# World of Xangrath (Ejja_1's Storyhour adventure) updated 06/17/03



## ejja_1 (Jun 11, 2003)

Background on the setting, and the players.

The world of Xangrath is an ancient one, forged in the mighty fires of the breath of Narnghul The Mighty Fire Drake. The goddess Alexa then formed the world and breathed life into it, populating the world with her children. Her children named themselves the Marsin, and set about creating a home for themselves on this strange new world. The Marsin learned quickly how to shape the very earth, and quickly carved there homes into the rock and soil of the world. Over many years the Marsin enjoyed a fruitful life, they learned how to grow plants in the harsh sun of the planet and invented ways to irrigate their crops using water that they had found deep in the earth.
Then one day the Marsin dug to far into the earth, they broke into a chamber of onyx. This chamber seemed to suck out all the light around it, even the luminary magic of the Marsin priests failed to provide any light.  The Marsin decided to send an exploratory group into the chamber, they equipped their best people with everything they could think they might need. After a brief ceremony to Alexa, the group entered the chamber and was never heard from again. The Marsin grew fearful of what might inhabit the chamber, so they caved in the entrance and forbid any of there people to go near it. Their lives once more became one of building and growing, as generation after generation continued to create new ways of shaping the stone and harvesting the earth. Then one day tragedy struck the peaceful Marsin, their burrows were invaded by men that appeared to be made of shadows. The Marsin named them Rahkir, the Marsin word for nightmare or bad dream. The Rahkir invaded the Marsin halls, and set about killing any and all that they encountered.
The Marsin were ill prepared for the onslaught, and died by the thousands daily. It was at this point that one of the Marsin, a miner by the name of Mavda decided to fight back. He took his Tarn, ( a  pickaxe with a small length of chain attached to the handle.) and struck the nearest Rakhir to him. The Rakhir howled in pain and bled a blackish substance that etched the stone it fell on, Mavda grew bolder with his success and rallied others to his side. But this proved to be too late, and too little as the rest of the halls of the Marsin were overwhelmed. This drove the few survivors of the Marsin up to the surface, and into the harsh sun and inhospitable surface lands of Xangrath. The Marsin were relieved to find that the Rakhir would not follow them, it appeared that they did not care for the light of the sun.
The Marsin wandered the barren rock of the surface world for several months, not quite sure of their destination or their fate.
Mavda became their leader, and a priestess named Levite became their spiritual guide. After a few more months travel, they had begun to give up hope of finding a new home. It was then that the Marsin were blessed with the favor of their goddess, that night a rain came and watered the dry soil under their feet.
Also a strange light was seen to descend upon the soil, and it caused the ground to glow with an unearthly light. The next day when the Marsin awoke, a forest had grown were the light had touched the soil. The trees were tall and solid, with huge leaves and fruit born from every branch. The Marsin thanked the goddess Alexa for her gift, and made thier new homes in the branches of the great trees. A few years passed and the Marsin again began to flourish, their numbers grew and they were again blessed with the spark of creativity. 
The marsin expanded thier great forest, by transplanting young saplings around the borders of the forest. 
Not long afterwards Marsin scouts failed to return from a planting expedition, Mavda took this as a sign that the Rakhir had returned. Mavda began to train his people to defend themselves, again Marsin creativity flourished and the first ranged weapons were created. Armed with this and the Tarn, Mavda and his people readied themsleves for conflict. It wasnt long afterwards that the fight began, however the enemy wasnt what they had expected. The Marsin were assailed by strange humanoids, that looked strangly enough like the Marsin themselves. Except that the invaders skin was a pale white or grey color, and their hair was white instead of the healthy browns of the Marsin people.
The Marsin successfully defended their homes from the new invaders, and were able to study the corpses of there foe.
The priestess Levite made a terrifying discovery, the enemy bore the same tribal tattoo's as they. The corpses also appeared to have been already dead when the Marsin soldiers killed them. Thier flesh was rotted in places, and they stunk of death.
The Marsin decided to reinforce their new homes and set about preparing for further invasion, they fortified every position and trained with great zeal.
Little did they know what was in store for them in the coming months, or just how desperate times would become.


