit of difficulty in the past few months, but he seems to be master of himself once again. Watching these two mages is like watching a bizarre, but graceful dance. They weave their magics while dodging the spells of others with practiced ease, and the vision is something elegant, yet exciting. I'm glad I got the chance to watch it one more time before Squire Delahr heads for Knighthood and forgets what it was to be Lioncourt. what it was to be the three templars. I wasn't able to see much of the event, however, as Gabriel came to me. Grabbing my shoulder, he said, "We need you. The Joyous Guard needs us to help them. There's Vastan now." I've never had the opportunity to speak with Vastan. He is a man of slight build - almost elf-like in appearance - but perhaps the finest swordsman in Ravenholt history. I remember watching him fight once. He stood poised, perfectly still, until his opponent gave the slightest opening. Then he moved in a blur and quickly decapitated the foul monster with one swift stroke. A short time ago, Vastan was called upon by the Joyous Guard - a group of lawful warriors who try to protect people from the forces of chaos - to be their leader and lord. He took the position and I haven't seen him since. until now. Gabriel led me over to where Nork, Bishop, Koryon, Chastity, Corwyn, and an unfamiliar white Sarr were gathering to help Vastan. I vaguely heard Vastan explain that we needed to recover a flower from a cavern long-abandoned by the living. He explained further, that this would take some effort, as many of these caverns are guarded by the undead, and items of import, such as flowers that live long past their normal lifetimes in absolute darkness are just trouble waiting to happen. I was trying to explain to Gabriel that the ordeal at the egg-chamber from the previous evening had left me mostly drained of spells, but he would hear none of it. I wonder at the seeming frivolousness of elves. Gabriel, no matter how tired or depleted of energies, is always ready to throw himself into danger. I suppose that's why he's a hero. I had lent my sword to Nork, who had broken his, as he is wont to do. So I looked to Delahr for a blade. He was entering the spell casting competition, so he gave me his. A fine blade it was, balanced well for one of his height, and coated in silver to harm the skeletal minions of evil. I took it gladly, with many thanks, and hastened to join up with the others. Vastan looked at us all gravely, then with a flourish, swung his sword in an arc, so quickly that a magical portal opened. We stepped through into. .dim light lit the chamber. We stood on a platform overlooking a lake of bones, interrupted only by small floating islands of rock. I surmised that one could feasibly jump from stone to stone in order to cross the lake, but the trip could prove dangerous as the rocks really seemed to be floating and were not all that sturdy. Mind you, I love rock. It's solid, hard, and can be trusted. It can be made into weapons, houses, forges, or tools. It does not, however, make a good floatation device. Gabriel skipped onto one rock, then another, quickly followed by Nork. They were using the stones as jumping platforms to reach another solid platform across the vast chamber. I watched the platforms rock uneasily under their weight as they began to sink into the lake of bone. Apparently, there were more than one solid outcroppings of rock along the edges of the room. One could get to them by hopping across the lake of bone on the stone platforms. Just then, Gabriel called out from across the chamber, "Look out!" Emerging from the depths of the lake rose a skeletal form. Flesh dripped from its rotten carcass as it slogged through the bones to get to us. In one bony claw, it gripped an old, rusty sword and it looked at us intelligently, though the eye-sockets contained nothing but maggots. Koryon and Corwyn moved to intercept it while Gabriel hopped quickly back across the room to help. The skeleton fell quickly to the onslaught of blades, but others were surfacing from the depths. Nork shouted from a stable platform across the room, "I've found what appears to be a map on the floor. It looks like we need pieces to make it complete, though." So our course became clear; we had to comb the room and find the pieces of the map while fending off hordes of skeletons and zombies. After recovering the pieces, someone had to assemble them in the map on the floor. Chastity hopped over to the map to do the assembling while Bishop, Koryon, and Corwyn took up positions on the few stable rocks there were in the room. The Sarr-woman and I backed-up the warriors while Gabriel and Nork set about finding the pieces of the map. A long, but light, battle ensued during which landed by the walking corpses landed few blows. The strikes by Stormwatch's finest were felt a bit more. Bone shards flew as blow after blow landed on the undead forms. Soon, Chastity called out that she'd finished the puzzle. A previously concealed door opened near her and we hastened to go through it. The next cavern we came to was similar to the last, except all the "floating" rocks were much more solid, and I felt it was possible to stand on them without fear of them tipping over. No sooner did we enter the room, though, than a dark and frightening figure emerged