Fontainver

Escape from Yarlug

So many of my people had died in the mines of Yarlug. We were driven hard and with no concern for our safety. Hungry, exhausted and weak from constant chiselling, I had fallen like the others. That’s when something odd happened; instead of crashing to my death in moments, I managed to slow my fall – control it, even! That was not all, I had felt that I was flooded with energy, my bruises clearing and cuts binding, quickly forming scabs before disappearing altogether. I realised that I had a power – something my mind controlled. At the bottom of the shaft I had landed in, I found bodies... well, skeletons – some very old and some more recent, but all decayed. The lighting strung across the seam above barely reached the bottom of the pit here, but amongst the dead something caught my eye. It was warm in the dark, not like the Brightbane they had us mining, which was cold in the stone, no, this was warm.

I tripped as I moved quickly, drawn to the tiny glow, and the clatter rang out, echoing up the shaft. I had waited, holding my breath... the Devils would look for me now – nothing got out of the mines alive. I desperately looked around, scrabbling through the bones to try to arm myself. I would not die without a fight, I was an Ironcloak! I found weapons and some bits of armour, some of surprising quality and easily repaired. My hand finally rested on a long-extinguished torch, and I hastened to search for something to light it with. I found a small box, just as a screech from above announced that I was missed. A second came from the top of the shaft; they knew this place.

There was hope, though, it was a tinderbox! I thumbed what seemed like a flint and struck its sharp edge against the flat two-inch strip of cold steel. Sparks flew, illuminating my immediate surroundings and momentarily blinding me. In that instant I saw the small warm item; it was, even now, imprinted on my mind. Lying amongst the many skeletons at the bottom of the pit was the body of a dwarf or gnome who had once been an important figure. Whilst his armour was ancient and broken, it was clearly once of quality. Nothing much was left of his clothes except for a robe which seemed untouched by age. It was what was on one of the fingers of the skeleton’s outstretched hand that captivated me. I still saw its warmth even though the sparks had died. Another screech focused my mind on the task at hand.

Striking again and again, I managed to ignite a piece of age-dried cloth. It gave enough light to pull together more combustibles and wrap them around the metal shaft of a mace. I quickly gathered other items, assessing quality, size and durability. Astounded by how many lay dead here, I found what I needed. I replaced my ripped and torn boots and my stained clothes with things that had lasted the years even at the bottom of this cold, dark place. Then it struck me: there was no water here. Yarlug had many underground streams which permeated all the rock – indeed it was the water erosion had revealed Brightbane. There was not a drop here, though. Things had begun to disintegrate but not rotted, no, not even mildewed - there was not even mould... nothing grew here.

Something told me to take the ring; surely a glowing ring should not fall into the hands of the Devils above. They would see its warmth, as I had, so I must hide it. Quickly I stole it from its long-dead owner and popped it in the pocket of his cloak, that I draped over my shoulders. Then it struck! Claws ripped at me from above, trying to lift me. The screech was unbearably loud and piercing. Somehow, though, the cloak denied its grip, and I did not feeling the stabbing pain those talons could have inflicted. Indeed, even its sharp-ended, poison-tipped tail failed to penetrate the magical weave. Wingless it floated above me, bemused, hissing and screeching. I smashed it with a staff, knocking it to the floor. It was confused, not used to such resistance. I did not give it time to collect itself, striking again and again, pouring all my anger and misery into the smashing blows. Finally, I plunged a blade into the nape of its long, green-black neck. Its eyes bulged in pain and shock, piercing the dark with a pale orange light before it collapsed, taking up home with its fellow dead.

There would be more, I knew. I desperately looked around for a way of escaping. I could not go up – certainly not unnoticed. Using the light of my make-shift torch and scrabbling across the skeletons, bodies I found it. There was a small fissure in the dry rock that opened to the torch light. I crawled through, pushing the torch forward as I went, staff between my knees. After what felt like hours of a slow ascent, I emerged into a larger chamber. My torch was spluttering and my back breaking, my knees scuffed and bruised. The room, clearly an old entrance to Yarlug, was again littered with skeletons. They had fallen when the devils came and here, I realised, could be the remains of my family.

I knew this way to the surface, and was glad to be able to pass without looking too closely at my surroundings. I had to get out into the light and away from these devil-held mines. Eyes shut for the most part, I edged along the walls, turning and twisting my way up. Another screech echoed through the caverns below – they had discovered what had happened in the pit. Every instinct told me to run, but I controlled myself – to fall here might spell the end. Yarlug was full of hidden traps and pits, so I had to be careful. I finally climbed a shaft that few knew was more than a source of light. As I began, I felt – for the first time – the dampness associated with the porous rocks of gnome hall. The dampness increased until water dripped down the dark grey surface up which I climbed. Forcing my legs straight and pushing my back to the opposite wall, I paused, breathing heavily from the exertion. A few years ago, before they came, I could have climbed this in less than an hour. Now, I was weak. I cupped my hands beneath a tiny stream of water and let them fill slowly, drinking before the liquid of life overflowed, leaving my grasp.

My head at last emerged into a pale darkness, the fresh air breathing new life into me. I was free! The stars were so bright above, bringing back a memory of old. I shook my head and took another deep, calming breath before hauling myself out onto the rock-strewn, uneven grassland of what was once Amorsland. I recalled stories of a great castle to the north that may have weathered the storm brought about by the ‘surfacers’. My legs were wobbly as I set off, tired from pushing against the wall they were not ready to lift and stride. I heard and felt the rage of hundreds of evil voices fill the complex beneath me, reverberating against the stone making the rocks over which I walked tremble in fear. I picked up my pace, willing my legs to get into a more natural stride. It was cold on the surface. There were puddles and patches of dark mud which I instinctively avoided.

Dawn confirmed I had been heading in the right direction. Pale orange the sun rose to my right. I must have been walking for most of the night. The terrain had not changed much from that I remembered as a child; however, there were low mounds of earth raised near one another in clumps of five or six and covered with purple-red heather. In other parts the earth was torn and rent, filled with water or churned up into some muddy gloop. Foul odours rose from some parts, making me gag or feel dizzy. Nothing now lived here, and I dared not drink from the puddles. My mind drove me forward, overcoming all need for food, sleep or water.

