| Terquem |
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
An experiment in interactive, on line, storytelling and play-by-post game playing
I’m not really certain that this is going to prove to have been a good idea or not. I understand, marginally, how some discussion board activity can become misdirected, silly, offensive, and eventually die a sputtering cold death, but…
I had this idea. What might happen if I tried to write a story about a group of traditional fantasy-adventure-role-playing-game heroes and described their adventure in a sort of “choose-your-own-path” way? If I could stay on top of things, at least a little bit, I would try to write it so that, let’s say, the most chosen option, from a list provided, that is made in, say a few hours (2 or 3 maybe?) continues the story, or even do something like keep a code for each choice and continue the story in different path’s based upon different choices. I really don’t know how it will go, but I am sort of itching to write something other than the novel I am supposed to be writing, which is due out in April of next year but I am sort of stuck at around 34,000 words with a dilemma I can’t work out.
The party
Kaskonni Eriga – Half-orc fighter. She is raven haired, not as tall as she would like to be and voluptuously built. She has a wide, intimidating mouth, with small, upward turned fangs growing from her lower jaw at the corner’s of her mouth that protrude slightly, making her look as if she is scowling most of the time. She has dark brown eyes, and mottle grey-green skin. Her ability scores are, Str:16, Dex:12, Con:15, Int:10, Wis: 9, Chr: 13
Veranum Osmoridian – Human Wizard. He is a middle-aged man still in good health. He is thin, short, and has a handsome, if somewhat boyish face (he is often mistaken for being much younger than he actually is). He has a light beard, touched with a few white hairs, blue eyes, and a strong chin. His ability scores are, Str:9, Dex:13, Con:12, Int:16, Wis:10, Chr:11
Melianami Lisserus – Gymnagaophthian Cleric (a Gymnagaophthian is a human-lizard hybrid creature native to costal Drasbia, on my regular campaign world of Hamth, they are humanoids with torso, arms, and head resembling a Halfling (Basconde or Eshian) and the lower body of a limbless lizard (basically a long scaly tail, giving them a body weight approximately 120-150% of a normal human, and a overall body length of approximately 9-15 feet). She is a fair skinned female of her kind with smooth, straight black hair that falls to her shoulders, green eyes and a small but pleasantly shaped mouth. She is a Cleric of the Sea Goddess, Nerimexetas, Daughter of Xetas the elemental God of Water. Her abilitiy scores are, Str:12, Dex:17, Con:13, Int:10, Wis:15, Chr 16
Tommy Boote – Eshian Rogue (Halfling, Eshian). He is a veteran of the Eshian army, and a good natured, sometimes worrisome, fellow with a quick eye for danger. He is tanned, with reddish-brown hair that has a difficult to manage curl right above his eyes. A dark eyed, and secretive man, he doesn’t like to talk about his past. His ability scores are, Str:10, Dex:16, Con:13, Int:14, Wis:11, Chr:10
The setting
Melianami has asked for people of strong character and sufficient skills to accompany her on a journey into the depths of the caves of Carrachinaugh Gorge, on the southern border of Drasbia, between Drasbia (an Elven nation) and the Republic of Basconde (a Halfling nation). The gorge, a nineteen mile long deep cut in the mountains between Drasbia and Basconde, carries the river Enerimis, from a natural spring near the peak of Mount Whisper, to the Great Inner Sea of Ibalnd. According to a legend of her people, long, long ago, a primitive tribe of Gymnagaohhthians lived in the caves (when these caves were submerged and the Gymnagaophthians were semi-aquatic people). These primitive Gymnagaophthians were sklled in the making of crystal globes that have become prized by Melianami’s people for making into talisman’s and scrying devices. The crystals have become scarce, much harder to find in these times, and she hopes to explore deep into the caves in search of a stockpile. The leaders of her community, a small Gymnagaophthian village on the eastern shores of Drasbia, have blessed her and given her a large sum of coins, Drasbian and Basconde, to help her on her quest.
She has hired Tommy Boote, Veranum, and Kaskonni.
They have decided to make Red Tower, a Basconde town on the south western side of the Carrachinaugh Gorge, their base of operation and are staying at the Blanket and kettle Inn, owned by Mario and Tessa Ciscorelli (an elderly Halfling couple of good hearts and industrious attitudes). Red Tower is very near the Little Pine Creek Falls. Little Pine Creek Falls is a broken fall of water that crisscrosses down the southern face of Carrachinaugh Gorge, tumbling a total of four hundred sixty feet, but with no one section of the falls being more than a straight fall of between thirty and forty feet. Although very few people, living in and around Red Tower, have ever been to the bottom of the falls, or anywhere in the gorge (the floor of the gorge sits forty-eight feet above the surface of the sea, and the river Enerimis falls that distance from the gorge into the sea making it impossible to access the gorge that way) most people believe that Little Pine Creek Falls is the safest way down from the plateau on the south side of the gorge to the bottom.
The Story Experiment
Kaskonni braced herself, with one foot up and planted firmly on a large rock, and lowered the slender human man slowly down the face of the cliff. The roar of the water falling to her right, just a few feet away, made it nearly impossible to hear anything the other’s below were saying. She had decided to go last, this time, after the near catastrophe of the last time when she tried to go down the face above with only the little halfing man and the snake-woman trying to hold the rope for her.
“A little more,” Kaskonni heard the man shout from over the rocks below.
She had already lowered the others, so she knew he was almost there. He didn’t need to shout. The rope suddenly went slack. Kaskonnin kept a firm grip on the rope, and eased her body out of its position. She kept both hands on the rope, even though she felt as if the spears in the long quiver on her back were falling out, and leaned forward far enough to peer over the rock she had been braced upon. When she saw that the man was standing on the ledge, thirty feet below her, she let go with one hand and adjusted the small spears before they could fall completely out of the quiver.
“Now what are you going to do?” Veranum called up toward Kaskonni.
Kaskonni didn’t see the others.
“Where are the others?” she yelled down at Veranum.
“What?” he yelled back.
“I said,” She cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, “Where are the others?”
The man shook his head that he did not understand.
Kaskonni untied the rope, a fifty foot length, around the large rock in front of her and then wrapped some of the lose end around her waist. She maneuvered out onto the surface of the cliff and hustled down the face, finding this way to be much easier.
When she came to the ledge where Veranum was standing the roar of the falls was louder, and the nearness of the water tumbling over the rocks just a few feet from them made a spray that was beginning to soak them.
“How are we supposed to get the rope now?” Veranum asked.
“We’ll just have to leave this one behind,” Kaskonnni said with her back to him. She turned around without realizing how small the ledge was and nearly knocked Veranum off into the tumbling waters below.
Veranum stumbled and began to swing his arms in great circles dangerously pitching backward away from Kaskonni.
She immediately realized he was in trouble and deftly shifted her own weight, by swinging her hips backward and bending over to the front, and reached for the wide leather belt he wore around his adventuring robe. He was not small, not like the Halfling, but he wasn’t a very large man either. Kaskonni had no real reference for what the man weighed and without knowing what would happen she yanked on him as hard as she could.
Veranum literally flew through the air, off of his feet, and came right into Kaskonni’s arms. She pulled him in close, wrapping both of her arms around him, and gave him a smile. She liked the way this man smelled. He was clean, and that was not common for most of the men she had known.
“Thank you,” he said.
“My pleasure,” Kaskonni replied as she slowly set him down beside her. She kept one arm out holding him back from the edge.
“Will you be alright,” Kaskonni asked. She found herself absentmindedly adjusting the wrap that held her hair in a pony behind her head with her other hand.
“Yes, yes I think so, but just in case, you can stay close. I think I like having you nearby,” Veranum said looking into Kaskonni’s eyes.
“It is a pretty good cave,” the voice of Tommy, the little Eshian man came from somewhere behind the water in front of Kaskonni.
The little man came right through the water. He was drenched, but seemed okay with that. He shook his head, and tried to find a place to stand on the small ledge before turning his head and saying back though the falling water, “Don’t come any further out. It’s a bit crowded out here.”
“I think this is not far enough down,” the voice of the snake-bodied woman, Melianami, came from beyond the water. Kaskonni had learned to like the woman. She was not the most strange person kaskonni had ever seen, but she was certainly one of the most strange. She was a pretty girl, as pretty as a girl could be, Kaskonni thought, who had a lizard’s tail instead of legs, and she seemed smart. She didn’t say much, but when she did it always seemed to Kaskonni that the girl was thinking very carefully about what she wanted to say.
“Here’s the deal,” Tommy said folding his arms and slapping the water from his leather coat, “Meli thinks,” Tommy had taken to calling her by a shortened name, something he tended to do with all of them, “that we should keep going down into the gorge, but I think we have come far enough. We are near the bottom now, just another climb or two, but we’ve left two -” He looked past Kaskonni and then said, “Make that, three lengths of rope behind. So she agreed that we should take a vote, with her vote counting for two votes, ‘cause she’s paying the bills. If we all agree that this is far enough we can go into a cave here. It’s a small entrance but it widens out right away, and it is mostly dry. Or if we don’t agree to start our search here, we keep going and look for another cave at the bottom.”
Choose your own Adventure – What should the party do
A) Enter the caves now
B) Keep going on to the bottom of the gorge and find an entrance there
Nightskies
|
B) Keep going on to the bottom of the gorge and find an entrance there - trust the instinct of the cleric for now.
| Terquem |
Experiment in Storytelling, part 2
Tommy Boote was often accustomed to not having his way. He knew the ins and outs of exploring dangerous places. He had done it many times before. So when the answer he was expecting didn’t come back quickly, he became somewhat frustrated, but definitely not surprised. He looked at the two oversized people in front of him and sighed.
“Look,” Tommy said, folding his arms across his chest, “It makes no never mind to me, but each time we climb down we have that much farther to climb back out.“
The man, Veranum, was the first to express his opinion. In the few days that Tommy had had to get to know him he had developed the opinion that the man was a solid spell caster, not brash or boastful, as some of them tended to be, but soft spoken with a good sense of humor. And he wasn’t frail, not any kind of weakling, as so many of the Magic-Users tended to be, not at all. Veranum was in pretty good shape, for a man his age, and had shown that he was good on his feet, and listened well when they worked together to get themselves this far.
“She is the one among us who has the best notion of what we are looking for,” Veranum said. “For what it’s worth, I vote we keep going to the bottom. Let her make the call.”
“Yes, they’re both right,” Kaskonni said.
Now the woman, the half-beauvingian, she was altogether something different from the rest of them. She was built more like a statue of a woman than a real woman. Her half-orc blood gave her arms and legs like tree limbs, and she had already showed that there was strength, and not just size in those limbs. Tommy thought that, as half-orcs go, she wasn’t unattractive. He thought she was rather good looking, in fact, but she also had a shyness, a humbleness too her that made her seem even prettier. One thing was for certain, if anyone might say that Veranum, or Meli, or even him, Tommy Boote, was more than they seemed to be, that was probably not true of Kaskonni. She presented herself as everything she was. She knew she wasn’t the smartest, or the wisest, or even maybe the toughest, though she actually might be, no that wasn’t how Kaskonni sold herself. She was a fighter, and it showed in everything she did that she was a good one. And she had a special talent, one that Tommy imagined she herself wasn’t aware of, but he could see it. He had seen it in others like her. The best of the best always had this quality. Kaskonni didn’t give very much away by her expression. Oh, she had a pretty face, and when she turned those big dark eyes on Tommy he could see she was thinking, but he couldn’t, for any amount of coin, tell you what she was thinking. She had the face of a gambler, a player of cards, or dice guessing, and she kept her thoughts close and well guarded. It was a good sign, as far as Tommy was concerned.
“Well then it’s settled we keep going,” Tommy said not altogether happy with the decision, but coming to the conclusion that, overall, the group was coming together nicely. He turned his head to the falls and said, “Okay we are going to keep going down. I think we have one length of rope of fifty feet, and a second of a hundred, but we had better try to make it down the rest of the way without leaving either of them behind. I’ll go first. I can probably make it without a rope, and then I can steady a rope for you and Vern. All right, can you wait inside there for just a little longer?”
“I’m alright, Tommy, thank you,” Melianami called from the other side of the water fall.
Turning back to Kaskonni Tommy asked, “What about you? You think you can climb down this next bit without a rope, or do you want us to try and hold the rope for you, and go first this time? We know a little bit more about what that means, and if we are lucky it won’t go the same as it did the last time,” he laughed.
Choose your own Adventure
A) Should Tommy go first, without a rope, and let Kaskonni try to make it down on her own, coming last, or
B) Should the others hold the rope for Kaskonni and let her go first?
|
Nightskies
|
A) Tommy goes first, without a rope, letting Kaskonni go down last on her own. Hope the waterfall isn't making it too slick!
| Terquem |
Part 3
“Good luck, Tommy,” Veranum said.
He watched the expression on the halfling’s face for any sign that he believed he meant what he said, but there was none. Veranum had only been around the Halfling for two days, a short time, barely time to get to know a person at all, but in that time his sense that the small man didn’t trust him, which began as just a niggling feeling, had continued to grow. Tommy didn’t say another word, but only checked himself, patting at his gear and pouches, before he slipped past Veranum and Kaskonni and started his descent down the cliff face.
“You can come out of the cave now,” Veranum called toward Melianami.
She moved slowly, reaching out with her hand, at first, as if she could part the falling water like a curtain. Veranum watched, with fascination, as Melianami came through the water. The water drenched her silky black hair causing it to lie flat against her checks and neck and it contrasted with her ivory skin. When she moved, her torso swayed, just ever so slightly, from side to side. She was slim, but well proportioned, for her size. If she had had legs she would probably be about the same height as Tommy, about four foot three inches tall, but because her lower body was a thick, strong tail, she normally came to just about five feet. That put the top of her head at Veranum’s shoulder, and just below Kaskonni’s biceps. It was hard not to stare at her, and Veranum was aware that he had been doing it more than he should. He tried not to stare, when he caught himself doing it, but right now he couldn’t take his eyes away from her face. Her eyes, her nose, her mouth, her lips, were all perfect and with the water glistening on her skin she was absolutely radiant.
When she had cleared the falling water, when her body was well clear of it at least, she paused and drew her tail through the waterfall behind her, curling it out in front of her. She rose, just a few inches, as she made adjustments to her position, and then settled back down.
Melianami had chosen to wear a chain mail shirt, with a thick padded tunic underneath, the sleves of the padding sticking out past the short sleeves of the chainmail, and a light weight, red, cotton, and sleeveless, short cloak over the armor. She wore a skirt, held above the swell of her body where her tail began, with a belt tightened around her narrow waist. The skirt was dark brown, and Veranum wondered if it was made from deer-skin or some other thin leather, because it didn’t move like cloth and shed the water that fell on it with ease. From her belt she had hung a large pouch on either side and on her back was a small backpack. The straps from the back pack came around her arms, over her slim shoulders, and down her chest and were held in place by a buckle right in the center. Her chest was ample, but not large, and Veranum knew that her figure was made more dramatic by the square set of her shoulders and extremely narrow waist. She was slim, her upper body was anyway, but her tail was thick and heavy, even near the tip which was as thick as Kaskonni’s forearm. She was, by far, the most attractive creature he had ever seen.
Veranum realized he was lost in thoughts of Melianami’s looks when he heard Tommy call from below, “It was an easy climb, come on down. I’m about twenty feet from the bottom. There is a pool here, and then the water flows down a slope to the river. We can fallow the slope easy from here.”
Melianami turned her head, just slightly and caught Veranum’s stare. She smiled, and tilted her eyes down, and the slide past him saying, “I’ll go next. I can climb better than the two of you anyway.“ She turned her torso around back to face Veranum and Kaskonni as she maneuvered her tail over the edge and down the cliff face, and said, “Kaskonni, can you lower Vern down with a rope, and then climb down after him? It looks like we made it past the hardest part after all.”
