Rurik's Mission XI
New seasons, new recruits, and new options (to cake): death (by ice) or death (by kobolds)!
Things had settled down at Fort Eclipse over the winter. The cooler weather brought with it the cooling of heads as we all settled in for a few months, catching up on paperwork and forge-work that needed to be completed for the year and in preparation for next spring. In fact, after nearly three years, Kreger finally finished making his hammer. The finishing touches were completed on the fortress and the artisans were now working on simple embellishments and day to day repairs. All in all, it was a calm and uneventful winter.
One day late in the season, Kwarthian returned from one of his many trips into the wilds. He always claimed that he was spreading the good word of Corellon to the creatures of the forest. With the kinds of creatures we had found in our environs so far, we thought a bit unlikely that he would make any conversions. This time, however, the reward for his efforts followed him home. A goblin was captured trying to enter the fortress gates. Apparently Kwarthian had convinced the goblin of the virtues of the elven deity and had offered him access to his shrine to Correlon. Now having a goblin around would have been bad enough. Much to the dismay of everyone with ears, the goblin fancied himself to be something of a musician. The goblin managed to produce such rackets that the only safe place in the entire Fort was the forges, and even then, we had to pound extra hard on the anvils just to drown out his yowling. So when the spring thaw finally arrived, we were all ready for a little action and any excuse to get out of the Fort.
So it was with a sense of frustration that I watched the rest of the Warriors prepare for their first mission of the year. Rigel, Scout, Kwarthian, Kreger, and Ozzy were preparing to head south to Skullport. After the mess we made of it last year, we needed to send a more experienced team to investigate. In addition, they took a young halfling, Leopold d’Burrows with them. Leopold was some manner of mage and linguist who had stumbled onto some information about the rifts. Since the cult in Skullport was definitely connected to the rifts somehow, he seemed a reasonable addition despite his lack of experience with the Warriors of the Eclipse.
Meanwhile, I was to remain at the Fort and oversee the training of new recruits. A number of them had braved the winter road to seek positions with our little band. The majority of these were hardly qualified to tend the bellows, let alone man the battlements, but with a little training I was sure we would make something of them eventually. A small number of them, however, were already showing signs of exceptional ability. As it so happened, the elves had just requested a small contingent to be sent to them to undertake a mission on the island of Elvaris. They said it would not be dangerous, just time consuming. So it was that a small contingent of the most able of the recruits was assembled. I assigned Zon, a human priest of Kord, Zenian, a newly arrived elven ranger, Zip, the gnomish druid, and Twitch, a gnomish illusionist, to meet the elves’ contact in Rema. Zon, Zip, and Zenian left right away. Twitch, however, had just suffered a massive accident with some experiment he was doing, and so was delayed from the journey while Arcadius and Ridge worked with him to recover whatever valuable information could be gleaned from the muddled brain of a recently exploded gnome. After a couple of days, Twitch was able to leave and catch up to his fellow adventurers at Rema.
After this, things became very dull. The next few days were occupied with basic drills for the new recruits, some light work in the forges, and avoiding that blasted goblin whenever possible.
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Seamus approached with an update from the crew in Skullport. Apparently they had located a building that was a source of high levels of negative energy, and therefore was possibly one of the hideouts the cult was using. They had managed to fight their way deep into the cult’s territory and were nearly out of resources to push on further. They could retreat, but feared the consequences of giving up this foothold at this point. Therefore, they called Seamus for backup. Glad for a chance to get away from the goblin who had started composing his own epic ballads of the wonders of Corellon, I quickly volunteered my services. Seamus teleported us to the other Warriors, then quickly returned to the Fort, muttering something about having to meet a girl; some magical reagent vendor, I could only imagine.
Once Seamus had left, I looked at my surroundings. We were in moderate sized room with a dark hole in the middle of the floor. Apparently this was to be our passage. Scout, Rigel, Kwarthian, Kreger, Ozzy, and Leopold (who apparently goes by Leo), quickly secured a rope to one of the doors, and then started climbing down into the opening. I still had a few tricks in my bag, and quickly produced a steel ring from my pack. Making a loop in the rope and securing it around my breatplate, I was able to slowly lower myself down into the darkness.
