Mean while in the Market square of Vayham (part IV)

Back in the square the guards at the keep slowly recovered form there terror and snuck out to investigate now it was all over and shortly they where joined by the Count and his body guards the chief priest of the Founder and his remaining knight in full armour and the senior priests of the true and the handful of their men who where on the day watch. The leaders of the town who had not long retired after a night on the walls having been roused when the eruption of fire occurred. The market guards who had fled at the demons first terrifying war cry and some of the braver traders returned to join them. All looked at the fresh spilt blood on the stones the gauge the demons sword had left on the ground and the spilt ichor. Finally congregating around the hole which was where the flame had erupted from, finding a seemingly bottomless pit some fifteen feet across and which was beyond the first few feet lined with worked stone.  It looked for all the world like a well, the count looked at the founder’s priest on his right hand and asked was there ever a well in the market square. The priest scratched his head and thought no my lord that I know of but I may have forgotten something in the temple achieves, I will need to check.  With that he bustled off to do just that. Every one else stood and looked those who could see and those who could not tried to over hear what was being said by those who could, or speculated wildly whilst other just tried to catch a glimpse of what all the fuss was about.

to be continued......

Mean while in the Market square of Vayham (part III)

It left with the same soft pop and a whoosh of air as it had arrived and Fawlit was so surprised that he nearly fell over as he was in mid reverse swing and the momentum of the strike that would never land carried him of balance for an instant, there was silence in the square and the fountain of flame guttered like a candle flame drowning in its own wax and went out.

A short time latter Nyasse came round from her swoon in the arms of the stupidly grinning Half Ork, yea gawds he was ugly but Violet always said not to judge a man by his visage for much that seems fair is in truth foul and vice versa, and it meant that she was still alive as did the dull throb where her left fore arm should have been, she wondered what had happened to the creature had Fawlit slain it, had she. That Fawlit said looking at the bloody mess which was her left fore arm needs to go to the hospital. Nyasse found she could not disagree, but paused to pick up her sword and ask what had happened to the creature and did not understand Fawlit’s reply that it had just gone, adding just before he slammed his axe into it again. Then the pair walked side by side through the town where it was a hanging offence even to be a Half Ork as if they had not a care in the world, despite her gashed and still bleeding arm and his torn surcoat and shouldered axe still stained with ichor and on that morning none challenged them from the few they passed on the street going towards the great hospital.

to be continued......

Mean while in the Market square of Vayham (part II)

The Demon unleashed its ululating cry again as it and the Half Ork clashed, which would have surprised the on lookers had there been any for fear of the demon had made all else flee or cringe in cover praying to the very gods that it not notice them. The Ork let out its on battle cry "for the True" as its axe and the demons massive sword began a deadly dance. In the living quarters of the temple of the True and the Temple of the Founder inside the keep their respective priests and knights where roused from their sleep by terrified guards in the Manor the Count called for his squire. The demon did not notice the girl sneaking up on it from behind her short swords blade glittering dully in the dying light of the fountain of flame.

Fawlit dodged the heavy sword for all he was worth but even so it the tip caught him and tore his golden yellow surcoat and struck sparks from his new scale armour. However he noticed the demon could not fight it swung its sword in wild arcs and quite predictable sweeps like a farmer reaping wheat or scything down long grass not like a warrior it also seemed to give little thought to its own protection. Fawlit watched and toyed with it giving ground and moving seeming to give way to the creature biding his time as it hewed at him before spinning his great axe “questions will be axed” in to an opening the beast left smashing the heavy axe into its knee with a force that would have take the leg off a lesser creature. Black stinking ichor exploded from the wound but the creature took it resolutely as if it was a mere tap and essayed a reply but being unable to brig its great blade to bear it lashed out with its great clawed foot. The move caught Fawlit who was moving to a second swing himself a bit by surprise but even so most to the not inconsiderable force of the blow was taken on his axes shaft even so it sent him sprawling back towards the gate way a good ten feet and winded him even if he did have the presence of mind to hang on to the axe. The demon let out its war cry again and raising its sword above its head followed up to finish the prone Half Ork. Inside the keep all those who heard cringed deeper in their hiding places and prayed all the harder.

Then Nyasse struck with a balletic leap she threw herself at the creature sword forward in a movement more suited to the climax of a Basirian sword dance than a fight, but the blade struck home in the small of the foul things back and cut a deep wound which caused it to cry out in pain and its stroke at Fawlit missed striking sparks off the stones of the market square instead. Nyasse completed the move with a back flip. The creature turned looking for its new assailant as the girl landed and Fawlit recovered and got back to his feet.

It took a swing at Nyasse who was perhaps a bit too elated at her beginners luck to pay attention to defending herself catching her unarmoured left arm  and cleaving it to the bone. For a moment the young dancers vision greyed and she thought she was going to faint. So did the demon who let out an exultant cry and prepared to strike his hapless and soon to be helpless foe. Fawlit struck smashing “questions will be axed” into the demons unarmoured thigh, he had been aiming for the already wounded knee but the stroke went high. Once again the stroke did remarkably little damage for all it was delivered with full force and would have felled an ox. Nyasse vision cleared and despite the pain she forward rolled in under the demons swing driving her sword into the malformed muscle of its calf the sword went right through and Nyasse tore it out not that she had quite intended to but she had rolled on her gashed arm and this time the pain was too much for the girl. Fawlit laughed a strange and rather inappropriate laugh. He could see his death and it did not scare him because he knew that he would be as welcome as any in the afterlife of the true. He caught the demons uneven glowing eyes and the demon saw its own end in the Orks an end to millennia of slaughtering the defenceless and innocent of a myriad worlds an end to every thing to oblivion for no after life awaits demons and it decided it had had enough, it was gone in an instant

To be Continued.......

