"A Change..." - Part Two
Leaving the chamber now the heroes took the next exit from the central chamber and emerged into a small alcove with a low roof, but whose walls had been decorated with pictures and images handpainted in vivid colours … the history of the orc tribe! The painter, though his style was basic, had portrayed the tribe of orcs through various battles and journeys, several dozen proud orc warriors, plus their chieftain (a larger orc than the rest), the wokan himself in flowing robes, and (to the characters startled realisation) one figure who seemed human! In each place this individual appeared he was resplendent in flowing robes, each time a different but striking colour, and with the wokan at his side. In the most recent scene, the tribe was shown descending from the mountains toward a town which could only be Bumbleton, with a large section of the tribe being ordered to retreat at the last section by the larger chieftain. Back in the mountains, the human wizard was seen to be enraged at the chieftain's actions, and was portrayed throwing coloured streaks of magic in the chieftain's direction… As the heroes' eyes followed this chain of events, they came to an end. No more images had been painted.
The treasure trove
Returning to the central cave, the final exit led down a narrow and winding path, to a small and seemingly empty cave. A couple of planks covered the floor section of one part, atop which lay a simple rattle and nothing more. As his comrades turned to leave, Antonius stepped forward to investigate the board, insertes the blade of his sword, and twisted. The boards fell back, and beneath was the orcish treasure hoard! In the hollow beneath the boards lay 800gp, 2000sp, 300cp, a silver chalice (600gp), a golden necklace (1,000gp), an emerald brooch (1,200gp), a bronze pendant (200gp), a tapestry depicting a springtime mountain scene (200gp), one opal (1,000gp), a jeweled two-handed sword (garnet in hilt - 500gp) and finally, wrapped in rags in one corner, a steel hammer bound in leather, bearing a ceremonial hammer and shield motif. Natalya's hammer!
Stuffing these treasures into whatever sacks they had raided from the orcish equipment store, the heroes made their way out of the wokan's quarters and returned to the shore. Lucius was eager to row back across the lake, his nerves playing up, but both Conor and Lassandra stressed the need to be thorough and investigate the second passage. And so heading down this passage the four emerged into a surprisingly homely chamber, with a well-stocked fireplace, a writing desk and comfortable armchair! On the desktop was sitting a large golden key! Pocketing this, the heroes checked the only exit, a doorway which led through into sleeping quarters - a smallish room with a bed and empty chest. Three walls were plain and unadorned but the fourth had been adorned with expert skill and now bore a sweeping mountainside scene! Curious, Conor drew out the tapestry and held it against this wall. Nothing happened at first, but then as the barbarian moved forward slightly, he passed straight through into a hidden portion of the room! This narrow strip beyond the wall bore only a single small chest. Conor angled open the lid from a distance through use of his halberd. Inside lay a small, chunky wooden figurine of a man, on a bed of papers beneath. Amused by the figure, Lucius grew near the chest and leaned over for a closer look at the papers beneath… BAM! A wooden fist shot up landing the fighter with a wooden nose!
The wooden golem leapt out from the chest, standing 3 feet tall, and closed for battle. After two thrusts from Conor's torch however, Lucius' broadsword splintered the thing in two. Free to examine the chest, it was revealed that most of the papers were blank, or bore only inane doodles or sketches. Some-one had cleared this chest out in a haste however, and had missed one paper… a scroll of Protection Against Lycanthropes.
Satisfied now that they had thoroughly explored/ransacked this side of the lake, the heroes boarded their boat once more and rowed back across the lake. Lassandra, shivering in the rear of the craft kept an eye open for the red outline of the Wokan, but saw nothing. Lucius and Conor both suspected Brownbeard, and feared for Natalya. What might have happened in the group's absence. The shore grew nearer and anticipation swept across all four. Natalya waved from a distance, the dwarf's figure lying prostrate at her feet! But as the four drew close, the cleric put one finger to her lips. Brownbeard was asleep, he had not slept in days. Natalya patted the demihuman's soft beard as he dozed. She too however had been thinking over their current surroundings and found it equally strange that no signs of a dwarven presence had been uncovered…
Conor stepped forward and presented a bundle to Natalya. Tearing back the rags the cleric could not suppress a gasp of joy as she held aloft her treasured possession and relic of the Church. "Orcsmite is mine once more!" she proclaimed, and embraced Conor with some force. The barbarian eyed the magical weapon with some awe, wondering what powers it contained, and stated that Natalya must be a cleric of some standing in her Church to wield such a weapon. The cleric shook her head, telling the Hinterlander that the hammer had been bestowed upon her for this one mission. She herself was of small power at the moment, but hoped one day to aspire to the ranks of a certain male cleric her own age, recently made Bishop and a child prodigy who the Church believes to be Halav incarnate. She has watched this individual from afar for long months now and one day hopes to encounter him more closely…
Brownbeard is suspected!
