War: In the Valley of Peace

Brisquen looks at the elk-creature before he slowly climbs to his feet while using a large nasty looking bladed staff to lift himself up. He calls out to the others saying something unintelligible. He frowns before trying to say something else and it also comes out unintelligible.

Very unladylike words come from the mouth of Sindel as she retrieves her sword while she tries to clear her head.

Xedel examines the fully encased form of Tristan and when he thinks Sindel isn't looking he shakes his head sadly.

Pol Crane walks over and collapses near Asura, who takes advantage of the quiet moment to make sure her armor is still in one piece. She quickly takes note of a few loose straps and a few fairly major dents. She pulls her sword and tries to bang out one of the dents. She stops when the sword flashes brightly and she stares at it.

***************

Asura finds herself sitting in a chair much too small for her.  She has a strange uneasy feeling of impending doom and feels like a child waiting punishment for some childish misdeed.

Mizar looms over her like a giant and he is plainly not happy.  "And what young lady do you think you're up to?  Since when did I become a blacksmith's hammer?"

He turns his back to her and takes a few steps away, "You know I go through all the trouble of trying to enlighten a barbaric people and what do I get in return? I'm stuck with some female Neanderthal who tries to ruin my beautiful finish by using me as a club!" He cries plaintively, "What did I do to deserve this injustice!"

***************

Pheras sighs and stoically says, "Oh well, lost another one.  Damn he had potential too.  Can we at least get him out of there for a decent burial?"

Xedel completes his inspection, nods absently then sets around to gathering wood for a fire. Pheras soon joins him.

Gwydeon sorts through the white haired mage's items finding several things of note.

Stash, carrying the body of Voreas, passes by Brisquen and notices his distress.  Gently setting the body of their one time commander down, he walks over to the creature. Brisquen tries communicate something to him but can't seem to get it in words the priest can understand.  His gestures however do get their point across. 

Stash takes a look at the body of the elk-creature. At first glance the creature still seems alive and animated. A second glance tells him there is no life in the eyes and that the creature has lost almost all of its blood. The ground around it seems drenched with the creatures' blood. The monsters tail spikes hit it several key spots poking through its spine, lungs and throat. Stash is plainly surprised to see the head still moving!

"Can you hear me?"  He says to the creature.  "Can you understand me?"  He puts his hand on the creatures' skin and finds it ice cold to the touch.  Despite all appearances this creature has been dead for a long time.  He reaches up to touch the creatures' head and it stops all movement.  Stash looks up to Brisquen and shakes his head sadly, "I'm sorry there is nothing I can do for your friend."

Saddened, he picks up Voreas and moves him back toward the rest of the group.  When he reaches Asura he sets the body down.  And at her request he says a quiet prayer over Asura healing her wounds.

Sindel returns and looks at the white haired mage.  "Well we'd better do something with him.  Is it possible those men were controlling him somehow?"

***************

Wismerhil leans heavily on the tree nursing his injured side, he turns toward the battlefield and can only see the creature known as Brisquen from his position. He tries to say something, but the stabbing pain in his side intensifies and the only thing he can do is breathe shallowly.

He hears a lot of noise coming back from Crows' direction. There is a lot of grunting, as he seems to be trying to get at something underneath the tree.

After several minutes Crow reappears and helps Wismerhil to his feet.  As they walk back, Wismerhil stumbles several times as the effort of walking leaves his very light-headed. 

It takes the pair quite sometime before they manage to get out to the main battlefield where they spot the others.

Gwydeon and Sindel are looking at the white haired mage trying to decide what to do.  Pheras and Xedel are gathering wood and stacking it around the frozen form of Tristan.  Voreas lies next to Asura who is being healed by Stash.  While the creature known as Brisquen stands beside the corpse of the elk creature.

Sindel leans over and shakes the white haired mage until he groggily awakens.

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Chapter 40: Lecture

Asura shifts in her tiny chair as her and snaps back angrily, "Well, if you don't like it, then come up with a BETTER way to fix my armor, o almighty intelligent one!"