Eventually I saw the partial ruins. It had withstood Ragnorak – Fontainver lived. The river was drained, and the bridge thrown down, so I could easily walk across its ruin. The many breaches in the walls were patched up, but I knew it could not withstand a determined assault for long. The temple which once shone out high on the keep was no more. The wharves were broken and thrown into the tumultuous sea. The once-proud race of sea elves that made this their home were long dead. But still, I was drawn here… was this the salvation I had sought? Would there be any there willing to help free my people?

Fontainver Attacked

As I climbed over the lip of the far river bank, horns sounded from the walls above me, and I could see figures running to line what was left of the battlements. I looked back and saw three of the devil creatures on the far bank - had they followed me?! Turning back, I was startled to see a massive eagle screaming towards me with a humanoid figure in its talons. I had no chance to get away, but thankfully it only intended to drop the figure off on the ground in front of me. He was human in appearance, but had a strange golden hue to his skin, bald and hairless... completely hairless actually, without even any eyebrows. His facial appearance was quite delicate, although he seemed to be screaming with excitement as he flew through the air, calming down only when his feet were on the ground. His eyes were... weird. Did they blink like a snake, or was that my imagination? He was simply dressed, with a fine kimono that had neutral colours with some elements of blue. He wore a backpack, as if expecting to journey, and carried a large fine bow, with the hilts of some other weapons stowed behind his back just visible.

He shouted, in Common, for me to run and stepped between me and the threat. I was resigned to having to fight, but I didn't need any encouragement to try and get away, so I sprinted forwards. I was not quite halfway to the gates when the first devil appeared on our side of the river bed. The guy that had told be to run managed to fend away its lashing tail, but got raked by its claws. I couldn't just abandon him... so I turned and fired a flechette from my wrist, causing the devil to scream in pain. Another one appeared a little farther back, so I pulled out my crossbow and put a bolt into it. The bald guy killed the first creature with a blade (he had pulled two blades from behind his back, although they were quite short for a human), and then turned to run.

I ran too, although he soon overtook me with his longer stride, and then devil creatures appeared between and behind us - we would have to fight! The bald upsider wanted me to run along the walls, away from the gate, which seemed strange. He used his weapons to turn away one clawed hand, but was scraped again by another. The cloak shifted again to protect me from one attack, but the other claws drew blood; I was able to bash it in return, doing significant damage, but was raked again. The lizard man killed his foe with one of his blades, so it seemed he could handle himself in a fight. I did the same, landing a crushing blow on my opponent's head. They both disappeared when defeated, leaving nothing behind.

We tried to get away again, hoping that the battle that had started between giant eagles and devils would distract the foe, but one close to us charged us down and caught me, lifting me up as it dug its claws in painfully. It started to lift up into the air, but the golden guy stabbed his blades into it from behind and hauled it down again. I forced my way out of its claws, using my mind to minimise the damage as best I could, but still badly hurt. The guy, who had seemed quite calm before, was stabbing into the devil from behind in a frenzy, almost falling forwards when it disappeared in its death throes.

We kept moving, getting away from the battle that was raging between devils and birds, and that would perhaps spread to the fortress. We found a dip in the landscape, which was ruined farmland, now too dry to sustain the crops that once would have grown here. There we rested, and discussed the threat, and Tak offered me a blessing of saltwater that revived me a little. Tak was his name... well, actually his name sounded like someone tried to make the sound of sea waves breaking on a beach, but I found that hard to get me head around, let alone my mouth. Thankfully everyone called him Tak, and he was happy for me to do the same. He had been a student at the monastery at Fontainver, but his master had told him to go out into the world, with me, and try to impose order for good. He had told Tak that evil had acted to impose order first, but that was a future that should not be allowed to happen. Tak also drew parallels between Yarlug and Fontainver - where stone once protected us, now it only imprisoned us, and that is why we had to move away from the fortress to find our own path.

I spent some time tinkering with my weapon. I had been doing so ever since I climbed out of Yarlug - the weapons I had found were heavy and slowed me down, so I had created my own, taking the best parts of each. I was quite proud of what I had created - a normal staff at first sight, and useful for finding my way safely, but I could twist it in such a way that a bladed, pointed end extended from the top to make a more effective weapon so long as I didn't need a free hand. Soon, though, we had to press on, not wanting to wait for the outcome of the battle behind us. We headed to what legend told us should be a great forest, the Efferendil, but it had been much diminished. Some of the forest had clearly been hacked down for wood, and much of the rest had withered and died for lack of water. It had taken a few days to reach the first trees as well, which was much longer than expected.

As we walked, increasingly worried that we would run out of water, we suddenly saw a forest appear a few hundred yards in front of us! We should have seen it much sooner, and Tak stepped back to see what happened; sure enough, it was invisible just a few yards back. What powerful dweomer could hide a whole forest? There was some movement in the trees ahead, but we kept going, hoping that there might be someone friendly within. We were not so sure when glowing forms emerged from the ground ahead of us, speaking simultaneously to say: "who goes there?" with one voice. They weren't much for conversation, and just said that: "Haemrandir says none may pass. The death of all is upon us." Tak dropped to the floor, saying that we seek allies, and that he sought to bring life with water to the forest. This seemed to interest them, and then Tak spoke in a language I didn't understand. After a few moments he told me that they were guardians of forest, and he promised to restore life to the forest. At that, they disappeared and our way was clear again.

Tak thanked his ancestors for their guidance, and asked if I would speak to mine. When I said that my ancestors were all gone to me he was shocked, stopping dead. He insisted that we must resolve this, and took me towards the river bed to find some rocks, as that seemed to be closest to my home. We found a boulder and he asked me to inscribe the names of my parents on the rock. Although it brought back painful memories, I started to write their names. As I did so the strangest thing happened, we saw water welling up from beneath the rock, and the rock itself vibrated. Although the water could not endure in this dry place, I felt like I had a spiritual connection with my kin for the first time since I had lost them. I would remember this, and honour them again.

