# From Slaves to Heroes in the Making (Heroes of Destiny)



## Taboo (Jul 19, 2002)

*This is written from Kierwin's (the Cleric) viewpoint.* 


It was a beautiful, warm day, and Minx and Kierwin had decided to spend it at the beach, it was a common enough place to find them this time of year, they weren't there all the time, but it was peaceful and sometimes it just seemed like the right place to be.

Kierwin had recently returned from a long stay at the Temple of Ehlonna, and the two had decided to come to the beach to catch up on everything they had missed while she'd been away. She was a little quieter than usual, as though she had something on her mind, but they enjoyed the day and frolicked on the beach and in the ocean in the warm weather and the pleasant surf.

One thing about Minx, she was strong-willed. She didn’t have a lot of friends, but neither did Kierwin. They were both too dedicated to their studies. To those friends Minx had, she would fight to the death to protect them, but she always felt that her values were the values that everyone should have, and she tended to jump to conclusions very quickly.  

Kierwin hoped that Minx would get along okay in a party if she joined one in the future when they went on quests or adventures.  She passed judgment on people very quickly, and didn't tend to change her mind once she'd made it up.

The day had been beautiful, the two elves loved nature anyway, but the sun, the warmth and the slight breeze made it all the better. They had both tied their long, dark hair back behind their ears to help keep it from blowing in the breeze and keep it out of their eyes. Kierwin was used to having her hair down, but when she was practicing her swordsmanship or if the weather called for it, she followed Minx’ example and pulled hers back.

Minx had worn her green dress, but Kierwin had worn her traveling clothes. She seldom dressed up, since she spent so much time out in the woodlands. She always tried to be prepared in case of danger, that was one lesson that her brother had taught her. She seldom dressed up, it made it much too hard to fight if she was dressed up. She was a fast learner. As a cleric, there were many times she might have to fight up close and personal, and a dress would just get in the way. She'd certainly gotten the scars from Gerald to prove it.

Minx was a wizard, young for an elf,  but older than Kierwin, she was the big sister that Kierwin didn't have. The only person Kierwin was closer to than Minx was her foster brother, Gerald. Minx was willful, beautiful, and learning her craft fast. Even though she was a wizard through and through, she had learned a few clerical spells from her best friend. She had, in turn taught Kierwin a few spells that she thought the Cleric could use. Kierwin was both in temperament and in her heart a true Cleric, but she had learned the spells the wizard had taught her quickly and well.  They hoped that the extras would help them out when they were older and out on their own on adventures to help others. Of course, they didn’t plan to adventure out for several more years, at least that was the plan.

They were both dedicated to their calling, but still young enough to have fun. They still played the occasional practical joke now and then, the adults tended to look the other way knowing that the two girls were approaching adulthood and would soon face dangers that would keep them from remembering what fun was. Of course, most of the elves in their village enjoyed pulling pranks now and then.

They saw a ship drop anchor off shore, about a hundred yards or so. The naive young elves didn’t think much of it, other than to listen quietly to the music being played and notice the dancing among the crew or passengers. They figured it was a merchant ship or something along that line and decided not to worry about it. If they’d known what awaited them, they would have run all they way home right then, leaving their things behind.


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## Taboo (Jul 19, 2002)

*From Slaves to Heroes in the Making*

For some reason, they thought about Snap. Actually, Snap was short for Snap-Crackle-Pop. They’d forgotten his real name by now. He’d been gone for so long that they hadn’t thought about him for a long time.  He was a sorcerer and his nickname came from all the spells that sizzled when he cast them.  By the time he'd left years ago, his skills were getting much better, but the nickname had stuck, and was still deserved at times.

The elves had taken Snap in when he was just a baby, and he'd been raised with Minx, in fact. He was also a half-orc, most "people" wouldn't have even taken him in, they would have preferred to let him die. His nature was kind and gentle, but of course, most people were terrified of him. Little did most people know that he was the one who was terrified of them!

Minx and Kierwin talked late into the night tending their fire and staring into the flames. They talked about Snap, wondering what he was doing, what had become of him. They listened to the music coming from the ship. As they listened, they could tell that there was obviously drinking going along with the dancing and music. They shook their heads at the foolishness of the humans on the ship from the sounds they could hear. They meditated about 4 hours before dawn. Kierwin planned to pray at dawn to Elhonna and Minx planned to study her spells.  Of course, what do they say about best laid plans?

Kierwin was absorbed in her prayers to Elhonna and didn't notice the longboat come ashore.  In the middle of her studying, Minx was interrupted by a sailor. Another sailor tapped Kierwin hard enough to get her attention.  As they stood, they noticed the two sailors asked if there was a water source nearby, saying that they had been on a long voyage and needed fresh water.

As they talked, Kierwin noticed a second longboat pull up next to the first and before they could do anything, they were surrounded. Sensing danger, she signaled to Minx and as they prepared to cast a sleep spell on the group, two very good looking male elves walked up in front of them.  

“I wouldn’t try anything if I were you, ladies.” One of them, said. “We’d like to invite you to breakfast on our ship.”

Minx answered firmly “Thank you, but we really must get back to our village, it’s just through the trees and they are expecting us. In fact, they’ll be looking for us any moment. We’re late getting back as it is.”

“I’m sorry, but we really must insist”, answered the other one, “and we would really hate to put scars on those beautiful faces.  Unfortunately, we will do anything we must to get you to have breakfast with us.”

Kierwin spoke up (at the same time trying to sense motive). “How about if we fix you breakfast right here, and we all have breakfast together? We are pretty good cooks. You look like reasonable men.  I’m sure we can work things out.”  All the while the two young women were trying to think of a way out of this. Unfortunately they were coming up blank. Running was pretty much out of the question and the two of them didn’t have a chance of fighting their way out.  