This new room had four exits. Three of the exits were identical wooden doors, but the fourth was a double door. After a brief discussion, we decided to try the double doors. Kreger managed to bash through the double doors with his new hammer. No sooner had the doors cracked than a rush of cold air flooded into the room. The hallway before us covered in ice, with icicles hanging from the ceiling and rising up from the floor. While we examined this new pathway, the temperature in the room continued to drop until it was more than simply uncomfortable. We would have to act fast or else face a real threat of freezing to death. Upon further examination of the hall, it was noted that the icicles were very fragile possibly set up to fall if anyone should enter the hallway. Ozzy quickly took out his whip and started walking down the hall, easily and safely knocking the icicles down. I had taken up position at the entrance to the hallway, carefully examining the ice covered floor and wondering why I hadn’t brought any crampons to help me across this slippery mess. I heard a scream and a wet, ripping sound followed by a sickening thud. I looked up and saw Ozzy’s head slide to a stop at my feet. Halfway down the corridor, a huge mound of ice was climbing out of the floor over the halfling’s crumpled body.
The ice elemental moved slowly down the hall. Despite the desire to avenge our friend, none of us relished the idea of battling the elemental on that icy floor, so we let it come to us. We slowly lured it to the edge of the hallway so we could all attack it with relatively stable footing provided by the cold stone floor of the room. Its icy body was difficult to damage, but with some perseverance and additional help from some mystical fire provided by our casters, we were able to defeat it. Now that the menace was gone, we all carefully moved down the hallway. I gathered Ozzy’s body and wrapped it in a blanket so we could take him with us when we left.
As we slipped and slid to the far end of the hallway, the cold intensified. There was a door at this end of the hallway, too, but it was covered in a thick layer of ice. The cold was painful, so we couldn’t afford to just stand there and figure out what to do. We all started hacking at the ice, which soon cracked and fell away, leaving just the door which soon crashed open under our attack.
Before us was a strange contraption. Spinning metal rings and orbs of iron flew around a pulsating dark sphere of energy. It was similar to the rifts we had seen before, but somehow was different. Most of the rifts I had dealt with in the past looked almost like infected wounds. They would emanate dark energy as they reached out from the central point, always reaching out, trying to expand and grow. This sphere of dark energy seemed to be contained by the rings. It did not reach out, seeking other creatures to corrupt, but rather folded back in on itself, concentrating its energy in a smaller place. Standing around this contained rift were four cultists. Each was standing so that they were actually touching the rift. There was a momentary pause while we examined the machine and cultists, and they sized us up as well. Then battle commenced.
Scout, Kwarthian, Kreger, and I charged forward. The cultists, unafraid, directed dark beams of negative energy at us. Scout reached the cultists first and sliced one with her sword. He quickly summoned a cloak of dark energy that enveloped his body and made him difficult to target. Suddenly, some of the iron orbs were ripped away from the mechanism as Rigel flung the components at one of the cultists. The machine was damaged and the crippling chill instantly lifted from the room. Soon after, the rift began to fluctuate and shrink. The cultists’ skin started to wither to the point that they no longer appeared human, or at least not living humans. These withered cultists were forced to step back to keep contact with the rift. Unsure as to what was going on, we pressed the attack on the cultists with glaive and sword and hammer. Suddenly, Rigel’s mind-voice announced that closing rifts in the past had resulted in large explosions, so retreat might be wise. Before anyone had a chance to react, the rift suddenly disappeared. Everyone flinched at the impending explosion, but it never came. The rest of the battle was quick. Without their connection to the negative energy rift, the cultists had to rely on their own powers. A few spells were cast, but they were soon defeated.
We searched the bodies of the cultists and the room. There were no other exits, so we quickly returned to the central room where we had entered and commenced the search of the rest of the compound. One door led into a laboratory of some sort. There were several pieces lying around that looked like the spheres and rings we had seen around the rift. Kreger destroyed a few of the parts in this room while we searched it, but there was nothing else of interest in there. The next room was found to be some sort of summoning chamber. The casters among us instantly recognized the various mystical protections and extraplanar symbols. This was carefully disassembled and all necessary reagents were taken or destroyed. Then, the final door led to the dormitories. We quickly searched the rooms for anything of value, both monetary and informational. Once we were done with that, we climbed back up the rope and left the compound.
