# The Adventurers of Castle Winterheart



## Grim (Oct 9, 2002)

This is the first campain I have ever DMed, and the first time I have ever attempted a story hour, so if I suck, its sort of my fault, but not really.

Anyway, this is a campain that just started, at first level. There are 8-10 players, which is a little much for a brand new DM, but I consider it a trial by fire and dice. Its especially dificult because 6 of them have never played before, so its slow going, to say the least.

Here's a list of the characters w/ brief backgrounds. None of the players actually know much about the other characters, which is intentional, but they will over time.

Kia - Elven Bard 1     
Her father was the court bard at Castle Winterheart, until he died mysteriously. He had married a cortisan, and so Kia is half nobl. Unfortunatly, her mother does not approve of her choice of lifestyle, and isn't very close.


Dawn - Elven Palidin 1  
Dawn was born in a secluded elven village ruled by the evil despot Mephistus. She was intrisicly good, and so rebelled against the system. She was exiled, branded a traitor (there is a scar on her shoulder from the brand), and sent away with nothing. From there, she wandered, and one day was summoned to Castle Winterheart by its master, Lord North.


Little John - "Whelp" (Tiny Halfling) Monk 1  
Usually reffered to simply as "the little one," John is a puritanical, adventurous little man. He left his home abruptly when he realized that his boring traditional community had nothing to offer him. He sought out a monestary and trained until he could learn no more. So again he set out into the world, until, while staying in Winterheart, he was summoned to the castle by Lord North.


Anna - Half Elf Ranger 1 
Anna was the illigitimate daughter of a country druidess and the cruel elven despot Mephistus. She grew up in the south-eastern frontier of Lord North's lands, and grew extremely profficient at hunting goblins. Against her mother's warnings to "preserve the balance," Anna assaulted the goblin village in an attempt to wipe out the problem in one fell swoop. She failed, and the goblins retaliated by burning her home and slaying her family. Afterwards, she hunted down every last one of them. She was given the title Kinslayer, a title she resents, and so she journeyed to Castle Winterheart to have the it denounced. When she arrived, she was given an audience with Lord North, who said that he would have it denounced, for a price...


Malec Endron - Human Sorcerer 1 
His father was a proud young farmer. One year, a caravan came to his town. There, he met a beautiful woman. They had a brief, heavy relationship, until the caravan left. Nine months later, the woman returned, and died in childbirth. After a few months raising the son he did not want, Malec's father was relieved of him by his lover's slightly crazy, slightly evil father. He became his grandfather's apprentice. He was a madman, a rogue wizard searching for something called "The Orb." But he still loved his son. He died in an orc ambush, saving his grandson from perfect death. Since then, Malec has been searching for the orb, until one day he was summoned to Castle Winterheart.

Cathlien - Half Elf Cleric 1
Cathlien lived with her mother, a prominent cleric of Elhonna, in a temple on the frontier. Her mother was one of the most successful Converters-of-the-Unsaved in church history, until she was killed in a recent bandit attack. Cathlien journeyed to Winterheart, the location of the Mother Church, to report her death, and the burning of the town and its temple.


Lynx - Wolf Man (human stats, but looks like an Anime Wolf Furry) Apprentice Wizard / Apprentice Fighter 
Lynx was once a great spellsword, wielding his negative energy scyth with extreme proficiency. He killed Lord North's Great-Great-Great-Grandfather, and was later imprissoned by the North family in a block of _ blackice _. During his frozen stay, he lost much of his power as he slowly forgot who and what he was. For reasons as yet unknown, the current Lord North had him thawed. He resides in Castle Winterheart, for now.


Shelly - Human Rogue 1
Shelly is a gifted thief, but was caught "relieving" a noble of his possesions while he slept. Lucky for her, Lord North needed her for other things besides rotting in a jail cell, and so she has been let free, for now...

(edited to fix spelling, vB code)


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## Grim (Oct 9, 2002)

* Chapter One: How to Not Start Well

Satuday, October 6 HR1202 *

There were six in the courtyard. From an arrow slit above, Lord North counted. Six. Short two. One was acounted for, probably struggling with her "escort," but the other...

Well, no matter. Things had to be done. Time waits for no man. Lord North decended down the stairs, through the main hall, and into the courtyard, his cape billowing in a cold blast of wind as the guards drew open the doors. Winter was coming, and as the temperture dropped, Lord North's power would grow. Oh, it would grow. He just needed a little help from prophesy. That was, after all, why he had had them assembled. Prophesy demanded it. One must always remember prophesy...