Kaskonni took her own backpack off and pulled out the last length of rope, smilling broadly at Melianami she answered, “Anything you say, Boss. He doesn’t weigh enough to give me any trouble at all, and if Tommy says it’s an easy climb then I’ll be down in a jiffy.”
In just a while the four of them were making their way along the slope that worked down to the river’s edge at the bottom of the gorge.
Melianami wrapped her arms around her shoulders and shivered when they stopped by the river’s edge.
“It’s cold down here,” Melianami said.
“It’s a thermal effect from the waterfall,” Veranum said as he got into his own backpack and took out a heavy woolen shirt. “Here put this on, it will keep you warm.”
Veranum helped Melianami put on the shirt, over her backpack. It was large for her, more like a coat, but she welcomed it and pulled it tight around her body.
”Thank you, that’s nice,” Melianami said.
“It’s probably going to be a lot colder in any caves we find down here,” Tommy added, scouting the walls with his eyes. “I don’t see anything around here. So we go up river, or toward the lake. What’s it going to be?”
Melianami slide a few feet into the river, raising her torso up as high as she could, and looked up river at first, and then back down river. “I don’t know, but it is darker, and the walls are closer, looking back up river so that might be the best direction to try first.”
“How about we go up river to find a dry spot and pitch our tents, make a campsite in a good location, then scout further up river. That way we can go till the light is almost gone, and come back to a readymade camp. We can try again in the morning, if we don’t find any caves, because it’s probably too late to head too deep underground today anyway?” Kaskonni asked. She took a step closer to Veranum as she spoke.
Tommy jumped from one large rock to the next, crossing the rushing water from the waterfall behind them to make his way to the up river side of the falls and said, over his shoulder, “The girl is right, we should set up camp soon. I like a nice hot meal before I sleep, and a few hours to stretch before turning in. It will make the next day a little easier on us after that climb.”
“Hmmm,” Melianami let out a long sigh. “I don’t know. Maybe we should find a cave first?”
Veranum had been ready to agree with Tommy and Kaskonni about making camp soon, but hearing Melianimi express her own plans, something inside of him made him say, “Yes, why don’t we look for a cave first.”
Choose your own Adventure
A) Should they keep exploring, look for a cave, or
B) Find a camp site and pitch their tents?
| Terquem |
Part 4
The three of them stood where they were, Tommy on the rocks, half way across the stream that connected the waterfall to the river, on Melianami’s left, and Kaskonni and Veranum, on her right, on the dry ground near the edge of the water.
It was starting already, she thought to herself as she moved her tail in the water of the river from side to side, slowly so to keep herself upright and balanced. Melianami didn’t want there to be disharmony among them. She had known, she had been told by her Matriarch, that it would be a challenge, but she wanted to believe that it would not get this complicated this quickly. They were now all looking at her for a decision. She had hired them, and that made it easy for her to fall into the role of leader, but she knew that that was not always the way it worked out, and for the first two days it looked as though it wasn’t going to be an issue. Kaskonni was the one she worried about the most. The large beauvingian woman was just the type to force her opinions, throw her strength into the mix, or demand to ‘take charge’, but Melianami was surprised to learn that Kaskonni was the quietest one of them all. She was turning out to be a thoughtful warrior, and that was unusual, certainly not the kind of warrior Melaiami had expected. But it gave her new things to worry about. She remembered the lessons from the temple, and how her Matriarch had taught them all that excess, of any kind, should be avoided, that peace should always be your first choice, but that there would be times when it was not wise to be thoughtful. Their kind, the Gymnagaophthians, had faced extinction more than once, and more than one of those incidents had been brought about by ancestors who spent too much time thinking about a problem instead of acting on it.
She had to think of something to say. Something to say that would keep them all in agreement, all on the same course. She knew Tommy was turning out to be the one who would challenge her the most, so she decided to address him directly.
“Tommy, I promise you we will make camp with plenty of time to ease this day off our shoulders, but I think there is enough time to scout ahead, just a little farther,” Melianami turned to the other two, and for the second time today noticed the mage was looking at her in a way she didn’t understand, “Kaskonni you are right, making a camp is going to be a high priority, and I am hoping I can count on you to keep reminding me about it. I know I’m excited, and that could get me to lose sight of the things that are most important. Veramum,” she said mispronouncing his name accidentally, “Thank’s for supporting my decision.”
“You’re welcome,” the man answered, “and it’s Veranum, with an n, but it’s common for people to have trouble with it. Most people call me Vern, for short.”
“Veranum, sorry, yes, and I will try to call you Vern, and you can all call me Meli, as Tommy has taken to doing. I like it. It’s short and simple, and could save time if things get complicated.”
Melainami moved into the deeper water of the river and said, “Swimming is very easy for me, so everyone should go the way Tommy is going and I will meet you on the bank on the other side of the stream. She glided easily through the water, keeping her body just above the ripples in the river and propelling herself swiftly up stream with powerful undulations of her tail.
Kaskonni reached out with a gentle hand and touched Veranum on the elbow, and Melanami could just make out her words as she said, “You go ahead of me and I’ll keep an eye on you.”
There was something there, Melianami noticed for the first time. She had not spent very much time around other kinds, and even among her own kind, the Gymnaga-folk, she did not have very much experience in social situations, but she could tell that the half-orc, Kaskonni, was interested in the human mage’s well being, and she knew that that could be for many different reasons, but the most obvious one was the first one that came to her mind.
When Melianami came onto the shore of the river, just upstream of the waterfall and its little brook, she met Kaskonni and Veranum just as they were clearing a short hop from the rocks at the end of the little stream below the falls. She couldn’t see Tommy, and she panicked.
“Tommy!” Melianami called out as loudly as she could.
From ahead of her, toward the wall of the canyon Tommy suddenly rose up from a crouching position, and waved excitedly to them that they should move upriver quickly. After Melianami acknowledged the signal with a nod of her head, and was sure the others had understood, she slid off in a hurry through the small rocks and soft dirt of the riverbank heading eastward as fast as she could slide. She kept Tommy in sight as he too ran, cutting an angle from where he had started to met them a few hundred feet upriver.
When they were all together again, Melianami asked, while trying to catch her breath (swimming was easy, and keeping a pace to match the walk of humans wasn’t very difficult, but moving quickly, while keeping her body upright, because she knew that made the human kind more comfortable around her kind, was difficult), “What is it?”
“A camp sight,” Tommy said, as he came to a stop in front of her.
Kaskonni and Veranum came up close behind her. “And it looks like there was a struggle," Tommy went on. "There’s blood, it’s dried, but it is definitely blood. There were two sleeping rolls, and something on a campfire that was burned, and the fire had been cold for a while. It looked like whoever they were they were attacked just before a meal, and were dragged off. It’s hard to make out the footprints left behind, but the bedrolls are large, human sized, and the ones doing the dragging were small, probably kobolds.”
“Or goblins?” Kaskonni asked innocently.
“No way,” Tommy said quickly. “There are no Goblins in these lands. We drove them out of Basconde decades ago. And there are a lot of small prints, and marks that look like tails dragging in the sand. It’s probably Kobolds. We should get as far east as we can, away from here.”
Kaskonni was making a strange face. Veranum noticed and asked her, “What is it?”
“Yes, what is it?” Melianami added.
“Well, I don’t want to argue with Tommy, he’s pretty smart, sure, but I don’t think Kobolds drag their tails. I’ve fought Kobolds, twice before, and they move fast, and keep their tails high off the ground. Are you sure it couldn’t be Goblins dragging their spears? I hear they do that.”
Tommy’s face knotted up, but he kept quiet.
Melainami slid close to Tommy and said, softly, “It really doesn’t matter if it was Goblins or Kobolds.” She turned her head slightly away from Tommy and said a bit louder, “I wouldn’t want to tangle with a group of either kind, but are you sure it’s a good idea to leave it behind like this? Maybe we should go back and examine the camp a little closer. Maybe find out what direction they dragged off those poor souls?”
Melianami noticed immediately that Kaskonni’s biceps flexed instinctively at the idea of going back and possibly getting into a tussle.
“That sounds like a good idea to me,” Kaskonni grinned.
Veranum made a soft hiss, drawing air in through his teeth. “I’m with Tommy on this one. We should get as far away as possible. If those others got dragged off it’s a sure bet we won’t be negotiating with any local’s we run into down here, no matter what their kind.”
Melianami realized that they were right, but something nagged at her about the way Tommy was so eager to get away. She slid a few feet away from them all and crossed her arms over her chest. She put one hand on her small chin and though about what would be the right thing to do, and tried to remember the lessons she had learned. She wanted the rest of them to trust her. She knew she could not tell them everything, not everything about why she was making this journey, but she tried not to let that thought affect her attitude toward them, and she knew that keeping her secret would only make earning their trust that much harder.
Choose your own Adventure
A) Should Melianami listen to Tommy and head upriver as fast as they can go, or
B) Should Melianami insist they go back and check out what Tommy had found?
|
Nightskies
|
B) Go back and take a closer look at the camp. If there are dangerous creatures, we'll probably find them either in a cave or by the river- further examination might give valuable knowledge.
| Terquem |
Part 5
Kaskonni waited patiently for Meli to make up her mind. She liked the Gymnaga-kin woman, and was learning that Meli had a good mind for thinking things out. Letting her right hand fall down to the handle of her long-axe, Kaskonni fingered the leather strap of the handle nervously. She went over her inventory in her mind as she thought about the possibility of an encounter with Goblins or Kobolds, here in the gorge. She had brought the long-axe, a long handled, single headed axe, two large daggers, belted to each of her thighs, a short, heavy bladed sword, that was still in her backpack, three throwing spears, in the large quiver on her back, and the usual supplies for spending a couple of days away from home, a little food, a water skin, some tinder and a flint box, a few large sacks, four torches, and a bed-roll.
“Unless we run into a few dozen of them, I don’t think we should have to worry,” Kaskonni said lifting her broad shoulders and making an intimidating growl. “I can handle a few of them all by myself if I have to, and there are four of us.” Kaskonni didn’t hide her growing excitement.
She lived for battle. It was in her blood. Her mother had been a notorious Pirate Queen, sailing out of the city of Loc Alorman, on the western coast of Vologna. Ashebelle the Black, they called her mother before she was captured by the Navy of Vologna and imprisoned on the island of Mclimur in the Bay of Mericalnd. That was where her mother met her father. Her father, WoloKon Eriga Mooshinxi, was a Beauvingian, an orc, as the common Vologna people called them, a hulking mottled-green skinned warrior who had been arrested for destroying a tavern in Shoretown, along with five other Beauvingian officers of the Imperial Army who were on a tour of the island of Ibalnd.
Ibalnd, pronounced “eye-ball-end” in common, was a large island that contained three countries, Vologna, in the west, a country made up of mostly humans and some dwarves who immigrated to Ibalnd a few hundred years ago, from Anthandra far across the ocean to the west, Drasbia, the mountainous ‘Highlands’ in the north and east, a country of fierce tribes of elves lead by powerful clan leaders called ‘Thanes’, and Bascond in the south, the oldest ‘established’ government on the island that once ruled not only most of Ibalnd, but also several smaller islands in the sea between Ibalnd and the continent of Emalia, as well as much of the western coast of Emalia, a place the Beavingians of the Empire called Eshia. Kaskonni’s father was a decorated colonel in the Beauvingian army, and a diplomat on a good will mission to visit the countries of Ibalnd, but his high rank and status couldn’t prevent him from serving a four month sentence in a Volognan prison. It was the custom of the Beauvingian Empire to honor the laws of its neighbors. Wolokon fell in love with the fierce and hot tempered Volognan woman, Ashebelle, and after his release from his sentence, he left the army and immigrated to Vologna. He visited Ashebelle as often as he could, and the two were eventually married by the captain of the prison guard. Kaskonni was born in the last year of her mother’s sentence, and her parents, and brothers and sisters, now lived a comfortable life raising cattle in the fields of central Vologna along the Nianormal River.
“I want to take a look at that camp,” Meli said at last. “It would be good for us to know as much about the dangers we might encounter as possible.”
Kaskonni couldn’t resist the urge to bounce up and down on her heals when she heard the decision.
“Tommy,” Melianami said, “please show us where this camp is, but first everyone should gear up,” she went on as she removed Veranum’s large wool shirt and handed it back to him. She took of her own back pack and rummaged for a small shoulder sack that was stored deep inside. She put the single strap of the shoulder sack over her head, and let the sack fall to her waist on the right side. Kaskonni recognized the type of sack. It was an extra-large component pouch. Melianami was getting ready for the possibility of casting spells.
For several moments the four of them all got into their packs, arranged items on their belts, and took stock of their supplies. Tommy had packed a small hand-held crossbow in his backpack. It was a Halfling sized device and Kaskonni couldn’t see how it could be effective. The bolts of the crossbow were barely as large as her hand, but then she noticed the tips were unusual. She had seen crossbow bolts with pointed heavy weighted heads before, but the ones Tommy was using were nothing like them. The tips of Tommy’s crossbow bolts were wicked. They had broad, thin, and shinny, sharpened steel heads, barbed, and serrated. If the little machine could throw those bolts with enough power, Kaskonni could see how those bolts could cut and tear flesh easily.
When everyone was ready, Tommy turned and waved for them all to follow without saying a word.
They walked, and everyone was unusually quiet, for a few hundred feet until they reached the camp.
“Okay,” Veranum was the first to say anything, “Everyone just stay here for a moment. I want to take a look at those tracks. I’ve had experience with Kobolds before, and I know what their tracks look like. Wait here,” He said waving his hand behind him as he cautiously walked into the center of the camp.
Kaskonni could see the two bed rolls Tommy had mentioned, and the fire, a small ring of stones between the bed rolls, and the blood, splattered on the rocks, and near the edge of the campsite.
Veranum knelt by the bed roll that was farthest away from them, and put his hand down to the ground, stretching his fingers apart to measure something, as best as Kaskonni could tell. He stood up, and turned back toward the rest of them shaking his head, “Not Kobolds at all. These are feet, flat and small with big toes. No claws. I won’t say for sure I know they are Goblin foot prints, but definitely not Kobold.”
“So that means that if it is Goblins we shouldn’t worry about them attacking us in the open, in daylight, right?” Melanami asked.
“That would be correct,” Veranum began, “but, there could be, -” he didn’t finish. He was interrupted by the sound of a man shouting for his life.
“Run!” The voiced shouted, and Kaskonni turned in the direction it had come from.
A naked human man, a Volognan by the looks of him, was running toward them. He was coming from the south. He was about halfway between them and the canyon wall, about a hundred feet away from them. He ran with a pronounced limp, putting everything he had into his left leg, practically dragging his right leg along. “Run! I said,” he shouted again. “They’re right behind me.”
Just after he finished what he had said, the man collapsed to the ground in front of him. An arrow had struck him from behind. They all could see it sticking out from him as he landed on the ground.
Choose your own Adventure
A) Run away, or
B) Rush to the man’s aid?
| Terquem |
By the way,
Stories about the “World of Hamth” are ©2009 by DH Austin (see the novels “The Accidental Cleric” and “The Practical Fighter” at amazon dot com – not that I am trying to advertise them here, or sell them in any way, just wanted to let anyone who might be curious know, that the setting is a copyrighted setting, by me, and has been for some time).
|
Nightskies
|
B) Rush to aid the man! If he can be saved, he may have very useful information about the area.
| Terquem |
Part 6
“Kaskonni, wait!” Tommy found the words coming out of his mouth before he had had a chance to take in all that was going on around him.
Watching the beauvingian launch herself into action, Tommy was amazed at her grace and skill. She didn’t immediately break into a run, but leaned forward, and took a few long strides as she flexed her shoulders. As she moved, Tommy watched in wonder, she deftly reached over her right shoulder and drew a short spear out of the long quiver under her backpack. Kaskonni rolled the spear over the back of her hand and used the spin of the thing to toss it easily into her left hand, and as she took the spear into her left hand and rolled it over the back of that hand, she reached for a second spear with her right. It was like watching a juggler at the county fair. When Kaskonni had both spears, one in each hand balanced at just the right place, she leaned even further forward and began to run, that was when Tommy had finally found the presence of mind to say something.
