ONE LAST HOPE (closed)

[chewbacca71]

Thrush

Eschewing the physical effort needed on his part, Thrush cast another levitation spell. He was happy to see that his skill was still evident. He had not lost his touch at all. With his weight barely registering, he grabbed the rope and slid to the other side. Landing on the balcony, he tripped on the edge of his flowing robes.

Looking to see if anyone noticed, he quickly got back up on his feet dusting off his robe. Looking around the room, he did not see Bragin or Austin. It struck him as odd, but before he had a chance to investigate ; he could hear Amber moving towards the window. He turned to help her into the room.

 

[chewbacca71]

Amber

Amber took Thrush's arm as she stepped down onto the balcony. She gave him a quick thank you before stepping into the room. A sudden twinge went through her body. "Where are Bragin and Austin? I do not see them anywhere. I can't even hear them. Come on Thrush we have to find them. " Thrush quickly followed Amber towards the stairs.

 

[chewbacca71]

Austin and Bragin

Austin shook his head, noting the strange fact that he was looking up at the ceiling . At least he had been until a horrible visage came into view. Then he realized it was only Bragin that was offering him a hand to get up. Bragin pulled the halfling to his feet.

"Ok Austin, what happened to you this time? Was it a rogue wooly mammoth that knocked you over ? " Austin smiled at the dwarf's pitiful attempt at humor. "Honestly Bragin, I am not sure. One minute I was walking down the stairs. The next I was on the floor looking up at the ceiling. Maybe I tripped over something......."

Austin did not finish the sentence as four figures stepped out of the shadows. The halfling first thought they were Zombies like they had run into in the Inn. He took out his short sword preparing to defend himself. He ducked under one of their clumsily swinging arms and smacked the creature in the back. Grinning in satisfaction, he watched to see what Bragin would do.

Eschewing his axe, Bragin grabbed the nearest creature and started to pick it up over his head. The creature wrapped a sinous hand around the dwarves muscle laden arm. The dwarf abruptly stopped moving, an expression of shock visible on his face. The creature disengaged itself from Bragins stunted embrace and opened up its horrible maw to take a bit from the paralayized dwarf.

 

[chewbacca71]

City of Kekrowoen

The guard lit the last torch above the gate. The evening was fast passing as the last rays of the sun kissed the wooden top of the defensive wall. It was not the most impressive wall ever designed, but it kept out the small nuisances of existence, such as maurauding wolves. The guard had lived all his life here in Kekrowoen. Well except for eight weeks of extensive training that his Lord Mayor Welnas had sponsored for all the guards. The Lord Mayor was cognizant of the fact that while they did not have a lot of guards in the city, excellent training could make up for lack of numbers.

Lorwell, of Lor as his friends called him had been raised at one of the many temples that dotted the small city. His parents had both been killed when an early winter squall had frozen the water supply in the city. Only those with money could pay the exorbitant prices for the liquid of life. Lor's parents had given him what they could and had offered his services to the temple in exchange for caring for the small boy. The next time Lor saw his parents were when their burial rights were being performed at the temple. Their frozen bodies with hands lifted in mute protest to the icy hands of death.

Lor wept little for his parents, his mind having given up all hope. His days were filled with toil. As a bonus however, he grew up to be a strong young man with a fine work ethic. Just the kind of man that would be called upon to keep the city safe. When he reached his 16th birthday, he asked the High Cleric if he could leave to join the city guards. The Cleric spoke to Lor. "My son, I give you my permission to go forth and ply your skills for the better of our city. I had wished that you had the learned the skills to be a disciple of Kreblor, but it is not for everyone. I wish you luck. Here is your pay, that I have been saving all these years. Use it well to outfit yourself . " With a kiss of benediction, the Cleric walked away from the boy, wiping his tears on his white robe.

The one thing that Lor did pick up from the Temple was an active imagination. The darkened corridors and vast tapestries made a vivid backdrop for the imagination of the five young boys that were all studying at the temple. Lor had been befriended by the boys, since they saw that he always tried his best. Plus, he was always cast as the villian in all their play since he was the biggest.