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## ejja_1 (Jun 12, 2003)

*Meet The Characters.*

Bevin the Arcane as he was known in his profession, was a skilled creator of magic items and devices. There were few others in the realms that could claim to rival his skill, alot of other mages had passed him magically but none could match his skill at being a craftsman. His wands were beautiful and functional as well, wonderfully carved from the rarest materials. His staves were similarly crafted with intricate carvings, and inlaid with rare and precious metals and stones. But his masterpiece was yet to be finished, he had made a huppa from a felled red oak tree. It stood tall enough to allow most humanoids to pass underneath, and was a vision of carving wizardry. Intricate patterns wove around it's sides, looking delicate yet the construction was sturdy as if it were carved from mithril. Precious stones were inset into the arch, and the feathers of an angel had been used to brush on a special mixture of quicksilver and the blood of a Blinkdog.
To this was added a sprinkle of the brains of a Dimensional Shambler, dried and cured in digestive juices of a Phase Spider.
Bevin smiled when his work was finally done.

" Now lets see if this works, all I have to do is utter the power words. Were did I put those? Oh yes right here in my pocket, right were they belong. Alright then, with a wave off my wand and a sprinkle of pixie dust, Moveato Narum Deta Traversum!" 

The Huppa stood there in all it's glory, but other than look pretty did nothing. Bevin swore a blue streak. " Rasa Frasin Goldurn Flimy Flam Flamonous Flum! I knew that pixie dust was fake, stupid bogie that sold it to me. " Bevin gave the Huppa a kick and was rewarded with a large flash and a great BOOM!

Bevin awoke with a headache, and found himself underground. He focused his mind on his fist, and soon had encased it in light.
Bevin stood up and used his free hand to dust himself off, looking around he spied a long hall that seemed to lead off into the darkness. Shrugging his shoulders to himself, Bevin set off down the hall in search of daylight. He wandered for what seemed like hours, until he finaly came across a great hall. Bevin thought to himself. 
" I must have ported a bit to far and ended up somewhere in Mithril hall, hope I dont run into any of them smarmy Drow."

It was then that bevin noticed the group of grey skinned humanoids in and around the hall, he had heard of the Druegar and decided that he probably should avoid them altogether. He turned to leave and was greeted by the a dark shadow like being that stood in front of him, his hand instinctivley went for his wand.
But the shadow was faster and Bevin found himself in it's cold grip, his strength slowly draining away. The last thing Bevin saw was the mass of zombies slowly trundling toward him, he wanted to scream but could not.  And then all was black.......

Mereth and Draithius had been rangers for their clan since they could walk, trained by their brothers in scouting and survival tactics they had grown up playing what the humans called hide and seek. They would go out with their brothers on scouting exercises, and disappear into the wilderness without a trace.
Then when their brothers had given up searching for them they would follow them discreetly back to camp, and then reappear as their brothers were reporting them missing to the village elders.
Often they were punished for this, but Mereth's father always seemed to get them out of trouble. One day Mereth and Drathius were out in the fields lazily sleeping in the noon sun, having avoided their brothers once more.  Draithius was awakened by the noise of crunching grass under foot, and quickly woke Mereth.
Mereth being his usual cocky self, backhanded Draithius and said loudly. " What the hell are you doing gimpy? I was having that dream about Mrs. Galandel again! you know the one were she's washing in the stream and i've got a raging..."
Mereth was cut off in mid sentence by an orc with an axe almost as large as Mereth himself appeared above him in the grass. The orc bellowed a war cry and raised the axe above his head, Draithius sprang to his feet and drew the only weapon he had on his person, a dagger given to him by one of his older brothers.
The orc brought the axe down with force, making a swooshing noise as it split the air. Mereth squeaked as the axe barely missed removing his head from his shoulders, it landed with a thud in the dirt beside him. Draithius moved like lightning, bringing his dagger down upon the stooped orcs back. The blade scored a deep gash across the orcs back making it howl in pain.
Mereth rolled to one side and gained his feet, just as the orc was swinging his weapon in a wide arc at him. The axe caught his side as it went past and cut him deeply, causing Mereth to cry out.
Draithius stabbed at the orc again, and lodged his dagger in the orcs neck. The orc stumbled around for a few more moments and finally collapsed in a heap on the ground, blood spreading from it's neck into the rich brown soil.
Mereth kicked the orc a couple of times, and spat on it for good measure. He turned then to Draithius and slapped him on the back saying " Your lucky I was here brother, he was gonna kick your ass!"
Draithius rolled his eyes and retrieved his dagger, wiping the blade off on the orcs hair. Mereth looked off in the distance, suddenly his eyes went wide.
" Brother the village is on fire!" Draithius looked to the horizon and saw the plume of black smoke rising towards the sky.
The brothers set off at a dead run and arrived huffing and puffing minutes later at the village edge, orcs were everywhere fighting with the villagers and laying waste to everything.
Mereth saw his older brother split in half from the skull down by an orc the size of a small hut, he cried out in anger and rage and charged the orc unarmed. The orc bellowed a cruel laugh and yelled at Mereth as he came toward him. " Elfy welfy wants a fight with Brock, him give it to him good!" The orc answered Mereths charge with a beefy fist, knocking him flat on his backside. Mereth slowly regained his feet and was rewarded with a kick to the face, the orc smiled as he pulled a mean curved knife from his belt. " Elfy ears worth 2 silver each, brock gonna get paid good for yours. Brock already got some others! See elfy boy! See ears what brock got." The orc held a string of elf ears out in front of Mereth, and laughed as Mereth tried to focus on what he was seeing through the blood in his eyes.
Mereth blacked out and fell to the ground as the orc let go of his hair, not quite comprehending what the orc had been saying.