We continued after that, but before long we had to make camp because it started to get dark. I tinkered with my armour, resetting the flechette and checking the other alterations I had made. When it was too dark to work, I found a sheltered spot near a tree and settled down with Tak watching over - apparently he didn't need to sleep like normal people. When I awoke, I could see that he was wary, looking around at the trees. He had been sprinkling salt water in some kind of prayer, but had felt that the tree spirits did not welcome it. I started to put my armour on, but felt that something was out of place and warned Tak to be ready. He seemed confused that salt water was not bringing life, and I had to explain that beyond the sea only fresh water could bring life. What manner of creature was he, anyway? I could believe, at least, that he had spent his life inside the walls of a monastery!

The Efferendil (or What Was Left of It)

Suddenly we were shouted at by a mad-eyed elf, saying that we were hurting the trees and to stop it. Tak apologised at once, saying that he was trying to bring water to the trees. I kept my hand on my weapon. She said that she knew where the water was, and if we wanted to help then we would need to fight the dark elves (Drow) that guarded it. Perhaps she could be an ally if we helped her? We introduced ourselves, and learned that her name was Silanna, and she claimed to have a dragon called Cassandra. Tak had head stories of the great beasts that were dragons, so this was quite impressive. I wasn't so sure, she babbled her words out and seemed to have been living in the forest for longer than I had lived at all - perhaps it had made her a little crazy?

She did explain that the water was dammed up-river, which made sense, and said that we would have to approach in the night if we were to have any chance of getting close. Tak had been taught stories of the Drow, too, and feared that they would be powerful foes. He asked after Silanna's ancestors, but she didn't know her parents at all. At this I spoke of my connection with my ancestors, that Tak had taught me. She might have to use the trees to pay respects, though. Tak suggested going to the place where she was most comfortable before trying to connect with them. Silanna agreed, as it was on the way west anyway. We followed her through the forest, which still seemed a little sparse, until she suddenly turned south. There the forest began to thicken a little, and eventually we came to a massive tree. I felt a change in the air, and said we should stop.

I was right - we had passed a boundary of some kind, and a figure emerged from the tree. It was some kind of warrior, but not one that was living. It may have been an elf once, but now was black and wore a long necklace. It spoke only one word: "no" and then moved to attack Silanna! She swung her body back, avoiding the first blow, and almost did the same again, suffering a minor blow from its second attempt. Tak had moved up to the tree, praying and sprinkling water, and as he did so we heard a loud crack and the flesh fell from the figure to leave just a skeleton. The skeleton struck Silanna again, and this time she was frozen by some power we didn't understand. I launched a flechette into it and moved to attack with Tak, hoping to defend Silanna.

We were too slow to stop her being hit, suffering the full force as she could not move. Suddenly her dragon appeared! It wasn't quite what we were expecting, though, as it was only about a foot and a half long, but it did ferociously attack the foe. We converged, and I struck one blow before Tak git is with a powerful blow from behind. Silanna shook off whatever it was that had held her and quickly put an arrow into the creature. Its chest exploded with the impact, and a slight shockwave surrounded the tree before a wind blew from the tree towards us. We heard a sound that suggested the wood had changed on the other side.

Tak dragged the body away from what he now believed to be a holy place, and it was decaying even as he dragged it beyond what we could now see was a circle of trees surrounding the largest. Tak had heard legends of Haemrandir's tree, and believed that this is what we had found. The others started honouring the spirits of the trees and the ancestors at each tree in the circle, and I took over dragging the remains away to avoid interfering. As they approached the central tree again, Tak became absorbed by the power of the tree, and it started to physically bind him within its branches. Silanna, though, stepped back to see what was happening. Instinctively, Silanna stepped forward and embraced the tree, and Tak was immediately released as it seemed to calm. She heard a voice asking: "protector what can I do for you"? She wasn't sure, but we confirmed that we had heard the voice too. It needed us to release the water - we saw an image of the centre of the tree, which contained an elaborate chamber, and then an image of an ancient demon (Demogorgon) containing the water in a dam. The water must be released for life to endure.

Inside tree - Oggs to follow - imagery that will be important.

It felt quite momentous to get such a communion with the heart of the forest, but as we continued to track the bed of the river Cloof west reality began to set in again; we were running out of water. Even Silanna had exhausted her supply, and she told us that she usually went to where the water was dammed at night to collect more. We didn't have long to dwell on this, as a line of swampy looking creatures were approaching from the west (Cassandra had warned Silanna of their approach). They were in a line, clearly searching (probably for us), so we had nowhere to go. I tried to create a distraction, but it didn't affect enough of them to create a hole we could break through. We hid in the trees and waited for the line to reach us. Now that we could see them, they didn't look like they belonged in the forest... was something directing these, as the devil monsters had been driven?

Silanna opened the engagement, killing one with her bow as we ambushed another. Tak stunned it with a powerful blow, allowing us to escape, but we couldn't go without Silanna. I crouched and picked out a tool, firing a small grenade at the enemy closing on her. The capsule broke and did its job, sending two to sleep, which gave Silanna the chance to close up with us. I was pleased with how my modifications were working so far - so much more elegant that the raw dweomer that mages threw around. Silanna was hurt, but there were two more of the things in our way so we still had a fight on our hands. I struck one and Silanna finished it with an arrow at point blank range.

Tak was badly hurt, but he took a moment to pause and some of his wounds knitted, leaving him looking much better; he managed to deflect the next blow aimed at him as well. Silanna killed another (she was pretty good with that bow), and I finished off the one attacking Tak. The rest of their party had closed in on us, and one struck at me, but once again the cloak moved to protect me. Tak stabbed at the one that had been thwarted by my cloak, piercing its heart so it dropped dead in an instant. Silanna was in trouble now, looking badly wounded, and Tak stepped in to parry a blow aimed at her. Silanna kept up her assault, killing yet another with a single arrow. That seemed to be the last straw for the slimy creatures, as the last two broke and ran.

Considering how much we had suffered, we were happy to let them go, and in fact we decided to get out of the area as quickly as possible, so I let Silanna carry me so we could cover more distance. I used my power (was it the power of rock, if Tak used the power of water?) to heal some of Silanna's wounds as we traveled, but we kept going until dusk just to be safe. Then we took time to rest properly, and I tended to our camp as the others used the darkness to approach the dam and gather water. It was much bigger than we had expected, a tall, solid stone structure with a significant flood plain behind it. Now we could understand why the Cloof was so dry! I didn't get to see it until later, but I secretly had to admire the scale of the construction - it would have taken significant planning and effort to complete.