Mizar thinks for a moment and says, “If you were more intelligent and your brain could learn what I teach you, there would be no need for armor.  An intelligent wielder of my shining blade would be able to attack from any location and distance.  They could attack up close or far away, like a crushing boulder or like the breeze.   They would be able to use my blade with the utmost precision, protect themselves as well as others from any harm and be a beacon of hope and warmth in this cold cruel pathetic world I’m trapped in.”

He sighs heavily letting his mighty shoulder slump momentarily before straightening up.  “This is my mission to train the un-trainable, to bring enlightenment to the dim, raise the common idiot to the status of a learned person.  Now how do I to teach a moron how to fix her armor in simple words?  No she can’t use that, no talent for that.  Too ham-handed for that...wait a minute ham-handed...Well it’s a bit of overkill but it will work.

He turns back to her and says, “Ask that little boy you’re always hanging on to use his mace.  That weapon is made for bashing armor.”  He nods shortly, “See a nice simple answer using the proper tools at hand rather than ruining a perfectly good weapon for an improper use.

Asura suddenly finds herself back in the real world, the light of Mizar dropping down to it's normal brilliance.

***************

Brisquen slumps to the ground next to the corpse of the elk creature.  He is stricken with sorrow at the loss of a newly found friend.  He retrieves his companions’ spear and lays it at his side. 

Brisquen begins chanting a strange sorrowful tune that seems to catch and tug at the very being itself. 

Moved by this song, Stash approaches Brisquen and the elk-creature.  He offers up a prayer to Solutious to help the brave creature that came to their aid have an easy journey to it’s final resting place.

As Stash looks up from his prayer he notices with some shock that there are two other creatures similar to the one before him standing at the edge of the woods.

When Stash has finished his prayer and Brisquen has finished his chanting, the creatures turn and silently vanish into the forest as if they never were.

Crow approaches helping Wismerhil, who seems to be having a hard time walking, “Should we bury him?

Brisquen shakes his head and closes his eyes as if searching inward for something.  He stays this way for a while.

As the white haired mage wakes up Sindel looks down at him, “Well Mr. Wizard, who are you and why did you and your freak show pets attack us?”

The white haired wizard looks around and quickly realizes he is bound. He subtly tests the ropes and after realizing he cannot escape, he looks up at her defiantly. "They aren't my pets, and by what they tell me you kidnapped someone of importance to them. Now it's my turn to ask questions. Who are you, and what are you? I want the truth or you'll get nothing out of me."

He stares at her strangely as if looking for something.

Sindel rolls her eyes, “You can come up with a better story than that.”  Suddenly she reaches down and grabs him by the neck.  She pulls up suddenly and a necklace that was nearly hidden comes up.  The strap holding it breaks easily and at the end of it is a red gem.

As she looks at the gem, a look of terror comes over her face as she drops it and jumps back several feet drawing her sword.  “It’s one of those accursed gems!”

Several emotions flicker across Gwydeon’s face for a brief moment before vanishing.  He calmly looks through the pile of the wizards’ items before producing a ring.  He puts the ring on and calmly picks up them gem studying as if trying to decide what to do with it.

Sindel lowers her sword surprised, “W-W-What happened to the gems power?”

At the mention of a gem, Xedel stops what he is doing and hurries over to examine the gem close up. “Interesting.  I wonder if there are more of these around?”

Sindel groans inwardly as she spots that familiar look on Xedel’s face when he starts getting new ideas.  She deliberately turns back to the white haired wizard, “As for who I am.  I am the woman who is going to beat you to within an inch of your life and hang you up so that...”

She stops as Xedel clears his throat rather loudly.  She looks at the old man, who simply ignores her.  A slow evil smile crosses her face.  “I got a better idea.  I’m going to leave you with my brother for the rest of the day.  After he pumps you dry, then we shall see.”

The white haired wizard glares at her defiantly as she turns her back on him and leaves without answering his other question.

Pheras quickly gathers up enough wood for a decent fire, but continues to scavenge for more wood.

