Editing Next steps (section)

==Prison Break==

Falcor didn't wait for us to help, instead desperately putting his weight into the door and battering it down; the lock broke and the door swung open, at which Falcor darted forward to touch the man (intending to heal him), but as soon as he did so he fell unconscious to the floor. We were moments behind at the door, but had no knowledge of what had just happened. What we saw was the human groggily starting to sit up but Falcor flat out on the floor. Arad asked what was going on, but I was a bit more forceful (to be fair he was the only one there besides Falcor) - I ran forward and pressed my dagger to his neck, demanding: "Who are you and what have you done to our friend?!"

He professed his innocence, and swore that he had only just awoken and didn't know what had happened or how he had got into the dungeon cell. He wanted to help, but didn't know what item we had that might aid Falcor... which made three of us because we had no clue what most of the magical tat we had collected actually did! He went through our possessions quite rudely, dismissing most of it, but eventually we came to Falcor's mirror and he exclaimed that it might actually help. He turned it towards Falcor and said "Tulak" and at once he was back with us and fully hale, as if he had done one of his mind tricks on himself and restored all his wounds - phew, I wouldn't have liked to fight my way out without Falcor with us!

Once Falcor was back with us we were able to turn our attention to this human properly. He was obviously weak, although not physically damaged as far as we could tell. Apparently we could do nothing to help him, and only time and rest would help. He showed a particular interest in Falcor's armour, saying that it was something he should not have - Falcor explained that it was gifted to him by the Gods, by Milada in particular, but that he was not a servant of the Gods. He asked Falcor (although it was almost a statement the way that he said it): "You know how dweomer works?" "No," replied Falcor, "I have had no training."

Falcor went on (again) about how terrible it was to have such power when you are a human child, at least where he came from. The man said that there were three kinds of dweomer: for the likes of Falcor and for him it was contained wholely within, for the likes of this one of the "warrior race" (he was indicating Arad) they draw their power from the world around them, Karmana. The third was how the Gods drew on the power of creation. But he then said that the power inside Falcor was greater than any human he had met, like the power of creation was trapped inside a body that it should overwhelm.

Falcor was apparently tied in some way to the one he was waiting for. He wouldn't let Falcor touch him, even to help, as he was drained and empty and if they touched he would drain Falcor again (presumably this is what caused him to fall unconscious). His name was Custor "the vigilant" - or "He Who Watches" and was watching for the return of the dragon king. He told us that for generations the Watchers had set watch in this tower to look for the return of the dragon king and provide whatever he needed.

He did not recognise the name "He Who Seeks Dominance Over All" when Falcor questioned him, and admitted that he didn't actually know who the dragon king was either! He said that there were always two set to watch, a teacher and a student, but that he was the last of the Watchers with no student. But he had seen the signs, and the king HAD returned nearly two decades ago... but he didn't know where or who they were, only that there was no more need for the Watchers. Frankly he just seemed completely off his trolley, but he did seem to have some power (or at least did before whatever "cosmic event" hit him drained him of it - sounded like he smoked the wrong pipeweed).

One thing did make me pay attention, though, he knew of other places with people like us... including more Elvrahum! He called it Cor'kurmar, and knew of Carseld so it was not the same place with a different name. He said that it was to the north some distance - we had to go there! He also spoke of Cor'mellabor, home of the Elvrabor that Arad did not know either. He said that we three were bound together to overcome evil, and must stay together to bring justice to the world.

We decided that we would try to find a way to rest safely, for our own sake as well as that of Custor. We did our best to clear the cellar and passage of evidence that we were here, moving the bodies to hide them with us in the prison. I had a couple of hours sleep initially whilst Falcor kept watch, but then took over to let the others rest more fully. It was a good six hours later, as I was starting to nod a little myself, before I had to act. There had been some activity before, but I had just kept quiet and ignored it, having locked the door just as we had found it. This time, though, someone had a key!