Tak and Silanna has seen patrols that paced the dam infrequently, that were definitely Drow. It had been easy for them to get in and out without challenge, as the guards seemed disinterested and didn't go beyond the dam itself, but it would be difficult to destroy the dam, or even affect it in any significant way. We did a quick tally of anything we had which might be of use... and that's when I remembered the ring. The moment I took it out, Silanna wanted it. It was quite disturbing to see her so excited by it, and to listen to her you would think it was the one thing in the world that could save her home. I backed away slightly, unwilling to give it to someone that seemed quite so unhinged. In the end I passed it to Tak as a neutral party to hold until we understood more about it, which seemed to placate Silanna... at least for now.

We talked instead about the tactical plan to deal with the dam. There was nothing we could do without a thorough inspection to look for any weak points, but that would mean dealing with the guards first. We thought that we would have to approach from the south to avoid them just going to get help (we believed the enemy was stronger in the south), which would mean crossing the Cloof. Tak insisted on crossing via the water, upstream, but Silanna had no means to cross easily (and without getting wet), so we decided to leave him to it and meet on the south side near the dam. We would walk across the dry river bed, which seemed the easier option.

He later told us that, despite swimming easily across the four hundred yards or so, he had almost not made it as a massive fish had intercepted him. At first it had just nudged him to see if he was dangerous, but then had bitten deep and dragged him under the water. He had been forced to kill it for his own survival, but wasn't happy at harming a creature of the water. We also had an eventful crossing. Once we were about halfway across, mud warriors (similar to the ones in the forest, although they seemed more comfortable here) had emerged from dark patches on the river bed. Silanna loosed arrows and killed one before they closed on us, and I had used the flame elements in my weapon for the first time to heat it before the fight. It was glowing nicely by the time they attacked.

Silanna was stabbed, but retaliated with an arrow strike, and I slashed and stabbed one another, which fell dead. Silanna was hit again, and this time collapsed with blood oozing nastily from a wound in her side. The small dragon appeared again, seemingly doing so when Silanna was in dire need, and it ripped the back of her attackers neck out, killing it (I'm not sure I know dragon expressions, but I'm sure it didn't like the taste). There were still two, though, and rather than fight alone I hurried to Silanna's side and used my powers to seal the wound and revive her. She was still sorely wounded, but had the strength to push the dead creature off her, pick up her bow and kill one of the foe with one shot! She might seem fragile, but there was definitely an inner strength to her. The last one turned and ran, sinking back into the mud, and we were not bothered again as we finished the crossing.

We waited until it was nearly dawn, but still dark, and approached the dam from the south as planned. There was a road on that side, so we positioned ourselves near it, and then Tak went forward to talk to the Drow as we covered him from the cover of some trees. He had insisted on giving them a chance to leave in peace, despite the stories telling of how evil and uncaring they were. The Drow were pale, with glowing white eyes, and the nearest guard jumped when he hailed him from the darkness. He was confused by Tak's insistence that the dam must be gone, and took him for a simpleton when he explained that it was stopping the water from flowing... that was the whole point of a dam, after all! Tak was unmoved, though, and just said that if the guard insisted on staying then he might get wet, which just caused the Drow to laugh out loud. He told Tak to get lost, but when Tak walked forwards he got angry and loosed an arrow at him. Tak swayed his body, deftly avoid the attack. That was great, but the alarm had already been raised.

Silanna reacted first, slamming an arrow into the neck of the guard and causing him to topple over into the water, lifeless. It seemed Tak was right... he did get wet! Another arrow flew from the darkness farther along the dam, though, and buried itself in Tak's chest. He moved back quickly, badly hurt, to take a position behind us where he could use his own bow in support. A second Drow appeared, and I sent a flechette flying into it from my gauntlet. Silanna followed with several arrows, and the target staggered and feel down the face of the dam, either dead already or when they hit the ground.

Tak shouted for us to let them come rather than advance, although he loosed arrows over our heads into the darkness; it seemed he was able to see further than us. Thankfully the Drow couldn't see any better than us, as another Drow appeared at the edge of our vision. Silanna was clipped by a couple of arrows as the Drow returned fire, but she found her mark with her first arrow and he fell dead where he stood.

According to Tak there was another Drow just out of sight, and sure enough we saw him when he moved forward to engage us. Tak and Silanna both buried arrows into his chest and he too fell dead. There was one more just behind him, but seeing the bodies of all his fellow guards, he decided to turn and run.

The others started after the fleeing Drow, looking to chase them down. I was under no illusions that I had any chance of catching them, so I just ran forward to give Tak some aid (the wound he had taken at the beginning of the engagement looked particularly nasty), and then I stayed to fish the body out of the water and see if they had anything of value. They didn't need me, anyway, as Tak set an incredible pace and soon chased him down.

Tak struck him just with his fingers, and somehow that paralysed the Drow, bringing him to a sudden stop. Tak made sure he removed all his weapons, and there were quite a lot of them! Silanna hoisted him over her shoulder and carried him back to the shore, where she was able to tie him to a tree. Tak tried to get information out of him, but he wasn't cooperating at all. I had collected arrows to replace those the others had fired, along with a few coins, but our attention now had to turn to the dam itself.

I walked down the dry side of the dam as the sun started to rise, and immediately saw that there were metal sluice gates linked to several towers along the length of the dam, so releasing the water would be simple... except that they would be easy to close again. Silanna investigated the nearest tower, and found one of the mechanisms that could raise the gates. As we suspected, though, if we were to destroy the mechanism it would leave the gate closed, which didn't help.

As the light improved, I tried inspecting the dam for any weaknesses that we could exploit. I reached the halfway point, a little dismayed but also impressed. The dam was well built, and I hadn't found any point we could really work with to weaken it. I had to stop, though, as some of the mud creatures emerged from their damp patches nearby. We had planned for this possibility, and I grabbed a rope that Silanna was holding onto, getting hauled up and out of their reach before they could get close. They eventually sank back into the mud below.

Not to be put off, I started at the other end of the dam and this time I had success! There was a fault - a layer of stones had been pushed out slightly, leaving an edge overlapping the stones below. It wouldn't be easy to exploit, though, but we had seen some old, abandoned wharves on the south bank not far from the dam, so it might be possible to construct a mechanism that would give us a chance.