Mean while in the Market square of Vayham (part I)

another drama unfolds.

Just as the market was setting up for the day in the great market square of the town, not that it was going to be all that great a market considering the town had been under close siege for three weeks now and things to sell, especially food, where getting increasingly scarce and what there was to be had increasingly expensive as they became scarcer. There was always something to be had that was needed and the social function of the market had not subsided and there was always time for a moan about the town situation or same tale to tell about that nights fighting. Thought the chief topic this morning was that the Acolytes of the Great Hospital had cordoned off the shambles in the Newtown on account of some vile plague having broken out there and that a great crowd of acolytes had gone in to set up a fever hospital in its midst.

Then there was the tale of the heroes of the major attack on the Northgate of a couple of nights ago to talk, including the strange elf and his lieutenant who had lead the counter attack,  about and some wondering what the company of adventurers variously called Telec’s or Dvorn’s company where going to do to lift the siege after all the tale was all around that two weeks ago they had cut there way through the goblin siege lines with great slaughter amongst the goblins and those who manned the walls told that the goblins had greatly reinforced their works to defend against a second occurrence. Finally the Kalamarian lass who had been doing performance poetry was a always worth a watch even if no one here could understand a word of it, one could not but like the lilt and style of it, not to mention that the poetess was an uncommon pretty girl and that drew enough interest form the young apprentices who had precious little else to do these days.

Then it happened, there was a massive explosion quickly followed by a fountain of flame which rose higher than the walls of the keep and hurled gobbets flame far out over the north of the town falling into thatch and starting fires. The bystanders stood stunned for a few instants and then the alarms went off at the keep,the war drum and the great gold horn of the true sounded, and Militia men tired for a nights patrolling ad skirmishing with goblins along the walls where rousted out to act as a fire brigade lest the town burn. Around the market they where joined by the market guard and even some of the traders and their customers and some amongst the counts guard and the soldiers of the true also joined in though the strange Half Ork who had been rumoured to be hiding in the temple of the true and pretending to be one of their guards was no where to be seen.

Then the demon appeared not far form the now faltering fountain of flame. It appeared with a soft pop and a whoosh of air and no one who was not looking towards the flame would have noticed it until its war cry rent the air sending a shock wave of fear through all who heard its terrifying yet inchoate howl only two did not flee the Kalamarian lass who drew her sword, a blade every one thought little more than a prop to her troubadour act and charged it out of the arch of the keep the Half Ork appeared still aping a guard of the true and ran towards the monster.

Picture from here

The monster was a the form of a twisted red skinned humanoid of gigantic proportions wielding a sword of prodigious size for a moment it stood and surveyed the scene before moving towards the gate of the keep sweeping abandoned market stalls before it with its great blade. The blows smashing them and scattering the goods form them to be crunched under its cloven hooves

A couple of the counts guards on the gate recovered enough from the effect of its cry and had the presence of mind to shot it with the large siege bows from the gate house the bolts shattered on its flesh like hurled icicles on granite. It ignored the two figures approaching it sniffing the air intent on the gate to the keep and beyond.

to be continued....

Episode Twenty two Preview

Situation report 

Two weeks have passed since every one arrived in the besieged town of Vayham and things have gone form bad to worse in all honesty. That the first serous attempt at storming the town was beaten off but food is getting expensive and the citizens in the town increasingly restive

as a game session is is the first in which all the Player characters in the game where present in the same general area  and the first time meeting for the new ones.

We also needed to level most of the characters in the game I had already done the NPC's but some people have a couple of player characters to do and one three

That fateful night Part IV

Over the next several nights and days following.

·        Several stragglers from the fighting in the north of the county are shot down trying to break trough the Goblin siege lines around dawn

·        Telec and his company arrive east of the M’Alvern stream and the subsequently break through the goblin siege line followed shortly after by a smaller group of refugees who come with a disturbing tale about   the Goblins having some rather professional looking Hobgoblin artillerists in their employ. 

·        Merchants who have abandoned the fair at A’Rakham arriving at the Village of Three Elms report that the fair was attacked by goblins and that they have seen goblin scouts and burned out farms along the kings road on the P’Baparan side of the border they also met patrols from the B’Paran villages south of the road out after goblins who have raided settlements south of the road in some numbers. The Merchants say that the patrols are lead by a veteran fighter who owing to an injury which makes walking difficult seldom dismounts and a portly priest of some sort. 

·        In Vayham the discussions between Corwin  the Chief priest of the Hospital and the Chief priest of the True regarding the persons that the former has in custody and has granted sanctuary to an the latter would very much like to talk to as they are all on a warrant to be arrested as traitors to the town being conspirators in a plot of some sort involving some old tunnels 

·        Subsequent to the breaching of the Goblin siege line around Vayham by Telec’s company and the others who followed, they are visibly very much reinforced, most notably a second trench and stockade line is built to protect them from behind and roads previously left intact are cut by a trench rather than just the spiked log barrier which Telec’s men just lifted out of the way. The artillery which the second group spoke off comes into action. Its catapults capable of hurling stones on a low enough arc that they will hit the town’s wooden walls and cause them and the men defending them some damage and injury.

·        The council of southern land holders at Three Elms is more than happy to accept the Merchants council idea and given that they have Sir Dalan’s company are more than happy to drive east at least as far as A’Rakham manor. It is also proposed that they should link up with the B’parans as reports seem to indicate that they and them have a shared problem.

·        In Vayham the count moves the rest of the  towns few siege engines, some aging bolt shooters from the keep to the town walls as the one deployed on each gate already has proved effective in discouraging the goblins stone throwers. This move is made all the more effective by the strange elf Nyassor attaching himself to the crews and it becoming apparent that he is quite adept with such weapons, even if he has to give his advice through a translator.