Draithius saw his brother getting his butt kicked and went to help him, he was stopped short of entering the frey by an orc with a huge club. The orc swung hard and barely missed Draithius, giving the elf an opening. Draithius moved his knife in a wide arc, slashing viciously at the orcs throat. The orc stepped out of the way and smashed his club down on Draithius, knocking him violently to the ground. Draithius looked up at the orc as it raised it's club for the final blow, and was surprised as a pair of arrows sunk in it's chest. The orc fell backwards and did not move again, giving Draithius time to get to his feet. He looked around him for his brother, and saw Mereth laying face down on the ground by a dead orc. Draithius ran to Mereth and Hoisted him up on his back, and ran as hard and as fast as he could away from the village.
Mereth awoke a while later with Draithius pouring water on him, sputtering and cursing mereth got to his feet. "I feel like ive been drinking Uncle Lorns moon leaf liquor, what the hell happened?" Draithius filled him in on what had happened as Mereth shook off the effects of the beating he had sustained.
Mereth and Draithius agreed to return to the village the next day, when both of them had recovered a little bit.
When they arrived back in the village the next day, it had been burnt to the ground. Not a single hut still stood, and the dead lay everywhere. The brothers wept at the site of their family members slaughtered, and prayed to elder spirit of the forests to protect them on their passage to the heavenly groves. Mereth stood then and spoke to Draithius.
"Search everywhere for weapons, we shall have our vengeance!"
Draithius smiled and grabbed Mereth by the arm.
" Brother, do you remember were the elders hid the weapons cache last summer?"
Mereth slapped Draithius across the face. " What did I tell you about touching me?" Draithius frowned and appologized.
Mereth then threw his hands up in the air. " Im a genius brother! Bask in my glorious intellect! The weapons cache that the elders hid last summer, if we can only find it!"
Draithius rolled his eyes. " Yes brother you are a genius, what ever would I do without you?"
The two then set about searching the camp for the hidden weapons, and were rewarded with a rusty short sword and a rock. Mereth held the sword in front of him like a trophy. " I shall name you Thunderclease! And together we shall smash our enemies like the vermin they are! All of orcdom will quiver in fear as we ride down upon them like a furious wirlwind of death and destruction! I shall let none live, no one will be spared! Not the women or the children, or the livestock or the elderly or...."
Draithius cut him off by handing him a nice shiny sword he had found under the ashes of the elders hut in a hidden compartment under the floor.
Mereth looked from one sword to the other, and dropped the rusty short sword.
"I shall name you Thunderclease! And together we shall smash..."
Draithius shook his head and waited for Mereth to finish.


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## ejja_1 (Jun 12, 2003)

*Mereth and Draithius set off in search of revenge*

Altogether they had found a pretty decent supply of weapons and armor, 3 longswords with the mark of the master weapon smith Lyone. A pair of fine looking daggers, and a few sets of studded leather armor. There were also several bows and a score or so of arrows, as well as a dozen or so shortswords made right here in the village by Mereths own father.
There were also a few unmarked bottles with a pink liquid in them that smelled of juniper berries, Draithius took these and put them in his back pack. They each grabbed a longsword and a bow, and a quiver of arrows a piece. As an afterthought Draithius grabbed the daggers and threw them in his pack, and together the brothers left the village in search of their foe.