As he strode into the courtyard, the mingling group turned one by one to stare. Conversation, when present, ground silently to a halt.

Lord North was tall, regal, disturbingly good looking, and utterly strict. He dressed impecably that day in fine blue silks, concealing warm white woolens, and a dark green cape draped over his back and shoulders. His beard was black and silver, his hair the same color, but tinted slightly with the greyness of age and wisdom. Only when the group was totaly silent did he begin to speak, his deep, hearty voice rolling over them like a freezing blizard.

"I have called you here today because you are the best and brightest youth the barony has to offer, and because your kingdom needs your help. History needs your help. Destiny needs your help. And most importantly, _I_ need your help."

"The barony was once the largest and greatest of the Empire, but due to my family's ... ill fortune, it has fallen from it's former grace. We are surrounded on all sides by danger. The goblins and the orcs threatening the borderlands..." 

_ He looked at Anna, the half elf ranger, who nodded silently, and at the Malec the sorcerer, who looked away. _

"... the bandits in the west..."

_ Now he turned his gaze to the grimacing cleric of Elhonna. A single tear fell from her cheek. She wiped it on her robes._

"... the evil despot Mephistus to the south..."

_ Dawn looked intently at Lord North as she rubbed her upper arm._

".... the dragon to the north..." 

_ Kia perked her ears up, a tune already forming in her head. Now what rhymed with frozen?_

 "... and the threats from within the kingdom itself."

_ At this last remark, Lynx grinned, his eyes sparkling as he remembered the Lord North he knew, and how he writhed when the flames hit his chest..._

"All these things idivdually are dangerous, but combined - *YOU'RE LATE!*"

Two guards were "escorting" a young human woman into the courtyard. She was struggling just enough to annoy them, but not enough to make them resort to the flats of thier blades. Lord North scowled at her.

"What's bugging you, sourpuss? Panties in a twist?"

_ To be continued..._


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## Lynx (Oct 9, 2002)

Cool intro, what happens next? Must know!


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## Grim (Oct 10, 2002)

* Saturday, October 6, HR 1202
TWO SECONDS LATER*

Lord North rolled his eyes. "Miss Shelly, do be quiet. Please. You are late as it is. Do you want to see me _ angry?_"

"Why don't you just let me rot in jail again? Those stone benches are pretty comfy, eh? _ Your Looordship _," Shelly replied bitingly.

Lord North sighed and continued his speach. "As I was saying, all these things individually are dangerous, but combined, they pose a serious threat to the kingdom. Your job is to put these threats down. You didn't volunteer for this, and so compensation is in order. But only if you do well."

At the word compensation, Shelly's ears perked up. "Gold? Do you mean gold? Well why didn't you say so in the first place. Who wouldn't want free money?"

"It's not free. You _will_ have to work for it. There will be pain. There may be death. There will defintly be hardship. But your skills, no matter how... obtuse (Shelly grinned right here), are needed to save the kingdom."

"So now that we're getting paid, whats our first assignment, boss?" Shelly was excited. She always got excited around gold. Gold, gold, gold, gold she sang in her head.

"You are to - *WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?*"

The last man had arrived. If something that small could be called a man, or even a dwarf. This particular specimin of the halfling race made _rats_ look big. He wasn't just short, he was _tiny_! In a voice much to deep for his stature, the little man said sourly, "I walked." Anna snickered. Shelly laughed. Even Malec couldn't help but grin. The rest followed. Lord North just waited patiently until the laughter died down.

"AS I WAS SAYING, your mission is to find and put a stop to whoever, or whatever, has been taking caravans on the East Road. Entire carts, passengers and cargo, have outright dissapeared, never to been seen or heard from again. All the towns along the east border have been suffering economically from these disapearences. They are costing the kingdom much money, and must be stopped at once. You have one week to report back to me with your findings, and hopefully, news of the... problem's solution. You shall each be payed 300 gold pieces once the mission has been compleated. That is all."

With that, Lord North turned and walked back into the castle, leaving the party to make introductions, discuss plans, and get on thier way.

The preperations were easy, but the aquiring of horses was not. They were 50 gold apiece, bought, but only 1 gold down payment to rent. After much argument, the latter optioin was decided upon. The East Road was a two day journey east, along the Golden Road. It streached up and down the eastern boarders, hence its name.The section where most of the caravans had dissapeared was on the northern half of the road.