They weren't sure about their spellcasting abilities since they were interrupted so early in their prayers and studies anyway. Of course, they were willing to try if they had a chance of getting out of this alive. (Kierwin's Sense Motive didn't help her much other than to reinsure her that they did indeed want them on that ship, one way or another!)

“Nice try, but I’m sure by now that you know exactly what I mean. Our employer has given us strict orders and you figure into them quite nicely.  Now, shall we do this the easy way, or the hard way? You are, quite outnumbered.  We really don’t want to hurt you, but we will if you leave us no choice. One way or the other, you are coming with us.”


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## Taboo (Jul 19, 2002)

*From Slaves to Heroes in the Making (part 3)*

Kierwin thought briefly of her stepbrother, Gerald, only 28, but an adult for a human. She wished she had him and his sword to help her out of this one. He'd left to follow in his father's footsteps and protect the royal family in Gildor. Wishing certainly wasn’t going to help her now, she wondered why he came to mind, probably because he could almost always best her when it came to their duels, not that she’d ever let him know how impressed she was by his swordsmanship! Of course, he would probably be disappointed in her for giving in so easily, he would have fought to the death, but Kierwin believed in living to fight another day when it was appropriate.

Minx and Kierwin looked at each other and the look said it all. They had no choice to but to go with them. The men took their weapons, all their gear, and tied their hands. When the longboats reached the ship, they were thrown into the hold and chained to a couple of other “guests” who were unconscious at the time. As far as they could tell, their gear was left in the longboat, from what little they’d seen on the trip over to the ship, there was other gear stowed on the longboat as well. Before they reached their destination, wherever that was, a few more people were thrown into the hold and shackled to those already down there.

They tried to speak to those that they were chained too. Plans of escape were put on hold until they docked or until a more opportune time presented itself. No one seemed to know where they were, where they were going, or why. 

One person stayed in the shadows and would not speak. He seemed to be a big man, his features hidden behind a scarf pulled across his face.
A woman who seemed to be in a deep state of shock and would not speak, but ate and drank when told.

A man named Turk, who had been captured in the city Aguila when city guards had slipped something into his drink, took on the role of protector for her and even gave her a name, “Rowena.” 

Turk was young, and a fighter. He was built for fighting. However, he seemed to know next to nothing about magic. He relied on his fighting skills.  He was gallant to the ladies and it seemed he would lay down his life for his friends. Good looking, well built, chivalrous, obviously a ladies man, he sounded like he was used to having money. He was probably the son of a nobleman, but the air about him could have come from his looks and his way with the ladies rather than his upbringing. All in all, he was rather arrogant, but so charming that surely most women forgave him for his arrogant streak or didn't even notice it.

Of the others in the hold there isn't much to say as yet. 
The first to speak of was a dwarf named Thorin, far from home and with a story to go into after they escaped these slavers and got to a more appropriate place. 
A former slave whose back was covered in scars, named Geirmund “the Hare.” He was quick, most likely from ducking the whip and scurrying to retrieve what his masters wanted. He seemed like a quiet man, likeable, but not quick to speak up.
Osa, a merchant who had been on a quest of her own, and a few others, though they were quiet and kept pretty much to themselves. 

Thorin and Osa had been on their way to Oakhurst when they were captured. Osa was on her way there following up on rumors about a special apple that would hopefully cure a young lady in her homeland. The young lady had taken a bite of a white apple that had caused her to slip into a coma of some kind that nobody had been able to bring her out of. 

Rumor had it that once a year, at the summer solstice; goblins brought a single apple to sell at Oakhurst that would heal any ailment. Osa hoped to be able to obtain it (one way or the other, perhaps). The details on how the sale was conducted were not clear and she had hoped to enlist help if needed to try to be the one to buy the apple. Thorin had just happened to catch that coach. Not long after Osa had introduced herself, they had been pulled over by bandits and ended up in the hold of this ship, so nothing else about it was found out.

Whether the slavers (pirates?) had been after the woman or the dwarf they didn't know, but they captured both and dumped them in the hold with the rest. Chained securely to the others.

Fortunately, the healers had time to heal everyone who needed it, and be on guard waiting for their moment of opportunity to arrive.


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## Taboo (Jul 19, 2002)

*From Slaves to Heroes in the Making (part 4)*

They were not sure how long they were at sea. For the elves it had been at least a week, maybe longer, for the others a few days. 

Turk wondered about his horse. He had left her at a stable in Aguila before being kidnapped. He had tipped the lad at the stable quite well. He hoped the lad was as honest as he seemed and would take good care of her. 

Justice (his horse) was his prized possession, his best friend quite honestly, and he hated the thought of losing her.  Enough of that line of thinking for now, getting out of this mess was what was important, there was time to take care of Aguila once they were all free. 

Their plan was simple, watch for an opportunity to escape and act on it.  Minx and Kierwin continued their regular routine, 4 hours of reverie (meditation) followed by praying to Elhonna for Kierwin and studying for Minx.

After all this time, they still hadn’t learned anything about the stranger who kept to himself.  He kept to the shadows, spoke little and they still didn’t even know his name. Any attempt to speak to him ended in him trying to withdraw into the wood of the ship itself it was even possible, as though he was ashamed of his appearance or afraid of what they would do to him if they saw him or spoke to him. 

Kierwin couldn’t help but feel compassion for this stranger whose life must have been so terrifying to make him afraid of contact with others.  She was determined that, given time and a chance,  she would help him out of the terrible place that his mind and soul were in.

Those thoughts would have to wait as other things became more pressing. Right now, escape was the most important thing for all of them. They would all have to work together if they wanted to get out of this mess alive. The question was, why were they here and where were they? 

The prisoners (slaves?) were for the most part young, most of them able to fight or of some magical ability, but the trick would be for them to try to work together. They barely knew each other's names, let alone be able to fight at one another's sides. They knew that Rowena couldn't fight, so if an opportunity did present itself, they would protect her if they could. Osa was a little older and had a little advice for them on how to fight as a team.