“Kaskonni, wait!” Melianami said almost at the same exact time that Tommy had said the same thing.
“What is she doing?” Veranum said.
Tommy noticed that Veranum was inching to his side, shuffling his feet in the direction Kaskonni had run, but keeping his eyes toward him and the Cleric.
“I don’t know,” Tommy said, “but she is going to need help. You two go left. Stay close, but behind her, and I will go right. If you don’t see me, don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” He was practically shouting, and moving at the same time. He turned away from them, hoping they understood what he meant, and ran to his right. After he had covered twenty feet, he leapt upon a boulder, one that was almost as tall as he was, and turn to see what Kaskonni and the others were doing.
Kaskonni had reached the fallen man on the ground. Two arrows pelted the ground around her feet as she bent over and put the back of her right hand against the man’s throat. “He’s dead!” Kaskonni shouted and then stood upright and in a fluid and powerful motion she threw the spear she held in her right hand.
Tommy followed the trajectory of the spear and saw that it was headed for a group of Goblins, three of them, all standing close together some thirty feet away, all of them armed with short bows, and each of them getting ready to fire again. The spear didn’t arch through the air, no. It was thrown straight and fast. The two Goblins standing toward the front of the group saw the spear leave Kaskonni’s hand and managed to avoid it, but the third Goblin, who had been standing just behind one of the other two, didn’t see it coming at all. It looked to Tommy as if this one was having trouble readying an arrow. The Goblin fumbled with the arrow, trying to set it on the notch of his bow, and didn’t look up in time.
The spear struck the third Goblin square in the chest, and passed almost right through the little creature. Tommy couldn’t hear if it let out a scream or not, but its huge mouth opened wide and its eyes bulged. The Goblin didn’t live long enough to drop his bow, but only pitched backward on the ground.
The other two goblins didn’t seem to notice that one of them had fallen, and took aim at Kaskonni. She, and Tommy, from his new vantage point, could see that there were three more Goblins coming toward her. These other three were armed with short, fat, cleaving weapons, that looked like small swords, with only an edge on one side, and shields covered in hide.
Tommy had to move fast. He knew the range of his crossbow was short, very short, but if he could get into range he was sure he could harass the Goblins enough to keep them from ganging up on Kaskonni. He looked back to the left and saw Melianami and Veranum moving, quickly, but carefully toward Kaskonni. The two Goblins with bows fired toward them, but both arrows went wide and to Melianami’s left. Tommy jumped down from the boulder, and ran as fast as he could in a circle around the Goblin’s flank and when he had turned so that he was running toward them again, toward the three that were charging Kaskonni. He took note of how far he was away and realized he could not get off an effective shot. Not yet.
Kaskonni moved, but wasn’t running this time. She took a few steps toward the charging Goblins and with her right hand she unhooked the long handled axe from her belt. She had just gotten the strap of the axe handle over her hand when the Goblins where bearing down on her. The little creatures weren’t very smart, Tommy could see that. Seeing them rushing toward her, Kaskonni, while readying her axe, lowered her left shoulder and put her right foot behind her, bracing herself against their charge, and held the second spear, with just her left hand, out in front of her. As the first of the three Goblins came within striking distance Kaskonni lunged forward with her left hand.
The charging Goblin, and Kaskonni’s timing, came together in perfect unison. In very little time at all, Kaskonni had dropped two of the Goblins. But the second two swarmed at Kaskonni with speed and caught her off guard. She managed to block the swing of a sword from one of the Goblins, but the second one connected with a slashing blow that cut deep across Kaskonni’s left forearm.
Tommy slowed his run, four more steps, and then went down onto one knee as he lowered the small crossbow and braced it upon his left arm to steady his aim. He knew the shot was risky, but he aimed at the closest Goblin, who was trying to get around Kaskonni’s right side, and after he let out a breath, Tommy pulled the trigger.
The bolt from Tommy’s crossbow flew through the air and struck the Goblin just above its left shoulder, at the base of its neck. It was a critical hit, and the little creature screamed in agony as it leapt away from Kaskonni clutching at itself as its blood spurted in streams all around it. It danced in a crazy, wild, circle, and collapsed on the ground, and Tommy knew the Goblin was dead.
At that moment Tommy turned his head to the right to see what the other Goblins, the ones with the short bows, where doing, and saw that they were running back toward the canyon wall.
Kaskonni parried another blow. The last Goblin shuffled around , also trying to get behind her, and swung wild at her legs. Kaskonni then tried to bring her axe down in a smashing blow on the Goblin’s head, but the little thing dodge to the side just before she could spit it open like a melon.
Veranum. Tommy could see, was now crouched beside the fallen man, and Melianami was moving to flank the Goblin attacking Kaskponni. It looked, to Tommy, like Melianami was moving into a position to attack the Goblin, but he could see she nad no weapon. Then Tommy watched as Melianami made movements with her arms as if she were aiming a bow, and from her left fist a silvery object appeared in the air and shot toward the Goblin. It was some kind of magic. A kind of magic Tommy had never seen before.
Melianami was close, just a step or two away from Kaskonni and the Goblin, and the silvery arrow hit the Goblin in the back. It pierced the Goblin’s flesh and the creature was pitched forward by the impact. The Goblin fell to the ground at Kaskonni’s feet, and didn’t move again.
|
Nightskies
|
Veranum, is he really dead? We best start finding cover for the night... away from where those goblins ran off too!
| Terquem |
Part 7
It seemed that it was over as soon as it had started. When Veranum reached the man on the ground, the one Kaskonni had said was dead, he couldn’t help but feel a chill of fear. It was a real and intense feeling, this fear, for the dangers he himself was putting himself in, and he shuddered as he reached, with one hand, to take hold of the man’s shoulder and roll him over, while with the other hand he tried to remove the arrow lodged in the man’s back.
Veranum was startled when the man’s body suddenly convulsed. The man coughed, spitting blood on the ground, as he was rolling onto his back, and Veranum called out, “He’s still alive.”
“”Hey, fella’,” Veranum said to the man in a soothing tone. “Easy now, can you tell me your name?”
Kaskonni didn’t hear Veranum. She looked at the retreating Goblins and decided she could catch them before they reached the canyon wall.
“Kaskonni, damn it, wait!” Veranum heard Tommy call out.
The fear Veranum was feeling was suddenly overcome by anger as he understood what was happening. He jumped to his feet and spun around toward Kaskonni in time to see her running away from him. With all of the effort he could muster, Veranum shouted, “Kaskonni, stop!”
To his surprise, Veranum watched as Kaskonni halted in her tracks immediately, sliding a few inches in the dirt. She turned, and looked back at Veranum. He wasn’t sure he understood the look on the woman’s face, but it wasn’t anger, and that made him feel a bit better about what he had done.
Veranum didn’t like being in a position to give orders. It wasn’t like him to take charge. He preferred staying quiet, staying in the background and offering his opinion on the things he knew.
Melianami came up behind Veranum. He realized he was aware of her approach by the distinct sound she made as she slid across the ground. He hadn’t really noticed it before, but now the sound, a sort of soft “slinch-slanch-slinch” rhythmic sound, stood out in the quiet around him.
“Did you say he is still alive?” Melianami asked Veranum.
“Yes,” he answered and knelt back down on the ground next to the man.
Melianami lowered her upper body in a fashion that any regular humanoid would find difficult to maintain. She seemed to raise her hips up, and curved her spine, which was more flexible than Veranum had realized, until her head was close to the dying man’s face. Veranum watched as Melianami examined the man’s breathing, and moved her eyes across his face and chest.
Melianami swayed to her left and brought her mouth close to Veranum’s ear. She whispered, “He can’t be saved. He is already dead, but there is a strength still fighting in him.”
Veranum nodded his understanding. He knew that Divine magic, in many situations like this, could save lives, stop death from winning, but he had also learned, the hard way, that often, even very powerful Divine magic could not stop the inevitable.
“I understand,” Veranum said quietly. “Hey, hey there fella’” he tried again to reach the man. “Can you tell me your name, or the name of your family? We’ll do everything we can to help you. Can you hear me?”
“December, get December,” the man said. His voice was clear, but soft. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be trying to open them.
He was probably a young man, Veranum couldn’t be certain. His face was bruised, and bloodied, and it looked as though his nose, and jaw, on the left side, were broken. The man had sandy, yellow hair, and Veranum saw that clumps of his hair had been pulled out, making his scalp bleed. The blood had dried, leaving the man’s head to look misshaped, and Veranum even wondered if the man’s skull had been fractured. It was difficult to look at him.
“What does he mean, December?” Melianami asked.
Veranum turned his eyes away from the dying man’s face. He looked across the rocky ground and saw Kaskonni coming toward him, and Tommy dragging one of the Goblins toward where the bodies of the other three Goblins were lying on the ground a few feet away.
“I don’t know,” Veranum said.
“What do you mean, December?” Melianami asked as she placed her right hand on the dying man’s chest.
It seemed that the touch of Melianami’s hand ignited a fire in the dying man. His back arched, and his whole body shook in a violent spasm. The dying man’s right arm shot up from the ground and his hand found Veranum’s shirt. His fingers clutched into a death grip pulling Veranum toward the ground as his arm stiffened.
“She had the map. She isn’t dead,” the dying man gasped. “They won’t eat her because she is too thin. You hear me, she’s too thin. Bastards! Monsters! Find December, tell her, tell her – “
A crackling sound passed through the dying man’s lips, followed by a sudden rush of air. His last breath escaped him, and he was gone.
“What was that?” kaskonni asked as she came to stand right next to Veranum.
“He said something about a map,” Tommy said from a few feet away.
“You heard that?” Veranum asked as he rose up from the ground slowly. He was standing close to Kaskonni and she was looking right into his eyes.
“You did what you could,” Kaskonni said as she gently reached for Veranum’s arm. “Both of you.”
“You’re bleeding,” Melianami said as she slid around the body on the ground and took Kaskonni’s hand off of Veranum’s arm.
“It’s nothing serious,” Kaskonni said.
Veranum noticed that Kaskonni was still looking at him, and not at Melianami. Realizing that she was giving him a certain signal, a subtle sign that she was wanting him to be concerned for her well being, Veranum looked down at Kaskonni’s arm and said, “It looks bad. We should take care of that.”
Kaskonni smiled, tipped her head down, and with her other hand she reached behind her head and adjusted the cloth that held her hair in a pony tail.
Veranum understood the signals Kaskonni was sending, even if she was not aware of them. He was beginning to see that the beauvingian woman was interested in him. They had only just met, a couple of days ago, but it was becoming obvious that she liked him, or that there was something about him that she was interested in. It was funny, to him, that this powerful and attractive orc-woman would fall for him, a middle-aged human Mage, and he wasn’t sure how to deal with the things he was realizing. It was a strange time to be thinking about her in that way. It made him ashamed. A man had just died, on the ground, right in front of him, and here he was beginning to wonder if he might want to follow through on her subtle signs.
“He said something about a map,” Tommy repeated as he approached the other three, “what map was he talking about?”
“How the hells should I know,” Veranum barked.
“Hey,” Tommy said holding up his hands, “I’m only asking.”
Veranum regretted that he snapped at Tommy, and realized he was letting the confusion of his thoughts affect his attitude.
He was about to apologize when Melianami swayed close to Tommy and said angrily, “A man just died and all you can think of to ask if what map he was talking about? He also said something about a person he called December. Did you hear that? Or did you only hear him say something about a map? And what difference would a map make anyway? We know where we are. We’re only a few miles from town, for Mother’s sake. I’ve never heard of anyone called December, it seems like an odd name to me, but if he was right and this person is still alive we should be thinking about saving whoever it might be.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Tommy said. “And I’m sorry, forget about what I said. I don’t care about any map. Look these are real Goblins. And if there were six of them willing to step out into the light of day, here, then there are ten times that many back in whatever cave they came out of. It’s crazy to talk about going looking for someone who’s probably already dead. Goblins don’t keep their meals alive for very long.”
“You said there weren’t any Goblins here,” Kaskonni said.
“I’m sorry for shouting at you, Tommy,” Veranum said. He then shifted his shoulders to let his backpack fall off onto his left arm as he went on saying, “I’ve got some salve and bandages in my pack. I don’t know why I always pack them. I’m not very good at helping out with injuries. I never really leaned the healer’s arts. But let me see if I can bandage that wound for you Kaskonni.” He put his backpack on the ground and knelt down to dig through his gear, looking to find his healing kit.
Kaskonni said, “Thank you Vern,” And smiled.
“I’m sorry too,” Melianami said. “I’m still feeling a little light headed from everything that just happened. I’ve never seen a man die before. I’m sorry for losing my composure. But tell me, Tommy, why did you think there were no Goblins here?”
“That’s what I’ve always been told,” Tommy said, and Veranum though he heard a note of defeat in Tommy’s voice. “I’ve always been told that the Goblins were driven out of Basconde centuries ago, but I guess I should have been smarter than that. If they were driven out, and not wiped out, they always come back, or so they say. I really don’t know much about Goblins, not much at all, only what I was told as a child.”
“Alright, let’s just forget about that anyway,” Tommy went on as he turned and walked back to where the Goblin bodies had been gathered up close together. He bent down and picked up one of the Goblin swords. “Does anyone know what to make of this? I always heard stories that Goblins didn’t have the talent to make steel like this."
“What about December?” Kaskonni asked as Veranum applied a thick milky white cream to the cut on her arm, and then carefully wrapped a clean narrow strip of cloth over it.
“That looks like a good job to me,” Melianami was trying to say, but Tommy talked over her.
“No. No way are we going to talk about going looking for someone we don’t know, in a Goblin lair,” Tommy said walking back toward them.
“We heard you, Tommy,” Veranum said and then he turned his attention to the weapon Tommy was holding. “Let me see that.”
Tommy handed the small sword to Veranum.
Veranum examined the blade and said, “Hmmm, this is interesting.”
“What?” Tommy asked.
“Well, I think,” Veranum began, “this is a called a scimitar. It is a small variety, but the design is unmistakable, and the steel, although it is tarnished, is good quality. It still has a clean and sharp edge. Now I think I’ve read that this kind of weapon is made by the Eysturluns, but why one would be here in Basconde is hard to figure out.”
“I think my ancestors used to make swords like that,” Melianami said.
“No,” Veranum corrected her. “Probably not like this. Steel of this kind is a modern development. Your ancestors would have made bronze, or possibly cold iron swords, but nothing like this.”
Melianami slithered away from the rest of them, toward the bodies of the goblins and retrieved the small bow, quiver and arrows from the body of the Goblin archer. She slung the quiver over her shoulder, the strap was tight but it fit her, and then she said, “Does anyone mind if I take this? I think I could learn to use it. We are going to look for this December person. I have a feeling about this. I have a good feeling about it.”
Veranum didn’t like the sound of that, but just then he looked into Kaskonni’s eyes. She had been listening to Melianami intently, and Veranum could see, even though he barely knew her, that Kaskonni was willing to follow Melianami against Tommy’s judgement.
“Maybe we should,” Veranum said, “and maybe we shouldn’t. I think Tommy could be right. This December person could already be dead, and I’m not sure we are ready to take on a whole Goblin lair. Maybe we should forget this whole thing, and keep looking upriver for another cave to explore, one that isn’t infested with Goblins.”
Choose your own Adventure
A) Look for, and enter the Goblin Lair and search for “December”, or
B) Set off upriver looking for another cave to explore?
|
Nightskies
|
It could be dangerous - hitting a goblin lair - but I'll side with Melianami again, but this time for a few reasons, not including intuition.
A) Attempt to rescue 'December'. Goblins could likely have collected some of the crystals, it could run the goblins out of the lands again, its following the last wish of a dying man, the map or the girl could prove useful, and it'll nullify the threat they pose to setting up camp. And lastly, the scimitar might be more than spoils from the last group. Sorry Tommy, but you'll get your way sooner or later, I think!
| Terquem |
Part 8
She had made up her mind.