·        In the Village of Three Elms a force to clear the kings road to the east is formed based around Sir Dalan’s company and that of T’lec’s escort Captain the half hobgoblin  Velikas a few of the locals and guards form the other merchants volunteer to join the expedition.

·        In Vayham very annoyed by the detention of her friends Thans and Heradin and more so by the forced conversion of her friend Fawlit the Half Ork  Nyasse goes into see the head of the temple of the True to demand that he releases then and allows Fawlit a better choice than convert or hang. A row developed as they have entirely opposite views on the matter and she ended up challenging the chief priest of the, His deputy and then a knight of the True who was involved in throwing her out of the temple after the first pair of challenges to a duel to the death over the matter as they had no honour. She continued to rant in Kalamarian outside the temple until physically removed by a pair of the counts guards who said the where really letting her off on the account of her age and sex because she should really be flogged for causing a breach of the peace else.  

·        It is also decided to send a pair of messengers west and raise the king’s aid to deal with what is certainly a major goblin invasion, and something needing the Kings attention.   

·        More goblins drawn by the success and the loot gained by the Warlords Akakabul and Benaxerak join them at the goblin caves and Vayham respectively. Not wanting to be out manned the king of Ghul Dvax sends for more of his followers and ambitious goblins from the goblin city of Ghul Dvax turn warlord and spread the war into the southlands of the very rich Neffaria County to the north of Vayham County.

·        Nyasse has taken to standing in the Great market reciting poetry in Kalamarian and as she is good at this has developed quite an audience however any one who can speak Kalamarian is aware that they are actually poems insulting the priesthood of the True in Vayham as principle amongst the poems is the lyric of a well known Bassarioan bawdy song about a lady who marries five brothers but has to take a lover in the end, oddly the names of the brothers are those of the priests of the true. 

·        At Vayham the increased goblin force lead by Benaxerak bully Zangrebul launch a major assault on the west gate of Vayham which is only repulsed when the strange elf Nyassor and the Neffarian Oliver and the gnome intervened the former slaying Zangrebul with a bolt shooter before charging into the fight like some one possessed. The now leaderless goblins where driven from the gate house. However the gate nearly fell and the county is very worried especially as he has not been able to alert the King or his neighbours of the situation 

·        In his hidden halls deep under the Mountains the Great Goblin gets the first reports of his minions success and is well pleased

That Fateful Night Part III

The Following morning

• In Vayham it is apparent that the town is surrounded and whilst the goblins will not approach within bow shot by daylight they begin to erect crude defences beyond that. These do not encircle the town at this point but all attempts to send messengers west to alert the kingdom of what is now obviously major goblin invasions are shot down as they attempt to escape. The count feels at this point he can not risk the men to launch a major sortie to cover the escape of such a messenger. 

• There is a lull in the action around Vayham until after mid day of the day after as it would seem the goblins would prefer to be nocturnal and the men of the down are exhausted from the fighting or of the night before or two cowed by it.

• In the south Sir Dalan’s battered command rouse from a brief and uneasy sleep and being aware that the area to their north is thick with goblins too numerous to fight their way through decide to turn south to the keep at the village of the Three Elms with the hope of attempting to keep the kings road from the west open as it is form the west along that road that the kings army will come.

• Just after mid day the goblin siege artillery announces its presence by beginning to lose a drizzle of bags of gravel and fire pots into the town. The Machines are crude trebuchets and don’t have much range beyond the town walls or the accuracy to hit them, but the initial salvo is quite fierce and the bursting bags of sharp gravel and burning oil and spirit make it distinctly dangerous to be out on the streets in the new town and the east ward of the old town. Several houses are set alight by fire pots and the tired city militia are roused to act as a fire brigade as in a town of thatched timber framed houses any fire is a disaster in waiting. Fortunately the rate of fire eases off as the goblins either run out of ammunition or tire of the game.

• When Violet walks into A’Rakham fair with a Half a dozen still dripping goblin heads and a score of neatly paired ears, the place is subdued and many of the traders are it would seem intending to pack up and return to safer places to the west. Maragamir, the inn keeper and self styled lord of the Manor is fuming and blaming the whole thing on Sur Telec and his company as they have at least not done the job he paid them to do as the goblins still dare to offend his honour. The mercenaries the Lord of A’Rakham hired to guard the market are beginning to extend the stockade line around the southern and formerly open edge of the market.

• Well rested D'rek Hielax and his small company make noises about turning back to Neffaria city but once out of sight of the locals they turn east and head into the hills towards the forward base that he had set up in the goblin caves the previous year, as in the town behind them several people begin to become concerned that a couple of the women of the town are missing.

• Whilst Maragamir rages and others make more pragmatic and perhaps pessimistic decisions a several wiser heads in the Fair begin to wonder why they have not seen any caravans from Kalamar and the young kingdoms yet this year.

• East of the Falax Bridge the caravan captain makes a decision as he is unable to force the bridge it being too strongly held by goblins. So the Caravan on the Road turns back east and Dejji horsemen from its escort riding ahead of it carry the news that the Kings road is blocked and there will be no trade west of the Mountains this year. Slowly this news filters back along the road from the east over the mountains and caravan after caravan also turns back east seeking less troubled Markets.

• Early that evening The Goblin King of Ghul Dvax arrives at the town of Vayham and joins the siege he technically takes over command form warlord Benaxerak since he outranks him, but he is content to let the ambitious warlord do all the work whilst waiting to snatch the glory from him when the hour of the attack comes

• Violet finally gets to see Maragamir after spending most of the day achieving nothing more than making the inhabitants of the Fair more nervous than they already are, she does however manage to speak to his guard commander, the mercenary caption whose men he hired this year to keep order at the faire and several other notables and begin to come up with a plan though she cant help thinking the whole thing would be so much easier if Perkal was still alive.