The flickering light of the torch created deep shadows on the walls around him. Lor thought he saw something near the gate, but a little investigation proved that it was all in his mind. He once again made sure that the gate was secure. There had been reports of strange men seen outside the city. Not in large numbers, but in a city as small as Kekrowoen, any strangers were looked at with a hint of suspicion. Even the folks in the closest village of Briwelk were kept at arms length by most of the city dwellers.

Lor wondered if something was well and truly wrong though. A few of the people of the city that made a living out in the woods had not come back for a while. It was normal for some of them to be gone for a few days, but Aris the woodsman had not been back for almost a week now. As well as the usual caravan of merchants led by Vlad had not shown up in Frost month like he normally did.

Lor sighed as he turned to look back at the city. He loved this city for what it had provided for him. And he had given back to it for a number of years. He was determined in the future to go out and see the world. There was surely more to life than this. Taking out his whet stone, Lor honed his sword again, making sure it was as razor sharp as usual.

 

[chewbacca71]

Amber and Thrush

Amber and Thrush reached the bottom of the stairs just in time. She quickly swung her mace, connecting with the creature just after it had bitten Bragin. She could see his grimace of pain for a brief second before she swung her mace at the creature that was advancing towards her. She made some solid contact, the head of the mace crunching in the skull of the monster. Green blood streaming out of its mangled head, the ghoul dropped onto the floor.

Her holy symbol flashed again , a shining ray of light in this gloomy room. She pulled it out of her undertunic and held it boldly up for the creatures to see. The two ghouls that were facing her stepped back as the purity of her faith assailed their darkened souls. She moved closer to them, herding them away from Bragin and Austin.

Thrush watched with admiration at the effectiveness of Ambers attack. He used his most common spell and sent up a globe of light to help light up the room. The ghouls screamed in pain as their eyes were scored with a painful array of light. Thrush knew that this light would not really hurt them much, but it would make them less effective in the attack. He prepared his magic missile spell, launching it at the ghoul that Amber had first struck. He was rewarded by the sight of the ghould hitting the ground hard, the four spectral missile still sticking out of the flesh of the creature.

Thrush was amazed as the creature struggled back to its feet. Thrush sent out another barrage of the magic missiles. The ghoul was quickly looking like a porcupine with magical arrow spines instead of hollow bone. Finally, the creature was too injured to survive any longer and fell to the ground. Thrush watched for a second , seeing the body of the ghoul falling apart as if the spirit of the ghoul had given up the ghost so to speak.

 

[chewbacca71]

Kyle and Devin

OOC: Thank you Ladyrozes for the name of the last town. If anyone has some good names for towns or characters, pm them to me. I can use all that kind of help as I can get. Thanks.

IC: Kyle was gratified to see that Devin had made it across the rope, just as the flames fully engulfed the second floor of the Inn. Kyle helped his best friend into the room. He heard noise coming from the first floor. He quickly ran down the stairs into a sureal scene.

He saw that Bragin was standing still near the bottom of the stairs. A steady trickle of blood fell from a large bite on the arm of the dwarf. Austin was nowhere to be found, but that was not too uncommon for the halfling to make himself scarce when heavy fighting was in the ofting. Amber was holding two creatures at bay with the symbol of her necklace, while Thrush was moving his foot through the ashes of some creature at his feet.

Kyle moved quickly to Bragin's side. He grabbed the Dwarf by the arms and shook him. Noting that the dwarf was not moving, Kyle wondered what had happened. "Thrush come here. What has happened to Bragin? "

Devin noticed that Amber was holding back two undead creatures all by herself. He pulled his two handed sword and waded into the battle. He hit the closest one cleanly, severing the left arm of the foul creature. He was horrified as he noticed that the arm still quivered. Unleashing his fear, Devin hacked up the rest of the monster. He watched as Amber pushed her holy symbol against the forehead of the other creature.

Both of them were amazed as the creature fell immediately to the ground. Devin looked over at Amber with some admiration as he was impressed with her courage. Not many people would have attacked such a fould creature with only a small piece of silver. Devin looked down at the creature , which had landed face down. Devin noticed a large dagger stuck solidly in the back of the ghoul.