At the scrape of the key in the lock I kicked Falcor and whispered "they're coming"! I moved up to the side of the door, hoping to get the drop on anyone that entered. As soon as an orc passed the door I shouted "attack" as loudly as I could, hoping to wake Arad, and stabbed the orc in the side. Falcor ran around my mark and engaged two more on the other side of the door, cutting them both down in a flurry of attacks. He saw two more hanging back behind the first three, one of which was of the Black Hand.

The orcs fought back, landing hits on us both but not penetrating our armour... well, until the Black Hand orc cut Falcor with his sabre. Falcor stabbed the smaller orc in the neck with his dagger, sending a spray of blood across the door as he pulled it out, and the orc fell, gurgling. He faced up to the Black Hand orc, trading blows a few times but eventually getting past its shield and stabbing through its side. It fell back, weakened but still fighting.

I was stabbed, but the opening gave me an opportunity to gut the orc I was fighting and he went down. Falcor deflected a sabre blow and then punched the black orc unconscious! That seemed to be the last of them. I should say that throughout the cacophany of battle I had called out at least three times for Arad, but it was now, when we had finally finished and quiet returned that he emerged, wondering what was going on! I was already moving towards him, looking to see what had kept him, and at least he was able to treat my recent wound as he could see the blood on me.

We dragged the bodies in and closed and locked the doors once more. We bound and gagged the orc captive while Arad went back to sleep, gathering his strength to commune with the Creator. After five minutes the orc started stirring and tried to struggle and yell, but could not escape. We tried to question him, but he started screaming as soon as we loosened the gag so I punched him hard to shut him up. He stopped yelling but refused to answer any questions. We gagged him again and dragged him into one of the cells. I tried my best to bind the worst of his wounds, although I did not have the skill that Arad had in such things. Falcor didn't see the point of helping him, but as long as he was our prisoner I would do my best to at least stop him dying.

Once again we settled down to rest, and I finally got to sleep properly when Arad woke again. They studied and prayed whilst I collapsed exhausted and was soon fast asleep. When I did awake, feeling a bit stiff but at least rested, Arad was able to heal the rest of my wounds with a prayer. We were now all hale and ready for a fight, but we had given the foe plenty of time to reinforce their position...

When we were finally ready to move, we first wanted to secure the room just outside. We planned to throw open the prison doors and charge anything in the room (a simple plan is a good plan). We were well aware of the need to stop them going for reinforcements and wanted to cut them off and overwhelm them quickly. I listened for any activity and then unlocked the door; immediately Custor and I swung a door each open to let Falcor and Arad charge out. There was nobody visible, so Arad ran to far door as Falcor ran to the barrels in the corner and started to roll them over to use as a blockade. Arad definitely felt fear as he neared the door - but like the feeling we had from the boarded door across the corridor and nothing to do with the orcs. He forced himself to stay to close the door, ready to block it. I followed behind, headed for the rubble in the corner to the right.

Arad and Falcor got into a rhythm rolling, catching to slow, and then upending and stacking barrels - larger ones first and then smaller one. Meanwhile I started to move the rubble and worm my way into the collapsed area. Custor locked the door behind us, trapping himself again but it was the only safe place for him as he was still too weak to risk his life with the orcs here. Once the door was fully barricaded, and I had made some progress digging, Falcor lighted a lantern and they came to see what progress I had made. They were concerned that my tunnel wasn't wide enough for them (well, why did they think the Elvrahum were safer in their holes?), but they were also concerned that they didn't want to make the whole lot collapse on me (touching). Arad whispered that they were going up separately and to keep going, not to come back.

They started going vertically, just to the east by the wall on their right. I eventually reached the light of the room above and peeked out, looking right and left to see what had changed. The barricade of tables was still to my left just past the door to the stairs, and there were orcs along it with bows as before... unfortunately they noticed me! Falcor broke through and, with a push from Arad, pulled himself up into the room to my right, which thankfully was empty. Arad chanted a prayer to keep him safe from attacks before trying to climb up behind him.

