Torag tests the steel of all his followers.
Will Anglachel Gurthang's metal ring true on the Father of Creation's anvil or will he broken and cast back into the forge?
The days at forge, study, and weapons drill have been many and long since you first came to the Halls of Steel. You have found challenges, foes, and even a few friends during your time here but soon that time will come to an end.
Forgemaster Korim and the other Elders have summoned you to the High Forge for the taking of vows and the assignment of your first quest.
You have spent the last three days quietly in meditation and fasting trying to draw closer to the tenets of Torag and finding your strength through his strength.
The moment is upon you. As you enter the High Forge you notice that the usually well lit room is illuminated only by the coals of the hearth, the heat of which is usually comforting but have now become almost blistering in nature as you draw in breath.
Korim and the other Elders are largely concealed by the heavy wool cloaks they wear. You can make out their glimmering eyes under hooded cowls and silently wonder how they can stand in this heat dressed so.
Korim's flinty voice comes rasping out in the shadowy darkness-Anglachel Gurthang are you prepared to take the step from initiate to brother? Let the ring of True Steel speak from your lips!
Anglachel ponders the question silently for a moment, thinking back through the years of study and preparation, then he picks up the forging hammer and rhythmically strikes the anvil as he answers:
I stand ready, a weapon forged in fire to serve Torag and protect his people.
My word will be my bond. When I give my word, I will defend my oath to the death. Traps lie in idle banter or thoughtless talk, and so I will watch my tongue.
I will be truthful, honorable, and forthright, but my allegiance is to Torag. I will do what is necessary to serve him, including misleading others if need be.
I will respect the forge, and never sully it with half-hearted work. My work reflects the depth of my faith, and I will not allow flaws save in direst need.
Against Torag’s enemies, I will show no mercy. I will not allow their surrender, except when strategy warrants. I will defeat them, yet even in the direst struggle, I will act in a way that brings honor to Torag.
You think you see a glint of white beneath Korim's cowl; a rare smile perhaps?
His voice rasps out once more-The Forge hears your vows and will hold you to them. The Hammer will strike you and form you to its own design, and you will break or bend against the Anvil as the ultimate nature of your Steel is exposed.
To be a proper warrior of Torag you must wield a proper weapon. Long have many of the Elders commented upon your wielding of a blade and the shame it brings. To put this issue to rest once and for all we will build you a hammer fit to be held by a holy warrior of Torag. Let his holy symbol of might be the last thing your foes see before they fall.
Your first quest as a brother will be to gather the materials required for such a fine instrument of Torag to be constructed. Only special wood will do to stoke the fires of the forge when we craft your new hammer. Therefore you must go to the Mistwood forests East of our Halls and find the correct wood for charcoaling and firing of the forge.
Gather what supplies you need and return once you have acquired an adequate supply for the crafting.
He nods his head at you, a clear sign that you are dismissed.
Ang leaves the forge and gathers supplies for his quest.
Always the blade! Does Torag care so much about what weapon smites his foes?
What do I know of the Mistwood? What is the best way to get there? How many days journey is it? What dangers might I encounter on the way and in the Mistwood? How much wood must I gather and of what type?
If Ang does not know these things, he performs research in the library and asks the appropriate experts in the monastery. As soon as he is satisfied with his planning he departs.
The Mistwood is a small forest located almost a week's march from the Halls of Steel. The land along the way is largely small farms, herd land, and copses of trees.
There is a road that runs roughly in that direction for about half the way; after that you would have to traverse through the 'wilds'. There are the usual dangers-brigands, wild animals, and an occasional monster. The Mistwood is known to harbor several tribes of goblins as well as rumored to be inhabited by spirits and supernatural haunts.
As for the sacramental wood, Korim and the rest of the Elders are strangely silent. All Korim will tell you is-The wood you select should be guided by Torag and will influence the crafting of your warhammer. Follow your heart; you will know it when you see it.
“Thank you Korim.”
The next morning Ang set out along the road.
Ang makes quick progress the first day. The skies are relatively clear and the road is in good repair. He passes several lone travelers, some on foot and others on horse. All eye him cautiously and few pause to talk, even though the symbols of Torag are clearly displayed. From what he can gather banditry has been worse than usual as of late.
On the second day Ang continues apace until right before lunch he sights what appears to be a wagon broken down on the road. It seems as if one of the wheels has broken and a man and woman are arguing about how best to replace it.