Devin smiled as he noticed Austin out of the corner of his eye. Austin stood up and looked at his friend. "I had to wait till I could sneak up on it. Luckily you two distracted it enough for me to get in a solid strike. I doubt if this one will be bothering us anymore. " Austin reached down and pulled his short sword back out.

 

[chewbacca71]

Lorwell

Lor stopping his stroping for a moment. He thought he heard a noise. Moving over towards the gate, he opened the small grilled opening built into the gate. He could see shadows moving around outside the town. He climbed the stairs on the left of the gate, hoping that higher ground would make it easier to see.

When he reached the top of the wall, he wished he had not. He looked down onto a scene in horror. There was a small group of bodies literally hacked to pieces a few hundred feet from the gate. Lor stared for a moment to see if anyone was moving. Disheartened by what he saw, he was about to come down off the wall when he saw some movement in the treeline.

 

[chewbacca71]

Lorwell

Sparse starlight reflected off a surface in the distance. Lors had a tough time making out what it was. He had always had sharp eyes, but this night it was especially dark. He stood silently for a second and was still. The creatures came out from the treeline and back to the scene of the slaughter. Lors recoiled in horror as his eyes told him what the creatures must be.

He had heard the legends of skeletons before but had never seen one before. Yet here outside of the walls of his very town was a band of 6 skeletons. It is no wonder that the fragile humans had no chance against these creatures and were killed to a man.

Lors quickly came down from the wall. He went to the cottage that he knew his sargent lived. Banging on the door with a frantic fist, Lors was able to wake up his sargent. The large frame of Golkis filled the dark doorway.

"Lors, this had better be good. For what reason have you woken me? As you well know, I need all the beauty sleep I can get. "

Golkis' easy manner calmed Lors for a moment. "Sir, I have a problem at the gate. There seems to be a small squad of skeletons outside our town. They have killed a group of men. I am not sure what to do. "

"Skeletons you say......Here....That is hard to belive. Maybe you are not seeing them right. I will come with you. Give me a moment to strap on my armor just in case. "

Lors waited for Golkis to finish up. He sped back to the wall, his sargent barely keeping up. The two men climbed up the wall. Lors watched as Golkis' jaw dropped.

"Aye Lad, you are correct. I have not seen skeletons in about 10 years since I was an adventerous youth. Our job is to protect the city and its inhabitants. Those poor souls are already dead, there is nothing we can do for them . If the skeletons attack the walls, then we have to take care of them. I will wake up more of the men just in case. Keep an eye on these skeletons. In the morning I will organize some men and we will see if we can find the lair of these foul creatures. Take heart young man , I will be back with some more of your compadres. "

Lors watched as Golkis ran down the stairs. He did not think his old sargent had that much energy left in him. Maybe Lors had misjudged him. An adventerous youth was he. That fascinated Lors. He had thought that Golkis had been a simple town guard all his life. Lors stopped himself, realizing he had no time to daydream. Turning back to look over the wall, he watched the skeletons as they dragged the bodies towards the woods.

 

[chewbacca71]

The mine of Lewellynom

Cragen Rubystone walked back to the camp with his fellow miners. The sound of the dwarven boots echoed in the camp before they arrived. Cragen yelled out "Rafel Chiselslate, I hope that the stew is already warm. We five have had a rough day in the mine. That vein of gold seems to have played out much sooner than I expec.........."

Cragen stopped talking as he realized that there was no movement from the camp. Stoping the dwarves behind him, Cragen crept into camp. The first thing he saw was a trail of dark blood on the ground. The trail led behind a crudely set up table. There lay four bodies of his fellow dwarves. The bodies bore the marks of a heavy struggle. There were a few large cuts as well as a few marks that seemed to be bite marks.

Cragen checked the whole camp. He found footprints that led away from the camp. Quite a few of them actually. Cragen was not an expert tracker but he was familiar with it. He realized that there were at least 15 people that had made this attack. Though his fellow dwarves had made a good accounting of themselves, judging by the amount of blood splattered alongside the footprints. Cragen wondered if Rafel had been dragged away by the people, since his body was not at the camp.