“I understand that it is a common custom, among your kind,” Melianami said as she slid across the ground toward Veranum, “to place the bodies of the departed into holes in the ground.”
“Yes, we do bury our dead,” Veranum said to her as she came very close to him.
Melianami stopped when her face was only inches from Veranum’s, and said, “I don’t know if we can take the time to dig a large enough hole, so would it be alright with you, all of you,” she turned to look at Tommy and Kaskonni in turn, and went on, “if we treat him the way my kind would?”
“I don’t know,” Veranum hesitated. “What would that be?”
She inhaled deeply, knowing it would be hard to explain the rite to him, and worried that the others might object, Melianami cleared her head and tried to simplify as best as she could.
“We return our departed to the waters from which we came,” Melianami said as she turned and moved slowly toward the dead man on the ground. “Normally there would be a ritual, a washing ritual, and prayers. Then there would be a celebration, where the family and friends would exchange small tokens that remind them, each other, of the place they filled in the departed's life. And finally the body is taken to a deep source of water, the sea, a lake, or a deep river, and – “
“And you let the body float away?” Kaskonni asked.
“Well no, not exactly,” Melianami said. “Our kind do not float after we have died. Our bodies tend to sink, and then we are consumed by nature. I have heard that your kind do float, even sometimes coming back to the surface of the water many times. I see that that would make this kind of ritual difficult for you. But at the same time I don’t want to leave him just lying here.”
“She’s right,” Tommy said. “We can’t leave this poor man’s body here in the dirt for some scavengers to pick over. And we don’t have the tools to bury him. I say we dump, I mean, place him in the river. He will eventually go over the falls and end up in the lake. It’s the best we can do for him. If we find this December person, maybe she can tell us who he was and we can tell his family. But it’s getting late now. It would be foolish to make a camp anywhere near here, so I say we get it done, and find the Goblin lair as soon as possible. If we find this person, we get out and hike as far north as we can go, until we fall asleep on our feet if we have to.”
“Yes,” Veranum seemed to say, reluctanty. “Help me carry him, won’t you Kaskonni?”
“I can do it by myself,” Kaskonni said. “You three go ahead and scout toward the canyon walls. I’ll take him to the river and find you as fast as I can. There are plenty of boulders around her that I can climb up on to get a good look around, like Tommy did. That was real smart, by the way, Tommy.”
“Okay, then, yes. Let’s, let’s do that. Thank you Kaskonni,” Veranum said.
“Are you alright,” Melianami asked Veranum, coming back toward him. She put her hand on his elbow, touched him lightly, and Veranum turned to meet her eyes.
“Yes,” he answered her. “I’m alright. I just, sometimes, forget how soon life can end. It's sobering. We should be careful.”
“Don’t worry,” Melianami said, and then leaned her torso close to Veranum, and wrapped her small arms around his shoulders. She placed her head against his chest and said, “We will watch out for each other.”
When she let go of the human man, she came away thinking that he was a deeply sensitive being, for a human. Melianami had very little experience with humans, and most of that was with men and women who traded goods, or were traveling mercenaries. Of the humans she had encountered before, she had developed the opinion that human-kind were not sensitive to life’s delicate nature, but this man was showing her a side to humans she didn’t know existed. She smiled at him, and then turned to tell Kaskonni and Tommy to get ready to move out. That was when she noticed Kaskonni was giving her an emotionless stare.
“Is everything alright with you, Kaskonni?” Melianami asked.
Kaskonni drew her lips into a tight smile, and breathed deeply through her nose. Melianami wished she knew what this kind of gesture meant. If Kaskonni had been a Gymnagaophthian it would mean she understood and was resolved to be patient, but Kaskonni was no Gymnaga-kin. She was a beauvingian, an orc, and Melianami had no idea what her body language was saying.
After a pause, Kaskonni finally said,“I’m fine. If the rest of you would find and gather my other two spears, I’ll just take care of this right away.”
Kaskonni moved to the dead man, and easily lifted the body from the ground. She was about to hoist the body onto her shoulder, but before she could, Melianami noticed that Veranum was shaking his head toward Kaskonni, and the sign was understood by the large woman. She held the man’s body, carefully cradling it in both arms, and walked silently away from them, toward the river in the middle of the gorge.
“I’m going to take one of these, how did you say it," Tommy said to Veranum, holding the sword, which was sized nicely for him, “shimiter?”
“Scimitar, like simmer, a pot, simma-tar,” Veranum said.
Tommy retrieved the first of Kaskonni’s spears, from the Goblin that she had killed in the fight close to where they were standing and then said, “The other spear is over there,” he pointed. “I left it there when I pulled this guy over here,” he kicked at the body of one of the Goblins. “And that is probably in the direction of the lair. Are you guys ready?”
“Yes,” Melianami said.
“I am,” Veranum added, “but let’s not get too close to any caves until Kaskonni is back.”
“I agree,” Melianami said. They needed Kaskonni. She had proved, very effectively, that she was good at what she said she was good at, and that had made Melaianami feel good about the decision she had made to hire the beauvingian woman. But something nagged at her. Melianami couldn’t shake a feeling that she had offended Kaskonni in some way. She tried not to think about it, as the three of them moved slowly across the rocky landscape toward the canyon wall.
When they reached the spot where Kaskonni spear had killed one of the Goblins, the one who had been with the Goblins shooting arrows at them, Melianami could see the canyon wall just ahead of them. It was only a dozen yards away, and from where they were standing, Melianami could see a wide low cave. The cave mouth was only four or five feet high, but it was at least twenty feet wide.
“There,” Melianami pointed with Kaskonni’s spear. “Do you see that? That must be where they came from.
Tommy looked left and right, and then said, “Yep, that looks like the only cave around here.”
“Let’s get a closer look,” Melianami said.
“Hold on,” Veranum said, putting his arm out to block Melianami from moving forward. “I think I see Kaskonni coming. Let’s wait for her.”
Choose your own Adventure
A) Wait for Kaskonni to join the others, or
B) Get a closer look at the cave?
| Terquem |
Part 10
Kaskonni jogged toward the three of them. It helped her to run, after that little skirmish, and she felt her muscles stretch with the effort. It felt good.
But Kaskonni couldn’t get rid of a feeling that was knotting her up, in the pit of her stomach. It was a feeling she didn’t recognize. It wasn’t fear, or apprehension, she wasn’t nervous. It was something else. An uncomfortable feeling, that grew stronger when she came close enough to the rest of the group to see them, and saw that Veranum was touching Melianami. He had his arm stretched out and pressed against her chest.
“Why was he doing that?” Kaskonni found herself wondering.
Before she could dwell on that question very much, she heard Veranum say, “See I told you she’d be right here. Aren’t you glad we waited?”
He was holding her back. He was keeping her from going ahead with her.
“Thanks for waiting for me, Vern,” Kaskonni said as she came to a stop right next to him.
“I wouldn’t want to go any further without you, Kaskonni,” Veranum said and smiled at her.
That odd feeling in her stomach changed. It changed from a feeling she wasn’t sure she liked, to one she was sure she did.
“There is a cave over there,” Melianami said pointing. “How should we approach it?”
“I’ll go first,” Kaskonni said. “Let me try to get in ahead of you and take a look around. If it’s safe I’ll signal to the rest of you and you can light torches if you need to.”
“Do we have torches?” Veranum asked. “I usually don’t think to bring them, because of the spell, but then again I’ve regretted the usefulness of a torch more than a few times.”
“I have a few,” Tommy said. “Tell me, Vern, have you been in very many caves?”
“A couple of times, yes” Veranum said, “but nothing like this. The caves I’ve been in were mines, in Vologna, and I expect that this won’t be much like a mine. How about you, Tommy?”
“A few,” Tommy said nodding toward Veranum. “Both dry and wet caves and I’ve been pretty deep, once before. I like the idea of letting Kaskonni scout out the entrance.”
“Okay,” Melianami said. “Kaskonni can go ahead, but we’ll come up behind close. We won’t let you get out of our sight, Kaskonni,” she added with a smile.
Kaskonni took her spears from Tommy and put them back in the quiver. She readied her long-handled axe, and started off toward the cave. She went half a dozen steps before she looked back over her shoulder and saw the rest of them coming behind her. Veranum was in the lead, then Melianami and Tommy in the rear.
When Kaskonni reached the cave, she paused, waved her arm behind her, and then ducked her head and stepped inside.
She closed her eyes tightly, and opened them again, blinking a couple of times trying to force her eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness. She reached above her head with her left hand to check the ceiling height before going in any further. Her hand touched cold stone, flat and smooth, and she duck-walked a few steps forward continuing to feel above her. She waited a little while, listening for any sounds, but couldn’t hear anything. She had moved far enough away from the entrance, where daylight tried to push into the cave but failed after only a few feet, and in a moment her eyes went out of focus. Colors seem to blend together, and objects in her field of vision took on contrasting shapes. The ceiling suddenly opened up above her and she peered around, keeping her body in a squat, just to be careful, and tried to take in the features of the cave that she could see. That was when she noticed something odd. Normally Kaskonni couldn’t see very many things in total darkness, unless there were things that had heat, or were colder, those things she could see clearly, but if everything were the same temperature she would only see a faint outline of things in the dark.
The cave opened up into a large cavern. The floor sloped down, gently, from the mouth of the cave to a wall to the south. And that wall was unusual. Even in the total darkness of the cave, Kaskonni could see that the wall was smooth, worked stone, and in the center of the wall, flanked by two enormous columns, was an opening. The opening was square, with just a slight curve, upward, at the top.
She hustled back to the cave opening, remembering to keep low where the ceiling dropped, and emerged into the daylight.
“You guys won’t believe this,” Kaskonni said blinking her eyes in the light. But they weren't there.
“Look at this, Kaskonni,” She heard Veranum say from a few feet away. He was standing off to the left of the cave entrance and pointing at a pile of dirt and rocks.
Kaskonni walked over to where Veranum was standing, and then noticed Tommy and Melianami had moved even further to the left, away from the cave entrance. Tommy and Melianami were moving along the top of the pile that Veranum had indicated.
“It looks like the Goblins, or someone, has been excavating,” Veranum said. “This is a spoil bank for sure, and it goes off for a long way. It’s piled only as high as a Goblin could pile, using buckets or wheel-barrows.”
“I found something interesting in the cave,” Kaskonni said.
Tommy and Melianami came back to where Veranum and Kaskonni were standing.
“It goes at least another hundred feet to the east,” Melianami said. “It’s a lot of dirt.”
“There is some sort of building in the cave,” Kaskonni announced.
“What?” Tommy asked
.
“Goblin dwellings?” Veranum asked.
“No,” Kaskonni said. “It is a wall, with some kind of door, only it’s not a door, just the opening where a door might be, and there are two great big columns on either side of the opening. And the wall is smooth, like it was built there in the cave.”
“Were there any writings, on the columns?” Melianami asked.
“I didn’t get that close. Just after the cave entrance it opens into a huge cavern. It’s maybe a hundred feet wide, and fifty feet deep. The ground slopes away from the canyon wall, just a little. It’s dry, and quiet, and I didn’t see any Goblins.”
“I want to see this,” Melianami said. “Tommy could you light a torch for us, we’re going in.”
Kaskonni looked up to the rim of the canyon and could see that the sky was growing darker. It was still daylight, and even though the sun was out of sight, she could tell it was setting off to the west.
“It will be dark soon,” Kaskonni said.
“We’re going in,” Melianami said flatly. She moved away from Kaskonni, slithering quickly, which made her upper body drop a few inches.
“I guess we’re going in,” Tommy said as he fished a torch out of his backpack.
Kaskonni guided them as they entered the mouth of the cave, and the torch Tommy held gave them all a good look at what Kaskonni had seen.
“It is definitely a wall,” Veranum said. “It seems very odd to find ruins this deep in the canyon.”
“Not if they are Gymnaga-kin ruins,” Melianami said as she moved toward the columns.
“Be careful,” Kaskonni said.
Veranum walked around Melianami to stand in the opening in the wall.
Kaskonni stayed close to Melianami.
“Tommy let me have the torch,” Melianami said.
He handed her the torch and as Melianami brought the flame close to the column, Veranum, Kaskonni noticed, seem to disappear into shadow.
“Veranum, come back into the light,” Kaskonni hissed, trying not to be too loud.
Veranum spoke a few words and light, similar to a bright lantern, sprang up from something he was holding in his hand.
“There is a tunnel, a hallway here, I suppose, that leads away from here and stretches off as far as I can see,” Veranum said, not turning around. His back was toward Kaskonni.
“There are no markings on the columns,” Melianami announced, sounding a bit discouraged, “But,” she went on brightening somewhat, “that doesn’t tell us anything. This could be exactly what we’re looking for.”
“So how much further are going to explore?” Tommy asked.
“Let’s see what lies at the end of that hallway,” Melianami said.
End of Chapter one.
| Terquem |
Well, so far, so good. Thank you for helping with the experiment. I would like to keep going, with this story, and this experiment. But I am wondering something
A) Should the story be completely linear, showing everything that happens to the group, and giving many opportunities for readers to offer opinions for the choices presented, or
B) Can the story jump ahead, at times, summarizing a series of events or encounters, and reduce the frequency of choices that need to be made?
|
Nightskies
|
The story can continue with fewer choices. I don't mean to say that every choice should be a big one, though. Perhaps the occasional call for more than just a choice through opinion would be good too, if you're up for that.
| Terquem |
Chapter 2
Part 10
“We’re lost, aren’t we?” Tommy asked in the dark. He was sitting on the ground with his back to a smooth stone wall.
It was a chamber, a room of some kind, and there was only one way into the area, an opening, about four feet high and six feet wide, where there was some sign that there had once been a door, or doorway, but the walls and structure of the door were crumbling. The ceiling in the space was natural stone, with small stalactites dropping from the ceiling in places, and water dripping into small pools on the floor below each one. Tommy held his knees close to his chest, breathing hard, trying to catch his breath, and spoke as quietly as he could. “We don’t know where we are.”
Across from him, sitting with his back to the other wall, across the corner of the room, Veranum answered him in a whisper, “We’re not really lost. We’re just not any closer to getting out than we were a while ago. I’ve made a map, on a parchment I have in a scroll case in my backpack, and tried to record all the turns and changes we’ve made. I think I can get us back, if we can avoid those Goblins again. Do you think they’re still looking for us?”
“I hope not,” Tommy said, “How’s Meli doing?”
Veranum opened his fist, slightly, letting light escaped from a coin he had cast a light spell upon. It revealed that Melianami was sleeping, with her head resting in Veranum’s lap, and her body curled up next to him. Veranum, Tommy watched, placed the back of his other hand against Melianami’s forehead, and whispered, “Her body feels a bit cold, but I don’t know what is normal for her kind. She’s breathing, and resting, and I think she’s going to be okay. How about you?”
“I’m fine,” Tommy said, and touched, lightly his left side. “It doesn’t hurt that much, and that healing spell she cast mended the worst of it. Kaskonni has been gone for a while, I’m worried.”
“She can see in the dark, and can move quietly when she tries, but you are right. It has been too long. Here,” Veranum said passing the coin to Tommy, keeping the light shielded as best as he could. “Go to the door and see if you can see her, stay close, don’t wander off.”
“Thanks Vern,” Tommy said taking the coin. He rose to his feet, with some effort, and groaned, “I think I need a nap,” and then walked slowly toward the door.
Tommy approached the opening carefully, trying to be as quiet as possible, and only letting enough light escape from his hand to see a few inches in front of him. At the door, he took a slow deep breath, and stuck his head past the opening. He looked left, and through the shadows saw the end of the tunnel they had followed, and then to the right the tunnel, as it turned from an excavated space to the smooth stone of the underground passages they had been following. He saw no sign of Goblins, and opened his hand a bit more. The light illuminated the passageway, and he became nervous. He held his breath, listening intently, and after what seemed like a terribly long time, when he could almost no longer hold his breath, he saw, before he heard, Kaskonni come around a corner from the intersection down the passageway to his right.