Most of the party was calmed by the steady beat of hooves, the green forest surrounding the sandy path, and the quiet chirpings and burblings of nature. Except for the saddle sores, it was a plesent journey. Every once in a while a traveler would pass in the other direction. Most were simply peasents, but a tax collector or two walked past, armed escort trudging before and after him. Upon rounding a bend, the party spied a lone traveler.

"Well met!" he cried when he noticed them. "I am Father Trojen!"

_To be continued..._


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## Grim (Oct 13, 2002)

_Some funky stuff happened, so this post is a little wierd.

UMM... this part of the session was boring, and didn't make sense, so I will... summerize:

Father Trojan sold Shelly a copy of his naughty book, the Book of Naughty Deeds, in exchange for information about whatever was attacking the caravans.

Father Trojan said it was goblins, they bought his book. Then he left, happily.
_

That evening, as everyone had settled down, Anna and Shelly kept watch. About an hour after midnight, Shelley heard voices from the bushes.

"Hey, Bob."
"Yah, Jay?"
"I think she sees us."
"Who?"
"The cute one."
"Oh. Yah, me too."
"Uh, Bob?"
"Yay Jay?"
"What should we do?"
"Attack! We're goblins! What else do we do?"
Jay though for a while, and as he did, Shelly slipped into the bushes next to her.
"OK, lets go. Hey, Bob, where did she go?"
"Who?"
"The hot one!"
"I don't know."
"Lets charge the other one."
"OK."

They charged out of the bushes, screaming like... well, goblins. Bob ran up to Anna and swung at her with his mace, missing horribly. Meanwhile, Jay found the "hottie," but only after she had shot him in the head.

"Uh, Bob..."
"I'm kind of busy right now, Jay."
"Bob. I found the cute one." At this, he died.

Bob looked over at his fallen companion. Hmm. Maybe there was more to life than attacking stupidly. Maybe. That was the last thought to go through Bob's head. But it wasn't the last thing. The last thing to go through Bob's head was Anna's sword.

The screams had woken up most of the party, but after the mess was cleaned up, they slept peacefully again.

The next morning, the party set out again. After an hour of travel, they saw on the horizon a cloud of smoke. Pushing thier horses, the party sped towards the ever expanding cloud.

_Summary again:

The party fought a bunch of goblins and dire rats that had just burned a caravan. The goblins included one Priincess Buttercup, a prissy, whiny, spoiled goblin princess, who due to... strange things, has the psudonatural template. She turned into her tenticle form by sucking in her skin, sort of a reverse matrix thing. It was pretty funky. Her "brother" was a goblin fighter with cool armor that could cast sonic burning hands once per day. Buttercup kept mentioning how this was her "tea party" and both siblings keep mentioning thier "father." 

The party, of course, slays everything, except for some goblin captives, who they slay after questioning. From the questioning, they learn that the goblins live in a cave to the east, that their "Father" is a human named Slade, and that he actually did father Buttercup and her brother. There is another night attack, and again the goblins mentioning how the party has "angered father."

In the morning, things get funky. In RL, we decided it would be better to split the party in two, with two DMs. In game, a man in white showed up, said "Come with me if you would like to knwo what is really going on." So half the party went with him and half stayed with me, along with a new addition, Taana, a half Orc barbarian. She was a lone traveler who was willing to kill things for gold, and since the party had just lost half of itself, it was agreed upon.
_

So now the party, almost all hired by Lord North, is down to:

Cathlienn, a half elf cleric of Elhonna duty bound to help the kingdom

Anna, a half elf ranger in search of vengance and fortune.

Kia, an elven bard who was bored with court life.

Lynx, a wolfman fighter-mage who was thawed out to assist Lord North

And Taana, a wandering half orc looking for gold.


_Next time: An actual installment._


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## Kia (Oct 13, 2002)

**bemused**

Orkessa? *snicker* She must be deliriously happy about THAT name. *plucks vaguely at harp* nice...so, continue already!! And I've changed my mind..the guy in white SHOULD be Papa Trojan. ^_^

~Kia


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## Grim (Oct 27, 2002)

Half the party suddenly gone, the others can do nothing but continue. Anna, the ever watchful ranger, immediately finds the path the goblins used to get to the road. It is worn well with use. These ambushes must have been frequent.

“Lets move out! The longer we wait the more we have to explain to Lord North!” she yells to the group, who are still chattering about half the members sudden disappearance.