The brothers had traveled for a few weeks, hunting when they had to and resting were they could. Mereth had boasted of his tracking skills taught to him by his father, and was following a trail that he had picked up at a road they had found while traveling.
" I'm telling you we are close! Those orcy bastards are just over that rise, I say we charge down upon them like the dogs they are." Draithius sighed but did not mention that they had charged over 14 rises just like this one in the last couple of days and found nothing but the occasional rabbit or squirrel.
"For revenge!" Mereth took off running up the small hill, Draithius watched as he disappeared over the other side.
" What the hell, why not."
Draithius sprinted up the side of the hill and stopped short as he reached the crest. Before him a couple hundred yards away was what appeared to be a small fort, the stone walls were topped with battlements each manned by a soldier dressed in blue. A white and blue flag flew from the main tower, an eagle's head marked it's center. Draithius looked down and saw a couple of soldiers dressed in similar fashion holding Mereth at spear point, he sighed to himself and sheathed his sword whilst walking down the hill toward his brother.
"Ere now, what are you lot about? Screaming bloody vengeance at the fine fortress of Duke Edward, and charging about with naked blades?" Draithius began to speak, But Mereth slapped him with a loud. "Shooosh!"
Mereth then addressed the soldier.
" We seek revenge on the orcy hoards for the murder of our kin, would you be so kind as to point the way to their hordes so we may on our way?"
The soldiers looked at each other in confusion.
" You see me and Thunderclease, are on a mission. We seek to bring doom to all orcs, in revenge for the destruction of our village. We will not be denied!"
The soldier gave Mereth another crazy look and began to speak.
" Now look ere.."
Mereth cut him off by yelling."WILL NOT BE DENIED!"
Draithius grabbed his brother by the arm and pulled him aside.
" Brother don't you think it would be better if we were a bit more diplomatic?"
Mereth slapped Draithius hard across the face.
Draithius put his hands up in defense.
" I know, I know no touching. But let me do the talking ok?"
Mereth sighed in contempt.
"If you must."
Draithius approached the soldiers and held out his hands to them.
" I'm sorry good gentlemen, my brother is still coming to terms with the loss of our families. Please excuse him."
Draithius glanced back at Mereth who was busy talking to his sword. " Yes Thunderclease, we will destroy them, yessssss!"
Drathius continued. " We are in need of employment, and are strong and able fighters. Perhaps if we could speak with the Duke?"
The soldier laughed. " You two, have an audience with the Duke? Not bloody likely. But you could talk to the Sergeant of arms, is name is Kilroy. He might be able to get you caravan guard duties, them caravans go deep into orcy and goblin territory. They trade between Lazlo keep and Fort Talon, in fact I think there is one leaving for Lazlo this very afternoon."
Mereth looked at Draithius, and fingered his hairless chin as if there were a beard there to stroke.
"Hmmmmmmmm, Lazlo you say? Orcy and goblin territory?"
Draithius began to speak but was cut off again by Mereth.
"Shooosh!"
Draithius rolled his eyes.
"We will take the caravan to Lazlo, and kill all the orcs. Perhaps then it will be us that are dukes! And then you will work for me and Thunderclease!"
The soldier sighed and spoke. " Whatever you say gov, just try not to get hurt while you are here in Talon."
The soldiers pointed the way to the duty hall, and the brothers were on their way. Draithius secured them a room, and an appointment for later that morning with Sergeant Kilroy, while Mereth found his way to the local tavern.
An hour later two guards showed up with the drunken form of Mereth, he was holding an ale stien and yelling at the top of his lungs.
"For vengeance!"


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## ejja_1 (Jun 12, 2003)