After a short journey through the streets of Skullport, we boarded the ship of one, Captain Darrows. Apparently, Captain Darrows had entered negotiations with the Warriors in an attempt to consolidate leadership within the city, and therefore stabilize the region for Lord Lucasson. Soon after our introductions, Seamus appeared on the ship, ready to bring me back to the Fort. I gathered up Ozzy’s corpse and we were whisked away back home. Arrangements were made for Ozzy and his name was added to the list of fallen Warriors.
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Eventually everyone, including Ryliss and Honah two new recruits sent by the elves, returned to the Fort. There were many stories to go around about fighting giant druids and hiring prostitutes and the loss and regaining of a suit of armor. Before anyone could get too comfortable, we found more work for everyone. Reports of twisted ogres and rifts were sure to keep us busy. Again the troops were assembled and assigned their missions. Things were so boring during this time that even the goblin’s performances were becoming less . . . No, no. They were still pretty horrible.
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Later in the summer, a caravan arrived at Fort Eclipse. Normally this would not be worth a mention as supply caravans traveled to the Fort on a regular basis. This one, however, had been severely damaged. Of the twenty-five dwarves originally assigned to the caravan, only six remained. They brought with them stories of horrible magics and tremendous power that had been turned against them. Fire had rained down upon them and horrible green rays of destruction had destroyed their commander. The most horrible part was when they finally admitted that the attack was carried out by kobolds.
This was certainly a major blow to the safety of the region. Rigel was quick to assemble a small group to go and investigate this problem. They requisitioned a cart, disguised themselves as traders, and headed off to weed out the kobold brigands.
A few days later they returned to the Fort, defeated. Their plan to tempt the kobolds to attack them had worked. Unfortunately, they had underestimated the kobolds and had barely escaped the ambush. In fact, Zenian had been slain. Arcadius contacted the elves to inform them of the elf’s demise. To our surprise they sent some great oaf of a giant, apparently a powerful druid of some renown among the elves, to perform a reincarnation spell for the elf. The spell in itself was quite strange as it required the planting of an acorn. An oak tree sprouted and grew to decent size within a week. A large pod emerged from the root system of this tree. The pod grew to a large size, and then opened to reveal the new form of the elf . . . an elf! He looked somewhat different, but wonder of wonders he was still an elf.
With the rebirth of the elf, they set out again, this time hoping to take the kobolds by surprise. When they managed to return this time, they had demolished the kobold threat, but had lost three of their own as well: Rigel, victim of a kobold assassin, and Twitch and Ryliss, killed by a spell cast by a fleeing sorcerer. Goron was asked to return to aid Rigel. A close friend of Twitch heard about his demise and offered his assistance. Ryliss, however, was returned to the church of Wee Jas for a proper burial.
After a bit of brainstorming, it was discovered that the only possible source of such powerful kobolds would be Darble Anvil. Two years before, we had visited the ruins of the dwarven city only to find it had been overrun by kobolds and was now the lair of a dark dragon. We had managed to escape that time because Rigel had “befriended” the dragon. The only way such a powerful group of kobolds could have been assembled was if the dragon had trained and equipped them. We would have to take care of this dragon immediately.
We split into three main groups: a main strike force to clear the road and the base camp at the ruins of Glendale, a follow up strike force to pick off any stragglers along the road and bring some extra supplies, and then finally a contingent of dwarves to hold and maintain the base camp, each leaving one week after the previous group. Two weeks after the primary force left, as I was preparing to leave with the dwarves, the second team suddenly appeared at the Fort. Apparently the First group had not made it to Glendale at all. The second group discovered the base camp still swarming with kobolds and about to sacrifice six dwarves in celebration of their victory over “the Rigel.”. They had rescued the dwarves, the last survivors of the original dwarven caravan, and returned to the Fort to report and await information about the lead group.
The lead group had been sidetracked by a barbed devil that had taken a shine to teasing Scout. They had ventured through a strange maze but had finally escaped. Now that communications had been reestablished, we pressed on with our attack. However, when we reached Glendale, it was deserted and the doors to Darble Anvil were sealed. We arranged our camp in the ruins, planned a way to re-enter the dragon’s lair without having to crash through the front gates, and waited until morning.