Wary of a trap, Ang uses detect evil and looks about the area for signs of an ambush.
If he senses nothing amiss he will approach the two to offer help: “Good day, is there anything I can do to assist?”
Ang finds the auras of the arguing free of evil, although he doesn't need his divine senses to notice that they are quite put out with one another.
Man-This is your fault Mildred! I TOLD you to watch for rocks and that the back wheels were on their last legs. This is what I get for letting you drive...
Mildred-Oh hush Abe; that rock would have been there for you as well and I can't guide every step of this stupid mule of yours. ~the mule brays, clearly taking offence~ Hells, I can't even guide many of YOUR steps and gods know you need more help than the mule, if that's possible! Plus if you hadn't been so lazy and changed the wheels when I told you, we wouldn't be in this mess anyways. Now quit your fussing and get the new wheel on.
Abe-Woman, I already TOLD you that the way the front of the wagon is sitting makes the load on the rear to heavy for me to lift AND change the wheel. If you had let me bring my brother, HE could have helped me and we would be on our way already.
Mildred-That old drunk is worse than you! If you had brought him, we would all still be at the last inn while you two slept off last nights funning. The good news is we wouldn't have a broken wheel; the bad news is we'd never get to where we need to go.
Finally the bickering couple notices you standing there watching their riveting conversation.
Mildred-Well Desna bless my soul! Look at this strapping young lad Abe. He may be kissed by the moon but he looks strong enough to help us along. Ask him for some help.
Abe looks at you sheepishly-Well young buck, feel up for a go with a wagon?
You time observing the couple and the state of the wagon shows you exactly the right leverage point to execute the wheel exchange.
DC 10 STR check to fix the wagon.
“I would be happy to assist.”
Ang moves into position to lift the wagon.
“Arrgghh, its heavier than it looks.”
Once finished.
“Be careful, I’ve heard talk of bandits in this area.”
Mildred-Stars bless you young man! I can only imagine Abe getting hurt trying to do this without help. She hands you a small pouch filled with some roots in it. I usually keep these for the times that Abe has done something foolish, but take them as a reward.
There are 3 roots. Eating one at a time will restore 3 HP; Eating all 3 at once will restore 12HP.
Abe-Thanks again. I'll keep an eye out for bandits as best I can. Not sure what I could do to stop them if they want something. Maybe I can give them you Mildred! He chuckles as Mildred scolds-Oh Abe, hush! You wouldn't know what to do without me.
You continue on your way....
At the end of the third day you think you come to the point where you rough map indicates that you should leave the road and head more due East. The road was a little more empty than the first two days as you have come quite a ways and there is little more of civilization than a few small homestead farms and pasture land.
During your fourth day of travel you navigate through some slowly rolling grasslands cut through with the occasional creek and stream. There is a fair amount of game, but you are not distracted by it and are content to consume your rations.
That night....
You are wakened by the sharp pain of a goblin sticking you with a blade!
The small beastie stands over you and you can see two others nearby chattering away in a language that you assume is goblinish.
You are prone with no armor on but ready access to your blade.
The character is lying on the ground. A prone attacker has a –4 penalty on melee attack rolls and cannot use a ranged weapon (except for a crossbow). A prone defender gains a +4 bonus to Armor Class against ranged attacks, but takes a –4 penalty to AC against melee attacks.
Standing up is a move-equivalent action that provokes an attack of opportunity.
Goblins! You damn fool, it is pure chance they didn't kill you in your sleep, Torag must be watching over me.
Stand and attack. If Ang can't stand and attack in same round, attack from prone position.
The goblin stabs at Ang as he rises, giving him a slight cut before Ang's massive blade crashes through the smaller foe ending its life.
The remaining two goblins squeal in terror and flee into the night. Ang feels comfortable that the remaining goblins will think twice before trying him again.
Eat one of the roots, then search the dead goblin.
The pathetic little creature has 13 coppers, 1 silver, and some eye pleasing river stones of no value as well as some flatbread and meat of dubious quality.
Your best guess is that this is a small raiding party, maybe even just an ambitious group of goblins that was looking for food and plunder.
Push on toward the forest the next day, before night falls try to select a camp that will be concealed from wandering monsters.
Any remaining wounds heal during your day of travel.