• Sir Dalan and his battered company win through to the village of Three Elms after a sharp skirmish with goblins in the woods to the north of it the defenders of the southern part of the County of Vayham are delighted at the reinforcements but some what dismayed that the goblins seem to have over run all the lands between them and the county town and may have that under siege.

• Maragamir is distinctly dubious about Violet who takes something of a dislike to the rather self important and arrogant innkeeper and all they can agree on is the issue of a bounty on pairs of goblin ears. This being two silvers an pair to be paid by Maragamir.

• There is a trader’s council meeting at village Three Elms where those merchants intending to travel east of the mountains and troubled by the rumours of and actual goblin trouble on the Kings road. They discuss what to do one amongst them a Kalamarian called T’lec who has already a strong escort proposes forming an army out of the mercenary escorts the caravans have for the purpose of clearing the king’s road. Most of the Traders are however largely without significant mercenary escort as most wait till they reach A’Rakham to hire more than the handful needed to dissuade bandits and opportunist thieves in largely peaceful Cosdol so whilst many are in favour they mostly feel that they do not have the numbers to do it successfully. The meeting decides however to appoint T’lec as the traders representative to see the council of the southern land holders at the keep in the morning.

• As dusk falls outside the town of Vayham the Goblins reinforce the siege line and begin digging a trench to surround the town outside bow shot of the walls. Whilst the artillery fire begins again and continues all night, it’s not all that effective but does cause the evacuation of many of the buildings within fall of shot and keeps the town Militia busy all night playing at firemen.

• Violet leaves the fair with the intent of checking on the local area before returning to the Hidden Dell as she has more work for the company of adventurers who rescued her people form the goblins.

• Mean while the Hobgoblin siege engineers camped now to the south of the town in a very Kalamarian looking marching camp begin to work on something a lot more effective than the crude trebuchets the goblins are presently using. Engines capable of hitting the wooden walls of the town rather than shooting high over them.

To be continued………

That Fateful night Part II

That Fateful night Part II

• Having recovered a large quantity of abandoned loot from the Goblins after breaking the resistance at first encountered as the Goblin fought to hold on to their loot Crindar decides to split his force sending all the second levy under the command of the chief priest of the True back towards the town whist bolstering his forces with those of the northern land holders households the majority of whom are a horse before pressing on with his pursuit of the Goblin main force
• In the small Rural inn in Southern Neffaria chief of D'rek Hielax wakes in the middle of the night and wonders if he should take the very amenable inn wench he entertained himself with tonight with him to the new posting as Goblins are hardly likely to have such comforts even for honoured guests
• The reconnaissance in force from the Goblin caves arrives at the Fair and spotting the new defences to the north side of the road quietly move around in a broad ark to the south unseen.
• In the north of the County the Goblins stop retreating as they have reached a set of fields and small stone built animal enclosures that they have made into something of a redoubt for themselves. Initially charges by the mounted men of Vayham drive off the screening wolves and dog riders who scatter east un pursued for fear of a trap
• In the centre the forces of the Goblin warlord Benaxerak, break first through their own screening forces and then the overstretched defenders of the main ford across the M’Alvern Stream, most of whom they ride down before they can make it to the relative safety of the town.
• In the south the Goblins besieging Sir Dalan’s men and the last of the counts mobile reserve seem content to surround them and contain them in the half burned abandoned Thorpe of Erinhanam.
• Crindar the tall launches an attack on the goblin redoubt, believing that this will be the decisive battle he has been seeking all night. He surrounds it and assails it from all sides, even dug in Goblins are no match for well equipped me at arms.
• The Goblin King of Ghul Dvax, unleashes his own trap as he leads his personal bodyguard into the fray armed end equipped with the best of the dwarf made gear his predecessors looted from the strong rooms of the Dwarf city the fight is bloody but the king closes his elite well they are all proven fighters and the arms of Men are no match for the finest that Goblins can steal.
• The Goblin reconnaissance force strikes into the Faire from the unprotected south causing considerable damage to the faire before the defenders can be mustered and they flee triumphant before the threat of retribution.
• Goblin warlord Benaxerak throws a screen of forces around the town and the Count who was snatching a few hours sleep is awakened and calls out the militia to the walls. The goblins do not launch an assault but are content to surround the place out of bow shot.
• Violet who caught up with the raiders before they arrived at the north wall and has been following them as they swung around to the south acts as they flee after their raid having positioned herself in a tree in their likely line of retreat, she shoots until her quiver is empty and there are no living goblins form the raid then she takes the ears of all of the ones she slew and recovers her arrows this will buy her a word with the innkeeper she thinks.
• The convoy of recovered loot wagons gains the sight of Vayham and seeing the town beset the chief priest of the True rallies the tired northern militiamen escorting it to attack the Goblins and allow them to gain the safety of the town
• A very few of the men of Vayham manage to cut there way out of The King of Ghul Dvax’s ambush and none unwounded or with honour intact for all left friends and allies dead or wounded on the field to the mercies of these strange Dwarf armoured Goblins and most now believe the stories circulating in Vayham of a Dwarf having roused up the goblins to be true.
• Benaxerak’s Siege artillery and the company of Hobgoblin siege engineers cross the now cleared main ford over the M’Alvern Stream as more of his foot forces move forward to reinforce the forming encirclement.
• The Attack by the force lead by the Chief priest of the True breaks through to the north gate, which the defenders open to allow them and the carts to enter only to be forced to slam them shut again when more dog mounted goblins arrive and almost ride in thought the open gate under a hail of arrows some of which punch thought even the palisade atop the wall let alone the poor armour of the defenders and the escort. The Goblins recover the majority of  their loot dragging the abandoned carts back out of bow shot whooping with triumph
• As the Goblin attacks begin to abate with the approach of dawn. The remains of Sir Dalan’s men and those he came to relive bed down in the houses of the Thorpe before working out what to do next
• Dawn begins to rise on a grimmer day after a grim night
• In his comfortable bed in the small rural town inn in southern Neffaria county  D'rek Hielax muses on the conundrum to bring true order one has to spread a little chaos first and considers what to have for breakfast

be continued……….