A fire starts behind them as Pheras finally gets enough wood to start a bonfire and soon it is raging hot enough to melt the ice.  Unfortunately the water from the ice quenches the flames long before the ice melts enough to get near the frozen body of Tristan, leaving nothing more than charred soaked wood and lots of smoke.

“If your friend can’t help him”, Gedai approaches Pheras, “Perhaps someone in town can.  We can’t be that far out can we?”

Pheras shrugs mentioning that he has never been to Torana’s Tower.

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Chapter 41: Funeral pyre

Asura suddenly lowers her sword and blinks.  She looks confused for a moment before looking down at her sword angrily saying, “You know, if you didn't always act like a pompous blighthound and actually tried explaining things to me instead of just assuming that I'm too dumb, you might be surprised once in awhile." 

She roughly rams the sword into its sheath and heads over to where Wismerhil, Stash, and Crow are standing together.

Stash gives the last little bit of a vial of liquid to Wismerhil, who promptly sighs, “That took the edge of the pain, quite nicely.”  Wismerhil stands up on his own and flexes his damaged arm.  He winces as he tries to raise it too high and the pain comes back with a vengeance.  He quickly recovers though even the most untrained observer notices that even while standing up he seems to be weaving a bit.

When Gedai mentions the town, both Brisquen and the white haired mage look up.  The white haired mage however, being more willing to please speaks first, “Looking for Torana's Tower are you? I know the way. I live there. I’m an apprentice to Parawn.  I swear everything I told you is true. I only followed them because they said you kidnapped someone. Please untie me I swear I can show you the way.  Even if I try to run or fight, I’m dead.”

Brisquen ignores the pleading white haired one and checks to make sure he does not need assistance himself. He grabs his bow and gives it a test pull. It is obvious a good portion of his strength is gone as he can barely pull it almost halfway. He regretfully stows the bow away and pulls out a large spear-like weapon with a two-foot long blade that curves slightly outward at the top. He quickly goes through an impressive array of demonstrative attacks before stopping.

As if satisfied that some condition has been met, he puts his weapon away and trots over to the to look at the frozen form of Tristan.

Pheras notes his approach and moves away a bit, still not sure if this creature is friendly or can be completely trusted.  He turns back to Gedai and says, “Even if we could find help in town, how do we get that block of ice to town?”

Gedai looks at the block of ice plainly lost for an answer.

Brisquen, however, seems to have an idea.  He examines the soaked wood around the ice block.  He pulls the pile apart and beings sorting through the charred wood.  Gesturing for Pheras to help he begins putting the large pieces of unburned wood and arranging them in a square around the body.

Pheras plainly a little distrustful quickly figures out what the creature wants to do and finds other pieces in a similar fashion.  When they are done, he is again puzzled as they have a large box of wood stacked about three feet high and three and a half feet wide all around the block of ice.

Now many of the others are looking on puzzled as Brisquen quickly trots into the woods and returns a few moments later with several deadwood branches.  These he stacks around the ice using the original stack of wet wood as a platform to keep it off the ground.  Gedai, Pheras, Wismerhil and Stash all join in to collect a larger pile of firewood than before.  Sindel joins them after admonishing Xedel to look after the prisoner.  Xedel barely acknowledges her, as he seems engrossed in examining the gems up close with his favorite tool, a small rod with a large clear gem fixed atop it.

Crow, after having a quiet talk with Asura, seems to have gotten roped into trying to bang the dents out of her armor with his mace.

After a while the second stack of wood is complete, after having run out of available deadwood they had to compromise and use saplings to complete the pile which is larger than before even with counting the wood stacked upon the platform. The fire is set and burns brightly for a moment before the area is obscured with lots of smoke.

As the wind picks up and momentarily obscures the area, the white haired wizard attempts to free himself further from the ropes and perhaps stand up.  That is, until he finds a helping hand pulling him up.  “Oh don’t worry about her” says a voice through the smoke, “You just show us how to get to this tower and if your story checks out then everything will be fine.  In the meantime just relax.  We can have our chat tonight once all this stuff is done.”

The smoke blows away and the wizard spots Xedel not a foot away.