The orcs started shouting for help as I quickly pushed out of the hole and flipped over a couple of rocks to the edge of the wall and cover. I turned and called to Falcor to bar the door, only to see that he had just finished doing so! Instead he turned and helped Arad up. A couple of arrows had flown past just behind me, but I warned them of the threat just in case they missed it.

Falcor sprinted through the firing arc, right around to door, and I had to check my shot for fear of hitting him. He called out that there was a third orc at the barricade. Arad moved forward, still carrying the lantern from downstairs despite the torchlight here, but placed it down to draw his hammer and sword, preparing to follow Falcor. Falcor threw the door open, calling for us to follow, and charged at a couple of orcs trying to guard the stairwell - killing them both before they could even raise their shields properly! I stepped to the side, tumbled and flipped up to the doorway and stepped back into cover as quickly as I could.

Arad offered a prayer to the Creator to protect him from arrows and blows, not wanting to run recklessly in front of the bows ahead like Falcor did! Falcor jogged upstairs, lighting what was left of his faggot, to see what faced us there. I waited for Arad, ready to hold the door if they tried to follow us. Falcor found another barricade on the next floor, this time made of crude beds on their side, with more orcs on the other side. Arad ran around the corner towards me, arrows flying at him from (now) five orcs as he did so, taking one hit but not serious and then reached safety.

Falcor, despite only peering up at the next floor with just his head visible, was pierced by an arrow and we heard his scream from downstairs. Arad ran up the stairs to help him, shouting at me to keep the door safe. It took just a few seconds to reach the conclusion "fuck that" and I started up the stairs after him - we were better off sticking together! Falcor chucked a torch at the beds, which in their haste to erect a barricade the orcs had not stripped of their bedding, and managed to start a decent fire. Then he ran forward, leaping over the other end of the barricade (not alight), and killed two orcs with quick and accurate blows.

Arad charged in to help as a Black Hand orc engaged Falcor. Arad's hammer blow put the orc off, sending his scimitar slashing wide of Falcor, and he followed up by running him through with his sword. The orcs to his left let fly with arrows, but his armour held and he was safe for the moment. Falcor ran back to the stairwell, just as I was arriving, and he crouched to allow me to climb on. We needed to reach the roof, then we could fight our way down without fear of being surrounded. Arad sprinted to join us, grabbing a torch and throwing it at the remaining beds to start another fire. Arrows flew at him as he ran, but they were seemingly deflected by powers beyond our ken and he remained untouched.

We kept moving, quickly reaching the next floor, which just had a short corridor and doors visible, but didn't stop. Falcor started to tire and missed a step, tipping me into a bruising rough landing, although Arad was just behind and grabbed me so that we didn't have to stop. When we reached the roof a few moments later it initially seemed clear of foes. It was night, so dark, but we could see the battlements in the moonlight. The stairs were covered so we would have to circle around to check the whole roof. Falcor moved first, and quickly noticed an orc to our far left; he started running at a charge, shouting a warning, seeing another orc just to the left of the stair opening. He put the momentum of his run into a vicious stab, gutting the orc who didn't even have time to loose an arrow.

Arad also went left, hugging the wall and got slashed as he came face to face with the foe, fortunately not a serious wound. A Black Hand orc moved up from behind the first foe, though, and this time it was his armour that saved him from injury. I tried to aid Arad, stabbing his attacker, and Arad followed up with hammer and sword - the orc fell to our combined blows. Arrows were flying at Falcor, but he escaped harm - orc were worse at archery than Arad! A gang of orcs came rushing from behind us now that we had moved in one direction, trying to gain an advantage, but Arad smashed one down with his hammer in front and then spun and cut one approaching from behind with his sword. I also started to turn, which was fortunate as one was stabbing at my back and I only received a nick in my side as a result. Falcor came rushing back to help, killing one with a stab in its side, and I turned and stab another in the gut who fell gurgling to the floor dead.