The Future Darkens part III

The Future Darkens part III

The some where else they ended up this time was much more mundane it seemed to be a cellar or underground store of some sort apparently one which had not been used for some time and was empty here her Captor first revealed it’s self as it released Myrinaris form its grasp before binding her with magic into immobility and dumping her rather unceremoniously in a corner. Then her captor striped off all the gear that Myrinaris had collected as she had explored the huge underground cavern and which she had looted the bodies of those who had not survived the fall. This did allow Myrinaris to see her captor for the first time since being grabbed; as her captor inspected the gear very carefully tossing some into the corner with what Myrinaris imagined was a curse. It was hard to be sure for all she could do was to identify the language as Abyssal.

Her captor was humanoid and apparently female, possibly some sort of elf, but she wore outlandish clothing even for an elf if it could even be called that which showed far more flesh than any would dare to in the northlands, where the city of the crusade was  for fear of death by exposure. Here it seemed more clement more like the summer or the southern climes Kerias had spoken of but where was here Myrinaris wondered as they had travelled by magic at least twice since she had known and not knowing much about magic her people fearing it in all but the most good and godly form greatly she felt that she could be any where.

The detailed examination seemed to take hours though that might be due only to the ennui of being bound immobile by magic with nothing to distract one let alone entertain and make the passage of time pass more pleasantly. When the examination was over her captor who had all the time been mumbling to herself in Myrinaris thought had to be abyssal tied up all the loot she considered useful into a couple of bundles and then with the aid of a scroll began some sort of magical ritual

The ritual took hours and seemed to Myrinaris to involve her captor disporting herself and debasing herself to some foul power or powers in a language which had to be abyssal and which made the more than slightly superstitious girls flesh positively creep. Myrinaris did not understand what she saw as he captor drew elaborate sigils in blood on the floor and then read form a scroll her bare and bloody back to the one witness spoke the final word of power and something terrible was called forth from the very abyss, Myrinaris caught a glimpse of it before her mind collapsed under the dread power of this other wordy entity and she passed out not expecting to wake again outside the JUDGES halls

to be continued.......

The Horror that came to Little Thorpe

The Horror that came to Little Thorpe

Little Thorpe has lived in happy isolation since it was settled by Brandobians fleeing the initial Kalamarian invasion, generations have passed without a stranger coming across the place and apart form becoming more than a little inbred, though the worst of that has largely passed now. The  the place has been a rural idle even a pastoral halfling would envy, until late last year when a company of men rode out of the east. which was unusual in itself  as most of the few who have come to Little Thorpe over the centuries have been on foot and often lost or fleeing something in the wider world and almost always in ones or twos. 

The mounted company where none the less greeted as one might guests according to Ancient Brandobian cu8stom. However strangers did not react as guests at all drawing weapons and surrounding the villagers who had come out to see the strangers, out of curiosity.  They then sorted the villagers into two groups adults of both sexes and children and the elders the former they striped of  there belt knives ans roped together by the neck an the latter they corralled with weapon points. and both where made to watch as they  flogged old Mindori  the village priest to death for worshipping a false god, he  was as one might expect a priest of life's fire as had his father before him. Then they dragged his brother, Brensen, the only other man in the village who could read, out and made him stab the corpse with his knife before the leader a fellow called Dvorn, the villagers where too terrified to recall if he gave surname but he was a Brandobian they believe, publicly initiated Brensen as a priest of the Lord of Shackles, saying he was the true gods slave and would teach them the true religion and that they where all slaves. The strangers defiled the village chapel and stayed to reconsecrate it to The Lord of Shackles. Before riding off with practically the whole able bodied adult population of the village on a chorfe of slaves.

The next day Brenson who had been left with a copy of the Lord Of Shackles prayer book was found hanged by the scourge the strangers had given him as his symbol of office, he had written something on the prayer books frontice page but no one in the village could read it. .  Over the next few days the half dozen or so adults who had been out hunting at the time of the visit drifted back to their horrified and traumatized kinsfolk  They buried Mindori and Brensen and attempted to shape a life out of the ruins of the old.

It however was not over for about a month ago a strange woman who spoke an unknown language but who did not seem to be Kalamaran or have any thing to do with the terrible Lord of Shackles or its murderous followers arrived and with time and by dumb show she told the still traumatised villagers that  a demon had taken up residence to the north. A couple of the hunters went out to look and the one who returned told the tale of terrible monsters seen distantly in some ancient over grown ruins.

How could it get worse.....

The Future Darkens Part II

The Future Darkens Part II

So in the firm embrace of the something Myrinaris, watched as the little company was all but over run by demons even thought they made good account of themselves it was apparent that numbers would tell sooner or latter and likely sooner as the demons veritably thronged to the raised ring on the floor which the group was making its stand.  None the less the small group of a Dwarf, a Halfling Mage a tall elf and a man invoking the power of the gods themselves against the demons held its own and the demons fell blasted by mage fire or the flashing blades of the dwarves axe or elves cruelly curved sword, and all the time the priest chanted and the very power of good held them back, and they fought as if swimming in syrup. Then her attention was drawn by her captor to the a patch of darkness even her cursed eyes could not penetrate though they could tell that it was in the vague shape of a larger than man sized humanoid with great bat like wings the patch divided once then twice and then four of them moved forward slowed only by the priests chant over the dismembered bodies of their more corporeal predecessors.  