Xedel neatly hooks one of his arms and drags him off to one side where Gwydeon is trying to see through all of the smoke and gestures for him to sit.  “You just wait right there for your turn and we’ll be with you in a minute.”

When the smoke finally clears the fire is burning nice and bright.  Many think that the smoke is playing tricks with their eyes as they occasionally spot something watching them from the woods, but on second look nothing is there.

While the fire burns Xedel begins questioning the white haired wizard...about various stories he’s heard about the tower.  Unfortunately the people in the stories were not around at the same time as the white haired wizard, so he isn’t of much help.

Crow soon finishes fixing Asura’s armor so that it almost as good as new.  The fire starts to die away before it burns bright with new fuel as the ice finally breaks free sliding to the ground and the flames claim the clammy flesh.  Within moments the funeral pyre burns bright as nearly everything is consumed.  The melting ice causes soaks the ground for yards in all directions, making the ground around it almost swampy.

It is late noon when while watching the pyre burn Xedel turns back to the white haired wizard and asks, “So what is your name boy and how far is the tower from here anyway?”

The white haired wizard thinks a moment, and tries to think how far away they are.  "My name is Wiz Barton. How far away.... I can’t be sure. I flew over on the backs of those monsters. If I knew, I swear I would tell you. But flying so fast leaves me no idea in the distance.  I think we are less than a day away.  The tower is to the north.”

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Chapter 42: Gentle Torture

After revealing the information they asked for, Wiz Barton waits quietly to see what will happen.  Xedel pats him on the head and says, “Good boy.”  The old man promptly starts rooting through the young wizards items frowning at this and that, but apparently finding nothing of interest.  He shrugs and says, “Tonight you shall tell me everything you know about the tower and leave out no detail.  I want to know what everything looks like, who everyone is, what they look like, their personalities, and especially any magic you’ve seen them do.  I want detailed descriptions boy.”

Meanwhile Gwydeon stands looking at the gem in his hand, finally he comes back from the musty halls of history from whence pain, suffering and misery once sprang.  He wraps the gem up carefully and puts it away in his backpack.  He swiftly goes through the pile of Wiz’s possessions and as he does they quickly disappear.  Where the elf puts them Wiz cannot guess, but he knows they aren’t in the pile anymore.  Near the end the elf rolls up the nice cloak and puts it into his backpack.

Finally, he takes dagger with the golden blade and uses it to clean his nails.  His eyes boring into those of the magus, the elf smiles evilly, “I am Bo-Kahn the merciless, you will answer my questions and don’t lie. Otherwise it could affect your health in the long run.  Tell me who are you looking for?  Why did you really attack us?  How and why did you turn those people into the creatures and where did you get those gemstones?”

Bo-Kahn turns the golden knife such that it reflects some of the waning light directly into Wiz Barton’s eyes temporarily blinding him. “I don’t trust you, how do I know your aren’t leading us into another trap?  Answer me!”

Wiz tries to look Bo-kahn straight in the eyes as well as he can, "This is exactly what happened from the beginning. I was walking down from the tower to get some food, and to escape my master for some time. Some bandits attacked me and they took my gold. I followed them to a tavern full of thieves. A brawl broke out over the money, so I took my chances and snatched the bag back. I ran out, but was cornered by them. I took the thieves out, and then one of those monsters came up to me, but as a human. He told me what a good job I did, then asked me to come on an adventure with him. Eager to get away for a bit, I accepted. We left shortly after. We met up with a man named Tellurus. He gave me the ring and crystal. They said that we were going to rescue some one that you had captured. They said that you were all actually not humans and elves, but some creatures in disguise. I foolishly believed them. They said that the old man was whom they wanted. Tellurus and the other man took out two bottles of some liquid. They drank them and turned into those creatures. We flew here, and here I am now." Wiz gives 'Bo-khan' a look of disgust.

"Well then, let's head north.”  Loosing a little bit of patience Asura says, “But I for one would like to know what's so important about this wizard Torana that everyone's so keen to get their hands on him."