Cragen walked back to where the other dwarves were waiting for him. He quickly explained to them what he had found. He could see the eyes of Keraz Graniteslide turn red in anger. His soul reached out with similar heat, but he understood that he had to keep control of his men. He asked them to wait for a few minutes while he came up with a plan. His king had sent him in charge of the group of dwarves sent to the mine. Cragen had shown himself to be an able leader of men, but this was far out of his experience. Cragen sat down at the table as he thought of what to do.

 

[chewbacca71]

Cragen Rubystone

Cragen decided on his best course of action. "Delcax and Plondes , I want both of you to return to our king. Tell him about the mine playing out, but also about the loss of our comrades. I will take Keraz and Hicveb to track Rafel. Hopefully we will be following you with Rafel in tow in a short period of time. I would rather all of us went, but I think it is important to make sure the King knows about this attack. "

Cragen watched as Delcax and Plondes gathered up their stuff and left the camp. He waved goodbye to them before turning to Keraz and Hicveb. "Ok, I think its best if we go pretty light on this track. Take nothing that you do not absolutely need. Judging by the condition of the bodies left behind, I doubt if Rafel is still alive. But he is our friend and we need to at least try to find him. Come on lets go. " Taking the lead, Cragen led them on the trail of blood leading into the tall stand of trees .

 

[chewbacca71]

Skibep

It had been almost two weeks since his humiliation at Grimwall. Skibep still was walking a little funny from the scars on his back. Jevram had not been pleased by the resistance that the humans at Far Ice had put up. He thought that the Ogres under Skibeps command would have cowed them more than they had. Jevrams rage was not a pleasant thing, nor was the smirk on Cedon's face as Skibep tried to put out the flames from the hair on his back.

Skibep vowed two things to himself at that time. One was that he would find a way to make Cedon feel the wrath of their master just like he did. Second, he would not let anything stand in his way of completing what his master had set for him. Since his setback in Far Ice, Skibep and his Ogres had been having much better success. The citizens of Far Ice had provided even more undead fodder for the army of Ogres. Together , this force was strong enough to destroy any town or village that they encountered.

Jevram had ordered Skibep to start destroying villages in a circular pattern, using Far Ice as his starting point. Skibep was an active participant in most raids, making sure the job was done right. The sheer fear that the undead engendered in the humans was a pleasant sight to see. Most villages were emptied in a matter of hours as the people foolishly ran out of the villlage and into the protective arms of the forest. In these cases though, the arms of the forest were armed with the cruel axes and swords of the Ogres.

The toughest part for Skibep was controlling the killing urge of his men. He realized that Jevram wanted as many undead soldiers as could be made, so he did his best. A few of his own men were killed to show his displeasure with the wholesale slaughter of the defenseless humans. Viewing their fellow ogres stretched and bleeding corpses calmed the bloodlust of even his most blood thirsty ogres.

Returning to the palace in Far Ice that he had taken over, Skibep sat down on his oversized chair. It had once been a throne of some sort, but now was used to house the backside of the toughest Ogre in the bunch. Skibep called out to Wranvad, an Imp that Jevram had sent with Skibep. Jevram used such minor evils as messengers and as ways to communicate with his minions.

Laboriously composing a letter to Jevram, Skibep finished the last sentence. With a pleasant sigh that it was over, Skibep sealed the letter. "Here Wranvad, bring this to our master. He will be pleased to see how well we have done here. Go now. I need my rest. " Skibep scarcely glanced at the Imp as Wranvad flew towards the flaming brazier. Shuddering in remembrance of the pain flame had given him, Skibep stared as Wranvad disappeared into the flames. Walking to his room, Skibep laid down to sleep; contented snores the only sound coming from his room.

 

[chewbacca71]

Relthane

Checking the snares that he had set in the morning, Relthane pulled two rabbits back towards his small camp. He had been on the road for five days now and had not encountered a single person. He knew this was odd, since he had always remembered a lot of visits to Far Ice. He wondered if the force that had attacked Far Ice had also decimated the countryside as well.

Dressing the rabbits up for the fire, Relthane sat back with some cool water from his waterskin. Relthane had always been with his father before when he was out of the city. But his fathers training shined through as Relthane had increased the food that he had left the city with. As well as creating a secure camp for the young man to sleep in. Relthane stared up at the evening stars for a moment. He was still sad over the passing of his parents as well as the other good citizens of Far Ice.