Finally, they felt the ship slow, and heard the sailors preparing to dock with another ship. That didn't sound good! They were hoping for shore. Time to get their plan ready and prepare for action, not to mention their freedom as well as their very lives.


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## Taboo (Jul 24, 2002)

*Chapter 2 The slavers arrive*

They were chained to each other hand and foot and a collar around their necks. They were drug up the uneven wooden stairs rather roughly, onto the deck of the ship. They had to squint at the sudden light after being in the dark for so long.  The slavers yelled at them, yanked the chains knocking a couple of the men and women down, and then one of the two elves who had helped capture Minx and Kierwin noticed what was going on.

“Stop it! We don’t want anyone hurt right now if we can help it. Not YET anyway. Wait until we get our money from the deal,  be more careful!  If anybody here causes us to lose money because of something stupid like that, it’ll come out of your hide!”

Kierwin and Turk looked at each other, they’d noticed the emphasis on the word “YET.” So they were to be sold. What for? Who to?  

They glanced around the ship as well as they could.  It was nothing too special. The main sail was decorated with a huge tiger. It didn’t mean anything to anyone as near as Kierwin could tell. 

The prisoners were trying to communicate quietly with each other. There were no flags flown other than the tiger on the main sail and no way to tell where the ship was from. They had no way to tell where they were.  Kierwin felt like she was far from her home on the Misty Isle, but she had no idea how far or in what direction. Minx was the first to notice another ship coming closer to them. It was much larger than the one they were on. 

As the larger ship came closer, they could start making out details. They couldn’t see much, they were kept close together and guarded which made it hard to see very far.  Mounted prominently on the bow was the figure of a beautifully carved, naked, woman. Her hair and lower body seemed to flow directly into the wood of the ship. It looked like the woman actually was part of the ship, and that she kept a lookout wherever the ship would go.

The minute that Minx saw the naked woman, she had a fit. “They ARE going to sell us as slaves!  Probably to a harem somewhere. How disgusting! I WILL make them pay. They will all pay. Only the worst of slavers would flaunt their trade so disgustingly!”

Kierwin tried to calm her down. “Minx, we don’t know what they want with us, they’ve got all ages here, both sexes, and different races. The figurehead could mean anything. Slavery is wrong no matter what it’s for, and we WILL get out of this and we will take care of the slavers if we can so they can’t do this to anyone else ever again. Our first priority is to get everyone free and out of this alive.  Don’t jump to conclusions, and don’t panic.”

Minx answered her, “I’m not panicking. I just can’t believe that I’m being forced into such a disgusting, horrible, and morally corrupt situation. These people will pay with their lives as well as everyone that I can find connected with this!”

“Now everyone, we’ve got to work together, watch for your chance. Somehow we have to find a chance and take it. We need to signal each other about what to do, so we need to really pay attention. This isn’t going to be easy.  I pray to Elhonna for the strength and wisdom to do the right thing.” Kierwin prayed for all their sakes.

The ship finally got close enough to tie the two ships together. Now, they could see just how much bigger the newer ship was than the one they’d been imprisoned on. It was at least 3 times the size of their current ship. As a group of men boarded the smaller ship, The Minx and Kierwin stared in shock.  They’d never seen elves that looked like these. They were definitely elves, but not like any elves they’d ever seen. Tall, muscular, pale skin, and pale hair. They had blue eyes, vibrant blue eyes, unlike any eyes that either of the two of them had ever seen before.  It was like they were from a race of elves that they had never even heard of.

Their captors went over to talk to the strange newcomers. With a formal bow the Captain siad “Lord Lorkander, here is a selection matching what you ordered.  They are unharmed, and I believe they fit your criteria.  There are a few extras just in case you want them. If not, then we can trade them at the next drop, but we’ll give you a good price for them if you take the whole lot.”

“We have our ways of finding out if they are the ones we need. If they are, you will get a fair price. If not, we do not care what you do with them. We will examine them and discuss this further.”

When the Elves came over toward the captives, Kierwin noticed a strange creature held captive on a golden leash. The creature almost looked like it could have been an elf at one time, but now was shrunken and twisted. Kierwin felt pity for it, and wondered what could have caused it to become so deformed.  She didn’t detect any malice from it, but that didn’t mean it was willing to help. 

One elf, who seemed to be in charge, spoke to it in a language she didn’t quite understand and it went to the end of the line.
 It started “sniffing” them.  It spent more time on Turk, Minx, Kierwin, and the large, quiet stranger than the rest.  Then it went back to Minx and Kierwin and looked closer at them, looked into their eyes, smelled of them again and whispered to Kierwin "Be ready.”

“Well?”  His handler sounded impatient waiting for his results. He hurried over to him with a twisted half run.

“Oh yes, they are the ones, perfect, all of them! Oh yes, THEM!  YES! They ARE the ONES”  The handler “shushed” him “not so loud! I don’t want to make them think they can make us pay more!”

“I’ll give you 200 for the lot” He said to the captain of the ship they’d been prisoners on for so long.

Minx was offended  “200 gold!  I’m worth at least that myself! I’m a very accomplished wizard, not to mention beautiful, I’ll have you know! My people will pay more than that to have me back! You’d be better off asking for ransom!”

The pirates ears perked up.   
The strange elf in charge didn’t want to argue, “ok, 200 for the wizard and then 200 for the oth…”

“Wait a minute!” Kierwin quickly interrupted - deciding to see if she could put any more tension into this. “If little Minx here is worth 200 gold, then a Cleric of Elhonna with My family' blood line has got to be worth at least that much. I’d say at least 500 gold or more.”

The pirates decided they wanted to renegotiate the deal.  
The stranger who was intent on buying them did NOT look happy. “Come over here and we’ll settle this. NOW!”

To the little creature, he said “Go over there and watch them. Keep them quiet. You know what I’ll do to you if you misbehave.”