This should be more interesting her captor whispered in her ear. One of the surviving demon soldiers caught the dwarf with its own axe and dragged her off balance as the Halfling discharged a bolt of mage fire into its face killing it and sending its corpse cart wheeling The dwarf toppled forward as the elf noticed the deeper darkness struggling forward against the priests chant and said a word from the high tongue of elves she could only understand as meaning out of here.

The raised ring on which the group where making a stand shimmered and was surrounded by a nimbus of arcane flaring, her captor spoke as well something in rasping abyssal which dripped fear into her ears she was the captive of a demon and they where in an instant some where totally different yet the same it had the raised ring upon which the group made its stand the dismembered bits of dead demons, the shadow demons where there too still pressing forward but in the fading arcane flare it was also different the Dwarf was gone and the Halfling too replaced by a taller slimmer figure, the cave was gone too replaced by a vast underground hall man made and not mostly natural formation .

Her captor was about to say something when a figure stepped forward a dwarf dressed in the garb of a common citizen, yet she did not see from whence this common place dwarf came. It spoke one word a word so terrible it burned in Myrinaris blood and she smelt fear from her captor before she was again some where else, her last image was of the four shadow demons suddenly being go as if they had never been, the ancient hall echoing to a power greater than she had ever dreamed of  

A Future darkens Part I

Myrinaris is little More than a child really and a very confused one at that. she was adopted by a band of  wanderers  as a babe in arms and lived amongst them as one of them until she turned fifteen or so when along with all the other changes which a normal human puberty brings she grew claws, large prominent ones on her feet and smaller but no less obvious ones on the hands. Her previously loving adoptive extended family being as most of the travelling folk are rather superstitious to put it mildly came to the conclusion that she was demon or devil kin and chased her out with instructions not to return on pain of death. It was plain that they where terrified of her and it was only the love for the child they had raised which stopped them slaying her there and then.

She fled with what she had and finding that word quickly spread of her evil and fearing that others might turn their hand against her more strongly she fled, living off her wits and hiding her true nature, something which scared her quite as much as it did every one else . In the end she fell in with another traveller also an outcast from her adopted people a half elf priest of the Judge of the dead and undead hunter a grim fellow to be sure but one with not an ounce of superstition in him and together they shared several adventures and  travelled to the city of the Crusaders beside the Blight Scar intending to find a company of Crusaders to join up with indeed she was in the square before the great temple for the great festival when the city fell under an unexpected attack. During which she was apparently stunned, or knocked out briefly and found herself in a great cave with no recollection of how she got there apparently unharmed.

However it was some where her other curse that of being able to see in total darkness served her quite well, and she explored finding her dropped equipment and to be honest looting the bodies of those who had apparently fallen to their deaths as she had not. Not it is to be understood that she was in any way ungrateful to whatever fate had saved her. Eventually she turned to the task of trying to find a way back to the city from where ever it was that she was now and this is where things got even stranger.

First she noticed that she was not the only one alive in this huge cavern and that the others seemed to be an organised group of crusaders. She determined to approach them with a view to joining them, but whilst she was doing so they where attacked by demons which they fought off successfully and moved on. Even better she thought they knew what they where doing. Which was even better and she moved towards them and would have joined them but as she approached each time they where beset with more demons and fought them off as the attacks did not seem to be at all organised it was just that the demons who where she noted universally capable of flying seemed to have survived the fall better than the people who where not. Though the attacks where heavy she noticed with approval that they where dealt with in a methodical and practiced manner even if the frequency stopped her breaking cover and joining the group.

Unfortunately in paying all this attention to what this group where doing she managed not to pay proper attention to other things going on in the cavern around her, and just as the small group was assailed by the largest group of demons yet something or some one grabbed her from behind, whispering in her ear in Elvish that they could watch the show together . 

To be continued….

That Fateful Night Part one

 That Fateful Night

Events during the night of Session XV of the main tale and an Urban interlude part 5