He was not sure what he should do next. He knew that his father wanted him to go to Briwelk and seek help there. He doubted if there was any help that a small village could prove for an overrun city. But Relthane would do as his father had commanded.

Pulling the blackened rabbit from the fire, Relthane licked his fingers in anticipation of the taste. His thoughts traveled back to the times he had shared a rabbit over the hot coals with his father. Silent tears coursed down his cheeks as he took a bit of the sweet tasting meat. It tasted of ashes as his thoughts turned back to the loss of his family.

 

[chewbacca71]

Kyle

Kyle gathered his group together. Other than Bragin, the others were none the worse for wear. The only problem other than Bragins paralysis was the smell of burnt hair coming off of Devin. It seemed the flames came closer to the big man than he was willing to admit to the others. Kyle looked up at his long time friend. "Devin , are you sure you are ok? " Devin stared in Kyles eyes for a moment, before nodding his head.

Kyle turned to Thrush and Amber. "I am not sure what to do with Bragin, we can dress his wound where he was bitten. But other than that, I am not sure what to do. "

Thrush spoke to his team leader. "Kyle, that creature must have been a ghoul. I do not have any spells that would take care of the paralysis. I know that the effects wear off in about 8 hours as long as the subject lives. "

Kyle ruminated for a second before addressing his learned mage."We do not have 8 hours to wait for him to get better. If there are these many creatures here in these buildings, there are sure to be more. The building on fire next door is sure to draw more attention like flies. Is there anything else we can do?"

Amber spoke up for a second, "Kyle, I have a cure poison spell that might work. It is used mostly for snake and spider bites, but might be effective in this case. Let me try it and see what happens. It will only help him if nothing else. "

Taking Kyles nod for assent, Amber moved next to Bragin. She put her hands on the hastely assembled field dressing that Austin had put on the nasty bite. Amber closed her eyes as she chanted a spell to implore the help of her chosen Diety. As with the other times that her prayers were answered, an electric charge ran through her body. She reached down and kissed the holy symbol on her necklace.

A sour exhale of breath wafted to her nostrils. Bragin opened his mouth again, bringing in some precious air. "What happened to me? I was in a fight, then the next thing; all of you are here and the opponents are slain. Did I take a knock to the head? "

Kyle smiled down at the dwarf. "Actually, one of your opponents was a ghoul. You were paralyzed for some time now. But Amber was able to break the paralysis. I hope that you are feeling better now, since I think our trouble has only begun. " As if to puncuate his thought, a few howls were heard from the street outside the house.

 

[chewbacca71]

Cragen Rubystone

Cragen led his men silently through the trees. Or at least silently for dwarves. A steady trail of forest animals moved in front of the dwarves, as they fled the loud noises. Cragen and his men were only a mile or so into the forest when the trail of blood led them to a body. Cragen turned the dead body over with his booted foot, noting the hideous scars and marks on the body. Cragen could hardly believe that the creature could have gotten this far from the camp with all those marks.

Seeing the long fingernails and pallid complexion of this creature, Cragen realized that he was looking down at a zombie. He had seen them a few times before, mostly when he had served as a temple guard for a human temple in his youth. Now that had been an interesting time. He had felt closer to humans than his fellow dwarves for years. But eventually, the call of his race was stronger than his bounds of fielty and he went back to the dwarven kingdoms.

After examining the body for a few minutes, Cragen noticed that the trail ended abruptly at a tall cliff face. Running his hands over the edges of the stones, Cragen could feel the outline of a door. Pushing along the edges, Cragen was able to make an opening appear in the stone. Bucking up his courage, Cragen led his two fellow dwarves into the pervading darkness.

 

[chewbacca71]

Relthane

Relthane's thought tumbled back to the very last time he had spent time with his father beside the campfire. His father had been full of wine and good cheer as he slapped his son on the back.

"Son I am not sure if I have ever told you how this world came into being. Whether I have before or not does not really matter, because I am going to tell you again. So listen up good, this is part of your heritage. " Letting out a large belch, Halrim sat down on a slightly watersoaked log. His soased condition never let him register how wet his ass was getting as he started his story.