The wolf-mage looks up. “Not yet, half-elf. I must… question the prisoners.” He smiles toothily as he speaks of the two goblins they from the ambush.

Anna draws her bow, and before Lynx can stop her, shoots the goblins dead. “No time. We already know what we seek, their ‘Father.’ Let’s move.”

Stunned by the rangers actions, the group hustles to break camp. They set off into the dark, forbidding woods. The path is clear to the eye, but the going is slow. Branches snag at clothing, rocks litter the trail, tripping more than one of the band. 

The cleric is especially troubled. Although the woodland is her home, her heavy armor poses problems to her mobility. And the bard, whose soft feet are used to the carpeted floors of the court, is having no less trouble. 

But Anna is a skillful guide. Silent when others rumble through the undergrowth, suddenly there to catch them when they fall. As the land grows steeper, the sun rises, peaks, and begins to fall. About dusk, the ranger brings the group to a halt. “We are entering the Border Hills. The goblins are close. Now is the time for stealth. The enemy,” she says, a ragged hatred filling her voice, “is close.” The wolf-man smiles. “I know. I can smell them.” 

Taana smiles too. “Me help kill goblins, then me get gold?” The bard turns to her. “Yes, scum. Kill and take, that is how your people do it, is it not?” Before Taana can even begin to get angry at the puny elf, Anna steps in her way. “There will be no bickering while the enemy is afoot. Let’s move, before I move you.” Taana grunts. “There be lots many elvenkin in dis party. No like. Me hurt if me no get paid.” The march continues.

At the top of the hill, fifty feet below the summit, the ground levels off and there hill yawns open into a cave. Beyond a few feet, the Anna, only half elven, and lacking their keen night vision, can see nothing. But the rest of the party, each gifted to some degree with night vision, can see that the cave streaches back a good thirty feet and then opens up into a large room.

They can also see the crouching form of a female goblin dressed in ratty robes of deep purple. She spots them as soon as they see her. Her hands move in a fluid, calming pattern. Lynx and Taana both feel magical hands lull them into sleep, but overcome the deep feelings of fatigue immediately. 

Taana roars. “Magic BAD! Now little goblin DIE!” As she runs towards the goblin cleric, she draws her greatsword. Flying into a rage, she springs at the cleric. Burning blood coursing through her thick veins into her bulging muscles, she swings her sword around the side, up overhead, and down into the goblin, slicing it in two. Blood flies everywhere as the cleric’s body slumps to the floor.

_To be continued..._


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## Kia (Oct 28, 2002)

*hey!!*

I LIKE Taana!!! She's simple ^_^ not like wolf-guy here...who's just scary..and toothy...*shivers* And I'm soo not that mean!


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## Grim (Oct 28, 2002)

The rest of the party runs over, amazed at the quickness of the goblin’s death.

Lynx frowns at the halforc’s handiwork. “Aww. I was going to ‘question’ it. Party Pooper.”

Taana is beaming with pride. “Me CRUSH! Now me get paid! Little goblin no match for great Taana! Grumash is pleased!”

Meanwhile, Anna pats down the body, or what is left of it. The robes are ruined, cut into shreds and stained with blood, bile, and general grime. But the cleric’s symbol of Malgudybut, the patron god of goblins, is both silver and in good condition. Anna pockets it.

Kia has been exploring the cavern, using her keen vision well. After the entrance tunnel, the cavern opens up into a circular room 40 feet across. The ceiling is conical, with a hole at the top to let smoke out and light in.

But no light shines now, The hour grows late, and as dusk approaches, the mountains have cast their shadows over the top.

Scattered about the room are the scattered belongings of the now dead goblin tribe. Most of it is junk, too broken or dirty to be of any use, not worthy of Heroes, Kia thinks.

 At the back of the room is a large oak door, sealing off a section of the cave.

“Hey guys, lets check out that door! There’s probably treasure behind it. Or monsters. Something heroic!”

Just then, a man appears out of nowhere. He is tall, thin, and pale. His black hair is slicked back, his robes shine with adornments and magic. When he opens his mouth, his teeth are pointed, tipped with blood. He addresses the party, his voice gravelly and thick with anger. 

“You slay my raiding party, you murder my children, and you kill my wife! And now you invade my home! Who do you think you are? No one crosses Slade De’Amon and lives!”