In any case Lucius had taken this opportunity to lightly kick the dwarf, rousing him from his sleep, to face questioning from himself and Antonius. No dwarven stonework so far! No rich vein of gold running through the rock of the place, nothing! Lucius angrily demanded that the dwarf explain himself. Brownbeard's mouth fell open in shock, completely unable to answer. At long last he broke down, his eyes grew moist as he apologised. Speaking with his hand on his heart, the dwarf confessed that these were foreign surroundings to him, but somehow they felt like home. A good portion of him memory was gone, no doubt from some blow to the head in combat with the orcs, but something to do with a golden treasure held the key, that was all the dwarf knew. Sensing sincerity in the Brownbeard's voice, Lassandra patted the dwarf on the shoulder and suggested they head on to the golden door. What new portion of the dungeon might await them?
Stepping up to the second golden door now, Conor drew forth the golden key and inserted it into the lock. Effortlessly the key turned, and the door swung open with a click. Venturing in, weapons drawn, the companions found themselves in a square room with polished walls, and magically flowing stones fixed at intervals along the ceiling. In the centre of the east wall stood a gleaming golden throne! The companions made their way over to this seat, and eagerly Lucius moved to sit upon it. Placing a foot upon the stone lintel however, the ground gave way before him, and Lucius landed badly at the bottom of a pit fifteen feet deep!
His companions called down asking whether he was all right. The fighter replied that he was fine, and that a low tunnel led off to the north. Lassandra was about to let down a rope for Lucius to return when her senses detected motion a short way off. A single scrawny orc was heaving the golden door closed! Within a blink of an eye the elf was charging toward the doorway but too late. With a click the door locked itself once more, and there was no keyhole on the inside. The only way out was Lucius' tunnel…
Progressing a long way long the tunnel the six heroes emerged onto the sandy floor of a brilliantly lit, circular cave whose walls had been carved away to make long raised seating rows… A chord was struck at once within Conor - they were in an arena! Behind a tall partition wall sat over a dozen orcs, hissing and stamping, clashing weapons against their seats, all their beady eyes focused on a portcullis behind the heroes. The portcullis began to rise… and out came a barrel-chested humanoid with the monstrous head of a bull, a cruelly barbed trident grasped firmly between his hands… Conor joined by Lucius gave a cry and closed to do battle with the minotaur, followed by the remainder of the party.
Lassandra's arrow and Antonius' dagger embedded themselves into the creature's shoulder as it swiped for Lucius savagely with the trident. Lucius was caught lightly and blood flowed freely from the open wound. Lassandra gave a gasp and prepared a spell. Conor and Lucius stabbed forward, both striking the minotaur for damage! The crowd booed and hissed. The minotaur hissed in pain and reared for an angered retaliation, but not before Lassandra let out the words to her spell. A blazing light filled the area around the monster, and then seemed to coalesce around his eyes. When the blaze cleared, the foe was blind, stabbing madly in all directions. The battle thereafter did not last long - heavy blows and missile fire reduced the minotaur to a shaking wreck, and a final thrust of Lucius' sword ended it all.
The wokan appears
"No!" came an enraged cry from the horde of orcs, and from their midst emerged an individual clad in flowing long grey robes. "Kill the intruders!" The dozen or so orcs were only too keen to obey their wokan, and surged forward over the partition wall to close with the party. Missile fire felled the first few humanoids, before Natalya hefted Orcsmite aloft and cried "For Halav!!" The two forces met…
Lucius stabbed left right and centre, felling any and every opponent who closed to do battle with him. Seeing such an awesome display, more lethal even than the might of Conor at that time, there came a chanting from the ranks which Lucius knew could only be directed at him. Within seconds darkness descended across his vision, the fighter shaking his head but to no avail… Blindness had taken him. Lucius let out a gasp of fear but was consoled by words whispered in a thick foreign accent. Natalya raised Orcsmite and through the will of Halav a silver glow cancelled the dark magic surrounding Lucius' eyes.