from the darkness across the room. I think I might have described them earlier. It seemed ironic that I played the part of one in the musical the night before, but surer than %^&*, a Death Knight stood before us. It seemed to float on the lake of bone; its bony feet never touched the surface. A wave of fear emanated from its decaying form as it raised withered arms from the confines of its tattered cloak. Here I saw the difference in the one I portrayed last night, for I held a sword while this one began casting spells! Its voice was a rasping sound like a sword on a whetstone. Then I heard it casting the most hideous of spells - the Death Spell. Its' red, glowing eyes centered on Bishop as balls of utter darkness left its outstretched hands and headed right for my dwarven companion. Bishop appeared undaunted, however, and leapt deftly, hopping over spell after spell. The ebon orbs impacted on the stone beneath Bishop's feet time and again until the Death Knight gave pause. Thinking the Knight out of Death Spells, Bishop raised his sword. and was struck by one last nightmare orb. He fell heavily to the floor, a loud thud in the otherwise silent room. Then everything happened at once; Koryon and Corwyn headed directly for the Death-Mage while Gabriel and Nork hastened to come at it from behind. Chastity moved swiftly to provide powerful healing magic to Bishop's still form. I checked our other companion and fretted about what to do. I had no powerful magics against the undead left; a healing spell or two were the last of my reserves. My sword was useless against the magical form of the spell-casting revenant. Or was it. The Death Knight launched spell after spell at the nimble forms of my companions as they sought to surround it and strike it from all sides. Koryon was the first to land a blow, quickly followed by Corwyn with spell and sword. No sooner had they hit it then it turned and paralyzed them with magical bolts from its hands. Gabriel and Nork saw the problem - these beings were affected only by magic weapons and as we hadn't seen one since the great tragedy of yesteryear, we were hard put to land a blow on the magical hide of this denizen. There is a spell, a Celestial spell, called Enchanted Blade which, when cast on an individual, allows them to swing a normal weapon as if it were magic. once. The spell can be cast at any time, remaining upon the recipient until such a time as that recipient feels the need to use it. That time was now. Gabriel and Nork had had multiple Enchanted Blade spells cast upon them at some time or another, and they expended them with a vengeance now. Blow after blow struck the Knight and it reeled from the fury of the strikes, unable to recover enough to cast a spell in retaliation. Just as the two mighty heroes expended the last of their magic swings, Bishop, having been revived by Chastity, went after it. A bundle of black leather and glistening chain mail, he leapt onto the rock platform directly adjacent to the Death Mage and began a flurry of enchanted swings of his own. I began to worry that we didn't have the necessary strength to stand against this formidable foe. Gabriel and Nork had used all of their blade spells, Bishop was quickly using up his, and Nork was desperately using magical scrolls in an attempt to stop the monster and destroy it. I had only one Enchanted Blade spell, myself, but I didn't think that my feeble attacks (compared with those of Gabriel, Nork, or Bishop) would be effective. But then I remembered a gift. Tatania had given me a vial of some potent magical fluid a few months ago. She said it was a coating for my blade. "It will allow you to cause great damage to an enemy," she said with an impish grin, "but it will only work once before it rubs off and becomes useless, so make that blow count!" I quickly reached into my pouch and pulled out the vial. My hands shook as I removed the stopper. I could see Bishop dealing the last of his enchanted blows as Nork used up almost every scroll he had. The black viscous substance dripped from the tip of my sword and where the droplets fell upon the stone, little holes formed. I took a hesitant step, then leapt onto a nearby platform. I looked down for just a second and saw the lake of bones beneath me. I shuddered once, then thought, "I'm needed." That phrase repeated in my head, giving me the courage to jump hastily to the next rock, making my way to the Death Knight. The undead mage turned to and fro, unable to decide which target would be next, but assured of its imminent victory. Bishop had used the last of his mighty blows and nearly taken down the creature, but was retreating without any way to harry the beast further. Gabriel looked ready to fight on but knew it was hopeless, as he hadn't a magical weapon with which to strike the foul thing. Koryon and Corwyn stood paralyzed by the effects of the Death Knight's spells, frozen masks of horror or fear displayed on their unmoving faces. Then Nork read a scroll and threw a spell of fire at the mage. It turned to deal with this new threat and never saw me coming. I spoke the words that would release the mystical energies of my Enchanted Blade spell as I swung my coated blade at the undead mage's head. In slow motion, the head came free from the body and flew through the air, a parody of a smile