More arrows were flying at us, although the "surprise" party was defeated at the stairs. Falcor shouted at Arad to go one way as he goes the other, saying that I should stay and guard the stairs... typical tall person bias! Falcor sprinted towards the nearest orc with a bow to the north, stabbing him as closed quickly to melee range. Arad sprinted the other way, although he wasn't quite as fast and took an arrow before he could close the distance. The orcs dropped their bows and started to punch or claw at them instead. Arad passed by the orc that was trying to engage him and kept sprinting at the last one with a bow, killing him with a single sword stroke. Falcor stabbed a second time, lifting the orc up with the power of his blow and throwing him over the edge of the tower! He was dead before he hit the ground, though, thankfully.

The last orc dropped to his knees, holding up his hands and pleading for mercy. Arad forced him to the floor and tied his hands so that he was no longer a threat. Falcor thanked Arad for saving his life once more, but urged him to come quickly so that we could secure the next floor. Arad said: "Remember this mercy!" then ran to catch us up. We stopped at the next floor, where the doors were as Arad called on the Creator to heal his wounds, restoring some of his health.

Falcor inspected the door but found nothing unusual. I was hiding just at the corner to the stairs, listening for any pursuit from below, but all was quiet at the moment. Then Falcor whispered a warning - he was aware of a magical aura to his right behind the wall. I inspected the area and found a concealed door with no obvious traps, but Custor had warned that there were powerful forces protecting his "trinkets" behind concealed doors so we elected to leave it for now.

Instead we opened the obvious door to find more orcs behind not one but two more barricades waiting for us! Falcor stepped back and conjured a display of coloured lights, which sprang from his outstretched hands and caused four of the orcs to collapse to the ground on our right. I moved to the left as Arad went forward, and I shouted: "drop your weapons if you want to live!" The one was closest too didn't seem to want to comply with my reasonable request, so I stabbed him, causing a serious wound. Arad followed and engaged the next orc, killing him with quick and precise sword blows.

What arrow fire there was was ineffectual - Falcor's little light show seemed to have spoilt their little welcome party. It was going well until a Black Hand orc chanted some guttural words, pointed his hand at Arad, and sent a magical bolt streaking into him, unerringly avoiding everyone else in the way and causing him some pain. I fought with another orc, both avoiding each other's blows for a while until I stepping in and skewered him with my sword, putting him down for good. The Black Hand orc was full of surprises, pointing a short black rod at Arad and sending another magical bolt into his chest... now he was really hurt. Arad managed to close the distance to engage him, cutting deep with his sword, but he didn't go down. In return he slashed Arad deeply in his side with a scimitar, leaving him barely able to stand with blood flowing freely from the wound. Arad made one last effort, slashing at his opponent's neck and clearly opened an artery as blood spurted out and the orc collapsed with a groan. Arad nearly did the same, going down onto one knee and breathing heavily.

Falcor engaged another two orcs, killing one with a single strong blow. I ran up to help Falcor, stabbing the distracted orc from behind and killing him. Falcor moved to Arad's side, touching him and doing that miraculous healing that made you look twice - all his wounds vanishing in a moment. Before we could relax the doors we had been advancing on were flung open and a group of black hand orcs charged out to attack us, followed by an even bigger black orc by far - carrying a particularly nice short sword. Falcor used his mind to assault them as they enter, causing two to collapse to the ground and one to stop in shock and confusion - this was a nice power I hadn't seen before! Falcor shouted at Arad to stick to the plan and tie up the ones behind us even as he ran forward to engage the big guy. I tred to cover his back, engaging the other one still fighting, twisting so that his first blow scraped off my armour as I got closer.

Falcor cut deeply into the big orc at the end of his charge, but this one was tough and kept fighting. Arad did as Falcor asked, quickly tying rough knots on the hands of a couple of the unconscious orcs as we kept fighting. I stabbed the orc I was facing up to deeply with both dagger and short sword... but somehow he didn't go down! Falcor took a nasty cut from that nice looking short sword, but it allowed him to cleave the big orc from waist to chest in retaliation, the body falling away slowly in a fountain of blood as he pulled his sword out. I was cut by a scimitar, having over committed thinking that I would kill him first, but I just kept stabbing and gritted my teeth against the pain, and he never go the chance to strike at me again.