As you continue Eastward the plains begin to be dotted by some low hills and at the far horizon you can see mountain peaks jutting towards the sky like stony fingers grasping at clouds.
By the end of the day you also begin to see the clear outline of the Mistwood. You figure that you will make the border of the forest by mid-morrow.
You find it a little difficult to fall asleep as you keep having visions of a goblin standing over you with a sharp and pointy blade, but eventually sleep comes to you and you slumber soundly, secure in the spot your keen eyes picked out to rest in.
The following day you head towards the forest and notice that the land continues to rise somewhat as the mountains grow closer behind the shroud of forest.
Finally you make the edge of the Mistwood. The first few hundred yards appear relatively open and the ground is not completely covered by leafy canopy, but deeper in you can see that the light slowly fades away and the trees turn the terrain into a wooden cavern covered by arches of trees.
Ang searches the forest looking for that perfect piece of wood.
The trees at the edge of the forest are young and nowhere near robust enough to provide enough fuel to forge a weapon. Clearly, Ang will have to venture further into the gloom to find that which he seeks....
Onward.
Your progress into the depths of the Mistwood are inhibited somewhat as the undergrowth and close proximity of the trees push back on you. The myriad of fallen leaves make finding good footing a bit treacherous but after several hundred feet, and as you move into the older growth, the smaller shrubs and bushes disappear as the darkness increases.
You search for several hours, stopping from time to time to fill your water at various creeks and taking a moment to eat and try and keep track of your bearings, hoping that your limited survival skills will prevent you from getting lost in the unfamiliar terrain.
Finally, towards what you can only assume is the end of the day as the perpetual darkness has taken away your ability to judge time, you come across the 'corpse' of a massive fallen ironwood tree. It appears as if somehow a massive bolt of lightning fell from the sky and smote the mid section of the forest leviathan causing it to break in half. The jagged edges of the bottom portion stand as a nearby testament to the fury of the bolt strike and it may be your imagination but you think you can still smell smoke or soot from the conflagration.
You can't help but think that this is the wood you will need to bring back for the sacred forging.
Study the section of the tree that will be needed for forging, try to properly gage its dimensions and weight, and figure how it can best be moved.
After several moments of reflection and study, as well as a heart felt prayer to Torag, you pull out your woodsman's axe and cut away at the fallen tree.
You can tell that the hardness of the wood might ordinarily blunt your axe after just a few swings, making chopping out sufficient cords close to impossible, but almost by divine providence your keen eyes are guided to weak seams and angles in the timber and after barely half an hour you manage to cut out and bundle more than enough wood for the forging.
Using left over cuts and shavings for a fire you prepare to camp for the night. Before you are able to settle in, however, you hear noises from the woods coming towards you.
Torag guide me.
Ang puts his back to a tree and readies his great sword.
It looks like a goblin warband!
The vanguard of spindly little green scouts races towards you. You swear one of the fours goblins approaching you was from the group that ambushed you outside the forest's borders.
You will get an attack in first (retconed) and then they will swarm about you as the rest of the warband advances; so roll 2 attacks. They are not able to charge because of terrain or flank you during their initial rush but they set up to flank in future rounds.
-2hp
With a mighty swing, you cut the first goblin to come within your reach in half. Unfortunately that leaves you badly out of position as the goblins rush about you and you are lucky to come away with just a small scratch.
You hear one of the Elder's voices in your head from weapons drill after rapping your ribs-That big blade of yours leaves you open to all kinds of counters. If you would just use Torag's hammer things would be easier for you.
The remaining goblins spread out and try to hamstring you. You can hear more noise from where they came. The rest of the warband is getting closer!
Flanking:
Direct:
The first goblin trips on a large cut from your earlier axe work and drives his blade through the center goblin moments before his blade would have cut into your torso. You take 4 points of damage and now only face two goblins.
ummph, beware their blades fool
-6hp
Your blade crashes through another goblin, ending its life, and the surviving opponent backs away not ready to take on this massive foe by himself.
Fortunately for the last goblin, the main body of the warband arrives; about a dozen goblins in all. Surveying the carnage of three dead goblins the leader of the band steps forward and addresses you-You mighty warrior. No need more of us'ns die and maybe yous live. Yous fight'n my champion and weuns lets yous leave our forest. Fight Rak! Give us sport!
A large spiteful goblin steps forward, its body covered in scars and a necklace of ears around its neck-Yous fights Rak?, it asks eagerly.