on its lipless mouth, as it sailed across the room and into the lake of bone. Then time regained its usual speed and the body slumped to the rock platform upon which I stood. As Gabriel looked at the body and recovered its spell-book, a bright sound, as of a horn, sounded from the middle of the room. There, on the central platform, appeared the most beautiful flower I've ever seen. I felt the power that radiated from the flora as we regrouped and prepared to exit. Nork bent down and gathered the plant gingerly in his hands, lifting it high in reverence and awe. Then, we carried it and the paralyzed members of our party out of the cavern. We exited the portal to face an anxious Vastan (If you can picture Vastan looking anxious) who gently took the flower and thanked us for our help. He said he had to gather another group to acquire another item of power, but though we offered our assistance, he declined politely stating that too much magical travel could scramble a fellow's brains. We made it back to the tournament just in time to watch Tempus and Delahr win first place in the caster's competition. Elated with our success, we thanked the other competitors for their sportsmanship - they were all fine casters and warriors - then retired to the cabin for some much-needed grog. The only thing left to the competition was the superlatives. Each group had to come up with things like the best goblin joke, the best impersonation of Houlie (a gypsy well known for being a champion bear wrestler), and the best short epic poem. I chose to step forward with a short dirge to Northstar, a friend of old that had died this past year - a swashbuckling hero, ladies-man, and hero whose funeral I had missed. I have fond memories of him though I only spoke a few words to him; "Down again, eh?" This is the dirge as I recited it, in remembrance of Northstar: Here I am, lost in a wind Round in circles sailing Like a ship that never comes in Standing by myself Sing a sad song for a good lad Sing a sad song for me A sad song for the sailor A thousand miles from the sea I hope he can hear it. In all, we ended up winning the Commoner's Tourney. A prize of many items was ours, a veritable bundle of weapons, armor, shields, potions, and scrolls to be divided by our team. The prize was not what thrilled me to the heart, though. My prize was in being a part of something greater. I was part of a team - a group that fought, sang, played, acted, toiled, bled, and laughed together. A family of diverse peoples forming a bond of companionship that I so desperately need. This called for a celebration! But the celebration was not to happen yet. The Duchess called the entire town together to stave off an attack of some great evil. Borax was marked and chosen to join a group of almost forty other people to travel a short distance out of town to a ruined keep. There, they would confront the evil being who had warded us into the Great Hall two nights ago. Other townsfolk, including Tristamere and Chastity, were powerful casters of ritual magics and would perform some spell of binding in a magic circle centered in the fields. The rest of us would have the job of guarding them. Many groups from Ravenholt were chosen to guard various sides of the circle. Stormwatch was chosen, for our unique ability, to flank incoming chaos creatures. The Duchess ordered us to join her court and, as one, we would aid whichever part of the circle needed it. I got to meet the Duchess herself, as well as some mighty heroes of her court. There was Aleena, personal bodyguard of the Duchess and Celestial Mage extraordinaire, Tavoc, the mountain of a man who wields a two-handed sword as if it were a plaything, and Sir Grim, a friendly knight - not something I see every day. Gabriel chose me, again, to accompany this roving engine of destruction on its rounds. I had little time to bemoan my fate, though, as the hordes of chaos creatures began swarming us. Dark, hideous creatures like the ones we fought in the cavern of the egg last night assailed us from every direction. There were some especially tough ones though, that were unaffected by weapons and most magic. These came on toward the circle until we figured out that they were affected only by healing spells. One small healing spell would destroy their chaotic bodies in an instant. They were hitting one side of our defenses particularly hard, so we formed a line there. I took up my usual place behind the line where I can see more of what's going on and warn my teammates appropriately. Here, Aleena and I met each other numerous times as we apparently shared the same position on our respective teams. We passed each other continuously as we floated back and forth along the line offering healing and celestial spells where needed. I would occasionally jump into the main line to hold it while the mighty warriors repaired their armor or received healing away from the press of combat. At one point I fought beside the Duchess herself as she hacked and hewed her way through the unnatural foes. Then, one of the powerful ones charged the line. It came right for us as blades fell upon it from all sides. But the blades didn't pierce its hide, so I prepared a spell. It walked directly toward me as I reached out a hand, standing fast in the face of such a formidable opponent. Here, I