*The road to Lazlo*

Draithius left Mereth to his drunken oblivion, and went to meet Sergeant at arms Kilroy. On his way he noticed that several of the locals were staring at him, he ignored this and continued on his way. Draithius arrived at the office of the guard, and was greeted there by a short man dressed in chainmail. The man was so short Draithius almost mistook him for a child playing dress up, until he noticed the light wiskers on the mans chin. "Good day to you fine sir, my name is Draithius and im here to see Mr. Kilroy."
The smaller man looked up at Draithius and smiled at him. " Never been in a town before eh?"
Draithius blanched at the statement and stammered back.
"How did you know?"
The little man introduced himself, " Im Terry Tumbletrot, caravan mercenary to Lazlo. Im off to seek my fortune on the barren lands, and kill me some orcs and gobbo's."
Draithius smiled and shook his dimnuitive hand.
" Im Draithius, and I think were going to be good friends. Ill see you later on the caravan."
Terry smiled back and made his way past Draithius saying as he went. " See you there then friend."
Draithius walked in to see a portly man dressed in studded leather, with his feet up on an oak desk humming tunelessly to himself.
Draithius addressed him." Greetings Mr. Kilroy, im Draithius. My Brother Mereth and I..." He was cut off by the Sergeants booming voice.
" Caravan mercenaries get paid by the merchant upon safe arrival with the goods they are guarding, you can take an advance on your pay to buy weapons and armor. The trip takes 10 days, and passes through hostile territory. If you screw up and get the merchant killed, or the goods get raided by bandits then your looking at no pay and possibly charges leveled against you. Do you understand?"
Draithius shook his head in ascent.
Sergeant Kilroy threw a rolled up parchment to him.
" That identifies you as a mercenary for Talon, try not to make us look bad eh. Now get out it's time for my lunch."
Draithius shrugged and turned on his heel, and walked out the door. Heading back to his quarters, he was stopped by one of the guards. " You there, lets see your brand."
Draithius looked around and said. " Me?"
The guard continued to approcah him." Yes you, where is your brand? C'mon now I havent got all day."
Draithius gave him a confused look." Whats a brand?"
The guard raised his voice. " Look ere' you girly elf, every freed elf has a brand that marks them as free of ownership. Now let me see the damn thing or ill knock your head with me blogger."
Draithius thought quickly and said." Is that the duke?"
The guard grimaced not wanting to look, but finally turned and took a glance. Draithius brought the pommel of his dagger down on the crown of the mans head, it made a thump noise. 
The man turned and said." You sneaky bastard, I knew you was gonna do that. " The guard began to yell but was cut off as Draithius brought the pommel down again. This time the guard slumped to the ground, and lay there still. Drathius grabbed him and propped him up against the wall, when a servant girl came around the corner. Draithius thought quickly." To much to drink again tommy, Mr. Kilroy wont like this a bit." The girl smiled and continued on. Draithius breathed a sigh of relief and, and huuried back to the small room they had been alotted for the aftrenoon.
"Mereth, we have to leave. Our caravan leaves shortly and we need to be on it." Mereth belched loudly. " carry me."
Draithius looked at him like he was just bitten.
" Brother the orcs will get away if we don't make it to the caravan right now!" Mereth perked up." Orcs? why didn't you say so." Mereth stood up and staggard towards the door half belching and shouting. " For rev-BELCH-nge!" Draithius grabbed their meager possesions and help Mereth out the door.
They made it out the gates and approached the caravan, Draithius pulled the parchment from his belt pouch and handed it to the caravan master. The caravan master looked at the two elves before him, snorted at them and pointed to the back of the caravan line. " You two can travel with farmer Mendel and his wife Gerta, we are leaving now so get back there."
Draithius and Mereth climbed on the back of the last wagon, and were greeted with the stares of the farming couple. Draithius began to introduce himself, but was cut off by the sound of Mereth vomiting over the side of the wagon onto the ground.
Farmer Mendel shook his head and gave the reins a short snap to get the horses moving. The caravan was made up of 4 wagons with horses, each had a few scruffy looking armed men in the back with the goods they were guarding. They had just started down the road when a small figure came running after them, shouting. " Wait up, wait up."
Draithius turned and saw Terry running as fast as he could, so he threw his arm over the back side of the wagon. Terry caught his arm and hauled himself up into the wagon, and thanked Draithius for the lift. " Thanks Friend, almost didn't make it. had to say goodbye to my sweetheart."
Mereth laughed out loud. " What was she 20?"
Terry's eyes grew thin as he was addressed, but then he laughed himself. " No stranger she was #84, I said goodbye to the other 83 yesterday."
Mereth laughed at this and belched loudly.
" Well me-BELCH-t, im Mereth and this is Thunderclease." Mereth drew his blade and held it befor him reverently.
Terry looked at Draithius who rolled his eyes.
"I'm Terry Tumbletrot,  well met Mereth and Thunderclease."
Mereth sheathed his sword and got close to Terry and whispered. " Thunderclease is a little upset, he hasn't got to spill orc blood yet today. I have to keep him bathed in ale so he doesnt get crazy."
Terry smiled, but when Mereth turned away he made an addled gesture to Draithius who responded by nodding his agreement.