Kaskonni was moving cautiously, stepping high with each foot, and placing it down quietly. She put her finger to her lips, when she saw Tommy looking her direction, and smiled.
When she reached the opening in the room, she waved Tommy to go in ahead of her, and put her hand on his shoulder. Once they were both inside, she whispered to Tommy, “I think I found something.”
She sat cross-legged on the floor between Tommy and Veranum, and after touching Melianami, softly, with her hand, Kaskonni said, “She’s done a Blue-Hell’s job keeping us alive hasn’t she?” Kaskonni didn’t wait for the other two to answer her question, and went on, “Look, I think I found something. I went back to the last intersection, before that tee down the hallway outside, at the four way intersection back further, and I waited there. It sounded like the Goblins went the other way. I waited for a while, but they didn’t come back. Then I went to the tee, where we went to the right, and went straight ahead this time, the direction we were running. The passageway there goes about forty feet, and then ends in what I thought was another collapse, but there is an opening in the rubble. It’s just big enough for me to get through if I slide sideways. On the other side of that opening, the passageway continues, but the whole thing is five or six feet lower, like there is a break in the passage and the next section was pushed down. I followed it, for a while, and get this. There are doors in that passageway, and they are made of some kind of hard blackened wood. These are ancient doors, I mean it. I didn’t try any of them, but that seems pretty wild to me. Doors, way down here, and these weren’t made by Goblins. These doors are big. Not as big as a regular human sized door, but definitely bigger than any Goblin door, and they look like they were built to last.”
“I can’t believe this place exist down here,” Tommy said. “Who do you suppose built a place like this underground, way down here at the bottom of the canyon?”
“Well,” Veranum shrugged, “Meli is convinced it was built by her ancestors, but I don’t know. I have no knowledge of the history of her people, and if what she says is true, then it’s possible this place was once on the surface, and some catastrophe buried it long ago. It seems like we’ve come up, maybe, at least a dozen or more feet, we’ve climbed that far as best as I can tell, but I have no idea how we are getting out, unless we go back the way we came. And that could be a lot harder now.”
“I think it would be easier,” Kaskonni said. “We killed half a dozen Goblins, and that means there are less Goblins, doesn’t it?”
“Yes,” Tommy said. “I suppose, but it means that the ones that are left are more determined to catch us, and it might mean that they won’t underestimate us anymore. We got lucky in that last encounter, but if we run into more than six at one time, well, I don’t know. I’m almost out of bolts for the crossbow.”
“I’ve managed to keep my most powerful spells, if we get into a real troubling situation,” Veranum said, “I only hope Meli rests long enough to be able to prepare her spells again, if she can here in these caves. I don’t know anything about her faith either, but she is pretty formidable, isn’t she?” Veranum smiled at Kaskonni.
Tommy noticed, in the dim light from the coin in his hand, that Kaskonni shifted across the ground until her folded leg was touching Veranum’s. Then the beauvingian woman looked down at the ground, fiddled with her pony-tail, and said, “She’s very brave, like you Vern.”
“Hey, come on now,” Tommy said with a laugh.
“Oh,” Kaskonni said straightening up. “Sorry, Tommy, you know I think you are amazing. The way you kept dodging and drawing those two Goblins away from Meli, until you got them to move right between us. That was really smart. You’re an expert fighter.”
Tommy watched Kaskonni’s eyes as she talked, and he knew she was sincere. Kaskonni was an honest woman. He knew that for sure. And sometimes, Tommy suspected, she pretended to be slower than she really was, but that didn’t bother Tommy.
And it didn’t bother Tommy that Kaskonni was obviously crushing on Vern. He looked at them, the human man and orc woman, and wondered how it might turn out for them. In his opinion they were both attractive, for their kind, but it was obvious to Tommy that Vern was much older than Kaskonni. He looked at Kaskonni again. She was looking down again, playing with her hair, adjusting, and re-adjusting the band that held her hair in a pony-tail.
“Is everything alright with your hair,” Tommy asked.
“No,” Kaskonni said. “This knot keeps coming loose. I’m going to have to retie it.”
Then Kaskonni did something Tommy thought was odd, and then again maybe not so terribly odd.
Kaskonni pulled the lether strap out of her hair, and then bent her body forward as far as it could bend. She tipped her head down and shook her head, down, and back up again, three times. Her hair, black, and wavy, bounced as she tossed her head, and when she brought her head up for the last time, she also arched her back causing her hair to fall down her back. Kaskonni had long hair. It fell in waves over her shoulders, to the middle of her back, and spread out to cover, from side to side, her backpack. She had a lot of hair, but her hairline was high, as Tommy knew most beauvingian’s had. Her hair line was very near the top of her head, just a bit to the front of that, and came to a point right in the middle.
With her hair loose, Kaskonni was very pretty, and when Tommy caught himself staring, and turned his head away, that was when he saw that Veranum was staring at her as well. And then Tommy knew that what Kaskonni had done wasn’t that odd after all.
Tommy looked back to Kaskonni and saw she was meeting Veranum’s stare with her own. He smiled, and then he worried.
Tommy knew it could be a good thing, when people who came together for these kinds of adventures, found reasons to like, to trust one another, but he also knew that things like this could get bad. It was too soon to tell how this might go, and Tommy tried to put it out of his mind.
“Kaskonni,” Tommy asked, “What part of the Empire do you come from?” Tommy wondered if it would help if they all got to know each other better.
“I’m not a real beauvingian,” Kaskonni said, after she tipped her head forward, and retied the leather strap behind her head, pulling her thick hair close against her scalp. “I was born on the island of Mclimur, in the Bay of Mericalnd. My mother was human, and my father was beauvingian. I’m half beauvingian.”
“You look -,” Tommy said, and then stopped.
“Like an orc? I know. I’m not offended. It’s okay,” Kaskonni said. “You guys should get some sleep. I’ll keep watch.”
Tommy couldn’t help feeling he had offended her. “You don’t look like an orc,” Tommy said, apologetically.
“It’s okay, forget about it,” Kaskonni said. “I know what I look like.”
“You look,” Veranum began, and then said, leaning forward, “Like a girl who knows how to get things done. I think you look beautiful.”
Kaskonni blushed. Her regular mottled-green skin turned bright green, across her cheeks and on her forehead. And she didn’t say anything else.
“I guess,” Veranum went on, leaning back against the wall, “I’ll try to sleep. When Meli wakes up we will need to decide how brave we feel. It’s either, go deeper and look for another way out, or go back and fight our way through the Goblins to the place we came in. Think about. Good night.”
“Get some sleep, Tommy,” Kaskonni said, and turned around where she was sitting so that she faced the opening in the wall.
Tommy stood up and came close to Kaskonni. “Do you want the coin?” He asked holding the light spell up next to her face. She had a pretty face. Her eyes were large and clear, and a soft light, golden-brown, her eyelashes were long, her nose, small and up-turned, fit her face well, and her mouth, though large, was shaped in a gentle arch. She was very pretty. He felt sorry for saying she looked like an orc.
“No,” Kaskonni said, putting her hand over Tommy’s, “I can see in the dark. Thank you, and Tommy,” she said as he turned away from her to go back to the wall and sit down, “It’s okay, I know what I look like, even if Vern does have bad eye sight.”
Choose your own Adventure
A) Should the party go ahead, exploring the underground ruins further, or
B) Go back the way they came, risking the Goblins again?
| Terquem |
The story can continue with fewer choices. I don't mean to say that every choice should be a big one, though. Perhaps the occasional call for more than just a choice through opinion would be good too, if you're up for that.
Can you give me an idea of what kinds of things you are thinking would be interesting, from a participation perspective?
And again, to both, thanks for the support
| Azten |
The usual hidden purpose, some mastermind nudging them toward a specific goal, or betrayal could be rather interesting. Especially if there are hints we don't notice until they are pointed out.
|
Nightskies
|
^
Having lures for both/all choices. Choices that involve sacrifice of some sort. Some that have a defined cost just to try it but offering a potential and defined reward. Oh, and multiple choices sometimes, rather than just A/B, but not just to give more choices. For example, should the group prepare to ambush an unaware enemy, go back to find another route to avoid them, or charge them to save time? As for opinion seeking, it can be anytime for any purpose. You could ask for what we want to do, rather than giving choices, though that can be unpredictable.
B) Go back. I've got a feeling that the damsel might have been passed up.
| Azten |
Hmm, the goblins know the group is there now, and might be getting ready. On the other hand, if there is something worse further in, I wouldn't want to have to run from it and fight the goblins. Two front battles aren't good ideas.
I say B.
| Terquem |
Part 11
When Veranum woke, the first thing he noticed was the light from Tommy’s torch. He had been dreaming, a pleasant dream considering the situation.
He was rowing a small boat, and Melianami was resting her head in his lap. In the dream it was a cloudy, but calm, day, and he was rowing the boat, a small little boat like the one his father used to take him fishing in, slowly across a large still lake. Overhead the clouds began to part and the sun was shining brightly. He wanted to look down, at Melianami, but he found his eyes drifting to the sky, and he blinked against the bright sunshine. And then he woke to the bright light glowing in the little room where they had been resting.
Melianami was still sleeping. Her head was still on Veranum’s lap, but she had rolled over at some time and was facing away from him. Kaskonni was sleeping as well, gust a few feet away from him. Her head was resting on her backpack, and her legs were pulled up, she was sleeping on her side, with her knees almost touching Veranum’s left leg.
“Tommy,” Veranum whispered, “are you sure it’s safe to have a torch lit right now? How long have I been asleep?”
“Well I really didn’t have a choice,” Tommy said turning to face Veranum. “The coin gave out while Kaskonni was up. I slept for a couple of hours at least. When she woke me up, I lit a torch, and kept it lit for a while and then I tried to put it out, but I got a bit freaked by how dark it was and lit it back up again. This is the second torch, and these usually last a good while, so I’d say you’ve slept a few hours at least. Nothing has come this way and I don’t know if that makes me feel good or bad.”
“I suppose that was best,” Veranum said. “I also suppose it’s time we got everyone up and made a plan.”
Veranum shook Melianami’s shoulder, gently as he called her name quietly, “Meli, Meli wake up, we have to get on the move now.”
He half expected her to wake with a start, but she didn’t. Melianami lifted her head slowly, and as she did her body twisted, her tail unrolled and uncoiled to be as straight as it could be. Her tail nearly reached the far wall, near the doorway, and then it rolled in the opposite direction and as she curled it toward herself she rose from the floor.
It was an amazing thing to watch, Veranum thought, how Melianami’s body could move in so many ways at the same time. And the way she raised up from the floor looked nothing like the way a regular human would get up, no awkward shifting of legs or pushing off the ground with hands. She just rose, slowly, quietly, gracefully.
“How do you feel, Meli?” Veranum asked as he got to his feet, aware of how awkward and difficult it was for him to do so.
“Good,” Melianami answered. “Rested,” she added as she stretched her arms above her head. “Do I have time to pray or are we in a hurry?”
“No, go ahead,” Veranum said. “I’ll wake Kaskonni and then we’ll talk about our plan.”
“Your plan?” melianami asked.
“Yes,” veranum said with a bit of hesitation. “While you were sleeping we sort of talked about what we should do next and we all agreed that we should try to get back to where we came in.”
“Why?” Melianami asked coming closer to Veranum. “We’ve made a lot of progress and we should keep exploring.”
“No,” Tommy said. “I agree we can keep exploring, but we are in a bad situation right now with too many unknowns behind us. We passed a couple of turns, passages, openings in the tunnels while we were running from those Goblins, and before we go any deeper into this maze, we need to be sure of how to get back safely. Once we know we can get in and out safely, we can do a better job marking our way, and discovering the secrets of this place, and let’s not forget that there could be a person down here that needs our help. If she is still alive, she needs us to find her.”
Melianami breathed deeply and tilted her head to the left as she took in what Tommy said. Veranum expected her to oppose Tommy’s advice.
“You’re right,” Melianami said. “Let’s go back, carefully and find out what’s there. I need about a half an hour to pray and ready spells and then we can go. Vern are you ready?”
“Yes, I’m ready,” Veranum said as he knelt down beside Kaskonni. He put one hand on her thigh and shook her gently. Her leg was firm, even through the thick leather of her pants he could feel the ripple of her muscle under his hand. With amazing speed Kaskonni’s hand darted to his and took him by the wrist.
“Wha, What?” Kaskonni said as she came out of a deep sleep. “Oh, sorry Vern,” she added as she released her hold on him.
As her hand loosened, Veranum rolled his fingers into hers and took a gentle hold of her hand. It’s fine, Kaskonni. You didn’t hurt me. It’s time to get ready to go. IF you are hungry I’ve got some rations, and a little wine. Melianami needs a little time to get ready.”
Kaskonni gently squeezed Veranums fingers and smiled at him as she sat up.
“Okay, that sounds good,” Kaskonni said.
Tommy, Kaskonni and Veranum gathered into a small circle and shared some biscuits, dried apricots, and salted pork. They each had a small waterskin, but Veranum produced a good sized metal flask, filled with wine, and they all shared a drink from it.
As they ate, Veranum watched Melianami go through a simple prayer ritual. She lowered her head, almost to the ground, to just above a small pool of water near one wall of the room. Melianami cupped her hands in the shallow pool and then carefully poured the water over her head as she muttered several passages of a prayer. She repeated this, three times, and then coiled her tail into a tight circle around her lower body, and settled into a sort of sitting position. It was the first time Veranum noticed that Melianami actually had some sort of leg like structure below her waist. Her pelvic area tilted backward, and below that her body, covered in small glistening scales bent, where it almost looked as though she had knees, until she was sitting on her tail. She held her hands, with her palms turned upward, close to her navel, and seemed to sway back and forth in meditation.
When Melianami was finished with her meditation, Veranum couldn’t resist asking her about her body.
“Meli,” veranum said, “I hope you don’t mind but I noticed, when you were praying, that it looks almost like you have legs.”
“No I don’t mind,” Melianami began.
Before she could go on Kaskonni interrupted her, “You have such an amazing body.”
Melianami looked past Veranum at Kaskonni, and Veranum couldn’t tell if her expression was curiosity, or annoyance.
“Thank you, Kaskonni,” Melianami said. “I guess you don’t see many of our kind very often.”
“No,” Kaskonni and Veranum said together.
“Snake-bodied people aren’t very common anywhere that I know of,” Tommy said.
Melianami turned to Tommy and corrected him, gently but firmly, “Lizard, not snake. It is an important distinction. There was a time when our ancestors were at war with the Yaun-kind, the snake-bodied people.”
“Oh, sorry,” Tommy said.
“What is the difference?” Kaskonni asked coming close to stand behind Veranum.
“Well snakes, and snake-bodied humanoids, have long bodies and short tails, whereas our kind, Lizard-bodied folk have short, normal sized, bodies and long tails. My body is about the same, in length, as an Eshian, maybe a little larger, and yes, Vern, I have legs, well sort of. Some time in our past we once had lower legs like a common lizard, but we changed, probably due to the will of our goddess, so that we lost our lower legs and the bones of our thighs withdrew and became fused at a single knee, which we still have. There are other things that make us very different from the snake-bodied kind, but it’s not appropriate to talk about those kinds of things in mixed company.”
“Oh,” Kaskonni exhaled, “I understand.”
“You do?” Melianami said with a giggle.
“Yes, I do,” Kaskonni said with a wink as she stepped around Veranum and put her arm around Melianami’s small shoulders. She leaned close to Melianami and whispered into her ear.
Veranum didn’t hear what Kaskonni whispered, but Melianami blushed, smiled and turned her face to whisper back to Kaskonni and the women shared a laugh.
“Well thank you for that information, Meli,” Veranum said. “If you two are done chit-chatting in secret, let’s make a plan for how we are getting out of here.”