He pulls his hands back, brings them across his eyes, and pushes them out towards the party. A globe of magical darkness envelops them. Lynx remembers.

_ It was magic he used often, dropping it on his enemies to confuse them. But it could only extend so far. And the globe always had a center._

He yells through the darkness. “Run forward! This magic extends only so far!” 

Following his own advice, he blindly dashes through the darkness and out into the center of the cavern. But Slade isn’t there anymore. Seconds later, the rest of the party runs out of the globe of un-light, stopping right at its edge. They all peer around, looking for any sign of Slade.

Kia thinks of the stories she used to read. The horrible ones that gave her nightmares. Nocturnal, pale, evil, good looking, noble human. That could be only one thing! 

“Guys! I think he’s a vampire! He must have adopted the tribe to serve his bidding. I bet Princess Buttercup is the product of his “interactions” with the tribe. That’s why they kept on calling him father!”

 Lynx draws his scythe, a grin on his furry face. “The undead, eh? They once served me well. So why won’t this one come out and play?”

Slade’s voice booms from within the circle of magical darkness, but now it is higher pitched, like steam escaping from a boiling kettle, and just as quick.

“You shall die in my clutches, live ones. It will be a… pleasure to bend you to my will. All I have to do is bite. But first, you must SUFFER!”

Taala yells into the darkness. “Us no suffer! You suffer, pale stick man. I rip you limb from limb, silly sounding Slade.”

Anna hears the clicking of claws on stone, the sounds moving towards her. Something… not there bursts from the globe of darkness. Anna feels the sting of a pointed needle pierce her arm, as Slade suddenly becomes very visible. And very changed.

Anna gasps, “Demon!” as green, poisonous ichor slides into her veins and the much smaller, much pointer, much more… demonic Slade dives back into the dark, cackling.

“If I don’t kill you, elf, my poison will!”

Lynx has had enough of this damn demon vampire thing. He runs to the door and opens it. A dart flies at him from the trapped frame, pumping poison into his body. But whatever it does, Lynx shrugs it off.

“Everyone inside. He can’t hurt us if he can’t get to us, invisible or not. Taana, you guard the door.”

Everyone hustles inside, Anna last as she sluggishly moves forward, her limbs stiffening. Taana takes her position at the door, and the others look around the room.

_To be Continued..._


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## Lynx (Oct 28, 2002)

Very good, you have found some time in your busy schedule to attempt to write of our exploits...  See that you keep up.  I would not want anything to...happen to you.


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## Grim (Nov 3, 2002)

The room is large, maybe 15 by 10 feet. It is lit by two glowing orbs embedded in the walls, magical things that swirl with ribbons of color. There is a desk with an ornate box on it on the left as they enter. Behind it is a bed, clean and freshly made. In the far right corner there is a chest, locked and barred. Weapons of all kinds hang in racks on the right wall. 

Anna immediately notices the finely crafted bow, and Lynx is drawn to a set of five ornate daggers. 

Four of them have blades of filigreed bone, probably human, and have intricately carved black handles. The fifth is the exact opposite, a glossy black blade extending from a leather and bone handle carved to resemble a reptilian skull, the blade a sick sort of tongue. It sparkles with an inner flame.

The bard starts to open the ornate box, but Lynx quickly warns her to stop.

“These could be trapped. Let me _detect magic_ first.”

He covers his eyes with his hands, drawing them back and across. When he looks again, there are faint glows radiating from the box, the chest, the bow, and the black-bladed daggar.

Meanwhile, Taana is having problems at the door. She can not see her enemy, but knows he is there.

“Come out, little pale man. Little squishy man! Taana want to kill you!”

Slade’s voice reaches into her mind, and _suggests_ an idea to the easily coerced half orc.

_”Taana… Taana. It would be so good of you to eliminate your friends. Then we could fight. Just you and me. If I died, you would get all the gold yourself. Do it Taana. Do it… for me.”_

Taana thinks. More gold. Less elves. Fight stupid demon. GOOD PLAN!

She turns around and enters the room, closing the door behind her. No point in spreading the mess.

Lynx keeps looking at the auras. The box is surrounded with menacing red, and Lynx can just barely make out white auras glowing inside. The chest glows green, with smaller blue patches wafting from within it. The bow has a weak white aura, one that seems incomplete.

 And the dagger. The dagger burns strongly with magic. The blade is a hungry, consuming black. It writhes with energy. This is an aura that Lynx remembers well. 