Brisquen seems a bit confused but he shakes it off and trots over to where the sheered off wing from one of the flying creatures lies. Oddly enough the wing did not transform back into its original state when its owner did. He quickly picks it up studying it for a moment before folding it up neatly and shoves it partially into a sack tying the top around the rest of the wing and tying it to his back.

Asura thanks Crow for his help, and asks Stash "Can you spare a healing spell to deal with my cuts and bruises. After all, a girl's face is her fortune."

Stash lowers his head and looks a little embarrassed, “I’m sorry, but I’m too exhausted to manage anymore healing today and I’ve run out of healing liquids...”

Crow tries to console the young woman, “Oh don’t worry, he’ll be okay tomorrow and besides I still think you look pretty.”

Gwydeon turns away from the captive wizard and scans the battlefield.  He quickly ropes Stash and Crow into helping him gather the rest of the dead bodies together and bury them.

Stash gives the last rites at the mass burial

Brisquen stops and watches them curiously bury the others.  A look of confusion crosses his face before turning vanishing into the woods.

Night is imminent so the group makes camp for the day despite not getting very far.  However Pol, Gedai, and Wismerhil are grateful for the chance to regain their strength.

After a cold and uninspiring dinner, they realize they have yet another reason to miss their fallen companion, Bormann Grimm, who did all the cooking up until now. Wiz Barton finds himself subject to the attentions of Xedel. Who makes him talk about just about everything he has seen while at Torana's Tower. He especially concentrates on any time that Wiz has seen magic cast or cast any he has used.

There are times when Xedel thinks he is being a bit too general in his descriptions and the old man makes him start over again and go into more detail ad nauseum. Xedel eventually has him describing shapes, colors and feeling of particular moments. And soon the captive looks as if he'd like to kill himself!

Bo-Kahn half-listens to the wizards' tale nodding every now and again as if to verify some description of a person or place.

Pheras sadly watches the flames from the funeral pyre of Tristan until they finally burn out late in night.

In the wee hours of the morning, Xedel finally relents and lets Wiz get some sleep.  But he gets little sleep as in the morning he is woken up early.

After a quick cold breakfast, Asura pesters Stash to heal her minor wounds and they get an early start.  The strange half man/half horse creature has vanished leaving no trace of it's existance.

The temperature quickly rises and the day gets unusually hot long before noon.

Stash stays near the unconscious form of Voreas to check on him while Pol Crane, who is feeling much better goes out on scouting missions.  Wismerhil still cradles his right arm, but says nothing.  When they make a quick stop at noon Stash says a quick prayer over the rough warrior healing his wounds somewhat.

Shortly after noon they begin running into patrols from the town.  The good news is that the Orcs have stopped trying to break down the barrier and their army is quiet on the other side of the barrier.  The bad news is that they are too quiet and there have been rumors that Orcs have been sighted on this side of the barrier.

The sun is sinking low in the sky when they reach the outskirts of a bustling town. 

Bo-Kahn looks in surprise, as the town is nearly many times larger than we he was last here.  Gedai, Stash and Crow however are quite happy with what they see.  Most are surprised because they were expecting an army camp and not a city.  But as if to assure them that they are in the right place a huge tower looms over the city dwarfing all other buildings.  The only thing even close to its size is a statue of a giant man-like creature that sits nearby the tower looking at the Orcs.

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Chapter 43: Destination

Everyone takes in the site and for a long moment everyone is quiet. 

Wiz finally turns to Xedel and says, “I have told you everything I know, could you let me go now?"

Sindel looks at her brother and says, “You know since the tower is right there we could just go and introduce you to some of the...”

Xedel interrupts, “No, thank you. The descriptions will be enough.  I doubt any more information could be gathered there.  Plus,” he smiles, “wizards make really bad story tellers.  They tend to skip over lots of details that they consider trivial and their manners are simply horrendous.  I think I shall wander the city.  Does anyone know a good inn in town we can use?”

Pheras looks back at Pol Crane and Wismerhil, “What about you two any ideas here?”

Asura staring out at the town looking a little lost finally says to no one in particular, "Wow.  What do we do now?"