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## ejja_1 (Jun 17, 2003)

*The further adventures of Mereth and Draithius*

The caravan filed along the westward road that would take them to Lazlo, the road was ancient and had more than a few ruts,divets and potholes. Mereth had fallen asleep, and Draithius and Terry talked for awhile. After a few hours Terry had hunkered down for some shuteye, and Draithius took watch. The caravan moved along at it's slow pace, rocking nd swaying as it traversed the uneven road. Suddenly there was a loud "CRACK"! and the cart they were in pitched over on it's side, dumping them and the goods on the ground. Farmer Mendel yelled out." Lost a wheel, hold up."
 The caravan came to a slow halt, and a small boy jumped out of the head cart and ran back to them.
The boy and farmer Mendel spoke briefly as the mercenaries picked themselves up and dusted themselves off, Mendel shoke his head and waved the boy away.
He then came over to the mercenary crew and addressed them.
" Boys we got bad news, the caravan has to move on. If they get there late, they may not get to sell the goods they brought with. So they have decided to leave us behind. The head cart has a spare wheel so they are gonna leave it with us, and hopefully we can get it fixed and not be to late ourselves. Ill be right back with that wheel, and we can get started. If you boys could right the cart for me, id be much obliged."
Mereth and Draithius looked at each other and shrugged, Terry piped up and said. " Ill go look for a solid looking log to lever her up with, be right back." Terry disappeared into the dense growth making very little noise.
Mereth picked up a turnip and started to gnaw at it hungrily, Draithius drew his bow and kept watch. Mendel came back with the wheel, and glared at Mereth. " Boy thats coming out of your earnings." Mereth just shrugged.
The caravan dissapeared in the distance, and terry appeared shortly thereafter with a large tree branch. A few hours later and they had the cart back in order, and started off to try and catch up with the caravan. They rode for about an hour, when they came over a small rise and saw a tree had been felled in the road.
The mercaneries all drew weapons in preparation for an ambush, Mereth and Draithius drew there bows while Terry pulled a sling from his pack.
The ambush came from behind, as 20 or so small humanoids came rushing from the shrubbery on the side of the road.
Mereth yelled. " Die goblin scum!" And loosed an arrow at them.
His arrow flew way over thier heads, missing the group entirley.
Draithius snickered as his arrow connected with a goblins chest, knocking it over backwards. The Goblin convulsed a few times, and lay still. Terry slung a stone and banked it off a goblins forhead, the creature screeched with fury and continued to rush forward. "For glory and greatness!" Terry jumped down beside the cart and dropped his sling, drawing a wicked looking knife he waited for the goblins to advance. Draithius knocked another arrow and let fly, catching the poor creature in the throat. The goblin sprayed it's mate with gore as it tryed to scream, but succumbed to the loss of blood and fell to the ground dead.
Mereth also reloaded and took aim, but cursed as his arrow just missed his intended target. Farmer mendel produced a club from his bench, and dropped down to wade into the foe, his wife screamed loudly and fainted. 
Terry gutted the first goblin that came within reach of his shiny blade, spilling it's entrails all over the ground and kicking it in the chest to remove his knife from it's belly. A few other goblins rushed in and attacked him with some rusty looking scimitars, but Terry was agile enough to avoid thier blows.
Draithius drew his longsword after he dropped his bow and jumped down into the frey, three of the goblins were waiting for him and he was cut by all three. Mereth saw that farmer Mendel was surrounded and had several nasty looking cuts on him.
Mereth redirected his fire towards the goblin just behind Mendel, pulled back his bow string and let loose with a war cry.
The arrow sped towards it's intended victim, and connected with farmer Mendels back instead. The old man wrentched in agony, as his life blood spilled copuiosly from his back. Drathius saw what had happened and yelled." What the hell did you do that for?" Drathius then attacked the nearest foe to him and cut him down like a dog, narrowly avoiding the return attacks of his remaining foes. Terry deftly spun under a scimitar as it came towards him, and slammed his knife home into the goblins neck.
" I could use some help here!" he yelled.
Mereth took aim again and let his arrow fly, this time it found it's mark in a goblins leg. The small creature howled in pain and fell to the ground squirming like a snake that had been cut in half.
Draithius continued his onslaught and felled several goblins in melee, Terry also killed his share.
Mereth lost a lot of arrows....
When the fight was over, terry was in good shape. He had only been hit twice and they were small scratches, Draithius was not so lucky and had been cut by several of the goblins. Mereth was unharmed other than his pride.