It took a day and a half to construct a pulley system, suitably braced, and with chains and hooks set up to try and pull at the weakness. The idea was to use the pressure of the dam to aid us, but it would still need a great deal of force to have any hope of working. I had worked out the design and supervised as the others did most of the hard work (not that I didn't help, but they were bigger and stronger after all). Overnight we set ourselves up on the south bank, just in case more Drow came to relieve the original guards, but the night passed uneventfully.

Finally we were ready, and Silanna (as the strongest of us) took hold of the chain at the top of the dam and pulled as hard as she could. For a minute or so it looked as if it wouldn't be enough, but then it shifted slightly. I looked over the edge and could see that water had started to leak out - now it should be easier to dislodge! Silanna hauled at it again, and again it refused to move for her. Just as she was about to stop it suddenly gave way catastrophically, and Silanna fell backwards as the tension disappeared.

There was a terrible sound as first one and then several stones were pushed out, and the dam started to crack and collapse! We ran towards the south bank, but the damage started to accelerate and the water was soon right behind us with the whole structure unstable. We must have been just under a hundred yards from the bank when the devastation caught up with us. I used my mental powers to keep my footing, but it was all I could do to just stay where I was as the water rapidly flowed beneath me. Silanna had managed to find a scroll as she was running, and read it quickly in the last few seconds - it gave her the ability to fly! She was able to pick me up and fly us both to the side where Tak was waiting for us.

Dangerous Plains

After catching our breath for a moment, we set the prisoner free, watching him run off to the south, and then walked along the road in the same direction. Silanna's dragon was, she told us, scouting ahead and above so we should get some warning if there was anything ahead of us. The journey was quite peaceful, and we kept going until it was dark and we had to rest for the night.

Tak didn't seem to need any sleep, and again offered to watch over us, and so it was he that awakened us in the night we he heard footsteps. It was a party of Drow, but they passed us by, as we had deliberately moved away from the road to rest. We settled down to rest again, though, anticipating that they would be back soon. We were right, and they were moving far more quickly - probably because they had discovered the dam was no longer there! After they had passed to the south, we followed behind, and I allowed Silanna to carry me so that we could match their pace to see where they were headed.

The forest began to thin after a while, and shortly afterwards the Drow fired a flaming arrow into the air. After a short pause, a trumpet blast answered the signal. A few massive wolves came bounding up to greet the Drow, which was concerning. After a while they started to move back up the road, and we knew that they would pick up our scent quickly and track us. We moved back to put some distance between us, but as we predicted the wolves (Wargs, according to Tak, because they were too big for wolves) easily outpaced us once they had the scent.

All we could do was to set an ambush, hoping that we could deal with the wargs quickly. We didn't have long to wait, and as soon as the first warg came into view, I sent a flechette into it. It yelped, and they bound forward quickly towards me, although Silanna felled the one I had struck with a well placed arrow. Tak managed to put an arrow into the next one, but then they were on us and it was just a mad melee of (for me anyway) snarling tooth-filled jaws. Somehow I managed to dodge their attacks, possibly because I was small and they were getting in each other's way, and landed a decent blow before Tak finished one off from its flank. Tak seemed quite excited by the kill, which was out of character... although perhaps we didn't know him as well as we thought. I finished the other one off, glad to have somehow escaped unscathed, and the Drow hadn't reached us yet, so our plan had worked so far.

The Drow had seen us finish off their pets, and had formed a line to pepper us with arrows. Tak was urging us back, but I was too exposed to make it to cover so I ran forward instead, firing a sleep capsule at the Drow. One dropped, but the rest returned fire; one arrow grazed my leg, and Tak was able to dodge and deflect one away from his body. I finished closing the distance to engage in melee, and the others joined me moments later. Tak struck first, although it was just a glancing blow and he was stabbed in return. I took some slight wounds from the Drow swords, but Tak struck again and I was able to follow up, gutting one foe. Meanwhile Silanna conjured a spray of coloured lights that caused two to collapse unconscious, which left us unopposed.

We knew that the three we had knocked out between us wouldn't stay that way for long, so we had to hurry. As we turned and began to move, though, one came to and shot me in the back! I used my mind to heal the wound, but the others started to stir as well, so we were once again committed to battle. Silanna was hit twice before she could find her mark, but when she did it was a killing blow. We were both wounded again, although not as badly, before she finished another one off - her strength and accuracy made for a lethal combination! The last one turned and ran and, despite my giving chase and shouting obscenities at him, he managed to get away. Tak was going on about how we should be the better people and let them go if they retreat, blah blah. Yeah, if I ever see the bastard that shot me in the back again I'm going to fuck him over whether he's facing the right way or not!

I healed some of Silanna's wounds, as she had been hurt badly, and we moved away from the road into the forest to the east. After half a mile or so we turned south and approached the edge of the treeline, where we paused while Cassandra flew ahead and took a look for us. For as far as could be seen from here there were just rolling plains to the south, but more sinister was a large stone tower to the west, near where the road would have taken us. We walked back west to get a better look, again relying on Cassandra to see any threat before we got too close. We were not at all surprised to find that there were Drow stationed at the tower, with guards on the top and by the doors at the base. What we weren't expecting, though, was the seriously tough looking black-clad figure that was walking up the road towards the forest. He sounded as hard as rock from the description Silanna relayed to us, so we classified him under "fuck no" and decided to head back east.

Once we were happy that we were a good distance from the tower, we rested so that we could wait until nightfall to start crossing the plain. Tak had heard stories of a great monastery in the mountains to the west, called Vorsaykorai, and he suggested that we headed there to see if we could find any more allies. Once it was dark we struck out south, aiming to turn west once we were far enough from the tower to feel safe. We hadn't reckoned on the terrain, though, as there were no tracks and the hard scrub slowed us down. By the time light came before dawn, we could still see the tower and we decided to find some low ground and try to rest so as not to be seen moving.

The weather had been deteriorating, and there was a drizzle of rain and a grey sky by now, so my spirits were a bit low. Tak seemed to love all things water, though, and this seemed to include the rain. Once again Tak was on watch, and sometime in the night he woke us to warns that there was something moving in the dark. We gathered our things and started to move, trying to be stealthy. I felt some odd vibrations, and when we got close enough to see the warmth of the things we could see them checking the ground as if listening for us. We tried throwing stones, and loosing an arrow, but there was a ring of them and they kept closing in until eventually one discovered Silanna and we were forced to fight.