It would be better to take them all, but they would surely overwhelm me. I guess the one will have to do, assuming I can defeat him and that the goblins keep their word.
While the goblin is talking, eat the 2 remaining roots if there is time.
"I will fight."
You choke down the roots while the head goblin talks. As soon as you agree to fight the rest of the goblins begin a loud chant:
Rak is an impressive specimen of a goblin; almost four and half feet and over 100 pounds. The wiry strength of most goblins is magnified five-fold in Rak and the massive stone club he brandishes is stained with blood.
The rest of the goblins form a loose circle around both of you as they continue their chant.
Rak smiles a toothy grin as he rears back with his club, but he is just a touch slower than you and you are able to go first!
Torag’s teeth, that’s a damn big goblin!
Not just big, but incredibly nimble, Rak easily dodges your blade and swings his stone club two-handed!
It crashes into your ribs and you think the strike might have broken a few of them.
Damn dangerous foe, need to finish this quick, Torag guide my blade!
You score a good cut on Rak, and the other goblin's chants stutter for a moment and grow somewhat quieter as doubt eats into the crowd's enthusiasm.
The combination of your cut and the loss of energy from the crowd slows the mighty goblin's next swing and you push it aside with your blade.
Strong and tough, I’ve got to end him before he ends me.
Just as quickly as it began, the fight ends as you slide your blade down the edge of the club, knicking off the golblin's fingers. As Rak drops his weapon, eyes wide in surprise, you drive the point of your massive blade through his sternum, releasing him to whatever afterlife awaits his kind.
The crowd of goblins grows starkly silent as the reality of Rak's death sinks in. The leader steps forward, and whether it's fear or anger on his face you can't quite tell. He barks out at you in a rough voice-Yous leave forest now. No comes back! He points behind him into the forest from whence you came.
A howl of protest escapes the lips from one of the goblins, but the leader cuffs the opposition, bloodying its face, and it falls quiet.
You feel many eyes upon your back as you march out into the darkness of the wood, loaded with your bundle of hard won logs, hoping to find the edges of this dangerous place before exhaustion sets in.
Make a DC 12 CON check or take and become fatigued.
Ang picks up the wood and heads towards the edge of the forest. As he hikes, he changes his heading slightly from time to time so he can see if he is being followed without obviously looking behind him or appearing to be concerned about it.
Move like you've not a care in the world, if they sense weakness now they will likely strike.
-6hp
You trudge forward for about an hour. You don't think you are being followed but you are certainly no woodsman.
Make an survival role to see how lost you get.
You are still in the deep woods, with no end in sight.
Do you push on (DC14 CON check) or set up camp and rest?
As the adrenaline wears off, Ang begins to tire. He will set up camp.
I need a place to stop for a while, to rest and think.
You barely have energy to choke down a few bites and drink your canteen dry before you fall asleep on a blanket using your pack as a pillow.
You sleep hard and wake at what you assume is mid-day as there is a faint amount of light filtering through the canopy above.
You eat again and prepare to head out, hoping to find some water and maybe more importantly the edge of the forest.
Survival role please.
You have healed 2 HP from your rest.
Ribs are still painful, it will be a while before they fully heal. Nothing I can do about it now, need to find the road and head towards the Halls.
Feeling better, if not yet fit, you head out in the direction you believe will lead you out of the forest. At some point it begins to get lighter and hope grows, but then the light begins to fade and with it your hope.
You push on in the renewed gloom, exhaustion setting in again, when you begin to notice the trees thinning, and could those be glimmering stars above? Yes!
Somehow you have made your way to the edge of the wood. You realize later that the fading light was merely the sun setting not you heading back deeper into the woods.
Your ribs ache from the continuous travel and you are quite weary, but camping close by to the wood will increase the odds of a random encounter.
Do you push on or rest? Pushing on an additional hour requires a DC 12 CON check to avoid fatigue and a Survival check to see if you can determine your relative position and navigate back towards the road.
[i]Finally the forest's edge, continue through the night and risk the unknown or rest and risk meeting the goblins again? These ribs are telling me to rest.{/i]
set up camp
During the night you hear something large moving about in the forest, but it doesn't come out to bother you.
The next morning's dawn is beautiful and you are thrilled to see it instead of the continuing heavy dusk of the deep woods.
Gain 2 more HP.
You set off looking for the road.
Make a survival check.