They looked at each other, what choice did they have? Everyone was busy bartering, actually arguing was more like it! Turk asked what they needed to do.

Meanwhile, Thorin and Minx were keeping a lookout and saw another large ship coming their direction, and were telling them to hurry!

The pirates lookout finally noticed the ship also, a wave of panic spread accross the deck.

The captain yelled at Lorkander "It's Your fault they are here! They must have followed you...fools! I don't want to die..."
Lorkander slaps the captain accross the face, knocking him to the deck, "Silence fool or you will die here." 

He barked an order to his ship in a strange language and several armed troops came accross the plank.  He looked at the captain and said "I'll be taking my goods now," and with that a fight broke out.

The creature hurried toward the prisoners. He went to Turk and Kierwin. He motioned them down toward him. “Quickly, this is our chance. You help me escape, I help you. OK? Hurry, hurry!”

He told them to quickly get in the long boat and he needed a little blood. That sounded distasteful to them, but there was no going back now. They scrambled into the longboat and lowered it down into the water. They started using the oars to get as far away from the ships as quickly as possible. 

The sailors noticed the escape attempt and were quickly trying to get a longboat into the sea to come after them.

Turk cut his hand and the twisted little creature licked the blood clean, he seemed to really enjoy it. 
"Oh your blood is very strong!"
Turk and the others were more than a little sickened watching that, not too mention worried. 
Suddenly it was like a black tear opened in front of them and the row boat lurched forward, as they drew closer Kierwin blacked out.


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## Taboo (Jul 24, 2002)

When Kierwin awaoke they were washed up on a beach still in the longboat .  

They couldn’t see the sun, everything was grey. The next thing they noticed was that the little creature that had helped them escape was gone. No time to dwell on that, they needed to get out of the chains and far away from here. 

Wherever here was.

They were in luck, this was the longboat that the pirates had left their gear in. Their  luck continued, since Geirmund could pick the locks on the chains.

They got their armor on, donned their weapons, and talked about heading into the jungle. 

While they were, they heard shouts.  Looking out into the mist they could see the pirate ship had crashed into the rocks surrounding the island.  The pirates had dropped their remaining row boat into the water and headed for shore.  It was filled to capacity with pirates.

The group needed to get to a defensive position. Better yet, lose the slavers altogether. So, they moved out into the jungle at their best pace.

They set set off into the jungle, everybody on alert. No telling what was in these trees. Nothing looked familiar to any of them. They couldn’t even tell which direction they were going since they couldn’t see the sun. 

They continued on, hacking through the denser parts of jungle until, with a clang of Thorin's axe hitting stone, they were stopped.  It was densely covered with jungle vines.  The party split up to explore each way and see how far the wall went.  They agreed on 100 yards each way and then would meet back at the starting point.

The wall continued on each way with no end in sight.  The dense jungle made for slow going. They met back at the starting point with nowhere to go but back or up.  Being the quietest and the fastest the “Hare” (Geirmund) went back to see if they’d been followed.  

They were a long ways back, but the slavers were definitely trying to follow. Fortunately, the slavers hadn’t been able to pick up on their trail, so they were having some slow going.

'Hare' reported back and the decision was made to try to climb the wall. The roots and vines were pretty thick and looked like they’d hold. The wall seemed to be about 10 feet high.  Turk went first, then helped the ladies. The rest of the men followed. They walked a bit, hit another wall. They back tracked a bit toward the edge of the wall they’d climbed.

As they got over to the edge to get a better look to see out over the landscape, hoping to get their bearings, there was a rumbling sound followed by the earth dropping out from under all of them.  Once the dust had settled and everyone had either gotten up and dusted off or been healed from the fall, they took a count to see if everyone was there. 

Turk, Kierwin, Minx, Thorin, Geirmund (now officially known by his nickname the “Hare”), Osa, Rowena, and the quiet stranger. 
While Throin and Turk headed towards the far end of the chamber,  Kierwin, determined to at least find out his name, went over to him. 

He was lurking back in the shadows away from the rest of the group. She very gently laid a hand on his shoulder, and in a quiet voice she said, “You have nothing to fear from us, let us help you. My name is Kierwin Ravenstar, my friend here is Minx, I’m a Cleric of Elhonna and Minx is a Wizard. We mean you no harm. Can you tell me your name?”

 He reached up and pulled down his scarf and turned to Kierwin. “Kierwin? Is it really you?”

“Snap?!” Kierwin blinked in shock, she could hardly believe her eyes.

Kierwin and Minx nearly yelled at the same time quickly hugging the half-orc. “What’s happened? Why have you been hiding?” Kierwin calmed down quickly and lowered her voice. “I’m sorry, my friend, I don’t want to overwhelm you. We’ve been so worried. If we’d only known it was you.  Can we help? Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m Fine!" Snap hissed caustically "I can’t talk about it, not now.” 

Snap was nothing like the Snap they had grown up with! The other ladies were silent durring the exchange staying out of it, but listening with great interest. They couldn’t hear everything, but could catch a few words here and there.

The only other thing Kierwin did find out was that Snap had been captured in Aguila the same time (or around the same time) as Turk.  He had been jumped in an alley and beaten senseless.  The next thing he knew, he had regained consciousness in the hold of the slaver's ship, chained like the rest of them.

During this, Snap had still stayed in the shadows, only Kierwin and Minx had really seen him and he seemed intent on keeping it this way for now. They honored his wishes. Kierwin said to him “Ok, but as soon as you feel like talking, please do. I don’t like seeing you hurt like this. Something terrible must have happened to you while you’ve been away from the village.  You know that Minx and I love you like a brother. We’ll protect you and care for you. I believe that the others here are trustworthy, but I can understand that you feel the need to give it time to believe that.  We will not tell anyone anything about you that you do not want us to share.”

Kierwin told Turk that she needed to talk to Minx for a few minutes undisturbed. He agreed that he would keep the others busy, away from them and from Snap.

