Well we got our butts out of the Duergar caverns without losing anymore teeth and began the short trip back to Jalpa. The first night out, when we set camp, I meandered over to Cuhltron and asked about the scroll tube. He had popped it open only to find it's hollow insides completely empty. Looking at the outside of the tube, more of that weird line writing, that's on my ring, could be seen. Both Cuhltron and I were quickly able to decipher it, it said "COMPASS". With that Cuhltron placed it on the ground near the campfire and gave it a spin. When it stopped, it was lined up with one end to the north and the other pointing south. Several more spins revealed that the tube always stopped in the same position.
"Well" Cuhltron said, "the witch did tell me that I'd find a scroll tube that would help me find the Moon Gate. I guess this thing points towards it."
"Not a bad little trinket", I added, lets hope that finding the Moon Gate is worth the effort and risk we have taken.
"Off course it is laddy, have faith, the Moon Gate will reveal all that you could ever imagine and more." He replied.
I just kept my mouth shut and moved off to my warm blankets. I wasn't so sold on the fairy tale as that senile old fart, but I'd continue in the search so long as nothing better came up.
The next two days trip back into Jalpa revealed that the scroll tube did not change its direction of pointing north. Obviously this Moon Gate wasn't very close, probably way the hell up in the Corusk Mountains as I guessed. Well this being still early in winter, there was no way we were going to head north now. Once we got back in Jalpa, we told Cuhltron that we were going to head back to Rel Mord, and that we'd meet him in late May or early June to head north into the Corusks. He agreed with the plan and we didn't hesitate a second longer before getting clear of Jalpa, and hopefully getting clear of the Dark Sharks and Zach.
We had another long and cold two weeks of travel ahead of us. We picked up supplies in a small town just outside of Jalpa, and then struck out on a North Westerly course across the planes. We'd hit the Harp River in about 4 days, and then after that, it would be another 4 days of travel along the Harp River before we reached Chathold. There wouldn't be any civilization other than the occasional military outpost and wandering nomads, until we reached the river. There were a few scattered small villages along the river, some with Inns, from what I recall of our trip to Jalpa. Hopefully we wouldn't get caught in anymore blizzards.
The trip across the planes was rather uneventful. I had to buy Bran and his pet porkface two horses so we wouldn't be held up by them. Ordinarily I'd just leave them behind, but the rest of the group were not so willing to follow my wishes, and there is strength in numbers. I don't know if he was doing me a favor or not, but the repugnant Bran kept pretty quiet during the long trip back and generally kept clear of me. I was somewhat grateful, and offered up prayers to Hemorhoidious that he call his faithful servant Bran up to serve him in person. My prayers went unanswered.
The only excitement came when we were just about to reach the Harp River. We spotted smoke ahead of us, coming from the other side of a small rise. The area was sparsely wooded, and the smoke appeared to be coming from a cluster of trees. It was a bit off the trail from the direction we were headed, and as night was about to fall, I suggested that we not investigate, or we would lose sunlight before setting camp. The rest of the party wanted to investigate. I grudgingly agreed to go along and scout ahead. As we neared the trees and hill, it became apparent that the smoke was actually coming from the other side of the trees.
We unhorsed about 100 yards short of the trees and hill, and I moved ahead silently. I was soon moving among the trees like a shadow and soon came to the other side of the copse. The trees ended, and the small hill that I was on, dropped off steeply, about 10 feet down. After that it was clear, and I saw right before me, some goblins, bugbears, and the burning wreckage of what appeared to once have been a couple of wagons.
Not wanting to lose the element of surprise, I quickly cast Snillocs Snowball swarm over the group of bugbear. They went running in all directions, so I stepped forward from the trees, and had to wave my arms to attract the stupid monsters attention. I began shouting, "Come and get me you morons! I'm over here!", in hopes that they would charge into the treed area where I could safely web them up and we could slaughter them at our leisure. The plan would have worked perfectly too, if the rest of the truncheon munchers that I journey with didn't screw the hole thing up.
When they heard all the commotion, they came charging up the hill and into the fray. Upon seeing my hapless sidekicks come screaming out of the trees, the bugbear and goblins held their ground. Well some of the goblins held their ground. The rest shit their pants and ran off in a panic. What should have been a well planned ambush turned into an ugly melee. Several spells later and everyone was down the hill and wiping out critters. I even joined in and felled a bugbear with my shortswords. The fight wasn't very long, and no one got injured, so I guess the ambush still worked, but we certainly could have done it with a little more style.