Portentous noises off

That Fateful Night a time line Part I 

• From the Goblin caves its new commander Akakabul’s newest and least trusted bully launches a small mounted sortie south towards A’Rakham to test the defences of the fair. This is on top of the normal patrols in the woods at night between there and the Hidden Dell which is still believed, by the Goblins, to be abandoned after the first raid.
• Late in the afternoon a large Goblin raid emerges from the hills above the headwaters of the M’Alvern Stream and moves in on the outlying settlements of the north of the county this is lead by the third and most powerful goblin warlord yet to be involved the king of the lost dwarf city there now called Ghul Dvax. He brings several hundred war wolves, a seven hundred dog riders and just shy of five thousand warriors.
• Violet comes across the bodies of  several of the refugees from the water caves who had struck west after her when she had left them they appeared to have been attacked by a number of ogres, Violet determines that these have come down from the mountains to the north and that they are still in the area. She considers her options but does not immediately hunt them down.
• At dusk D'rek Hielax and his small band was forced to take shelter in a small town in the south of Neffaria county as the local landholder the had called out his men and the feudal levy because of reports from refugees from Vayham county to the south of a significant Goblin raid out of the hills around the headwaters of the M’Alvern Stream. D’rek could only laugh to himself as it would seem his master’s intent was in operation.
• The Goblins already east of the M’Alvern stream line begin to skirmish aggressively along the whole length of the current front line audaciously attempting attacks on the positions of the Counts pickets on the other side of the river.
• As pressure builds on eastern the defence line the Count dispatches groups of troops to bolster the line whilst maintaining a large reserve as he fears a major attack again but does not wish to commit his reserves until he knows where it will be as he has too few to waste on Goblin feints and ruses.
• To the east at around dusk, the first Kalamarian caravan of the season arrives at the bridge over the Falax, from the east, and finds it held by Goblins and the temple also over run by Goblins pulls back to plan a response.
• A small caravan out of A’Rakham manor arrives at the Wayfarer’s temple and is ambushed and over run by Goblins after a short fight. The Kalamarian caravan halted on the other side see this but do not intervene, preferring to watch the fight.
• The forces of the Goblin warlord Benaxerak move into place screened by the savage skirmishes along the line of the M’Alvern stream
• Shortly after midnight a messenger arrives on a lathered horse from the northern reaches of the county with news of a massive Goblin raid which having seemingly come around the head waters of the M’Alvern stream is harrying the farms and villages in the north which hither to have been untroubled.  He reports that the Landholders have rallied their household troops to fight them off but having sent their entire feudal levy to Vayham at the Counts request they find themselves desperately short of men and overstretched especially as the Goblins have apparently divided themselves up and are reported to be attacking several places at once.
• With night fallen The Kalamarian Caravan master believing the Goblins to be engaged in celebrating there earlier victory tries to storm the bridge and force passage
• It took about an hour for the Count to make a decision and to gather up such mounted troops as he had to hand and could be spared to ride north these consisted of  a mixture of  his own personal troops, some mercenaries from northern Cosdol he had hired with experience at fighting humanoids, three knights of the Founder and one of the True and such of the northern levies who had mounts since they rode to  defend their own homes around two hundred all told lead by the experienced Goblin fighter  Crindar the tall the captain of the mercenary troop which forms a significant part of the force and the head priest of the temple of the True in Vayham a grizzled veteran of fighting orks in the Krond hills himself.
• Along the M’Alvern stream the goblin pressure builds even further and what appears to be a serious attempt to cross is mounted using inflated animal skins as floats at the south end of the line of contact. The commander at the front rearranges his force to counter this and sends for reinforcements.
• Violet having decided her best option is to bury the corpses of the slain refugees and having been made unwelcome at the Water caves quite recently then to return to the Hidden Dell. However alone and with minimal tools the act of burying the dead takes quite some time.
• The attack to force the Falax Bridge is repulsed with losses on both sides as the Goblins were not feasting but remained prepared for the possibility of being attacked. The Mercenaries guarding the caravan take the bridge but are repelled at the temple gates by fierce Goblin resistance a hail of magical arrows and some well placed spell fire from Warasgatul the goblin wizard. Which turns a retreat into a rout and the Goblins retake the bridge quickly there after as the caravan hurriedly packs up and moves several miles back east to lick its wounds. The Goblins at the bridge do not give chase.
• Around two hours after mid night the relief force from Vayham makes contact with the raiders in the north. On contact the Goblins would appear to be retreating north and east with dog riders and wolves screening the loot laden warriors behind them. After the first clashes the forces of Vayham pursue with some caution after the last time when the Goblins lead them into an ambush.
• As they chase the Goblins thought the farmlands of the northern county through still burning farms and small villages the men of Vayham began to come across the bodies of peasants slain trying to flee an to gather up the scattered groups of the local landholders men who have been hit hard by the Goblins who came at them in massive numbers even if almost all contacts between the relief force so far have been mounted skirmishes between wolves and Goblin dog riders and the mercenary mounted crossbowmen with them, many little more than an exchange of bolts and arrows in the dark.
• The messengers from the south end of the line along the M’Alvern stream arrive at Vayham reporting several hundred Goblins have crossed the stream and that Sir Dalam a knight of the Founder has committed all of his reserves and has even thinned the line out to the north as much as he dare and was still losing ground to the unusually determined Goblins.
• The pursuit in the north begins to run into stiffer opposition as the loot laden Goblins are forced to abandon the stolen carts and wagons they had been using to carry their loot as the going into the hills gets too rough for them to be ought but an encumbrance.
• Violet begins to move towards the Hidden Dell skirting the spider woods by approaching from the south as she does so she comes across a track that of about thirty Goblins coming around the spider wood from the north before heading towards the south west. Calculating that they are about an hour ahead of her but going on short legs thought difficult country she believes she can out distance them being far more the woodsman than they especially as she is sure they are heading towards the inn at A’Rakham and can take a direct route rather than following them. She is not sure of her welcome at the inn but is prepared to give them a warning if they will take it and leaver them free to act as they chose there after.
• Reluctantly the Count mounts up the last of his mobile reserve and sends them off to support Sir Dalam and considers rousing the militia, however he sees no reason to as there is no direct threat to the town yet, and indeed may not be one this night. He is well aware that one can only call out the militia a few times on a false alarm before you break its morale for when you actually need it.
• The reserves sent to the south of the M’Alvern line meet up with Sir Dalan’s men but are even so heavily beset by Goblins that they are forced to hole up in an abandoned Thorpe and stand siege.

To be continued……….

The Gods Of Elsewhere

Has been Updated as world building continues

Introduction

This is not an exclusive list as unlike Telene, Elsewhere has a lot of gods and goddesses whose portfolio’s over lap owing to the nature of the world allowing mortals to be promoted to divine status often as associates of preexisting gods.