They gathered together in a small circle, checked their inventories, Tommy was down to four crossbow bolts, and Kaskonni had left behind one spear, but both felt confident that if they back tracked, they could get their gear back.
“If we run into the Goblins, in force, this time,” Veranum said, “I won’t hesitate to turn the heat up. I have a spell prepared that should send them running, but I want you all to know that it is the kind of spell that doesn’t discriminate. I’ll try to give a warning, and if I do, get out of the way.”
“Then we're ready?” Kaskonni asked.
“Yes,” Veranum answered, “and you are going to be in the lead. I’ll be right behind, just let me check the map and then we’ll go. But just so I know what we are planning, are we going to look for this December person? Or move for the exit as quick as we can?”
Choose your own Adventure
A) Looking for December will mean taking side passages and checking areas that were bypassed when the party was escaping a large number of Goblins
B) Heading for the exit, means that the party gives up, for now, looking for the missing woman, whoever she might be.
| Terquem |
Part 12
She had been moving as slowly as she could. It wasn’t easy. Each of the others stepped lightly, lifting each foot and putting out in front of them so carefully, but that was something she couldn’t do.
“Meli, stop” she heard Veranum say from behind her.
Kaskonni froze, in front of her, but kept her posture, slightly bent, with her arms held out wide, axe in her right hand, and a spear in her left.
“What is it?” Melianami said, turning her head to the side and whispering behind her.
Veranum moved up slowly until he was standing next to her. “I have an idea,” he said, “can you raise your body up, extend it forward and set down again, and then roll your tail like a wave?”
She had never thought of that before, and as she imagined what it was he had suggested, she tried it. Concentrating as hard as she could, Melianami rose up, nearly a foot and a half, and then, using the muscles just below her knee, she extended forward until she could not hold herself up any longer. When she touched the ground, she lifted her tail, focusing on rolling that part of her tail forward and keeping it in the air. She moved two feet forward without making a sound. It had been hard, but she could do it.
“Yes I can,” she said smiling back at Veranum. “It will be slow, but I can do it. That was a great idea Vern.”
Kaskonni turned slowly and waved her axe toward the rest of them, a signal they had all learned meant she wanted them to come closer.
They gathered close to Kaskonni, and Tommy said, “What’s up?”
“Ahead of us,” Kaskonni whispered, “is a room, a cave off to the left of the passage. It’s where we were surprised by those Goblins yesterday. It was dark yesterday, but there is light coming from there now, look,” she pointed ahead of them with her spear.
The other three moved closer to Kaskonni, standing beside her.
“It’s not very bright, but it’s definitely light,” Tommy said.
“It looks like a small fire,” veranum added, “from the way it flickers.”
“Why would Goblins need a fire?” melianami asked.
“Do you think it’s our missing lady?” Veranum asked.
“It might be,” Melianami answered. She put her hand over Veranum’s, the hand he was holding the coin that gave them the light to move by, and said, “Kaskonni can you move forward and check it out? Be careful.”
At first, Melianami noticed that Kaskonni was looking down at the hand Melianami was covering the light with. Just enough light was escaping her fingers to show the downturn of kaskonni’s head. Then, moving one finger slightly, Melianami exposed a bit more light and said, “Is that alright, Kaskonni?”
Kaskonni turned her head upward, and Melianami thought she saw something sad in her eyes, but before she could ask Kaskonni what she was thinking, the half-orc woman nodded her head in agreement, turned and crept down the passageway.
The passageway was a worked tunnel, with bracing on the walls and ceilings made from stacked stones of different sizes. It was very different from the very first passage they had explored, which seemed to be a wide hall with an arched ceiling. No one had wanted to risk using more light, so that Melianami could make out the details of the ceiling, more than ten feet over their heads in that first passageway, but she thought she made out faded paintings. Now, here in this Goblin made tunnel, with a ceiling only a foot above Kaskonni’s head, Melianami felt confined.
The opening ahead of them was forty feet or more away, and Melianami couldn’t bring herself to expose the light anymore than she was. She watched Kaskonni move slowly away from them, toward the faint yellow glow ahead and on the left.
“If it is her, she must be alright,” Tommy said quietly in the near darkness.
Veranum didn’t say a thing, and it was quiet, so quiet that Melianami wasn’t even sure Kaskonni was still moving. She couldn’t make out the big woman, in the darkness ahead, but then a shadow moved across her view of the light ahead, telling her Kaskonni was still inching forward slowly.
She wasn’t afraid. Melaianami kept reassuring herself that she wasn’t afraid. They had avoided, or defeated all of the Goblins they had come across so far, but still she couldn’t fight a feeling growing inside her that they had only been lucky, so far. Everyone had been so brave, all of them, Kaskonni probably more than any of them, but Tommy too, and Veranum, especially Veranum. He had kept a cool head every time they were in trouble, and he had kept them moving when they needed to keep moving. He was a good man, for a human, Melianami thought. But why was it that every time she talked to him, Kaskonni had a strange look on her face? Did Kaskonni not trust Veranum? Melianami knew that some warriors, and soldiers among her own people were often suspicious of Magic-Users, Clerics or Wizards, because they didn’t understand how they could wield that sort of power so effortlessly, maybe that was true among human types as well. She wanted to ask Veranum about it, and also tell them how good she felt about the way they were all getting along.
“I just want to say something –" Melianami began but was interrupted by the sound of Kaskonni’s shouts.
“Everyone get down here fast! Help!” Kaskonni shouted.
Tommy and veranum leapt forward into a run, together at the same time. Melianami had to let go of Veranum’s hand, and he lifted the coin up as high as he could, filling the passageway with light. The men were half a dozen feet ahead of her before she moved, but then Melianami surprised them.
Up until now she had not felt it appropriate to move naturally. She had been keeping her body upright, and moved in a way similar to the human kind. She knew it made them comfortable to interact with her kind that way, but now she knew that wasn’t important.
Melianami dropped low to the ground until her waist was touching the floor, only her chest, arms, and head were off of the ground, and those only inches. She shot forward with a burst of speed. Her movements were tight, a sharp side to side motion that propelled her across the ground at more than twice her speed when she moved the way she had been. Before Tommy and Veranum reached the cave on the left ahead of them, Melianami was already there.
The cave was illuminated by a small fire in a pit in the center of the space and Melianami took in what was going on around her as quickly as she could.
Behind the fire, directly in front of her, two Goblins were drawing arrows in small bows. On her right, was a carcass, a body of some kind, it had been chopped into pieces. There was no blood, so it had not been chopped up in this cave. On her left Kaskonni was being overwhelmed by at least a dozen or more of the small foul monsters. The Goblins were different, mostly, from the ones they had encountered before. Before all of the Goblins had been about the same size, a bit shorter than Tommy, with oversized heads, long spindly arms and legs, and wide mouths full of sharp teeth, big pointed ears, and grotesque bent and misshapen noses. But some of these Goblins were smaller, and some were obviously older, and some were definitely females, and Melianami could tell that because none of them were wearing any clothing, except the ones behind the fire, firing arrows at Kaskonni. Before Melianami could take any action, the two Goblins behind the fire launched their arrows, and one of the arrows struck Kaskonni in the right leg, below her knee.
The Goblins attacking Kaskonni directly were not armed with weapons, but were clawing and trying to bite her as she swung her axe at them trying to scatter them away from her.
“Kaskonni, No!” Melianami heard Veranum shout as he came into the cave.
From behind her Melianami knew that Tommy had fired his small crossbow, because she saw the bolt strike a Goblin as it was trying to climb up Kaskonni’s injured leg. The Goblen jerked into a twisted position, and fell off of Kaskonni.
“Help her!” Melianami shouted, and pointed at the Goblins on the other side of the fire.
Tommy began trying to load his crossbow, but Melianami knew they couldn’t help Kaskonni quickly enough that way and shouted toward Tommy, “You’ve got to get on top of them, now!” Then she turned to Veranum as she began the motions to cast a spell that she hoped would cause the Goblins closest to them to panic with fear, “Do something that can get them off of her!” she yelled.
Choose your Own Adventure
Veranum has memorized, Enlarge Person and Burning Hands, his ring will allow him to cast any spell in his spell book (Enlarge Person, Color Spray, Silent Image, Burning Hands, Identify, and Shield). He has the following cantrips prepared, Detect Magic, Daze, Light, and Ray of Frost.
What should Veranum do? And Should Tommy load and fire his crossbow, or change weapons, readying a Goblin sword (he does not have a +1 BAB, so it will take an action to do so).
Melianami intends to cast Cause fear, and kaskonni is going to be attacked by five Goblins this round. There are a total of seven goblins within two squares of Kaskonni, and the Goblin Archers are five squares away from Kaskonni, with partial concealment.
|
Nightskies
|
Daze the other archer. Those goblin tooth and nail may be nasty and might even make Kaskonni unconscious, but the bow is a deadly weapon. If both the daze and fear land, Tommy should have enough time to put down the dazed goblin with his crossbow easily. Then go for the sword.
| Terquem |
Part 13
The teeth bit into her wrist with a ferocity she wasn’t expecting. She felt her skin being torn as the nasty little creature wriggled and gnawed twisting its large head back and forth. With all her strength, Kaskonni flung her arm to the side aiming for the wall to her left.
There was a sound of bones snapped like sticks and the rupture of organs when the Goblin was smashed against the wall, but the mouth didn’t release. The biting stopped, but now Kaskonni had the corpse of an immature Goblin attached to her wrist.
She stepped backward, and swung her axe in a low sweeping arc in front of her, and watched as the weapon connected with two more of the monsters. The blade of the axe, though small, not as large as a battle axe by far, was as large as the heads of the Goblins it struck and it split flesh and bone with ease.
Something hit Kaskonni in the leg. Glancing, just for a moment, downward, Kaskonni saw a small arrow protruding from the muscle of her calf, just below the knee.
Kaskonni was no longer registering any pain. The Goblins, four or more of them, she couldn’t tell, swarmed around her, biting and clawing at her legs, and her hands whenever she dropped them low enough. She felt one of the creatures trying to grab onto her belt, behind her, and in a desperate move she lunged backward crushing the Goblin against the wall. With her back now to the wall she felt stronger and better positioned. She screamed a war cry, swung the axe violently back and forth, and kicked with her uninjured leg at the rapidly closing in monsters.
“Kaskonni, No!” Kaskonni heard Veranum shout as he came into the cave.
She turned to look in that direction and saw that Melianami was ahead of him, and Tommy was coming in behind him.
Melianami shouted something, but her head was turned away from Kaskonni.
Then Kaskonni saw Tommy point the small crossbow at her, and she watched as the bolt lept out of the device and flew across the cave.
“Why would Tommy be firing at her?” Kaskonni wondered silently, and then as her eyes followed the path of the bolt she watched it strike the back of a small Goblin that had climbed up her boot and was about to bite into her leg where the arrow was lodged. The Goblin twisted in a spasm of pain and fell off of her. It was an amazing shot.
Everything was happening in a blur, and Kaskonni was loving every bit of it.
With every move that pushed the Goblins back, with every death of one of the little monsters, she became more excited. Her blood raged and she felt her heart racing in her chest.
Melianami and Veranum each, almost each in perfect time with the other, took one step forward and gestured in ways Kaskonni could only guess meant that they were casting spells. She tried to keep her attention on the small Goblins assaulting her but she risked a glance in the direction the two were facing, that was when she saw that there were two full grown Goblins, standing on the other side of the small fire in the cave, and they were holding small bows, drawing arrows and readying themselves to fire in her direction, again.
Her leg began to bleed. One of the small Goblins had managed, without her noticing it, to get a hand on the arrow and wrench it violently to the side. The wound tore open, and blood began to flow down her leg.
Disregarding the pain entirely, Kaskonni stomped her foot forward toward the Goblin with the arrow in its hand. The little thing couldn’t decide to dodge, and let go of the arrow, and that was its doom.
Her foot slammed into the Goblin’s chest, driving the little creature into the ground and crushing the life out of it.
Kaskonni looked back at the Goblins across the cave. One of the Goblins seemed to stand rigidly, transfixed, with its head tilted to one side. She could not make out the face of the thing, through the flames of the small fire, but it seemed as if the thing had suddenly forgotten what it had wanted to do. She saw no sign of the other Goblin at all.
Filled with the confidence that they were going to easily overcome the Goblins, Kaskonni lunged forward, again sweeping ahead of her with the long handled axe. She shifted, side to side, and moved with the practiced steps of a trained close quarter fighter. Another Goblin fell to the swing of her axe and two more, the smallest of the Goblins, were driven back away from her onslaught. Her body felt alive with fire and energy as she kept herself bent at the knees and waist, shifting, dodging, and flexing her shoulders. All of her violent motions had loosed the leather strap holding her hair in a pony, and her thick black tresses swung about with abandon. She imagined that, to the Goblins, she must look like a demon brought to life from their darkest nightmares, Kaskonni the Wild, they would say, if they lived to tell about it. As much as that pleased her, she had no intention of letting any of them live to tell about it.
One of the smallest Goblins rushed at her left leg. Kaskonni dipped her stance, and swung her left arm in a wide overhead arc to backhand it as it approached. Her hand connected and sent the thing flying across the cave, while with the other hand she swung the long handled axe downward and cleaved another Goblin from the top of its head to its groin.
Having finally gotten the upper hand, on the half dozen Goblins that had attacked her, Kaskonni turned her head to see what her new friends were doing.
Tommy was moving, quickly, across the cave and toward the Goblin who had been standing still, While Veranum moved around the opposite side of the small fire. Veranum stopped and drew a long, slim dagger from a sheath that blended into his robes where they were gathered in at his belt. As Tommy closed on the Goblin, stabbing forward with the small sword he had taken earlier, Veranum thrust out his arm, and by the force of his will caused the dagger he was holding to fly out of his hand and across the cave to somewhere out of Kaskonni field of vision.
Meanwhile, Melianami had come toward Kaskonni. The lizard-kin Cleric had no weapon, only the bow she had taken from the dead Goblin outside of the caves. She was holding the bow with both hands and trying to wield it like a club. Her swing was poor, it lacked any real power and it was obvious to Kaskonni that she had never been shown how to put her body into that kind of attack. But the blow, though weak, was enough to drive the Goblin forward in surprise and that gave Kaskonni the opportunity to slash at it with her axe. The axe connected with the Goblin and took off its arm at the shoulder. The little monster howled in pain and fell to the ground.
Tommy’s attack had been ineffective, but he should have known better than to try and stab with a sword designed for slicing. The only thing it accomplished was to force the Goblin to drop the bow it was holding, and draw a small knife from its belt. Tommy and the Goblin began to circle each other, each looking for an opportunity to strike, while Veranum, who Kaskonni could see was again holding the dagger he had flung across the cave, moved in closer to the pair, looking for a way to help Tommy.
“But how had Veranum recovered the dagger?” Kaskonni wondered. “Was it the same dagger after all?” She had not been watching him closely, and could not be certain.
The Goblin caught sight of Veranum trying to sneak up on it from behind, and as it was distracted, Tommy leapt toward it, swinging the small sword with both hands. The sword bit deep into the side of the Goblin’s head, slitting it to the jaw, and killing it instantly.
For a moment Kaskonni thought that all of the Goblins had been taken care of, but there was one very small Goblin left. The last small Goblin jumped at her left arm, and managed to get hold of her just below the elbow. It wrapped its tiny arms around her arm and opened its huge mouth to bit her.
Thinking quickly, Kaskonni dropped her axe, and reached for the Goblin’s neck. Her fingers wrapped around the small neck and she squeezed with all of her strength. The Goblin made a sound like the squeak from a mouse, and then a gurgle rolled out of its lips as she felt the bones and tissue in her hand being crushed.
All of the Goblins that had been in the cave were now either dead, or dying, and Kaskonni, taking deep breaths, felt indestructible and alive.
She managed one more breath, and then Kaskonni’s vision went dark, and she felt herself falling forward and slipping into unconsciousness.