"Back in the begginning, the gods were born. Of what, we will never know, but it is not our place to ask. They came into a formless void and decided to make a place for themselves to live. The gods worked together for a year, creating all the people and animals and plants that you see today. When it was all finished, the gods formed a handfast ring and breathed life into their creation.

All the gods had used their talents to create things that would please their eye. Some creatures of exquisite beauty were created in those days. But then again, not all beauty is the same to all the gods. Ogres and Orcs and such, ugly at best, were also created. I had oftened wondered myself when I was a youth why the gods had allowed evil to be born also. "

Relthane looked at his father. He had been about to ask that question himself. But he decided to keep his mouth shut. It was rare that his father spoke so much. It had to be the wine that was loosening his tongue. Relthane decided to just sit back and watch the show.

"My father explained it to me that there had to be a balance of good and evil. If there was only good in the world, then we would never realize or appreciate it for what it was. I am still trying to understand that. But anyway, back to my story.

Now some of the gods were of an evil bent as far as I am concerned , so there was evil apparent from the inception of the world. There have always been Ogres, Orcs and other evil beings as far back as when the world was new. It was only over the last few hundred years that the other races , such as Dwarves, Elves, Men and others started to band together to protect themselves. Now the evil strives to create even greater evil to combat the might of the combined peoples. It is as the god portended, a balance is mantained.

Once the good races forged their own little groups, creatures never seen before appeared in the world. The undead creatures such as skeletons , zombies and such have now become a common part of our world. It is a good thing that the gods have given the clerics special powers over the dead, or the undead might soon outnumber the living. I fear for the world in the face of such creatures, but as I said a balance will be maintained. The gods themselves would make it happen if nothing else. "

 

[chewbacca71]

Lorwell

Lors felt as if time had stood still. One minute he was watching the Skeletons vanishing into the underbrush carrying their cargo of corpses. The next, Lors felt the rough hand of Golkis on his shoulder. Golkis gave a small smile of sympathy towards Lors, realizing how hard it must have been for the young man to sit and watch the skeletons get away.

"All right lad, I have recruited 8 men to come with us to search for the Skeletons. Are you sure you are ok to go with us? I do not want you to get hurt. .......Good lad, then lets be off. Gather all your armor and your best weapons. I took the time to get some extra weapons myself. " Golkis patted two full waterskins attached to his belt. He took two more from his pack and gave them to Lors. "Here you go lad, these are yours. I will explain later. "

Lors quickly went back to his room and grabbed his armor. He buckled it on as he went, grabbing a small shield to complete his protection. He kissed his holy symbol, asking his gods blessing on their endeavor. Arriving at the gate a scant few minutes after he had left, Lors stood next to Golkis. "I am ready, lets go get them. "

Golkis signalled up to the guards that had taken over the shift. A loud noise shrieked out of the gate mechanism, as if the town itself cried for its lost citizens. Golkis waved to the guards as he led his party out of the town. Lors led the way to the treeline as the gate closed behind them.

 

[chewbacca71]

Lorwell

Lors pulled out his sword as they came closer to the area where he had seen the skeletons last. A smudged trail in the leaves was a clear marker of where they had gone. The men followed cautiously as they made their way through the forest. They came across a rough woodsman cabin along the side of the trail. Drag marks and small lines of blood led right to the door. Turning back to Golkis, Lors waited for their leader to decide what to do.

 

[chewbacca71]

Cragen Rubystone

Cragen held a makeshift torch above his head. The vague light sputtered as the oil burned through the fabric of Cragens third best shirt. The light revealed to them a small passage with a few offshoots. Cragen and his men explored the first offshoot off to the left.

A large pile of bones were stacked near the back of the room. Some clothing and weapons were haphazardly thrown in the furthest corner. Cragen approached the bones cautiously. He used the torch to push at the bones. When nothing happened, he stopped to examine the clothes and weapons.