Thankfully they weren't that tough in the end; Tak killed two, trying to get Silanna away before more arrived. They were quick once they had a prey, though, and they had no chance of evading them. Silanna killed two more with a couple of well placed shots, and the few left decided to run. We felt a bit guilty that we were forced to kill them, but they hadn't left us much choice. As we were already up we continued our journey south, and the rain thankfully abated slightly. As it got light again, we could see that the ground was sloping down ahead of us, and there were no mountains in sight anywhere, so we turned west.

At the end of the day we rested again, collecting water using my bivvie sheet to refill some of our skins. The next day the rain eased off and we came across a road crossing our path. It didn't look ancient, but it was well made and had signs of use, probably linking back with the tower to the north. As we continued west, the terrain started to change from heavy peatland to grassy plains, which made for easier going. That day passed without incident, although when we rested for the night Tak saw some lights at what he assessed to be quite far off to the south and east. He also heard something moving to our north, but as we were not disturbed directly he let them go and we awoke fairly well rested for once.

We continued in the morning until we reached an area where the land started to fall away, revealing a vast plain with a river far below us, and finally we could see mountains in the distance. We continued towards the valley, noticing that there was a road not far from the river that had a number of black blobs moving along it, which made us wary. As we were taking this in, a number of flying creatures rose over the edge where the land fell away, swooping towards us. Before we could really react they had lifted us up with their talons, which dug painfully into our shoulders. I managed to fire a flechette into the one that lifted me, so I knew it was hurt, but even then my first stab at it wasn't enough to make it drop me. Silanna asked Cassandra to help her, and the little dragon fished out a potion for her, which she imbibed and disappeared! She wasn't invisible, though, as the creature seemed agitated and its talons couldn't find anything to get a purchase on.

My second stab up at the beast above me finally killed it, and I used my mind to slow my fall so that I could land safely below, it's crumpled body impacting a short distance away. I saw Tak a short distance away, held fast, but it looked like he had passed out. With no sign of Silanna that meant I was the only target! Sure enough, I was grabbed and lifted again and although I dub my weapon into it deeply, it wouldn't let go. My vision blurred with the pain and I passed out. Meanwhile Cassandra was rooting around in Tak's backpack, and found the ring I had given him for safe keeping. Not knowing what else to do, she put it on Tak's finger, which revived him instantly!

Tak grabbed a wing of the beast, forcing it to descend until it slowly collided with ground and he was able to get free. He was immediately set upon, though, and one claw of another creature dug into his shoulder. Cassandra came to the rescue again, though, stinging Tak's attacker with her tail and causing it to collapse instantly. Tak ran and leapt into the air, aiming to bring down the creature that was trying to gain height with me suspended below it. It dropped me, surprised and in pain as Tak dug his blades into it for purchase, but then Cassandra stung it and it fell heavily to the floor, taking Tak with it.

The other flying creatures fled, so we were safe for the moment. Tak was able to revive me with one of his blessings, sprinkling quite a bit of saltwater over me in the process, but there was still no sign of Silanna. Cassandra seems to be somersaulting in mid-air, trying to get our attention, though, so we followed her to a spot not far away, but didn't find anything there. Cassandra seemed to settle down there, though, content to wait it seemed, so we decided that we would do the same. After nearly an hour we were discussing perhaps having to leave without Silanna, when suddenly she appeared out of nowhere! It was quite miraculous, but apparently the potion had turned her into a gaseous form and she had been forced to float around until the effect had worn off. She did offer us some healing ointment to tend to our wounds, though, which was very welcome.

We looked again at the ridge we were approaching, seeing that there were more of the flying things along it in places. We could also see that the area around the river below was quite brown, which put us in mind of the mud monsters we had encountered a few days ago. We decided to stay well away from the valley and the edge where the flying things could be found, and instead give it a wide berth whilst skirting north, aiming to move around to the mountains on the far side. Cassandra did occasionally look over the ridge to see what was there, in case any threat approached from within. A few hours later, though, Silanna told us that Cassandra had got very excited about something on the ground up ahead.

She had, apparently, found a short person and something about them had made her very happy. As we got closer, it turned out that Cassandra had got so excited because the creature had some shiny gems on him, and she liked to eat them! The creature was very short, even for me, and went by the name "Calinn". There were many of his kind that lived here, and he seemed friendly enough once Silanna had got Cassandra a little under control. Tak asked about Vorsaykorai, and we were all shocked to hear that the huge basin beside us where the land fell away is where the monastery used to be - the whole mountain had been destroyed in the great upheaval, and we were about a hundred years too late to find it! He did offer a ray of hope, though... apparently there were still monks and gnomes to be found in the mountains. He did speak my people's language, although a little roughly, but I was most surprised to find that Silanna spoke it too! The creature was suspicious of my heritage, though, although I think I managed to placate him by telling him I had escaped from Yarlug and the stink of the creatures there must have come with me.

We were able to barter for food and water, which we were running low on again, although it meant that Silanna had to give up all of her remaining gems. We continued in better spirits, stopping to rest for the night just as we began to make out the line of a forest to the north of us and as we were starting to turn west. In the morning we continued, and were soon turning back towards the mountains. The dawn light was bathing them in a red light, which was slightly ominous. Were those there stuck in the past, as Tak said they might be? Did they need to be brought into a new life in the light to the east?

Mountain Depths

The weather was much better now, and we moved a little farther away from the edge, trying to avoid any more encounters with the flying things. By late afternoon we had started to climb the rocky foothills beneath the mountains, so it was harder going. We were doing our best to aim for highest mesa we had seen, but lost sight of it as we got closer and the light faded, so we camped on the edge of the mountains. We were woken in the night by an attack - Tak was struck with a crossbow, and as he woke us I tried shouting in my own language, only being rewarded with a crossbow bolt of my own! Tak ran off into the darkness, scrambling over the rocks expertly, as Silanna and I prepared for an assault that Cassandra warned us was coming.