Crow replies, “Party time!”

Gedai mutters, “Finally a decent bed and regular meals.”  He turns to Gwydeon and says, “Master, we need to get back to my training, so that one day I can be as great as you.”

Stash looks back at the still form of Voreas, “We need to find a temple and get him to it.  I don’t think Solutious has one here and I do not know if any of the other Lords keep one nearby.  I do however see a Gaean temple on the west side.  If someone would be so kind as to take him there...”

Gwydeon turns to the rest of the group and says, ”I think we should all meet at a commonly agreed tavern so we can find each other later...as far as for me and my party I have to report to... certain sources and we'll be available later.”

Crows suggests the ‘Lost Souls Tavern’, mumbling something about it being the best place around last time he was here.

Pol mentions that he needs to check with the merchant whose caravan he was guarding to see if they are okay.  Wismerhil agrees with him and the pair of them take off toward the east where it looks like there is a small market place.

Xedel unties Wiz Barton and waves him off saying, “We’ll take the body to the temple and see that it is taken care of.  I’m sure you have other places to be.”  With that he waves Pheras over and he starts to drag the body away even before Pheras and Sindel can help.

Wiz Barton doesn’t waste a moment and quickly rushes into the city streets quickly vanishing.

Before leaving Sindel says, “Well, hopefully we shall meet again, it has been an honor fighting along side you all.  We have lost many of this trip I shall say a prayer for their souls at the temple.”

Gwydeon turns to those who are left.  Asura, Gedai, Crow and Stash.  “Me and Crow are going to visit the market and we’ll meet in two hours at the tower... be on time.”

Gedai and Stash head off to town, while Gwydeon and Crow head to the market, Asura tags along holding onto Crow.

The market place is quite crowded and much larger that Gwydeon and Crow remember.  Having never been there before the scope of the change is completely lost on Asura.

Gwydeon searches the marketplace for a particular merchant inquiring here and there following the path to the far end of the marketplace where a large stone building stands.  With the exception of the tower, it is the only permanent looking structure around.  It is all the more remarkable, because the stones must have been shipped for a long way to make it.

As they enter, two heavily armed guards watch them from either side of the doorway.  Inside is a well-stocked armory.  Weapons are strapped to the walls and tables, each neatly displayed.  A man wearing a light yellow shirt with a dark-brown vest and pants steps forward from the back of the room and greets them.

Gwydeon verifies that this is the merchants’ new shop, but the merchant he seeks is currently dealing with an important customer and will be with them shortly.

***************

Shortly after their departure from the others Xedel is wheezing heavily and Pheras takes over his share of the load.  By the time they move through the crowded streets and make it to the temple, Pheras and Sindel are quite exhausted.  Two nearby priests in white robes quickly take up the stretcher and carry the body of Voreas inside.  After answering a few questions and ignoring Xedel, the priest assures them that he will get the best of care and ushers them out. As they leave, another batch of wounded enter.  But the wounded here are all minor scrapes and scratches with the occasional arrow wound.

“Lets go check out the nearest Inn”, Xedel says.

Sindel reminds him, “They said we’d meet at the Lost Souls Tavern, where ever that is.”

But Xedel pays her no mind and tears off into the town leaving Sindel and Pheras to catch up.  Pheras says, “When we find a place to stay for the evening I’d like to check out the market before it closes.”

Sindel nods, “You and me both.  We’ll leave him spinning yarns in some Inn’s common room and go shopping.”

***************

Pol Crane and Wismerhil spend quite sometime tracking down the merchant only to find his business partner. They also find out that Kerinan, the merchant, left early that morning on a trip to distant Copper Hill. After arguing at great length about how the merchant owes the two of them money for services rendered, the merchant argues back that he has no proof that they ever worked for his partner. Finally he relents to pay them 10 gold each, half of what Kerinan promised, and the other half when he verifies that they were in fact guards for his partner. He agrees to send a runner in the morning to try and catch up with him. However if the pair are lying, he implies that several large unofficial organizations which he deals with will come looking for them.

Fin.

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