The last two orcs woke up and quickly tried to rush Arad, but he evaded their blows, dropped the rope and willed his hammer into his hand almost as he was swinging, smashing one dead before he could react. Spinning, he drew and slashed upwards with his sword in one motion, killing the other. Falcor walked up to the orc that was standing in a daze, punching him hard in the temple and sending him unconscious to the floor.

We entered the room that they had rushed out from, finding no more enemies there. It was a makeshift throne room of some kind, or an audience room. There were chests prominently to the side of the throne, which caught Falcor's attention. There were more doors on the other side to our left, although closed. I asked Arad if he needed any help dealing with his prisoners, but he answered that he thought that they could come to some understanding. I loudly and pointedly replied that I "...hope they comply for the sake of their LIVES." He tied them up securely without any trouble, as I tied the others up with some rope that Falcor was carrying. He went over to the orc with the interesting (and painful) rod, taking it as well as a scroll of invisibility and a glass vial with a clear viscous liquid. I also picked up the big orc's short sword, which was a nicely balanced weapon that I decided to keep.

Falcor walked over the the chests in the next room and bashed the locks off, finding a large amount of money inside. I piped up that I thought we were clearing the tower of orcs for Custor, not looting it! I don't know why nobody seems to trust me around valuables when I'm clearly not the thief around here! I moved up to the other doors, looking for any traps, as Arad barred the doors behind us to prevent any surprises. Beyond was a smallish room with more doors opposite where we entered, and tables to the right with some clutter on. I suggested going back, as they were barred from this side, but the others were concerned about secret doors and wanted to check beyond for any more threats.

Arad tried to listen at the door, but there was a violent discharge of electricity that gave him a shock, and he heard a voice saying "not here, my son, not here". This soon dissuaded him from pressing forward and he picked me up, agreeing to backtrack to the stairs. The orcs were still tied up in the next room, not showing any signs of resistance. The leader, well we hoped that they didn't come bigger than that anyway, was a topic of debate. Arad was all for beheading him and using the head for a show of power in an attempt to get more orcs to give up or leave. Falcor had very strong views on the desecration of the dead, though, and would not agree to it. Instead he ended up carrying the whole body with him down the stairs!

As we approached the next floor, with Falcor holding up the body ahead of us, I shouted crudely in the orc language: "Stop! No fight!" There was some confusion with my very basic grip on the language, as an orc reply came (in common thankfully): "You surrender?" We replied "no, YOU surrender!" to clear things up. Falcor shouted: "We have your leader!" I added, for clarity: "We killed him!" We tried to convince them to leave peacefully, but had to back out of sight before they would risk moving. We listened from around the corner, hearing what sounded like them leaving, and Arad took the time to collect his captives from upstairs in case we needed to show them that we did leave some alive if they surrendered. Arad tried to questions the orcs about the tower, but they were definitely not cooperating. Apparently to them Karmana is their dark mother, and those that bring her wisdom into the light don't understand her message. Great, just what we needed - another perspective!

Now we checked the doors in the room, with the fire from the beds having burnt out and no sign of the orcs that were here previously. One door was barred from the other side, but the other was not and I almost fell through as it swung open. The room beyond was empty despite the barricade, so we crossed to another door. The room beyond that was also empty - it was a bit eerie to be honest after all the resistance we had faced so far. I moved around towards the far door, and after a few moments Arad charged into the room, throwing a torch forward for light, but there was nothing there. Falcor barred the door behind us and once I had checked it I opened the next door, ducking down to allow better lines of fire. Despite all this caution there was just a small empty hallway with doors at far end, mirroring the structure on the ground floor... which made us suspect that there might be a hidden area to our right.