He used it often in his old days. It was the energy that collected in shadow. It was the energy that came from dullness, the empty feelings of doom, and ultimately from death itself. It was an energy he used often to destroy from within those who radiated it most: his… victims. It was his favorite of the energy types: negative energy.

Lynx turns to speak with the rest of the party as to who this dagger should go to. As he does, he notices that Taana too is emanating magic. It is like a black snake coiled around her neck, choking her thoughts.

“Guys, I think we have a problem…”

Taana draws her greatsword, her eyes glaring, pupils full of violence.

_To be continued…_


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## Grim (Nov 8, 2002)

She steped towards Anna, and took a swing, but Anna deftly dodged out of the way. The cleric made a short prayer to the Woodmother, ending with an exhalation. From her breath sprung an ephemeral butterfly. Mist-like, it flapped its vaporous wings over to Taana, landing on her nose. Its smoky form was drawn into Taana’s nostrils, and her eyes glazed over.

“Wha? Little butterfly?”

It dissipated, leaving Taana quite _dazed._ She fell over onto the bed, which was much to small, and sagged at her weight. A voice came from the door. Slade’s.

“If you even survive my new servent, there will be hell to pay when you open this door! You have not seen all of my tricks yet!”

Lynx motioned for Anna to open the door. He snatched the lizard-skull dagger from the wall.

He smiled, his eyes narrowing in perverse delight.

"Hell to pay? OK!"

Anna kicked the door open just as Lynx threw the dagger. It sailed past her head, and impacted on thin air. Anna felt something liquid and sticky hit her face. Demonic blood.

Slade became visible again as he again pierces Anna with his prehensile tail barb. Grisly ichor again fouls her vains. In his true form, he is a tiny little thing, a barbed humaniod with leathery wings bigger than his body. The dagger had pierced his entire chest, and he is bled profusely. It crackled with black energy, which burned at the wound.

Slade, pulling the dagger from his chest, screamed at the party.

“Fools! This is not over yet. You have gained my wrath, and will soon loose your lives in return!”

He threw the dagger to the floor with enough force for it stick strait up, point embedded in the stone. Buffeting Anna with his wings, he flew into the air. She took the opportunity to swing at him, but missed.

Kia grabbed the bow from the wall, ran past Anna, and shot at the imp.

“I can’t just sing stuff! I have to be heroic sometime!”

The arrow flew true, hitting the imp at the base of one wing. Before she could shoot another, he limply flew up and out of the cavern. Kia ran outside, but after scanning the skies, couldn’t find him.

Taana awoke from her dazed state, confused, but no longer controlled.

Lynx pulled the dagger from the floor, licked it clean, and sheathed it in one of his own sheaths.
Anna surveyed the cavern in general. From what she could determine, they had killed off most of the tribe, assuming they all had bedrolls, except for whatever infants or children may have lived in a particularry dirty, messy corner littered with crude toys.

Lynx walked up behind her.

“So is that it?” she asked.

The bard came back inside. “Yes. We stopped the raids. We killed the bad guys. And now we get the treasure. Like heroes always do.”

Lynx sighed. “Its never that simple, young one. Slade will want revenge. We killed of his servants, and possibly his… food supply.” 

A toothy grin spread across his face. Kia cringed. She was never outright afraid of the wolf-man, but his bestiality still… disturbed her.

“He will be back. Evil is always back.”

Chuckling to himself, he walked away. He had much to relive. Ah, the memories…

The others sacked Slade’s room, being careful not to set off whatever magics were in place. Taana was put to work hauling the chest, and the others carried the weapons and boxes back down the hill, through the forest, and to the road, where there horses waited.

Lynx was already there, mounted and ready to return to Castle Winterheart.

“But its night! I’m sleepy!” protested Kia.

“The sooner we return, the less time Slade has to prepare a counter-attack.”

Agreeing with the logic, the rest mounted up. Kia rode double with the ranger, the treasure was tied down onto one of the horses, and Taana, much too heavy for the nags they had rented, walked.

The return trip took only a day and a half. Slade’s ambush never came, and the party returned to the castle, tired, hungry, and definitely ready for more.

And they would get it, too.

_To be continued…_


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## Kia (Nov 10, 2002)

*w00t..*

^_~ I CAN'T just sing stuff? Dang, better keep that in mind...*giddy smile* *goes back to sleep and dreams of singing rasins*

Tomorrow's RH day...weeeeeeeeeeeeeee ^___^


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