The monsters had apparently taken out a couple of wagons and killed everyone involved. We could see some corpses burning in the flames, and when the wind changed direction, the stink of burning flesh came with it. We found amongst the goblins and bugbear some small amounts of gold and silver, and a crate full of useless copper pieces. We also came across a map with goblin writing on it. None of us could read their scribbles so we stuffed it in a pack for later. We set camp in the trees, or at least Grubby did, using some damn priest magic that he had failed to inform us in the past that he was capable of, damn holdout.
The next day we hit the Harp River and downstream along its eastern bank. About a day after heading west along the river, we came to a small village, if you could even call it a village, where every, all 6 of them, house and barn were in shambles. The only building still in decent shape was an Inn. Seeking our first night in from the cold, warm baths, and a good drink our hearts lifted as we broke into a trot and then a full gallop racing to be the first one to the bar. I barely edged out Mordagin's horse by a nose, and Kordacc and Grumle were right behind us. Bran and Turok were not so close, apparently the person who bought their horses for them, (now who could that be I wondered with a grin), had been a poor judge of horses, for they were two of the slower horses you'd ever seen break into a run.
We entered the tavern, which was pretty empty, and were served by a cute young wench. We asked what happened to all the buildings around town, and she told us that they had been attacked by a huge herd of jibberwogs. What the hell is a jibberwog I wondered. Then, with eyes glowing, she broke into an entire story of how this great mage and this giant and a bunch of other guys rescued their town from certain death. You could tell that she was madly in love, or more appropriately had a teenage crush on the mage, who from all accounts sounded like T'rojan. Well it seems that our friends had made it this far safely and had done quite a service for these locals, by beating off a large herd of gibberlings. When the tavern keeper found out that we were friends of them, he offered drinks on the house. Noting the state of the local town, we declined to accept his generosity, and actually offered the townspeople a crate full of copper pieces. They were actually grateful.
We left the next day for Chathold, a quick 4 day jaunt along the river. We must have been a day or two from Chathold when we saw a stream of people walking to the northwest from our left. Their path intersected our course and as we drew closer, we saw that they appeared to be refuges from some war torn village. Upon reaching them, we asked what had happened. They claimed that they were from the town of Prosperity and that it had been attacked by headless monsters who killed all the guard and many others. Those who'd escaped were fleeing to Chathold.
I said to the refuge, a man with a sword, "What kind of fools do you think we are? Attacked by headless men? That's the biggest load of shit I've heard since Refanij left for Rel Mord."
The dude got all defensive, "Well I didn't actually see them, I was just told that they were headless men. And what the hell is a reffer-nidge?"
"Did anyone see these headless men?" This I addressed to all the stragglers in the area. None responded in the affirmative. "Damn, just a bunch of chicken shits running from nothing", I muttered.
Grumpy, Kordaxe, Boredagain, and the other two dimwits all thought that this was something we needed to investigate. Again my protests fell on deaf ears. I asked if there were any inns in Prosperity, the refugees claimed that there had been. I suppose that would have to do. We set off, moving in the opposite direction as the refugees, along the way, we were able to question a few more of them, and got a fairly good idea of the towns layout as well as further reports that "headless men" had attacked the village. After travelling a couple more hours we could see the town off in the distance.
It would be dark soon, about two hours or so, so we'd have to move fast. Grubby produced a potion of polymorph and suggested that someone consume it and turn into some bird and go scout the town out. I thought it was a good idea and suggested that he turn into a goose and head out. I love the taste of goose, so if he got killed, we could still have a nice meal. The pant wetting dwarf then told me some line of crap that potions didn't work very well on dwarves and that it could fail if he consumed it. He suggested that I scout ahead. Well, being put on the spot, how could I refuse? I asked, "How long this stuff supposed to last?"
"Oh an hour or so" replied Crummly. The rest of the party looked on stupidly, like someone had snuck up behind them and stolen their brains while they weren't looking.
Cursing, I grabbed the potion from the stocky midgets hand and downed it in one quick swig. I figured if I died I wouldn't give them the joy of making a meal out of me, so I concentrated on the image of a sparrow as I felt the magic course through my body. Moments later, I was looking up at some rather ugly bearded giants and some even taller freaks. I flew off, afraid the clumsy bastards would stomp on me by accident.
I flew towards the town, moving rather quickly actually, I really liked this flying stuff, maybe I should just stay a sparrow, screw those people back there, they could find some other poor sap to torment. But then the memories of a fine trollop and a handful of gems brought me back to reality. No being a bird would be a damn boring life. I quickly flitted into town and circled around looking for signs of life, or death. I found the latter near a small fortress type building on the northern edge of the town. There were all kinds of bodies on spikes and other gruesome artistry littering the front of the building. Inside was an open courtyard with some critters that did in fact appear to be headless men standing on guard in front of some doors that led into the building portion of the fortress. The headless creatures were man sized, minus a head, wore brown robes, and held spears in their hands. All the windows were shuttered and I could not see within.