Choose your Own Adventure
What should the rest of the party do now?
|
Nightskies
|
Ah, Kaskonni, you may be bloody, but you're all the more charming for it.
Tommy: Examine. Think. Make sense of what we stumbled upon. The real goblin warriors could be back soon, and if they still have December alive, they may not for long finding what happened here. That is, if this body isn't December's. If Kaskonni is too hard to move and can't be awoken, we might have to fortify as best as possible here.
Veranum: Help tend to Kaskonni, but don't get tunnel vision. Tommy is reasonable, and now may be a good time to take advice from him. Still, he may miss something you'll notice. A map, perhaps?
Melianami: ...I'm not sure what we should have the healer do here... healing the fighter sounds acceptable though. After a bit, if Tommy hasn't come up with a good idea, we probably should prepare to deal with the goblin war party or avoid them if that isn't looking okay.
| Terquem |
“I need help,” Melianami called out.
Tommy’s heart was racing, he could feel every beat, hard and strong in his chest. Veranum had headed deeper into the cave, right after Tommy had cut down the Goblin between them, and Tommy didn’t see Kaskonni anywhere at all. Then, when Tommy heard Melianami call out and turned to see what the matter was, he saw the big woman on the ground, face down, and Meli tending to her.
Melianami leaned over Kaskonni and her hands were moving quickly from one place to another.
Tommy felt worried. The Cavern was a dead end. They had stumbled upon a small group of Goblins, mostly very young and very old Goblins, with a few females, having a meal. The meal was someone, maybe someone he knew. Everything had happened so quickly, Kaskonni calling out, too loudly, Melianami moving so fast to get past him and Veranum. Then he lost track of everyone.
“Veranum, help Meli with Kaskonni. I’ve got to make sure we aren’t going to get ambushed here, quickly, Veranum?” Tommy called out as loudly as he dared.
“Kaskonni! What happened?” Tommy heard Veranum call out.
“And keep your voices down,” Tommy hissed, “Both of you.”
He spun around slowly, and took in everything he could see in the shadows cast by the small fire. Aside from the corpses of the Goblins, the only other thing in the cavern was the remains of a small human, or possibly an Eshian. Tommy didn’t have time to examine the dismembered corpse. He kicked at the small fire, knocking a piece of wood out of the center of the flames, and picking it up by the end that wasn’t burning he moved cautiously back to the mouth of the cavern.
Tommy stepped slowly, holding the lighted stick low, and moved toward the wall of the cavern, where it met the passageway where they had come from. He knew he was breathing loud, and he took a moment to press his back against the cavern wall. He breathed deeply, tried to calm down, and then carefully peered around the corner of the wall, looking up and down the passageway. It was nearly impossible to see anything in the near blackness of the passageway. He kept the burning stick held close to the wall, and fought with the idea of lifting it up and holding it out into the passageway. It might give him some sight, but it would give him away as soon as he moved it. He waited, taking each breath in deep and thinking about his beating heart. If they were going to come now, it would be over. Even with whatever spells Veranum and Melianami had at their disposal, there was no way the three of them could make a stand against more than only a few Goblins, and then, if it were only a few, they would need the luck of Gallamen, the Halfling God, if they stood any chance at all. He looked again. Would the Goblins be carrying light, torches, no, he knew they wouldn’t, but would they be quiet? Yes that was his best hope. He stood still, closed his eyes, and concentrated on listening for any sounds at all coming from the passageway. It was quiet, so quiet that he could hear the crackle of the fire burning on the stick in his hand.
Tommy opened his eyes and went toward Melianami and Veranum. The two of them had rolled Kaskonni onto her back. The half-orc woman was bleeding from wounds on her arms, and one of her legs. Lying on the round she didn’t look any less formidable. Kaskonni was a powerful and large woman, but the calm look on her face terrified him. Kaskonni had large eyes and a wide mouth and her face was always animated, smiling or frowning, looking pensive one moment and the next making eyes at Veranum, her expressions were always filled with life and with her face now calm and serene Tommy knew he missed her expressions more than he missed her strength.
“Is she going to make it?” Tommy asked as he knelt down on one knee beside Kaskonni.
“She’s alive, but we have to stop the bleeding or I’m afraid any spell I cast to heal her wounds will be wasted. My spells are not powerful and sometimes they cannot stop a badly bleeding wound,” Melianami whispered. “Can you get into the pack on my back and find a large brown cloth sack. There are bandages in the sack.”
Veranum was struggling to keep pressure on Kaskonni’s leg, where the arrow was lodged, but the wound seeped blood past his fingers.
“Veranum,” Tommy said, “you’re going to have to pull the arrow out. It’s the only way to stop the bleeding.”
Veranum’s face shot up and his expression was pained, “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” Tommy said. “I’ll hold her leg. Do it quickly.” Tommy fell across Kaskonni and wrapped his arms around Kaskonni’s knee. “Pull it out, now.”
Veranum seemed to fumble, but then found his determination. “Kaskonni, if you can hear me, I’m sorry,” he said and thenwith both hands on the arrow he pulled as hard and as fast as he could.
The arrow was lodge deeply in the muscle of her leg and it came free with a terrible sound.
“Press your hands hard against the wound,” Tommy said. He then scrambled off of Kaskonni and moved around behind Melianami. “How long do you think she can hold on?” Tommy whispered into Melianami’s ear as he open the pack on her back.
“Not very long I think, I can cast a healing spell, twice, but is has to make a difference, I can’t waste the effort. Unless you think I should.”
“Don’t let her die,” Veranum said. “You can’t let her die.”
“She isn’t going to die,” Tommy said. “Not now. Here,” he handed Melianami the small brown sack.
Melianami didn’t waste time with the cords wrapped around the sack. She dug he fingernails into the thin material and ripped the sack apart.
There were rolls of light gauze and a small round metal tin in the sack and the items spilled onto the ground as the material was rended. Tommy snatched a roll of gauze, while Melianami took a second one and both of them began wrapping Kaskonni’s arms.
“I think the bleeding on her leg has stopped,” Veranum said.
“Keep holding pressure on it,” Tommy said. “This bite has stopped bleeding. Kaskonni is tougher than we think. Meli, go ahead and cast a cure on her. I think she’ll be back on her feet in no time.”
Melianami finished wrapping Kaskonni’s other arm, another bite wound near her wrist, and tied a knot in the gauze before tearring it and passing the remainder of the roll to Veranum. She moved to stand close to Veranum, and then gently eased his hands off of Kaskonni’s leg. Melianami bandaged the wound, and softly spoke a spell as she did.
Veranum shuffled across the floor of the cavern on his knees until he was near Kaskonni’s head. He put his arms around Kaskonni’s shoulders and gently raised her head off of the cold dirt, and then he scooted his knees forward until her head was resting in his lap. The magical healing energy of Melianami’s spell flowed into Kaskonni and roused her. She blinked twice, and then looked up. The first face she saw was Veranum’s, and Tommy watched as a smile came too her lips. The life was back in Kaskonni, and Tommy sighed with relief.
“I’m going to search the cavern,” Tommy said. He rose to his feet and walked toward the fire.
“They were eating that person, weren’t they?” Veranum said quietly. “Do you think it is the elven woman?”
“It wasn’t a woman,” Tommy said. He approached the remains. It was clear to him, from the pieces of the corpse on the ground, that it was not a woman. Most of the lower legs were still attached to the groin, but the upper body was missing. There was one arm, complete to the shoulder lying off by itself, and one foot, the foot that was in the fire, now burnt black, but there was no sign of a head, or chest. The smell of the burning flesh filled the cavern. A wave of nausea swelled up in Tommy's guts. It wasn’t easy to look at the remains, but he had to do it. From the look of what was left of the body this was not an Eshian, not a Halfling adult and too large to be a Halfling child. “This looks like the remains of a human, a human boy. He was probably an older teen, maybe even a young man. It’s hard for me to tell. I’m going to check the bodies of the Goblins, so keep your ears open for any sound of the rest of the Goblins. I don’t know much about Goblin tribes, but I imagine if they come back, and find this, they will be worse than the last time we fought. There isn’t any change we’re going to scare them off after they find this.”
| Terquem |
Part 14 and Part 15
(I am reposting part 14, because I found a ton of things wrong with it, little things that bugged me.)
“I need help,” Melianami called out.
Tommy’s heart was racing. He could feel every beat, hard and strong in his chest. Veranum had headed deeper into the cave, right after Tommy had cut down the Goblin between them, and Tommy didn’t see Kaskonni anywhere at all. Then, when Tommy heard Melianami call out and turned to see what the matter was, he saw the big woman on the ground, face down, and Melianami tending to her. Melianami leaned over Kaskonni and her hands were moving quickly from one place to another.
Tommy was worried. The Cavern was a dead end. They had stumbled upon a small group of Goblins, mostly very young and very old Goblins, with a few females, having a meal. The meal was someone, maybe someone he knew. Everything had happened so quickly, Kaskonni calling out, too loudly, Melianami moving so fast to get past him and Veranum. Then he lost track of everyone.
“Veranum, help Meli with Kaskonni. I’ve got to make sure we aren’t going to get ambushed here, quickly, Veranum?” Tommy called as loudly as he dared.
“Kaskonni?” Veranum called out.
“And keep your voices down,” Tommy hissed, “Both of you.”
He spun around slowly, and took in everything he could see in the dim light and long shadows cast by the small fire. Aside from the corpses of the Goblins, the only other thing in the cavern was the remains of a small human, or possibly an Eshian. Tommy didn’t have time to examine the dismembered corpse. He kicked at the small fire, knocking a piece of wood out of the center of the flames, and picking it up by the end that wasn’t burning he moved cautiously back to the mouth of the cavern.
Tommy stepped slowly, holding the flaming stick low and out to his side. He moved toward the wall of the cavern, where it met the passageway where they had come from. He knew he was breathing hard, and loud, and he took a moment to press his back against the cavern wall. He breathed deeply, tried to calm down, and then carefully peered around the corner of the wall, looking up and down the passageway.
It was nearly impossible to see anything in the near blackness of the underground. He kept the burning stick held close to the wall, and fought with the idea of lifting it up and holding it out into the passageway. It might give him some sight, but it would give him away as soon as he moved it. He waited, taking each breath in deep and thinking about his beating heart. If they were going to come now, it would be over. Even with whatever spells Veranum and Melianami had at their disposal, there was no way the three of them could make a stand against more than only a few Goblins, and then, if it were only a few, they would need the luck of Gallamen, the Halfling God, if they stood any chance at all. He looked again. Would the Goblins be carrying light, torches? No, he knew they wouldn’t be, but would they be quiet? Yes that was his best hope. He stood still, closed his eyes, and concentrated on listening for any sounds at all coming from the passageway. It was quiet, so quiet that he could hear the crackle of the fire burning on the stick in his hand.
Tommy opened his eyes and then walked slowly toward Melianami and Veranum. The two of them had rolled Kaskonni onto her back. The half-orc woman was bleeding from wounds on both of her arms, and one of her legs. Lying on the round she didn’t look any less formidable. Kaskonni was a powerful and large woman, but the calm look on her face terrified him. Kaskonni had large eyes and a wide mouth and her face was always animated, smiling or frowning, looking pensive one moment and the next making eyes at Veranum, her expressions were always filled with life and with her face now calm and serene Tommy knew he missed her expressions more than he missed her strength.
“Is she going to make it?” Tommy asked as he knelt down on one knee beside Kaskonni.
“She’s alive, but we have to stop the bleeding or I’m afraid any spell I cast to heal her wounds will be wasted. My spells are not powerful and sometimes they cannot stop a badly bleeding wound,” Melianami whispered. “Can you get into the pack on my back and find a large brown, cloth sack. There are bandages in the sack.”
Veranum was struggling to keep pressure on Kaskonni’s leg, where the arrow was lodged, but the wound seeped blood past his fingers.
“Veranum,” Tommy said, “you’re going to have to pull the arrow out. It’s the only way to stop the bleeding.”
Veranum’s face shot up and his expression was pained, “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” Tommy said. “I’ll hold her leg. Do it quickly.” Tommy fell across Kaskonni and wrapped his arms around Kaskonni’s knee. “Pull it out, now.”
Veranum seemed to fumble, but then found his determination. “Kaskonni, if you can hear me, I’m sorry,” he said and then with both hands on the arrow he pulled as hard and as fast as he could.
The arrow was not lodged deeply. It came free suddenly and with a terrible sound.
“Press your hands hard against the wound,” Tommy said. He then scrambled off of Kaskonni and moved around behind Melianami. “How long do you think she can hold on?” Tommy whispered into Melianami’s ear as he open the pack on her back.
“Not very long, I think. I can cast a healing spell, twice, but is has to make a difference, I can’t waste the effort. Unless you think I should.”
“Don’t let her die,” Veranum said. “You can’t let her die.”
“She isn’t going to die,” Tommy said. “Not now, not here,” he handed Melianami the small brown sack.
Melianami didn’t waste time with the cords wrapped around the sack. She dug he fingernails into the thin material and ripped the sack apart. There were rolls of light gauze and a small round metal tin in the sack and the items spilled onto the ground. Tommy snatched a roll of gauze, while Melianami took a second one and both of them began wrapping Kaskonni’s arms.
“I think the bleeding on her leg has stopped,” Veranum said.
“Keep holding pressure on it,” Tommy said. “This bite has stopped bleeding. Kaskonni is tougher than we think. Meli, go ahead and cast a cure on her. I think she’ll be back on her feet in no time.”
Melianami finished wrapping Kaskonni’s other arm, another bite wound near her wrist, and tied a knot in the gauze before tearing it loose from the remainder of the roll. She moved to stand close to Veranum, and then gently eased his hands off of Kaskonni’s leg. Melianami bandaged the wound with the last of the roll of gauze and softly spoke a spell as she did. Veranum shuffled across the floor of the cavern on his knees until he was near Kaskonni’s head. He put his arms around Kaskonni’s shoulders and gently raised her head off of the cold dirt, and then he scooted his knees forward until her head was resting in his lap.
The magical healing energy of Melianami’s spell flowed into Kaskonni and roused her. She blinked twice, and then looked up. The first face she saw was Veranum’s, and Tommy watched as a smile came to her lips. The life was back in Kaskonni, and Tommy sighed with relief.
“I’m going to search the cavern,” Tommy said. He rose to his feet and walked toward the fire.
“They were eating that person, weren’t they?” Veranum said quietly. “Do you think it was the elven woman?”
“It wasn’t a woman,” Tommy said as he approached the remains. It was clear to him, from the pieces of the corpse on the ground that it was not a woman. Most of the lower legs were still attached to the groin, but the upper body was missing. There was one arm, complete to the shoulder, and one foot, the foot that was in the fire, now bunt black, but there was no sign of a head, or chest. The smell of the burning flesh filled the cavern. A wave of nausea swelled up in Tommy’s guts. It wasn’t easy to look at the remains, but he had to do it. From the look of what was left of the body this was not an Eshian, not a Halfling adult and too large to be a Halfling child. “This looks like the remains of a human, a human boy. He was probably an older teen, maybe even a young man. It’s hard for me to tell. I’m going to check the bodies of the Goblins, so keep your ears open for any sound of the rest of the Goblins. I don’t know much about Goblin tribes, but I imagine if they come back, and find this, they will be worse than the last time we fought. There isn’t any chance we’re going to scare them off after they see what happened here.”
Part 15
“Is everyone alright?” Kaskonni asked.
“We’re all fine,” Veranum answered. “You were amazing. You saved us all from walking into a terrible situation.”
Her eyes looked up into his and Veranum couldn’t look away.