Arad threw the torch into the hallway for light and we all checked the walls for any kind of entrance. Falcor warned of dweomer where we were trying to look, which convinced us further that there was something to find... it was just really difficult to spot! Just as we were about to give up looking, I finally noticed a concealed door just where we had been searching. As I moved forward the light must have highlighted something I hadn't seen from the other side. It was really well concealed, and again we heeded the warning of Custor and decided that it was not safe to investigate. Instead we went north, following the established pattern for opening a door so that Falcor and Arad had the best chance to engage any foe... but it was yet another empty room! This abandoned floor was freaking us out now.

We checked the room, finding nothing, and then unbarred the door we first checked on this level. This led us back to where Arad had left his two captives... except that they weren't there any more. They had pulled the torch bracket he had tied them to off the wall and disappeared with the big orc's body. We descended to the bottom of the stairs to find an unnatural darkness around the door area. Falcor and Arad excavated a hole to the basement in the rubble and then Falcor started to remove the barricade we had set at the beginning of this escapade, which took some time.

When we were set, Falcor healed me with his mind, and then used a scroll to make me invisible. Falcor went back into the basement and made his way to the trapdoor as I sneaked out to try to find an advantageous position to attack from. I went left, moving carefully along the wall through an extended area of darkness, eventually emerging to find that the doors had been barred here, so had to go back. I crossed through the darkness again, moving more carefully over the wooden planks until I was just over halfway across. It was at that point that Falcor decided I had had enough time, and he cracked open the trapdoor, emerging behind some orc bowmen that didn't immediately see him. He began to open the door wider, seeing another orc with a bow and then felt a weight suddenly slam onto the trapdoor from behind it. Falcor resisted, using his strength to force it up, throwing someone off and onto the floor, but effectively announcing his arrival.

He burst into the room, cutting two orcs down before they could react, and screaming that he was attacking so that there was a big commotion for us to hear. I could hear lots of orcs shouting close to where I was. Falcor started to take arrow fire, but it was so bad that one orc put an arrow in another. Falcor turned his attention to the black hand orc he had dislodged, stabbing him with a powerful blow to the side, then following up with a vicious cut into his neck that left him falling in a spurt of blood. More arrows were loosed at him, but an orc ended up killing one of his own! Falcor was then swarmed by orcs, coming from the other rooms, but they got in each other's way and he had time to jump back down into the trapdoor and get back behind the corner at the bottom of the stairs.

I kept moving, feeling the floor change to stone underfoot and veering right as I did so, trying to follow the memory of the room from the last time we were there as I was still in darkness. Arad was less cautious, sprinting past me in the dark... and running straight into a wooden barrier, almost breaking something in the process. I heard him pass me and the crash just in front of me when he hit, so I slowed down. Arad climbed over a table that had been used to barricade the door, moving south, and emerged into the light to find two orc bowmen there facing him. I was moments behind, but the barrier was too high to easily get over so I shoved it forward to make a gap. Unfortunately Arad was so close that this shoved him off balance and towards the orcs.

Arad turned this motion into an attack, slashing one orc down with his sword.

Falcor gave himself the ability to jump further than normal and as the orcs piled into the stairs after him he stepped out in front of them. The front one was so surprised he lost his footing when the one behind him crashed into his back, falling at Falcor's feet. The next couple stopped due to the chaos in front of them and Falcor attacked with his mind again, knocking three unconscious. The last one on the stairs did not escape either, as Falcor jumped right into him before running past and up into the room above again. He immediately moved to engage the orcs in the nearest doorway, killing one as he got there.

Arad brought down the other orc in front of him with a hammer blow and then sprinted south to join Falcor. Falcor had arrows fly at him from every direction, and was hit four times, but thankfully only two shots penetrated his armour. Arad continued past Falcor to engage the archers, hammering one and cutting another with his sword, felling them both. Now it was one-on-one with each of us fighting one orc, given the way the fight had gone so far that wasn't good odds for the orcs. Sure enough each fell to our blows and finally there was a moment of calm.