Kierwin and Minx agreed that something very traumatic other than the kidnapping by the slavers had happened to Snap. He was obviously ashamed of the way he looked and was afraid of the others finding out he was a half-orc, or at least that’s what they thought.  Living with the elves, he’s always been accepted for what he was, but before they had gotten him, he’d been neglected, beaten, nearly killed. He was so young when they’d taken him in that they didn’t think he could remember that. Something terrible must have happened over the past few years that he had been on his own. 

They would take special care of him and watch him closely.  As withdrawn as he was, he could be a danger to himself as well as the rest of the party. They loved him too much to let him self-destruct, so they would try to gently coax him back into his life. Minx had always been closer to Snap than Kierwin was, and would watch over him and try to help keep him out of trouble. The would both try to keep him safe, but maybe Minx could find out more about what had happened to him.

Turk decided to take command of the situation. “If no one here has a problem with it, I think we need a leader. I have some experience here and would like to offer my help. Of course, everyone here has their specialty, so we all need to pitch in.  I just think I can help keep things moving along smoothly. Does that meet with everyone’s approval?”

Everyone agreed, for now, at least. They decided they should find out each other’s strengths and weaknesses and start exploring this hole they fell in. 

Upon closer inspection, once some light was provided, thanks to lanterns and Turks ever burning torch, it turns out this was quite a room. The room was covered in elaborate frescos, showing rituals, wars, deities, and various types of religious and unrecognizable symbols.


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## Taboo (Aug 2, 2002)

The room was fairly large with a dome in the center. Kierwin, Turk and Thorin tried everything they could think of to look through the dome or find some trigger or mechanism to open it, but finally gave up and decided to examine the walls instead. The dome was just not going to cooperate! It was angled wrong to see through and refused to budge.

The elaborate frescos on the walls were amazing. It was obvious that whoever had built this place had labored hard (most likely slaves had labored hard) and the paintings and mosaics were extremely lifelike. 

As Thorin looked at one of the depictions of a Shepard tending a flock of sheep, he noticed that the Shepard’s staff stood out slightly from the rest of the picture.  He felt around, heard a click and it popped off into his hand.

At the same time, Kierwin was checking out a fresco of a religious scene. She noticed something strange, but wasn’t too sure she wanted to go poking around with it. She finally did, and it turned out that it was a small pyramid with some kind of runes on it. They were familiar enough to seem religious, but of no religion that she knew. Nobody else in the party recognized them either. 

They searched further, finding other scenes depicting other clues to life in this area.  One showed two tribes fighting, one tribe obviously winning and completely annihilating the other.

Another showed the natives fighting a bear. The bear’s claws were made from some type of metal. Snap was going to pry the metal out, but decided it was just too thin to mess with. By the time he got it loose, it would have just been destroyed.

Another showed the people gathering corn, and tending fields. The room looked like a history of the people, their lives, their wars, their religions.  A couple of the other mosaics held some semi-precious items, such as gems, and they took those.

There was one last fresco that held a divine scroll, Snap had helped to find it, but couldn't read it.  Kierwin didn't recognize the deity, but after some heavy duty studying and  praying (not to mention frustration), she finally recognized the spells as Bless, Cure Light Wounds, and Spiritual Weapon. 

That pretty much took care of the whole room.

Now, the question was, how do they get out of here?  After a thorough search, they found what they thought was a door. Girmund could pick locks, but couldn’t find a way to pick this one. Thorin took a look at it, then, thinking about the little staff he’d found, he tried it in the keyhole. “Click” and the door swung open! Now THAT was very satisfying for that dwarf!

Turk said “Very good! Now we need a marching order and some light!” We should also have the elves on opposite sides of each other, checking for secret doors and things like that. I have a torch, does anyone else have light and any other ideas?”

So, Turk got his torch out, Rowena got behind him, Thorin beside him, and Kierwin behind Thorin. Those four started taking the lead with the rest falling in behind. Minx always followed Rowena so that Rowena was defended and so that Minx and Kierwin were always on opposite sides of the party.  And so, they started their decent into darkness.


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## Taboo (Aug 2, 2002)

*Crab Battle*

They walked down a ten foot wide corridor, they figured they must have walked at least 100 feet or more, then it finally took a left and only a left. So, Thorin went ahead a ways and peeked around the corner first, since being a dwarf, he was the only one who could see without taking the torch down there and warning anyone who happened to be lurking down there that they were coming.  He didn’t see anything except a room with a boulder in the middle and stairs leading out of each side. He motioned for the rest of the party to come on down the rest of the way.

Instead of waiting, Thorin went on in, his typical style as the rest of the party was to find out, aside from a couple of inches of filty, stinking muck in the room, and the boulder in the middle, all he saw were a couple of small crustaceans.  They were just a few inches long, and thinking nothing of it, he squashed them. Not the best idea…..

The boulder suddenly unfolded!  What he THOUGHT was a boulder was a rather large crab like creature.  Thorin was lucky that it didn’t get hold of him and crush him, but it did slice him up a little before he could get out of the way. He managed to yell for help and the others came running.

The crab hit him again while he was trying to get himself together for an attack of his own. He deflected most of the blow with a clang when the claw hit his armor, but  he still got hit. He hit it with his axe and the crab didn’t like that very much! He heard a satifying crack and green ichor started to seep out of the wound.

Turk had arrived and tried to get around to flank it, but try as he might, he couldn’t get far enough, so he settled for an attack, but just barely got through that hard shell with his sword.  

Kierwin came in and seeing that Thorin was ok, she went for the attack, she hit, but her sword just bounced off,  rattling her from her sword to her shoulders, that shell was just too hard (she decided she either needed to work out more or get a bigger sword)! At least the noise made it sound like she hit it hard.

Meanwhile, that crab was getting madder!  It went for Thorin again, and hit him, but he still didn’t go down. Red blood was starting to drip to floor and mix with the gray muck. Since it had another attacker on the other side, it decided he deserved some punishment too, but it failed to get through Turk’s armor.  Right now Turk was really glad he spent extra money for this armor!