A general sweep of the town revealed little in the way of life. Lots of crows were about picking at the remains of the dead, but that was it. The rest of the town seemed deserted. Figuring the potion was about to run out, I headed back to the party. That had stayed put in the meantime
I relayed as much information as I could remember. We decided that we should sneak up to the side of the fortress type building, and Grumle would cast a stone shape spell to put a hole in the side of it. We moved quickly, afraid of losing sunlight, and getting caught inside the town when night fell.
We left the horses in the forest just north of town, and moved under the cover of trees to within a short distance of the building. We would have to cross a hundred yard clearing to reach the building, but we couldn't see anyone or anything looking out, so we made a break for it. As soon as we got to the side of the wall, Grumple carved a hole in it. Just as he finished the hole, and we began moving inside a headless beast came around the corner from the front end of the building. The hole in the wall led into an empty dining room, with two doors. I ran in first and locked the doors as the rest of the party piled in behind. Turok, Bran and Grumble took up guard near the hole, while myself and Kordacc took up positions by either door. Mordagin decided that the table in the center of the room was in desperate need of his protective services.
I couldn't hear anything at my door, and the headless creatures did not appear to be attacking the group guarding the entrance. I opened my door and poked my head out. It was a short hallway, the only two exits were doors on the opposite wall from that which I was standing. Now what damn fool architect would build this hallway when he could have just as easily put the two doors into the wall I was at and save a bunch of room. Idiots deserved to be killed by a bunch of headless monsters.
I retreated back into the dining room and relocked the door. There was apparently a staring contest going on between the guys by the hole and the headless critter outside. Now how does one have a staring contest with headless creatures? Apparently the concept was too difficult for Turoks miniscule brain to grasp, so he picked up his crossbow and fired it at one. After which he walked into the dining room, with a tear in his eye, sat down at the table, and put his head in his hands. Man that jerk couldn't stand missing his target could he? What a loser!
The missed crossbow bolt must have at least spurred the headless men into action, for they came forward and attacked Bran as he guarded the hole.
About the same time, someone came banging on the door that Cordage was guarding. It burst open, and two more headless wonders, carrying spears, tried to run Kordless through. The battle was joined. I cast some spells as did Mordagin, while Kordacc and Grumble engaged the things. We soon realized that they did have heads, they just kind of stuck out of the front of their chests rather than on top of their bodies, and they usually kept them hidden behind their brown robes. How anyone could fight these things and not notice the heads was beyond me. Obviously the villagers that fled didn't even get close to them.
We quickly dispatched the beasts, and even Turok was able to break out of his funk long enough to join in the battle. Bran had either defeated his opponents or driven them off, so we went through the doors, that had just been broken open, to investigate. We found a small chapel and some more doors. Opening the doors revealed a room full of cowering children and villagers being guarded by two more hunchbacked freaks. We shouted for them to come to us as Turok charged their captors. Kordacc followed suit and we soon had headless spearman mincemeat scattered about the room.
We got all the kids into the dining area while we quickly scanned the rest of the building. There were only a couple more empty rooms, and no upstairs or basement. We'd cleaned out the bad guys it would seem. The outside critters who had attacked the hole had been killed, so we decided to have Grumble lead the freed villagers out of town and into the woods to where our horses were. They could then set up camp for the night while we prepared for a counter assault.
Further investigation of the courtyard and a climb up onto the walls revealed that there was no counter attack in the works. After an hour, just as the sun was beginning to set, we decided to bring everyone back into the building, and we'd set guard here for the night. Turok went out and brought Grumble, the kids, and our animals back to the building. We used the table and chairs to barricade the hole we made, put the dogs in the room to guard it, and locked and barred all the exterior doors. The kids found places to sleep in the tiny chapel and in the hallways. We rested in the dining room, and set watch in pairs. We'd take turns walking the roof at night to ensure that we weren't snuck up on.
During the night, Kordacc spotted one of the headless little creeps come wandering out between two buildings, he flung a hammer at it, and it scurried back into an alley. Nothing further happened that night.
The next morning we got all our weapons and armor ready, memorized our most devastating spells and set out, prepared to take on a legion of headless monsters. The first building we came to was a temple. The front door was barred, so I had to climb the wall and enter through a small window up high. Once inside, I opened the door, everyone came in and found it empty, except for some dead guy that looked like he'd been sucked dry by something terrible.