There was something unmistakably attractive about Kaskonni’s eyes. Veranum had known many women, mostly friends and associates, but of all the women he had ever known, the human women, the Eshians, even the few elves, the Drasbians as they called themselves, he had never seen eyes like hers. Kaskonni’s eyes were so large, and the dark brown color was flecked with bits of gold. When she spoke, Kaskonni’s eyes did half of the talking. She spoke volumes with even the slightest expression. A smile was as loud as a shout, and a raised eyebrow could tell you more than a hundred words. Her eyebrows were full and dark, and the color, like her hair, as black as night, and against her green mottled skin they looked perfect, arched just slightly, and not too thin and not too thick. As half-orc women go, Kaskonni was an exception. She was tall, thick and strong, as many half-orcs were, but she was also very attractive, shapely, curvy, and her face was different, handsome in a very feminine way, not elegant with delicate check bones, or a small chin, no Kaskonni’s beauty was different.
“You saved me?” Kaskonni smiled up at Veranum.
Her smile was more than he could take. Perhaps until now he had been ignoring it, but that smile could not be ignored. Veranum’s lips suddenly felt dry, and his throat seemed to close up on him.
“No,” Veranum managed to whisper. “Melianami and Tommy saved you. I only watched.”
“Oh, that’s not true at all,” Melianami said.
Veranum felt Melianami slide up next to him, and he was found himself turning his head toward her. She was close. Her body, below her skirt, touched his calf and through the thin material of his pants he could feel the scales of her skin. Her face was only inches away from his when he turned. She was looking down at Kaskonni and smiling. Her silky hair fell across the side of her face and hid one of her eyes from his view.
“Veranum removed the Goblin arrow from your leg, and he did it expertly,” Melianami said.
“I didn’t do anything special,” Veranum tried to say.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Melianami said as she raised her head quickly and flipped her hair away from her eyes. She smiled at Veranum. It was not the same kind of smile that Kaskonni had smiled. But as she went on she put one hand on Veranum’s shoulder, “You didn’t hesitate, or falter. What you did was important, and needed to be done quickly.”
For just a moment Veranum looked into Melianami’s eyes and the exchange filled him with a sudden sense of his own confusion.
He turned away from Melianami, and closed his eyes. When he opened them again he was expecting to be looking into Kaskonni’s smiling eyes, but she had turned her head away, and her eyes were shut tightly.
“Rest Kaskonni,” Veranum whispered.
“I’ll be fine,” Kaskonni said quickly. “Just leave me alone for a while. I’ll be fine. You two don’t need to sit watch over me.”
She sounded hurt.
“Are you still in pain?” Melianami asked.
“No. I’m fine,” Kaskonni snapped, and then she added sounding a bit apologetic, “just, just leave me alone and let me rest for a moment or two.”
“Veranum, could you come over here and look at this,” Tommy said from just a few feet away. “And Melianami, could you stay close by Kaskonni and make sure she doesn’t start bleeding again. Maybe get her a drink, a bite of something to eat if you have some rations handy.”
“Will you be alright if I let you rest on the ground?” Veranum asked Kaskonni.
Kaskonni turned her eyes toward Veranum, opened her mouth as if she was about to say something, but before she could speak, Veranum put his hand against the side of Kaskonni’s face, and added, “I would rather stay here and make sure you are comfortable.”
Kaskonni’s eyes closed, and her head pressed against Veranum’s hand. Her lips pressed together tightly and she smiled again.
“Veranum, now, it’s important. Let Melianami put her backpack under Kaskonni’s head. I need you over here, now” Tommy hissed.
“Go on, it must be important,” Melianami said as she slipped her backpack off of her shoulders.
Kaskonni opened her eyes, and tried to crane her head over to look in Tommy’s direction as she said, “Yes, you better see what Tommy’s found. After all, you’re supposed to be the smart one here. Well you and Melianami are both smart, but if Tommy needs you, you should go.”
Veranum carefully raised Kaskonni’s shoulders. It took almost all of his strength to lift her even just slightly. Melianami stuffed her backpack under Kaskonni’s head so that Veranum could slide his legs out, and get to his feet, and then she nodded to Veranum that it was alright for him to go.
He started walking slowly toward Tommy, but Tommy stepped around the small fire and began walking toward the back of the cave. When Veranum asked, “What did you find?” Tommy just waved his hand behind him signaling to Veranum that he should follow him deeper into the cave.
When the two of them reached the very back of the cave, where the ceiling dropped down to meet the floor, Tommy turned to Veranum and asked, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
| Terquem |
Part 16
Tommy was having an animated discussion with Veranum, but Melianami couldn’t hear what he was saying. Looking over her shoulder, all she could see was that Tommy was talking excitedly, and waving his hands in front of him.
“You like him, don’t you?” Kaskonni’s voice drew Melianami back to where she was.
“What?” Melianami asked, as she turned her head back around to look at Kaskonni. She hadn’t understood the question.
“You like him, Veranum, I mean. I can see that he likes you. He is always looking at you, the way you move, the way your hair moves, like water. He is always looking. So do you like him?”
It was a very strange question. Melianami blinked and said, “I don’t understand why you would ask me that. I hardly know any of you. We all just met, a few days ago. And here we are, lost in these caves, fighting to stay alive, and you want to know if I like that man. What do you mean do I like him? So far he seems very smart, and he doesn’t lose his head in difficult situations, and he is competent. Do I like that he is good at what he said he would be good at? Yes, I like that. Do you mean to ask me if I have romantic feelings for him? Why would you ask me that?”
“I don’t know,” Kaskonni said. “I just, I just want to know. Because, well, because I think he is handsome, and I like him, but you, you are so beautiful, and I think he likes you, and I don’t want to be a problem for the two of you, if you like him.”
She had been told, by her mother, back home, that humans and their kind were different, but this was something Melianami couldn’t understand. Did this beauvingian woman, this half-orc, as she called herself, really think now was a time to talk about romantic feelings? How could she be thinking about those things now? How? Among her own kind, Melianami was considered too young to be involved with another in a romantic relationship, even a casual one, what the Gymnagaophthians called a valothema, a coupling for pleasure, something she would not even consider until she was at least twenty five years old, and then it would be years before she chose a mate and planned to have children. It was different with the human kind, but she was not prepared to deal with how different they really were. Did Kaskonni really believe that the two of them should bargain for Veranum’s affections. Is that what she was hinting at? Among the Gymnagaopthians, bargaining, between two who are both interested in another, can be a very complex series of offers and counter offers, and can also include a physical exchange, to know what the other one (the one who is interested in the one you are interested in, is capable of) can do, and what they are good at. Did Kaskonni know these things about her culture? Melianami wasn’t certain. She didn’t know how to answer Kaskonni’s question.
She stared down at Kaskonni. Melianami thought that those of the human kind, even the beauvingians, were not so very different looking from her own kind. They had larger bodies, heads, arms and hands, but they were short, at least short from the perspective of someone with a body and tail that was nearly nine feet long. And Kaskoinni was not unattractive, as human kind go, Melianami thought. Kaskonni had large bright eyes, and a generous mouth. The shape of her face was regular, and unique, though a bit course. But there wasn’t any reason, as far as Melianami could tell, for Kaskonni to think that Veranum would find her, Melianami, more attractive than Kaskonni. After all, as far as the others in her own village were concerned, Melianami was average. There were far more beautiful women in her village than her.
“Well,” Kaskonni said, interrupting Melianami’s thoughts. “If you want me to, I’ll step aside. I won’t get between the two of you. If that’s what you want.”
“Step aside?” Melianami repeated Kaskonni’s words. Among her people, the expression, ‘step aside’, meant, ‘to stand next to and be judged’. Is this really what Kaskonni was asking? Did she want to enter into a contest for Veranum’s affections?
“I don’t think this is the right time to discuss this,” Melianami said.
“Why not?” Kaskonni asked. Until now Kaskonni had been content to remain lying on the ground, with Melianami hovering over her. The magic from Melianami’s spell had restored some of Kaskonni’s health, and she was getting stronger every moment. She shifted her arms, and rose up onto her elbows, holding her head up off of the ground. “If you like him,” Kaskonni went on saying, now that her head was up off the ground she lowered her voice to a whisper, “then I’ll try to put aside my feelings, for him, for you, if that’s what you want.”
Melianami leaned over and kissed Kaskonni fully on the mouth. After all, Kaskonni had just said that she would share her feelings for Veranum, with her, Melianami. At least that’s what Melianami understood. Among Gymnagaopthians this was normal, and it showed a rival that you were prepared to be intimate, and gave them the opportunity to see how they compared to one another.
Kaskonni was surprised, but she did not pull away from Meliananmi.
Their kiss was soft, not aggressive, and it was short.
When Melianami drew her lips away from kaskonni, she opened her eyes to see that Kaskonni was staring at her.
“Why did you do that?” Kaskonni asked.
“I put aside my feelings. And I want you to know that I have not thought about the man, Veranum, in the way I think you are asking me. I do not see any reason to compete for his affections, not now, but I am honored you would give me the privilege of being asked. You have very soft lips, and your kiss was nice. I think he will like it, if you offer it to him. I don’t know very much about how these things are done among your kind, but it is sweet that you are kind enough to treat me according to the ways of our people. You are a strong and good woman, Kaskonni, and I am glad to call you my friend.”
“Huh?” Kaskonni’s mouth dropped open.
“Your offer, to stand aside, the offer to allow me the chance to be considered in competition with you for his affections, isn’t that what you were talking about?” Melianami said.
“What?” Kaskonni stammered. “No, what? I don’t know what you’re talking about. And why would you kiss me, if you were trying to tell me that you weren’t interested in him?”
“Oh, my great goddess,” Melianami blushed. “I misunderstood what, no I understood, I think I understood, but no I misinterpreted. Oh, for the love of the rain, I’m so sorry. You weren’t doing what I thought you were doing, were you? I got confused because you said some things that sounded like things I understand, but obviously you meant them in a different way. It’s just that I was trying to show you that I am not afraid to be intimate, and that I was ready to be aside, aside you, it means, to my people, next to for the purpose of being judged. I guess it means something else to your kind. Please forgive me if I offended you. Have I offended you with my actions?”
Kaskonni rose up until she was sitting upright, and wrapped her arms around Melianami. Kaskonni’s arems were long, and muscled, and she crushed melianami in her embrace. She put her mouth close to melianami’s ear, and whispered, “We all make mistakes. That wasn’t such a bad one. Forget about it.”
She released Melianami from the hug, and put her hands on Melianami’s shoulders, and said, “You’re a pretty good kisser yourself. I’m sort of really happy you aren’t interested in him after all. I wouldn’t stand a chance if were.”
Kaskonni,” Melianami said with all the seriousness she could gather, “Do you really think this is the time for this kind of thing?”
Kaskonni’s expression turned suddenly to one of shock. Her eyes went wide, and her mouth froze half opened.
“Kaskonni?” Melianami said. “Are you alright?”
“She said to tell you that if you yell, or scream, or do anything else to alert the others, she’ll kill me,” Kaskonni said.
“Who said,” Melianami became frightened, and tried to back out of Kaskonni’s grip.
“No,” Kaskonni hissed quietly, holding strong to Melianami’s arms, “she said that if I let go of you she’ll kill me. She has a kife blade at my lower back. She says to tell you it’s poisoned, and that I’ll die instantly if you don’t do what she says.”
“Who said,” Melianami couldn’t hide the fear in her voice. “Who is saying this to you?”
“The woman behind me,” Kaskonni said.
“There is no one behind you.”
“She said to tell you that she is invisible, but that she understands that the way the spell woks, she knows she will become visible if she has to use the blade, and she will, if she has to. She wants to know who we are and what we are doing here, and why we are killing the goblins. She says to tell you that she has seen more of them, dozens more, and we are going to get ourselves killed, unless we help her to get out of here. She knows the way. She wants our help, but she doesn’t know if she can trust us.”
“Who are you?” Melianami whispered, looking past Kaskonni.
“She says her name is, wait, December! You’re December? We met a friend of yours outside. He asked us to find you. We are looking for you!”
| Tommy Boote |
It took all of our efforts to convince December that we were not her enemies (I think she was suffering from dehydration and hunger) but it was Veranum who finally won her over.
He explained to her all about the unfortunate fellow we could not rescue from the goblins, and although she didn’t take it well, at first, she eventually calmed down and cried on Veranum’s shoulder.
When she finally revealed herself we were all taken aback a little bit.
December was naked. Her skin was covered in grime, and she had cuts all over her legs and arms that were not healing right. She was a very small girl, not as small as I am, obviously she was not an eshian, but she was an elf, one of the highland elves from drasbia. She couldn’t be more than five feet tall, if she was that, and she was so thin that we were all afraid she wouldn’t survive, even if we did manage to find our way out.
We managed, at least to give her some cloths, each of us found something to spare in our own packs, and thankfully, Kaskonni had a heavy wool robe tucked away in her backpack. December finally stoped shaking when Melianami and Kaskonni wrapped her up in that robe.
December had been staggering around, practically blind, in those caves for days. She and her friend had been captured by the goblins when they set out looking for treasure, following an old map. The two of them had been tortured, but December managed to free herself, she didn’t, couldn’t remember how long ago that had been, but she made a jump for her belongings and managed to get her hands on a potion before the goblins got to her.
In the confusion that followed her friend also got away, and he outran the goblins for as long as he could. We met him just a while ago, outside.
It was hard, to tell her again how that went down. She had to hear it a couple of times, at least once from each of us, until she finally accepted the truth.
Then we asked her about the map.
She smiled, and it was the first time I started to have hope, for all of us. December told us that she managed to sneak back around to the place where the goblins had been holding her prisoner. It had taken her hours, she imagined, but she kept her hands fixed on the wall beside her, and crawled to be sure she didn’t run into anything that might hit her head, or to make sure she didn’t fall into any deep holes, and she told us, there were a lot of deep holes.
“But, Tommy,” she said to me in the light of the small fire that was still burning in the chamber, “I made it back there. I followed their torches when I could, and I made it back, and when they weren’t paying attention I took the map from the sack we had it in, and then, and then I hid it. I climbed a wall just around the corner from that place and tucked the map into a hole near the ceiling. They’ll never find it. If you help me, we can get it back. There are a lot of goblins that way, but if we can get that map back, not only can we get out of here, but,”
December leaned right at me and put her hands on the sides of my head. Then she said slowly, ”We can find the treasure, I know where it is now. I know how to follow the map!”
Okay, were back! Should the party help December recover the treasure map, or keep trying to find the fastest way out of the caves? You decide!
| Veranum |
Veranum, is startled by the feel of the invisible girl crying on his shoulder, and does his best to be kind. When December finally shows herself, he is uncomfortable, and tries not to stare
“It’s been hard enough,” Veranum thinks to himself as the lithe girl tells her story, “to not be distracted by the other two, I mean Melianami is beautiful, and Kaskonni isn’t hard on the eyes either, but damn it, now we have to have a naked elf join us, sheesh, I can’t take much more of this.”
When the girl mentions the map, Veranum looks at Tommy. Though he hasn’t known the Eshian Halfling for long, Veranum suspects that the rogue will be interested in knowing more about this treasure.
“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea,” Veranum says quietly, scratching the back of his neck and looking down at the floor. “We’ve got ourselves into a pickle, and what’s more, we are in the employ of the good lady priestess here, and if anything she might have a different idea about our priorities. I’d like to find an exit, before we start seeing our supplies diminish to the point where we get into some real trouble.”
Still looking for someone to spot this thread and want to play along. All I’m asking for is someone to make a choice, kind of like you are reading a choose your own adventure novel. Should the party help December recover the treasure map, or keep trying to find the fastest way out of the caves? You decide!
| Melianami Lisserus |
We should go after that map
Melianami contributed a spare shirt and one of her own belts to the small elven girl.
And now she sat on one side of December, while Kaskonni sat on the other and the two tried to keep the girl warm while Veranum and Tommy took out some rations, and tried to get her to eat and drink something
I think that if there is map of these ancient chambers, whether it leads to a treasure or not, it will help us find what we are looking for as well.
On the other hand, it has occurred to me that I am being foolish. What I am looking for is something that might not even exist down here anymore, and there isn't anyone other than myself who even cares about finding those stones. hell, I even had to promise to pay the three of you to get you interested in coming down here.
I think it is time to give up all these silly ideas of adventure