There were mismatched clothing in all different sizes. Quite a lot of it actually, thought Cragen, These must have come from about twenty people of all types. He recognized some that would only have fit either dwarves or halflings. The weapons were nothing special, mostly ulitarian weapons that all the races used. Some of the objects were older, showing signs of rust and decay. Keraz and Hicveb helped Cragen examine the room fully before deciding nothing of interest was in there. The other dwarves made torches from leg bones and some of the clothing. Now with a more consistent source of light, the three dwarves went down the passage further.

 

[chewbacca71]

Kyle

Motioning the others to silence, Kyle stealthily moved towards the door and front windows of the home they were in. Slowly pulling the curtain aside so he could look out, Kyle spied out into the street. A number of creatures were surrounding the Inn that was still aflame. Bare slabs of wood stuck out like the rib bones of a dead animal as the flames licked the side off the Inn.

Kyle tried to see as best as he could but he could not make out any details. He whispered back to Thrush. "Thrush, please come over hear. I need your elven eyes. Even with my good eyesight, I want a better look. " Kyle waited as Thrush came over to his side. "Thrush, what are those creatures out there? "

 

[chewbacca71]

Thrush

Pulling the cowl of his robe away from his face, Thrush moved closer to the window. He strained his eyesight to see as best as he could. His sight automatically switched to infravision where the light was not good. The warm soft light of life was absent from most of the bodies, except for a few that were off to one side. Thrush could tell that those were Goblins that must be in control of the undead creatures.

Thrush turned to Kyle. "Kyle, I can make out most of the creatures out there. It seems that these undead creatures that are trying to kill us are being led by Goblins. I can see three of those foul creatures off to the left of the others. They seem to be directing the others to search in the fire. Even as mindless as undead creatures are, they are still not willing to enter the flames. "

"All in all, other than the goblins, there are about 14 undead creatures out there. I can make out that most of them are zombies. But a few have the aspect of ghouls, probably 4 or 5 of them. I do not think we can stand up to such a powerful group, especially at night. I have used up some of my spells already. What would you have us do Kyle? "

 

[chewbacca71]

Kyle

Kyle stared off into space for a minute. Times like this made the mantle of leader feel like a lead weight on his shoulders. He realized that Thrush was completely right. Night was the element of the undead. Better to face these creatures during the day, when the odds were more even.

"Ok Thrush, you are right. We need to get out of here and back into the forest. I will find us a safe place to hole up for the night. Austin, I want you and Amber to check this place out. See if you can find us a back or side door to get out of here. I do not trust our ability to get past these creatures out the front door. Devin and Bragin, take a minute to check this home for anything we can use. Rope, food , water, anything that will prove helpful. Now lets get to it. "

 

[chewbacca71]

Relthane

A loud noise outside the light of his campfire awakened Relthane from his daydream. Pulling the sword from its sheath with shaking hands, Relthane brandished it in front of himself. A soulful howl sounded from his right. Relthane turned in that direction, only to see movement out of the corner of his eye.

A straggly wolf, his coat a shag rug gone to seed, approached the fire. Drawn to the smell of the food Relthane had cooked, the wolf came after bigger game. Swinging his sword towards the wolf, Relthane backed away from the fire. His father and Relthane had always scared wolves away before, when they came to the fireside. But being alone, Relthane could not summon the courage to face this intruder. Turning away , Relthane broke into a run into the forest.

His breath streaming like a waterfall from his open mouth, Relthane ran for his life. Hearing a howl from behind, he doubled his effort to run faster. An answering howl from in front shocked Relthane to his core. His naked sword fell from nerveless fingers as a scream of dread escaped his parched lips. All rational thoughts exited his head as Relthane ran to escape the wolves.

His world suddenly changed as his body flew through the air. The ground seemed to open as he fell into a large hole in the ground. Futilely grasping for purchase in the air, Relthane smacked the opposite wall of the hole with a resounding thump. His head hit hard, his consiousness fleeing his body as it began its descent to the bottom of the hole.

.....Coming to the edge of the barrow, the wolves gathered around . An unspoken conversation was carried through the turn of ears and whish of tail. Slowly turning from the tainted smell of the barrow, the wolves padded away. Their jaws worked as they thought of the sweet taste of the man meat they had just lost. But they would not willingly approach the depths of the barrow, not even for easy prey. Their thoughts on a juicy deer, the wolves went back into the forest to start another hunt.