This time, Thorin got in a perfect hit and the thing went down for good! green ichor sprayed all over the room from the force of his blow.  Kierwin decided she was going to wash her hair at the first available moment. 

 “It’s too early for dinner, but what do you guys say about a big crab dinner tonight?” Thorin asked as Kierwin healed his wounds.  “Anybody have any butter?” Asked Geirmund.

They checked the rest of the room and other than muck all over the floor, (and the squashed crustaceans Thorin had stepped on in the first place) there wasn’t anything else in there.

They decided to head for the stairs on the left, which they were pretty sure was north.


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## Taboo (Aug 4, 2002)

They descended the stairs, using Turk’s continual flame torch for light. He tucked it into his belt so that they had their hands relatively free for weapons and shields for those that had them. 

The steps were slick, there was some kind of nasty slime and mold all over the walls, ceiling and floor. In some places there was muddy water standing all over the place.  This made it slow going while they worked their way down in what they could only guess was the pyramid they were starting to climb before they’d fallen into the room outside.

Rowena still wasn’t talking, but she followed Turk closely or did what she was told. Minx, Osa and Kierwin also helped take care of her, but Turk had made her his responsibility, she had really bonded to him and seemed to feel more secure with him.

Everyone was careful not to touch anything slimy or moldy, they had no way of knowing what kind of properties it held. They still didn’t know where they were, whether they were even still in there own world for that matter. They finally came to a new corridor, and the floor leveled out. It was drier in here. At one end of the corridor, was a statue, and at the other end of the coridor was a door.

They decided to investigate.  Turk, Thorin, and Girmund went down to the statue to check it out. Thorin searched thoroughly (as high as he could). The statue was about twelve feet tall, had large obsidian orbs for eyes, and seemed to be someone who may have been a ruler or something along that line. Other than that, there was nothing too remarkable about the statue, other than the fact that he was holding some sort of tray.

Kierwin and Minx were investigating the door and had heard somekind of noise from behind it. They decided not to open it. Plus, it was locked.  It also seemed awefully slimy on this end of the hallway. They made their way back to the rest of the party.

Turk decided to see if he could reach up high enough to grab the tray and pull himself up to see what was on it. Everyone left Turk and Thorin alone with the statue to try this little maneuver.

Turk got ahold of the tray, and just as he pulled himself up to see what was on the tray, the statue toppled forward, narrowly avoiding crushing Turk. Thorin on the other hand, did get a glancing blow when one of the arms broke off and flew right into him! 

Kierwin checked to make sure nobody was seriously hurt, Thorin was ok, just  a light wound, easily healed. There had been nothing on the the tray, but the statued revealed a secret tunnel!

“Ok, folks, we have a decision here, looks like we either go back up the stairs the way we came, try the door that doesn't sound very inviting over there, or we try the tunnel. Which way do we go?” Asked Turk.

The decision was to try the tunnel.  It was a tight squeeze for a few of them, but they finally made it all the way through. After they got to the end, they realized that they’d forgotten to get the obsidian eyes from the statue. Minx and Snap volunteered to go back. The rest of the party waited for them.

When Minx and Snap got back to the smashed statue, they found glowing slime on the walls, but no source of the slime. It looked like the sort of trail a slug would leave, but if it was a slug, it was huge, and a kind they'd never heard of!  They hurriedly looked for the orbs, and raced back for the others, telling them about the slime they’d seen. The noise from breaking the statue must have attracted something.

“I think we’d better stay away from there for now, and we’d definitely better be watching out for anything that could leave a trail like that!” Turk said to the party in general.

Everyone agreed with that, wholeheartedly.

This hallway opened both left and right, so they chose to go to the left.  They continued down the slimy corridor, still being very careful not to touch the walls, and watching as much behind them, as they were ahead of them.

They came at last to a door. Turk tried it and it was locked. Thorin had an idea, and tried the “staff” he’d found. He heard a satisfying “click.”  They opened the door.  Along one wall was that glowing slime trail that Snap and Minx had seen before, but still no clue to the culprit.  On the far left side of the room, there was standing water, but they couldn’t tell how deep. The right side of the room held the slime. Of course, the doorway in the room to get out of the opposite side of the room was on the left side where the water stood and was all the way across the room.

The decided to stay away from the slime, but out of the water for as long as possible. They made it to the end of the room without incident. Turk turned to walk toward the direction of the door. He'd gone several steps in water up to his thighs, then stepped off of an unseen ledge and disappeared under the water!

Thorin was still on the ledge, when suddenly Turk's sword broke the surface of the water! Unable to swim, and having sunk straight to the bottom thanks to the weight of his armor, Turk drew his two handed sword and thrust it upwards in hopes that one of his companions would use it to pull him up.  Thorin, being the strongest and closest, did just that.

Turk came up out of the murky water sputtering and coughing. 

Minx and Kierwin helped rinse his eyes with fresh water while he rinsed out his mouth and tried to get the rest of the muck out of his lungs and stomach.  They all decided to head back out the way they came and go the other way. Quickly!

They followed the hallway back the way they had come. This time, at the end of the hallway, it made a right.  The most unexpected sight awaited them…

A beach, a pond, and a naked, beautiful mystery woman?


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## saFire (Aug 4, 2002)

cool start. I like the setting... and the way the party got together was very creative!! keep up the good work!!


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## Taboo (Aug 4, 2002)

Thanks, saFire, our DM is amazingly creative and had (and I'm sure still has!) some real surprises in store for us.  I've still got several game sessions to catch up on. I hope I do it justice!  

Feel free to give me creative criticism, I can use it!


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## Spider_Jerusalem (Aug 6, 2002)

Interesting story so far, and as saFire said, a unique start to the characters. Where is it set?