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## ejja_1 (Jun 17, 2003)

*Mereth gains a title.*

Terry made his way over to the farmers prone body, and checked for a pulse. He looked sadly up at Mereth and shook his head, " He's with the gods now." Mereth yelled, "Damn it, cheap ash bow." and broke his longbow over his knee. " No more bows for me, from now on it's just me and Thunderclease."
Draithius interrupted him, " What about Mrs. Mendel?"
Mereth stroked his chin and thought hard.
" We should load her in the back of the cart and take her on to lazlo, she can at least get something for her goods."
Terry picked up farmer Mendels corpse and began to drag it to the cart.
Mereth stopped him. " Nope not him, he goes back to nature. He's part of the grand triangle now."
Draithius corrected Mereth." Grand circle dolt, the grand circle of life."
Mereth glared at Draithius." Yeah grand tricycle of life, what he said."
Terry looked at them like they had slapped him.
" Leave him to rot here in the bushes? What about when his wife wants to bury him?"
Mereth struck what he thought was a hero's pose.
"Then we will tell her of how he has passed back to nature, and that she shouldn't mourn him as he will be everywhere about her. When she smells the flowers on the wind she will be smelling her husband, whenever she see's fish in the stream she will look upon him. Whenever she pee's in the bushes...."
Draithius smacked him on the back of the head.
"We should be going now, before any more surprises arise."
Terry shrugged his shoulders and jumped into the back of the cart with the newly widowed Mrs. Mendel. Draithius took the reins, and Mereth sat next to him on the bench.
They rode on in silence for a few hours, it seemed to be getting close to evening. Mereth turned to Draithius and spoke, " Do you think the bards will give me a title?" Draithius looked back at his tribe brother and smiled. " Sure they will, it will be something grand like Mereth the Avenger, Destroyer of orcs, Wielder of Thunderclease ."
Mereths eyes lit up. " Really? that would be grand."
Terry snorted from behind them. " More likely Mereth the Farmer Slayer."
Mereth looked back at him." That wouldn't be so bad either, I could yell Beware all yee who till the earth for I am your doom!"
Terry shook his head and lay down to sleep.
Mereth took the reins from Draithius, as they decided to ride through the night. Draithius sat back against the bench and looked at the stars in the clear night sky, and reflected on a story he had been told when he was a child. His father had sat with him one night a pointed up at the sky, telling him of the grand elven heroes that were now part of the heavens above them. Draithius looked hard and searched all of the points of light, but could not find his fathers likeness anywhere. He sighed heavily and closed his eyes to sleep, exhausted from the days events.
Mereth thought about what had happened and felt regret for the loss of the farmers life, he had only wanted to help him.
The night passed rather uneventfully, at least until the morning came. Mereth felt the point of a blade being pressed into his back, and the voice of Mrs. Mendel in his ear. " What have you done with my husband?" Mereth began to turn to face her, and felt the blade pressed harder against his person. The voice came again. " Stay were you are, all you need to do is drive and talk."
Mereth sighed heavily. "Ok, you deserve to know what happened to your brave husband. When the attack began he jumped out of the cart and waded into the mass of goblins that were upon us, swinging his club and bashing heads like a crazed demon. The enemy had us all pinned down, but Mendel fought them off like a true hero. There were goblins everywhere, they must have numbered in the thousands. While Mendel was holding his own, sadly he was overwhelmed. The goblins knocked him out and began to carry him away, to use as one of there slaves in some perverted goblin sex ritual. I couldn't let that happen to such a brave man, so I shot an arrow into his chest and finished him off. He died bravely with dignity, and once we find a bard he will live on forever in song as a hero." Mereth waited for the blade to pass into his back, but that moment never came.
"What of his body?"
Mereth smiled to himself as he answered. " The Gobo's carried it away mam, we were barely able to escape with you and the cart intact."
The blade ceased to prick his skin, and a hand was placed on his shoulder. " Don't worry son, all we have to tell the guilders is that he was captured and killed. I wont mention your part in it, your secret is safe with me."
Mereth smiled again to himself." Thank you mam."
Mrs. Mendel lay back down to sleep and wept softly, Draithius barley touched Mereth to get his attention. Mereth turned and looked at him, and smiled as he spotted his brothers own wide grin.


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## Old Drew Id (Jun 19, 2003)

*Good story*

Good story. I especially like the Brothers. They remind me a lot of a couple of my players. 

Looking forward to reading more.


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