We walked toward the next building, another temple, when the front door exploded and some giant squishy eyeball poked out of it. It immediately fired tentacles at the group, catching someone, I don't recall who at the moment. Most of the guys rushed to the attack. I fired arrows and Mordagin fired spells. Every arrow I fired seemed to bounce harmlessly off the thing, it must have been made of tougher stuff than it looked.
A moment after combat had been joined, the entire creature popped out of the doorway, it was a giant round creature with tentacles and one huge eye. More people were being struck by the tentacles, and another of the headless creatures could be seen squeezing out the door behind it, but Kordacc was right in front of the thing, and buried his axe into the giant eyeball. Its eyeball ruptured, dowsing all those in front in a wave of milky white fluid, disgusting. It didn't seem to have any ill effect on them though. We quickly turned on the headless monster and slew it. There were no other monsters to be found.
Kordacc started fishing around in the pool of puss looking for his axe. He came up clutching a different axe than the one he lost in it, and we could see a scaring looking gleam in his eye. He began walking away talking to himself with the axe grasped firmly in both hands before him. Fearing that he had fallen under the curse of some enchanted weapon, Mordagin ran over to him and asked if he was okay. Just then he heard Kordacc say, "I name thee Eyesplitter!", he then turned to Mordagin and said he was fine, then went on to have a discussion with no one in particular.
After seeing Kordacc fish a magical weapon out of the eyeball, I ran over and started fishing around with my shortsword searching for other treasures. Instead I found a baby eyeball thing squirming around. It really skeeved me out, and I freaked out, swinging wildly at it until it burst and stopped moving. I found nothing else within the mess.
We cleaned up as best we could and figured out that the eyeball thing was some kind of beholder, and that the "headless" guys were its helpers. Inside the temple that it had burst from, we found plenty more dried out carcasses. The kids in the town hall had apparently been its store of meals.
We spent several hours looking through the town, but could find no more evil creatures lurking about. We did find the local gemcutters and goldsmith's shops though. I made a mental note to investigate these later on. We also found a group of dwarves cowering within their compound on the southern end of town. They gave us a heroes welcome when we told them we'd defeated the evil, and soon Kordacc and Grumble were off getting drunk with them while other inhabitants stuck their heads out from hiding in their homes.
That night was rather festive, and we were treated like conquering heroes. The lord of the town was in Chathold and wasn't expected back for a week. I was able to make the acquaintance of a couple of fine lassies, and enjoyed the celebration. Later that night, as people fell off to sleep, I slipped out and headed over to the gemcutters shop.
I let myself inside and searched about the place, finally finding a safe in the floor. An inspection of it didn't reveal any traps, not that I ever find traps, so I picked the lock. I then slid over to one side and turned the handle. Just as the handle clicked open, I felt a jab in my wrist. Damn! I whipped my hand back, but could see a small drop of blood on my wrist. Fuck! I thought to myself as consciousness slipped away.
I awoke to the sounds of crows squawking. Ahh, what a lovely morning I thought as I snuggled into my pillow. Wait a minute, there wasn't any pillow. I quickly snapped to full consciousness. I was laying on the floor of a gemcutters shop and the faintest hint of sunrise could be seen out the window. Double damn! Well at least I was alive. I quickly whipped open the safe door, grabbed the little sacks inside, then ran back to the inn where I had bedded down a lassy the night before. My hand was throbbing from the poison, that would remind me not to be such a damn fool in the future. Luckily, as I entered the inn, no one was stirring, either still drunk or too hungover to wakeup. I made my way to my bed, quickly undressed, and then had to shove bodies aside and fight with an unconscious wench for the blankets. I fell asleep again, hopeful this time that I'd wake up in bed.
The following few days, we helped bury the dead, and get the town back on its feet. Some of those slain and staked in the front of the fortress had some very nice possessions on them. I was able to get some magical bracers which would no longer require me to cast armor spells on myself, as well as a couple of magic arrows. I didn't waste much time, and headed out with Mordagin within a couple of days. We wanted to get back to Rel Mord and get our laboratory going. I was especially anxious to get out of Prosperity before anyone realized that the gem cutter had been knocked over, and I wanted to see if the warehouse had been finished.
Grumble and Kordacc wanted to stay with the dwarves for a while longer, and Bran and his lap-orc felt the calling and need to help get the community back on its feet again, and would stay for an indefinite period of time. I hoped he planned on taking a permanent position with the town.
Mordagin and I made it back to Rel Mord without any further incident. My warehouse was completed and for the first time in my entire life, I finally had a place I could call home. It was kind of a strange feeling, I'm not sure if I'll like it or if I'll grow uneasy and end up running off. Only time will answer that.