The wokan watched as another handful of his minions were struck down. Raging now that Natalya had countered his darkness effect, and as Conor's halberd appeared to skewer two orcs in the blink of an eye, he cast a second spell… Conor's eyelids felt unbearably heavy and the fighter sagged to the ground amid all the rage of combat. Natalya with a half-spoken protest did likewise, Orcsmite falling from numb fingers to land in the sand of the arena. The cleric herself hit the ground a moment later.
With two of their companions down, the remaining four fought on valiantly. Lucius felled one foe and dared take a moment to catch his breath, then reeled with shock as an ironshod staff swung heavily into vision. The wokan dropped from overhead into the centre of the clearing and closed to do battle with Lucius! Lassandra, seeing Lucius with this foe, slew her orc and raced over to join combat. Brownbeard and Antonius were still caught up in combat and could do little to help, so elf and fighter fought against
Lucius dodged the heavy blows of the wokan's staff, which was wielded with evident skill and control! Could this individual have received training in the weapon from some source? Lucius had little time to consider such thoughts as he parried and thrusted. Small blows were landed but none seemed to tire the wokan. At long last both Lucius and Lassandra landed blows! Shrieking in pain, the wokan gathered his robes around himself and soared upward. Reaching the ceiling, the wokan used handholds in the rough rock to pull himself across the arena with alarming speed.
All the orcs were felled now. Lucius lost no time in sprinting to the arena wall, heaving himself over and moving to follow the wokan. A slight trail of blood from the orc's many wounds allowed the fighter to trail the wizard's movements, up the ranks of seating and to an open expanse of corridor. The trail stopped however at a dead-end, where a small pool of blood had collected. Lucius was baffled for a moment, glancing all about, but then as he was joined by Lassandra the two began to hurriedly search the wall for some kind of secret opening. The elfmaiden informed her comrade that Antonius and Brownbeard had paused to rouse their sleeping comrades… for the time being it would be fighter and elf to pursue the fleeing magic-user.
At last Lucius' roving fingers found the catch, and the panel of wall slid back, revealing the pedestal chamber from earlier! The blood trail led on, down a passageway and back into the orc living cavern. On the trail led, down the passageways, and at last crossed the ropebridge across the gaping chasm. But there the trail came to an end. Lucius and Lassandra stopped dead in their tracks, taking an instant to gather their wits, and then all became clear. As the sound of chanting emerged from somewhere close by, the air around the two began to almost stick itself together… Acting on impulse, Lassandra staggered backward, and Lucius rolled nimbly forward across the bridge. A heartbeat later an expanse of sticky web sprang up across the midsection of the bridge, separating the two companions. Then to Lassandra's horror, a wart-covered hand pulled the rest of its body from out of a shadowy rock alcove, to set foot on the wooden bridge, staff in hand. Lassandra set her gaze squarely on the wokan and closed fearlessly, sword in hand.
On the far section of the bridge Lucius could hear the first clashes of sword against staff, and saw no other course of action. He set the torch he carried into the myriad strands of the Web, which caught instantly and shrivelled into nothingness. But the flames carried on, and began to play along the sturdy ropes of the ropebridge… Putting this peril from his mind, Lucius ran toward the far side where Lassandra and the orc were locked in combat.
A blur of weapons ensued, the wokan's face possessed for those brief moments with a snarling smile as the flame began to sweep along the bridge to the point where the human and elf were standing. But his smile soon faded, as Lucius' sword ran the orc's midsection clean through. Barely alive, the silver flash of Ilsendel's Kiss moved across the wokan's throat and with a gurgling cry, the orc staggered backward to fall from the bridge. His feet failing him, the enflamed rope bridge finally gave way, and Lucius dove toward Lassandra, knocking the pair of them off the bridge and onto solid ground, in the very nick of time.
The two were overjoyed to be still alive, as the burning remnants of the bridge collapsed into the chasm and appeared to fall for an eternity. Gazing down however, neither human nor elf could make out the body of the wokan, and horror crept across the pair for a brief second. Then they glanced up and breathed a sigh of relief - the wokan's body was still floating in mid-air, the magical Levitation still in effect! Lucius took the opportunity to strip the body of its two treasures. On each hand the wokan wore a ring, one bearing a yellow topaz, the other a light blue stone. The sound of running drew closer as Antonius, Conor, Brownbeard and Natalya caught up at last with their two companions, and the four were overjoyed at Lucius' and Lassandra's success. The fight against the orcs, it seemed, was over!!