Tak ran to one of the foe using a crossbow; they looked like Dwarves, but they had glowing white orbs for eyes. Silanna shouted that there were four closing on us, although I could only see two, and I sent a flechette darting into the nearest. Tak's opponent dropped his crossbow and drew axes, but he didn't get to use them as Tak buried a blade into his head. Silanna was just as lethal, embedding arrows into the heads of two of our opponents, killing them instantly. She shouted a warning as one had sneaked around behind me, and ran forward to slam her body into it, which was just enough to force its axe swing to scrape along my armour harmlessly. Its second blow struck me, though, and I winced at the pain. I twisted my weapon, causing a discharge of lightning to arc across the blades and slammed it into my attacker, leaving a smoking raw wound that was enough for him to collapse, bleeding out. Silanna killed another foe with an arrow as they closed with us, and then picked off another with a crossbow at range.

It had been a brutal fight, but there were some interesting items on the bodies that might be of use. I was particularly interested in their crossbows, as they had a magazine loading mechanism that made them quicker to fire (at least until the five bolts they held ran out). I swapped my own crossbow for their one, taking a set of bolts to use with it. Silanna found a couple of phials of blue liquid that might prove useful for something. We didn't feel safe staying in the same place, so we decided to move on through what was left of the night, although we had to move slowly in the rocky terrain. As the first light of dawn spread, though, we saw a path with cut stone steps some way ahead of us. Tak was wary of what might use such a path, despite having heard of such ways being used in the old times, so we found a place to rest and watch for a while. As noon approached, though, we had seen nothing, so we elected to follow the path up in the hope it would lead to some kind of settlement.

One thing I was glad of was that the steps, where the slope required them, made allowances for folks of all sizes. Even the steepest parts had smaller footholds beside them to make the ascent easier. We kept climbing for hours more before we were disturbed again. The first warning came as we felt a tremor in the rocks, followed quickly by the crack of stones being dislodged above us. We were in quite a narrow defile, so there was a real danger that we would be hit by falling rocks. We started running, and I only just managed to dodge a boulder half my size. We made it out of the shadow of the cliffs, with Silanna scooping me up towards the end, although there were still rocks rolling down the slopes on either side of us as the tremors continued.

We were approaching an unusual switchback in the path, as it turned sharply left up ahead and almost back on itself. Silanna called out a warning - Cassandra had seen some dog-headed humanoid creatures approaching along the steps just around the corner. She put me down, readying her bow, and Tak stopped to greet whatever they were as they came into sight. In a shocking turn of events that surprised nobody that wasn't called Tak, they turned out not to be friendly. They wanted to herd us back down the steps for something they referred to as "Her" to eat us. We only worked out this detail because Silanna was able to understand them... how did she learn all these languages if she grew up alone in the forest?!

Eventually it escalated and Tak was knocked down as they tried to force us back. He had already been injured, and I was concerned about the damage falling on the rocky steps would have done, so I took a moment to heal him. I readied my weapon for a fight, but of course Silanna had already started killing them. Two fell in quick order, and Tak jumped up and plunged his blades into another, killing that too. There was only one other, and at Tak's insistence, though Silanna as a translator, it agreed to surrender. It refused to go any further down the path, genuinely looking afraid at what might be down there, so Silanna told it to stay still if it wanted to live. We started moving past it and up to the bend, but I stopped for a moment, wondering why anyone would have brought the path this way only to turn back again.

When I took a closer look at the steep rock beside us, I noticed that at least a part of it had been created, and was not a natural formation. I thought I could even make out slight cracks that could be an opening of some kind, so I used my tools to send a blast of high pressure air at the rockface and once the dust cleared it was more visible as a doorway of some kind. The dog-headed thing was grumbling about "not wanting to go it there", as there were apparently lots of dwarves inside (both with and without the glowing white eyes). Tak took a close look, and found a way to unlock the mechanism to open the door - he warned that it was trapped, but we flattened ourselves against the rocks on either side and when he triggered it a pit opened up in front of the door, so we were safe. The door swung open, so we had a way in, but we would have to get past the pit... which seemed to fall an awful long way out of sight.

Tak climbed into the doorway with Silanna holding him on rope just in case he slipped. He made it safely enough, and noticed some runes within the corridor that he could partially translate:

The …/ … up its … host

In those dark years we … the most.

And on Vorsay the challenge came.

Losing all to … evil reign.

… champions our cause,

… men, elves and dwarves,

In battle against this …. foe

All lost, … is our woe.

Through the mountains of metal and stone

The host …, … flesh from bone

…. land was first to suffer

Broken, it was torn ....

An … seized,

The …not …,

Comes …/… with fire

And turns … into a …/….

Denied the Bridge of ….,

The host turn to the marsh …

… victory at …/…/…

Forces Evil’s retreat to begin.

Tak secured the rope inside before climbing back out, using pitons to secure the other end of the rope in the rocks outside. We started to climb around, but the pitons outside gave way so Silanna had to climb up and then Tak held the rope in tension while I climbed around. The sprung claws I had added to my boots helped me find purchase, so it was a relatively easy traverse. Tak followed, again with us holding the rope just in case, and we swung the door shut behind us. That was just in time... the dog-head had run off while we were dealing with the pit, and had returned with friends. There was a metallic banging on the door that encouraged us to move deeper into the mountain.

Silanna lit a torch, and I took out the metal torch I had created from bits and pieces, coaxing it into a bright light to help with the pitch darkness we faced. There was nothing but a narrow corridor, comfortable for me but forcing the others to bend down, so we followed it with me leading the way. We reached an archway, formed in relief in the rock, that came to a point at the top where an eagle's talons stuck down towards us. Tak paused to honour the air spirits, and I used a gem to bring the sound of the wind to the place. Whether that helped or not, we were able to walk safely beneath the arch and started to make our way down some spiral stairs, turning clockwise as we descended. The stairs ended in a door, which Tak was able to unlock, and in doing so also disabled a potential trap.