was in my element. It came on without stopping until it reached my hand and I released a healing spell directly into its chest. It stopped cold and looked at me in surprise as its body convulsed and its skin boiled. Then, it was no more than a puddle seeping into the ground. I turned quickly to pull out of the main line and let an able warrior in when I saw Aleena on the ground. A stray spell had hit her and chaos bubbled from the wound that it inflicted. I reached down and summoned up more healing focusing the magic directly on the wound. The blackness poured out of the wound as it closed and her eyes fluttered. She hopped up, ready for more, and looking for her Duchess. That done, I moved along the line to where I saw Malace. He was casting reflective spells on warriors in the front line so that when they were hit by stray spellfire, it turned the harmful magic back on the caster. Just then I saw a hole open up in the line and I thought that a creature might try to rush in. So I quickly moved to fill the gap and found myself standing next to the mountain called Tavoc. He was bloody and bruised but seemed to be enjoying the fray as he said, "Oh good! A shield!" The huge man stood just behind my shoulder and, as a chaos creature would rush me, I would ward off its blows while Tavoc cleaved it to pieces with a sword that stood a good foot taller than me. A shorter man could not effectively wield such a weapon, but the giant made it look like swinging a dagger around in his mighty ham-fists. The battle was over in a matter of hours, and we had weathered it without a casualty, but the forty heroes who had gone to the cavern to confront the evil one, were unsuccessful in their endeavor. He had escaped to terrorize us another day. Sweaty and tired, we headed for the cabin for a beer. Bishop went into his private stock and found something he called Thunder and Lightning. A mighty brew that only a strong drinker could handle. Some others joined our party - Jatrina the stone-elven warrioress, Aleena the Duchess' bodyguard, Garth the barbarian warrior, and Brendel Poundstone, a dwarven warrior and craftsman. We all began drinking and reveling in the weekend's victories. Many stories were told as the fine brew passed our lips. But we were missing something, as the drink wasn't as potent as it might have been. So we sought out Tatania for some assistance. Our travels took us to the tavern where the group happily got intoxicated. We laughed over stories as ale flowed until we heard a knock at the tavern door. There, we saw a young lad from Dragonshire that we've had a laugh with in the past. So it was with some mirth that, when the tavern keeper asked who it was, and the lad announced "Dragonshire", that Tempus shouted from his mug, "PISS OFF!" That was when the Countess Altair came into the tavern. It is with some relief that, in her spirits, she decided that the remark was in fact not insulting. She let us continue our drunken revelry in happiness without reprimand as we giggled delightedly into our mugs. We had had enough of the confines of the tavern, and the warriors among us decided to try their hands at some brawling with whatever poor goblins happened by town. As we crossed the field singing and chatting contentedly, Malace and members of Eastwyck stopped us. Malace reached out and, through magic removed the drunken state from the mind of Koryon. Rightfully upset, Koryon hrumphed off into the darkness followed by Bishop. I asked Malace why he would do such a thing, as it is generally considered offensive and in bad taste to cast spells on other townsfolk. He only looked at me sadly. Then, he reached out and took hold of my hand. He drew it to himself and placed it upon his stomach where I felt the all too familiar warm, sticky substance. Malace held my hand to his bleeding body as he said, "Chaos. I need your help." I drew my hand back and shouted for the team. In retrospect, I'm sorry I did, but the situation had startled me sober, and I felt panicked. Malace had been nothing but kind to me but here he was asking for help. I realize now, that I overreacted to the situation and shouldn't have yelled, but I felt unnerved. In any case, I would later apologize to Bishop, especially. The team quickly gathered for the world's shortest rescue trip. Apparently, Malace was asking us to help get another chaos egg, but the map to the cavern where it was secreted was unfinished. So we shed our gear once again and went in search for more beer. The next day, as Bishop got over his hangover, we held a short meeting for Stormwatch. One of the topics was membership for Tristamere. She'd been traveling with us for some time and I felt she had shown every aspect of a valued team-member, nay, family member that we looked for. The decision was short and unanimous - Tristamere is now a member of Stormwatch. A funny thing happened then. I was wandering down the road past the Eastwyck cabin when Malace called me over. He had a small yellow feather and a piece of wire in his hands. He spoke riddles to me as he affixed the feather to my pouch. I'm not sure what the significance is. I figure it's either a luck charm, a magical protective, or a curse. knowing Malace, it could be any of the three. But there it is, hanging from my pouch as I take a long pull from my mug and wonder.