The rope-bridge which led back to the lair's true entrance had burned away, and nobody, despite some adventurous suggestions from Lucius (involving spears and ropes), could think of how to cross the empty gaping chasm which remained. Instead, Natalya suggested, the party might dismantle one of the barriers into the ghoul section, and try to reach through to the exit which was contained therein. Seeing no other alternative, the others were happy to agree to this plan.
One thing was playing on Lassandra's mind. The pedestal room had not been fully explored, she thought. The complex was now entirely depleted of foes, to the best of the party's knowledge, and so they returned to the pedestal room. Antonius was unable to scale the slick side of the pedestal, and so instead Lassandra convinced Lucius to hand over the potion of Levitation the party had uncovered in the wokan's lair. Draining the vial of its citrus contents, Lassandra floated to the top of the platform with ease, and called down to her comrades that she saw a scroll, floating a few inches off the wooden surface, and emanating a golden glow! As the elf cautiously approached, it crossed her mind that the display of this scroll almost seemed tacky somehow… In any case, Lassandra dared to pull apart the golden ribbon holding the scroll together, and revealed the magical script within… A spell scroll! The brilliance faded. Floating back down to rejoin her companions, Lassandra could not help but turn something over in her mind… Whatever did that motto signify?
Leaving the complex was no problem. Conor and Lucius dismantled a portion of the barricade large enough for them all to step through. Inside was chill and calm, Natalya took the lead along the winding passageway and when the undead brutes revealed themselves, the will of Halav presented through Orcsmite was sufficient to clear the companions a path through the short complex. Following the chill draught of the place, a small hole was located, through which the last rays of the setting sun were poring! Each companion eased himself through onto the side of the mountain, and then the party made haste down the slopes and away from the double-peaked mountain. The quest was over!
EPILOGUE
Weary as they were, the heroes had no wish to camp in the bleak chill surroundings of the mountains, and so marched on through the night, arriving back in Bumbleton as the sun was rising early the next morning. To their great surprise, standing before the open town gates was the familiar robed form of Lord Trepicius, who welcomed the heroes back with open arms, and bid them accompany him to the temple where they might find warm beds and food and drink aplenty. To Natalya he paid a solemn welcome (despite her being a follower of a rival (and non-comedic) church), and he shook hands with Brownbeard in an almost sad manner. Still, they were all heroes of Bumbleton and were made welcome in the Temple. Wounds were healed, information exchanged, and the heroes received a generous reward from the overjoyed Patriarch for their invaluable services to the town.
The next day Natalya, having healed sufficiently, took her leave of the characters. She thanked each in turn for the honour of having fought alongside them in battle, and for having returned Orcsmite to the arms of the Church. For this she bestowed the blessing of Halav upon each companion, including the dwarf Brownbeard. Embracing both Lassandra and Conor she beseeched both to stop by the Church of Traladara next time they were close to Specularum.
Brownbeard for his part was seen over the course of the next week in a corner of the Tipsy Beaver Inn, sitting by himself and staring sadly into the bottom of an ale tankard. Many felt moved to extend friendship to the dwarf, who alongside the five other comrades was now a local hero, but still the dwarf longed for space and quiet reflection. He had lost a good chunk of his memories and felt empty inside. Rising from bed one morning however, the dwarf packed his few belongings and called to visit Lassandra. He apologised for having misled the adventurers in that dungeon, but in his heart of hearts he did not know what had gone wrong. His home had to be out in the world somewhere, the dwarf decided, and he would devote the next part of his life to seeking that place out. Even if it did not yet exist physically, he would adventure and build a new life, with new friends and new surroundings. One day he would find somewhere he belongs, as the best dwarf he could be. He bid the four companions farewell and marched off down the road toward the rising sun. While munching on a wheel of cheese (a present from Lord Trepicius).
The next day a young man came to town, strolling out of the Forest, his tousled blond hair pulled back into a short ponytail, with a long bow slung casually over one shoulder. The green-clad youth surveyed Bumbleton with approval, made his way to the Tipsy Beaver and there ran to meet Lassandra, lifting the slender maiden off the ground and whirling her in an embrace. After being introduced to Lucius, Conor and Antonius, Dallus joked to Lassandra, "I let you out of my sight for one day and you take on an orc tribe?!" Many smiles were exchanged between the party members. Later that day the party of five took to the road in search of adventures new…
** THE END **