 

[chewbacca71]

In the Barrow.....

Consiousness stirred for the first time in many years. A warm sentinent was detected only a few feet away. A slight stirring along the side of the corpse allowed Mentrelis to get a better feel of the human lying unconsious on the ground. Sending out a burst of mental energy, Mentrelis was able to read the heart of the young man stretched out before him. Mentrelis realized that this man could be his key to get out of this dismal barrow, a thing that the sword could not do on its own.

Having been forged by the great dwarved smith, Nuthrim Shalesight, Mentrelis had been a work of beauty. Unknown to Nuthrim, the gods had played a joke on him, sending a conciousness into the dwarf's master work. Nuthrim was as pragmatic as most dwarves and realized that it was best to get the sword away from the others. He received his kings permission and presented the gorgeous sword to the Elven king, Lothwerd the Just .

Mentrelis had served Lothwerd well, keeping the king safe for many a year. But the king had come to rely on the advice of his sword too much and had made some bad decisions. The last, an illfated charge into a goblin line had cost him his life. The followers of Lothwerd had been loathe to seperate the sword from their king, so they had buried them together. Truth to be told, the sword had scared all the other elves more than they would admit.

It had been more than three hundred years since the sword had felt the presence of another intelligence. Even though Relthane was hardly worthy of the grandeur of such a sword, Mentrelis was going to make sure he was taken out of this lonely barrow. Hopefully, a more worthy person would be found to take the advice of the sentinent sword. Mentrelis sent out a tendril of thought that brought Relthane back to consiousness.

 

[chewbacca71]

Austin and Amber

Austin lead the way to the storeroom at the back of the house. He used his instincts to think of a good place to hide a way out of the house. Amber looked at him skeptically as Austin stood in the middle of the room with his eyes closed. Pointing his arms in front of him, Austin made a few slow turns before pointing at a section of the wall to their right. "Got it," Austin intoned to his teammate.

Walking closer to the wall, Amber started to move all the boxes that were stacked up. When they were all moved, there was nothing at all different about the wall as compared to the others. "Austin, I think you have lost it. There is nothing here....." As Amber said this, Austin walked up to the wall and pushed on a spot near the corner. A hidden door swung into the wall.

"Well, I will be damned. You were right after all Austin. How did you do that? "

Austin looked up at her, "Mostly pure luck, there are four walls in this room . So I had a 25 % chance of being right....." Austin ducked as Amber took a playful swing at him. Amber followed Austin as they went through the door. A small hallway led to a set of rickety wooden stairs going down. They walked down the stairs into a small opening .

A metal grill covered the western wall. Rusted bolts secured it to the wall. Austin could here running water coming from behind the grill. "I would imagine that this leads to the small river that is outside the town. Probably a small section of the river was diverted under the town to serve as a sort of sewer. Lets go get the others. This is probably our best shot of getting out of here. "

 

[chewbacca71]

Lorwell

Lors nodded as Golkis gave directions. He took three of the men with him towards the back of the cabin. They slowly moved to the back wall and checked to see if there were any doors or other ways for people to get out of the cabin. Satisified that there were no ways for people to escape out the back, Lors whistled to Golkis.

Golkis and the rest of other five men fanned out as they aproached the front of the cabin. Golkis waited till everyone was in place. Two men on each side as well as three in front and three in back should be enough to contain any problems from this cabin. The men on the side tried to look in the windows on the side but they were up too high to see.

Golkis stepped up to the front door, swinging his axe in a muscular arc. The door was stouter than expected. The axe broke part of the door open, but was wedged into the oak of the door. Golkis was pulling on the axe as it was pushed out from the inside. Golkis was knocked out of the way as six skeletons rushed outside. Forced to his knees, Golkis tried to use his axe to pull himself up.

Golkis was hidden from the skeletons sight with the door in front of him, but he could hear the screams of his men. One of the men who was watching the side of the building came rushing to the front. He helped Golkis to his feet, adding his strength to get the axe out of the door. The two men hear glass crash as skeletons came out the windows.