> Feel free to give me creative criticism, I can use it!



Okay then: I think you might want to give the characters a little more time to flesh themselves out in-story. For example, some of the mundane talking between characters may seem boring, but it builds character if approached in the right way. From what I've read, the character that stands out from the rest is Snap (nice visual things going on there).

Also (and this is personal preference), I didn't really get the full image of the crab combat - it seemed at times like it was just a "He swings, he hits, he does damage". Whereas you might want to spice up the combat description somewhat. Sound is a good place to start, and really adds another dimension to any combat you read. But then again, that is just my opinion. 

I'm looking forward to the next post. You said something about the other players being online... if so, then get them to add in comments!

Spider.


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## Taboo (Aug 6, 2002)

Thanks, Spider, I'm working on getting some details from the DM (who happens to be my brother).  We had the original battle awhile back and the details are a bit fuzzy. We're a couple of months past there now. I'm trying to flesh out the details right now. The location is about to be revealed, Kierwin suspects it, and it's probably time to reveal what she suspects so the readers at least know that much.

Snap is a very interesting character. Watch to see a lot develop with him. 

Lots of character interaction developes with everyone about three chapters from now, I've actually built more into the story than we had at this point.  The DM (paulewaug, his story on the boards is Heroes of Haven and is very good, it's on our alternate game hosted by another DM) is going to post some background on Thorin and a couple other heroes, which will flesh out the story on some things I don't know much about. That will really get you interested and fill in a lot more about location and character background.

Right now paulewaug and I are the only ones posting to the boards, but I'm working on the others. They're reading, but don't have time to post. I'm getting some good feedback from them, though.

I guarantee the next two to three postings will pretty much answer most of your questions! I will go back and flesh out the crab battle, thanks for the ideas. You're right, because it was tougher than it sounds.

I'm a faithful reader of your story hour by the way (and the ENWWC! You're a master a making an image in the reader's mind.

Thanks, I really appreciate the ideas, this is all pretty new to me!


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## Taboo (Aug 6, 2002)

*Interlude*

Just a little background information until I get the next part of the story ready....

So far from home and with so much happening so fast, Kierwin couldn't help but thing about her childhood and wonder what was happening back home on the Misty Isle. In fact, she wondered just how far home really was, and if it was even in the same world anymore.....

Raised in a home alongside a human foster brother on the Misty Isle, Kierwin learned early how fragile human life was. Like most elves, she had been taught that even humans raised by elves fell short of elven standards, but all life was sacred and she loved her foster brother, Gerald, as though he was of her own blood. Kierwin’s father, Kellisand was a ranger and had been on many adventures and quests. In fact, that was how he had met Gerald’s father, Karl.

Karl and Kellisand had met during dangerous times. Kellisand had guided and fought beside Karl, a Cleric of Pelor and his companions against an evil wizard who had been raising an army with visions of conquering the nearby continent. The group had killed the wizard and dispersed the army. Afterward, the Royal House had called on the group a several times when rumors of danger had been whispered. The last time Kellisand had seen Karl, they had been needed to save the Princess who had been kidnapped by an evil Necromancer. They rescued the Princess, but Karl had died as he used the last of his healing abilities to save her life rather than his own during the final battle.

Gerald’s mother had died in childbirth while Karl was away, and because of the bond of friendship that had formed between them, Kellisand took Gerald to raise alongside his daughter, Kierwin. He would have the best training in swordsmanship, religion, and any other skills that the elves could teach him.

Kierwin was fascinated by Karl’s faith. Although she did not follow his deity, Pelor, she did become a cleric, it had been a difficult choice to follow Pelor like Karl or to follow in her fathers footsteps, but her love of the woodlands won out and she had a strong devotion to Ehlonna deep in her soul. Like her father, she loved nature and she longed for adventure. She learned to use the longsword and longbow along with other weapons, particularly the Morningstar and dedicated her life to Ehlonna, Goddess of the Woodlands.  Even so, she never forgot the impact that Pelor had in her life.

Gerald had lived with the elves and learned from them until he was in his 20's, when he left them to serve the royal family, although he always stayed in touch and came to visit from time to time. There was even a time when he'd saved Kierwin's life, although no one out side of Kierwin's family knew that.

By the time Kierwin was 115 years old, she was planning to leave the Misty Isle. She spent much of her time in service to Ehlonna. She also spent time with her best friend Minx, a wizard (who had been teaching Kierwin some spells on the side), and Snap (an orphaned half-orc the elves had taken in). Not even Minx knew of her plans to leave their home.

She was working on her healing skills, but had spent a lot of time learning about the undead and how to turn them, particularly since her foster brother’s father was killed by someone who devoted his life to bringing the dead back to life to use for evil purposes. 

Skilled in both the use of the Longsword, Morningstar, and the bow, since both her mother and father taught her in their use. She looked her foster brothers visits, since she welcomed the chance to spend time trying to match her skills against his.

As an adult, she spent most of her time in the service of her goddess either in the temple or aiding people in need of her help. Of course, she always managed to find time to spend with Minx, and whenever Snap was around the village, she and Minx always found time to spend with him. 

Minx had always been closer to Snap than Kierwin was. Kierwin and Minx were best friends, but Minx and Snap had studied together and worked together. There was a lot about Snap that was still a mystery to Kierwin.

When Kierwin and Minx couldn't be found, the elves usually knew to look for them at the beach, since Kierwin and Minx usually went there during the best weather to find solitude and to practice and and study. It also gave them time to reflect on the past, not to mention just to have fun! But most times, Kierwin could only be found alone out in the woodlands, preferring solitude with Ehlonna.

When Snap was around, there were other places they found to to practice and have fun, the beach was Minx and Kierwin's private place, they didn't share it, even with him. They had some favorite places not far from the village out in the woodlands and their families usually knew where to find them, but it had been quite some time since the elves of the village have seen or heard from the elusive half-orc sorcerer.  He'd gotten more and more secluded from them and one day just disappeared from the village completely.