Greater Gods

• The Liberator – Chaotic Good , The over thrower of Tyrants and Eternal Rebel
• The Paladin – Lawful Good, Protector of the weak and defender of the world
• The Healer – Neutral Good
• The Harmony –  Neutral Good & Lawful good, patron of not only peacemakers but of the makers of laws, is viewed as Lawful good in this last aspect
• The Eternal King – Lawful Neutral, Patron of good governance and fair laws there is some evidence that this god started off as Lawful Good
• The Archduke – Lawful Evil, Lord of Hell and master of the nine Dukes, that which is most Evil
• The Mad One – Neutral, Patron of Lunatics and Magicians, has aspects which are of different but always neutral alignments
• The Hunter – Neutral, Patron of intelligent races as part of a natural order
• The Green – Neutral, Patron of all Nature
• The Brown – Lawful Neutral, Agriculture, live stock rural dwellers
• The Blue – Lawful Neutral , Weather as an element of rural life and particularly agriculture
• The Storm – Neutral Patron of the weather and maintainer of it as  part of the natural order
• The Black – Neutral Evil, Patron of Murderers and also of the Thinking undead bitter rival in this regards to the Slaver who it regards as a usurper  as it has sought to expand its portfolio from that of just mindless undead to all undead
• The Dragon – Neutral Evil, Patron of Greed and Dragons.
• The Guardian – Neutral, Death, dying and the afterlife, and maintainer of death as part of the natural order.
• The Destroyer – Chaotic Evil, Patron of vandals and those who would destroy wantonly
• The Hearth – Neutral Good , patron of the home and the family
• The Maker – Lawful Neutral, patron of all industries and crafts has an aspect and a sect which covers each
• The Night Sky – Neutral, Patron of the heavens  
• The Traveller – Neutral Good, patron of those who travel by land and sea, has some clashes with the navigator in the role of patron of sea going travellers.
• The Wise – Lawful Neutral, patron of teachers and the makers of laws
• The Mother of Monsters – Chaotic Evil, according to some accounts formally a demon lord
• The Beast – Neutral, Protector of animals and maintainer of the natural order with regard to animals  
• The Slaver – Neutral Evil, Protector of Tyrants and God of undeath
• The Elements – Neutral, four of these one for each of the classic elemental types
• The Merchant – Lawful neutral patron of trade
• The Creator – Chaotic Good the patron of the arts 
• The Thief – Chaotic Good the patron of those who would use any means to produce a more equitable society
• The Joyful – Chaotic Good patron of those who seek to make the world a better place either practically or just to increase the happiness and fun people have in their lives called the clown in some places.
• The Blade – Lawful Neutral the patron of soldiers and organised warfare
• The Warrior – Chaotic Neutral patron of irregular fighters and individuals who use arms often the favoured god of Halflings and rangers
• The Brigand – Chaotic Neutral, patron of those who would use any means to increase their own personal wealth
• The Sickened – Neutral, maintainer of the natural order with regards to disease, both in people and in animals.

Regional gods

There are a very great number of these many would on Telene be accounted for as aspects of the founder’s creation, being the deified founders of cities nations and even institutions. There are also a very large number who duplicate the roles of the greater gods in a region or who is long dead local hero’s or saints

Important amongst tem are

• The White Lady – Chaotic Good the Goddess of insurrections against tyranny and protest against poor or unfair government. Popular mostly in the Eternal Empire and the north lands but not unknown in other places. In the Eternal Empire she is seen as one of the Eternal Kings saints. She is also in some parts the Patron of healers as ill health, particularly chronic ill health is seen as a tyranny all of its own 
• The Good – Neutral, Lawful & Chaotic Good, also called the All Good the principle patron of the empire of the king of kings, has a large number of ten quarrelsome sects who all aim to increase the common well but often work at cross purposes.
• The Red Lord – Lawful Neutral but occasionally Lawful Evil patron of honourable warriors and solders popular in lea old Assuri lands in the empire of the king of kings more generally the Lawful Evil version of the sect is banned and hunted down by its co religionists in the Larger Lawful Neutral sect. There are suggestions that the Lawful Evil sect was the original one however being first over thrown by the Assuri’s falling into the power of devils when their king made a pact with the Archduke and then by the empire of the king of kings. 
• The Navigator –patron of sailors and navigators in particular as well as of ship builders where the portfolio crosses with that of The Maker popular amongst the sailors of the inner sea and more generally amongst the Vart people, who see it as a cultural patron
• The Lord under the Mountains – Lawful Neutral patron of dwarves
• The Ice Tyrant – Neutral, Patron of the frozen lands on the furthest north
• The Bright lord – Neutral Patron of the burning deserts and the steaming seas

Foreign gods with a local following

• Zildor – Neutral Good, God of Magic and Particularly gates, teleportation and interplanar travel
• Tor Gabas – Neutral Evil, & Lawful Evil, Patron of the greater Ork kind and would be conqueror of the Multiverse 
• Demon Lords – Chaotic Evil, owing to the opening of the Blight Scar large numbers of these have a following here though mostly around the Blight Scar itself.

Other religions and philosophy’s

The High Elves worship no gods what so ever and can be quite aggressively atheist, or rather antitheist since gods manifestly do exist, gods they hold are for the weak as are pacts with powers of the sort that Sorcerers make. Many Gnomes are of a similar mind but do not distain sorcererius pacts quite so strongly and recognise that they do have a racial creator god, commonly known as the cruel prankster. The Gnomes also hold that the Elves did once had a Creator god like every other intelligent species but that it was murdered either by the High elves themselves or by Tor Gabas  the story changes  depending on which they think will most annoy any Elves about. The official high Elven line is this is a Gnomish lie but some of the Common Elves do quietly honour the dead god as they refer to it as.

The other important philosophy which has gown into the status of a religion is the path of self mastery and improvement which is popular amongst the Renari and supports a number of sects who dwell in small and often isolated citadels and send out pilgrims to wander the roads and seek self knowledge, self control and ultimately self perfection and thence true immortality. Each sect supports its founding saint, who has by this way become immortal and seeks to follow their path to the same goal.