I pushed the door open and walked through, but was immediately confronted by white-eyed dwarves on the other side! Luckily the bolt that was loosed at me went over my head and hit one of the other dwarves as they moved to surround me. Perhaps they had expected someone taller? My cloak moved to block one blow, ringing as if metal had struck metal, but I suffered a cut from another. I focused on the injured one, killing them and forcing my way into the space to allow the others to move forward. Tak parried an attack, and Silanna also managed to push into the room, chanting some words that sent arcs of lightning coursing around her body before she struck one with a bare hand - the lightning arced into him, leaving him smoking slightly and recoiling from her touch. I targeted him, trying to turn their flank, and he fell easily to my thrust - great teamwork! Silanna kept moving around their flank and killed another with an arrow. Tak stood at the door, fighting where he stood, and killed another with his blades. The other two ran, sounding a horn as they fled into the darkness. We retrieved the torches we had dropped and readied for more combat.

We paused for a moment, and started to search the room rather than following the fleeing foe; we would only be walking into a trap. As if to emphasise the point, a bolt flew from the darkness and hit Tak as he approached the open door on the far side of the chamber. Silanna slammed the door shut and braced it as I kept searching for another possible way out. Tak wasn't sure there was anything to find, but I explained that my own home would have had multiple traps and misdirections so that only a friend could find their way in. Halfway along the wall to the right of where we came in, something suddenly moved under my foot. I froze and called Tak over, not wanting to release the weight in case it triggered a trap. He examined the mechanism and determined that it was supposed to have both opened a pit beneath me and caused part of the wall to move, but had possibly rusted and so hadn't operated as it should have. I was quite glad of that!

I put some force onto the mechanism using my staff, and it took some effort to get anything to happen, but finally something clicked and a mechanism began to turn. It was incredibly loud, chains clanking noisily as the wall fell away from us to slowly lower into a corridor hidden behind it. The pit was also revealed, but we had been careful to stay away from the area so that we remained safe. I jumped into the corridor, now on top of the wall, and moved forward to check that it was passable. As I reached the end of the wall section and stepped down, I suddenly found an ugly tentacled thing rearing up right in front of me!

I quickly reacted and fired a sleep capsule at it, which seems to work as it settled back down again. I urged the others to hurry before it woke up again, although Tak seemed to be oblivious when he joined Silanna, who had stepped in behind me. I urged them to hurry again, and Silanna ran forward at an impressive pace. Unfortunately this set off a trap in the corridor and a couple of crossbow bolts flew out from one of the walls, one striking her leg. I ran forward, stopping slightly short of where she had indicated the trap was, but there were more! Thankfully they missed me despite being triggered, and I tried to use my mind to reduce my weight on the floor. That didn't work, and more bolts were sent flying, but again they missed me and I reached Silanna's side - she had found a door in the left-hand wall. I did sense another mind somewhere at the edge of my consciousness when I tried to reduce my weight, so I would have to be careful not to use any powers unless absolutely necessary.

The door was locked, and I couldn't figure out the mechanism, but luckily Tak was better at tinkering with it, throwing the door open and stepping into a large room. He could see some large heat sources approaching in the dark, so did his usual thing and stepped forward to hail them in Common. There was a guttural response that was unintelligible to us, but Silanna quickly uttered an incantation and all three of them fell to the floor, asleep. Tak moved forward, seeing more approaching, but then tripped over something quite large in the dark. He picked himself up, and was still trying to be friends with whatever they were. Silanna and I were wary, though, and not convinced that the giant green-skinned creatures were likely to be friendly now that we could see them in the light. I got closer to Tak and in my torch's light could see that the thing Tak tripped over was a coffin!

Silanna moved up next, but was attacked as two more of the large creatures charged at her. She was too fast for them, though, and conjured a spray of colour in the air that made them both fall unconscious. They certainly didn't look friendly, so Silanna removed their weapons and searched them quickly as we both looked at the top of the coffin, which was covered in runes. Tak read:

From the Misery of … came

The … of fiery eyes and darkened ...

To the ruins of … he turned

and met with the …/… he learned,

Of the return to the Prime of that which smashed

The …/… and with it our hopes dashed.

Granted a gift of dwarven gold and elven stone,

Promised in exchange …/…/…, alone.

With that …/… was rebuilt …,

…/…/…/… would kill

All that kept them from …/…

And together over all folk would lord,

In name and act of evil vast

The Darkest time of … passed.

As Tak reads it, remember that I meant to give ring back to him and take it off my finger - relucantly accepted it to carry, but not own. Runes are accompanied by a figure of a dwarf but with face removed, and plate where the family mark would have been it has chiselled off. As we are looking, hear a swish, and Tak moves like lightning, moving and pushing an arrow away from him.

Get flanked by more as we hide behind sarcophagus, but Tak leaps forward to meet them, screaming "leave us alone"! Swings at me, so Tak stabs him. Tak takes a moment to relax, not moving, and then springs to life again as more close with us, striking one. I am only saved by cloak, otherwise would have been finished for sure. Thrust back and kill the wounded one, but still threatened by one.

They rush Silanna, but she dodges one and jumps over another, standing on them as she put an arrow in the other. I strike my other attacker well, but not enough to fell it. Silanna finished one with a second arrow. The other one recovers and engages Silanna, slashing her with a sword. I'm nearly killed, and only saved by cloak. Scrabble for special water that little guy gave me, and feel fully revived afterwards.

Silanna killed one, but now beset by three more. Tak struck one, but I'm hit again. Silanna put two arrows into another, killing it. I finish off my attacker, with some relief. I try to aid Silanna, and Tak finishes his foe. Silanna struck with another arrow, and only the two foes visible now. Cassandar attacks (Silanna is badly wounded) and stings one that immediately collapses. Tak moves up, shouting at the foe, and stabs him, but I was hit by him. Tak offers chance to surrender, but Silanna says that they wanted to kill the gnome (me!) and I would never get my realm back. Then Silanna kills it with a sword.

Tak notices another arrow fly across us, but badly misses. They take cover as I run forward - get arrow in the chest! Extinguish torch so there is no target... hopefully. Tak and I both hear arrows falling nearby, but not hit this time. I rush forward, hoping to find a target - floor falls away and scythe swings, but cloak forces me forward and end up on solid ground. Throw torch forward to illuminate archer, shouting that there is a trap and to just shoot, reaching for crossbow.

Hear a twang and grunt. Silanna not visible any more (Tak was watching). He still moves forward (despite me telling them not to come forward), and just stops on the edge of a fall, seeing Silanna's body and Cassandra below. I fire bolts at archer, hitting once.