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

Next....back to trouble, the beach and the mysterious woman!


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## Taboo (Aug 8, 2002)

*Interlude - Character descriptions*

I know most of you are just dying to find out what happens with the beach and the woman who can't wait to cause problems for our favorite castaways, but while I'm confirming some facts, I thought I'd get you a few details on our want-to-be-heroes. Well, they will be heroes if they live through this, anyway.  This'll be pretty brief, our DM, paulewaug, is going to post some more complete information as soon as he has time.

Each PC is level 1, technically, although aided by being an Adept, except for Turk who is an Aristocrat and Thorin who started out with more fighting abilitites. (Makes more sense if you read the DM's notes notes in the next posting)_

Minx - Elf, Wizard (Best friends are Kierwin and Snap)

Kierwin - Elf, Cleric of Elhonna domain of good and sun (Best friend is Minx,  and she is friends with Snap)

Turk Wildhands (a very fitting name)- Human Fighter, along with Justice a VERY fine horse

Thorin Balderk - Dwarf Fighter

Snap - Half-Orc Sorcerer raised and trained by the same elves where Kierwin and Minx grew up

OSA - NPC, her abilities will be revealed as the adventure progresses

"Rowena" - Human, named by Turk and protected by the party, primarily Turk. Nobody knows her real name, she doesn't talk, and seems to be in shock or something like it. NPC

Geirmund - Nicknamed "The Hare" an ex-slave. His nickname came about because of his speed and agility.  His abilities are yet unknown, but are still becoming apparent. NPC

I strongly recommend trying paulewaug's story hour, it's our alternate game. That one is run by a different DM and we switch about every other week. Paulewaug's story is the  The Heroes of Haven

*************
I promise the next post will finally tell what our beach and naughty beautiful woman have in mind for our heroes. Thanks for bearing with me!


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## paulewaug (Aug 8, 2002)

*Director's Cut*

A bit about the game mechanics etc.

Since 1st level can be tough for PCs to survive but are- of course- the "formative years" for the players and their characters,
I decided to jump start PC development by having all of the players choose a"Background class" using the NPC classes from the DMG.

Much to my surprise 3 of the 5 players chose Adept (the spell casters: 1 Wizard, 1 Sorcerer, and 1 Cleric)
 I new our 2 Ladys were taking that, so I figured it would be a Female ability.  Then Snap took it and I decided it would be an Elven background trait (snap is Not an elf but was raised by the elves).

Thorin was a Warrior before receiving the training that elevated him to become a professional Fighter.

The background option worked well for Turks player as it allowed him to pick some skills and a background class that was well suited to his carefully worked up backstory.  It also gave him the extra cash to equip himself as a born Aristocrat.

I also instituted the idea of "Action dice" 
(Hero dice, Fate dice, etc. whatever you prefer)
as a reward and encouragement for good Roleplaying
this has worked out well and added an extra element of fun for everybody.  
(Both of our DMs, myself and Turk, have tweeked it a bit over a few adventures and the end result is that we treat it as basically  d20 rerolls that the PC can use when they want, if they have any.)

We used a point build system to make the PCs (32pts)
I started all the PCs with full Hit Points for their background class and thier 1st level of PC class.  They got to choose which class they wanted  to use for their starting skills points and $$.
So they started as almost 2nd level charaters, but their backgrounds are 'handy' rather than powerful.

So I let them make well developed, better than average, PCs to get started and then immediately put them each  in situations they have little hope of making it out of!  Bwahaha!!
This was fun (for me anyhow) as I skipped back and forth from player to player keeping things innocent, drawing them into the web of deceit until their traps were sprung!
The hard part was not being Too heavy handed and not to use metagame thinking.  
Pirates out looking for Special people..Special blood.. just getting into the slave racket  business

The opening act was inspired in Large part by the _Slaves of Fate_ adventure from Chaosium.  Also some of the NPCs (most notably Osa and Giermund) are inspired by that adventure as well and I kept them pretty close to how they were written in that book.  
With a few changes...and someone else...from somewhere else...
Who is the mysterious, dark haired beauty, "_Rowena_" ?!


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## Taboo (Aug 8, 2002)

I TOLD you guys our DM had lots of things up his sleeve in this and further adventures!

Just stay tuned, trust me, you won't be disappointed!  At least he gives us a fighting chance and a really good challenge!


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## paulewaug (Aug 9, 2002)

*Director's Cut -space reserved*

to be forthcoming soon!
A belated prelude of sorts for those who may be interested in how the other characters ended up as prisoners aboard ship.


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## Taboo (Aug 14, 2002)

*The mysterious woman*

My co-writer for facts and some details was Paulewaug. His story is:  The Heroes of Haven It's our alternate game, hosted by our other DM who plays Turk in this game!

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

Our castaways were tired and filthy. They hadn’t found a place to rest, and who knew what it was that was leaving that glowing, slimy trail on the ceilings and walls! In spots, the place was relatively dry, but most of the place had moss and slime on the walls. The floors had puddles of water and sometimes one or two inches of muck. They were glad the place seemed to be basically deserted, but none of them had any real experience dealing with circumstances like this.  They were nervous, a little excited, but mainly wondering how they could possibly get back home.

They turned the corner of the corridor they’d been walking down, hoping to find clean water and a place to rest. Instead, they saw a sight none of them had expected- a beach and a beautiful, naked woman lying beside a large pool of water?!  She was singing an odd tune; no one could make out the words. On the opposite wall, across the pool, was a door? On the door was painted a sun.

All of them blinked, shook their heads and looked again. Thorin and Turk looked at each other to see if they both saw the same thing. They did. Ok, this was weird. Something was wrong. Definitely. Totally wrong!!!

Turk wanted to talk to her, of course!  Kierwin didn’t want him to. Everyone in the group was convinced she was a siren or something. Turk was convinced she could help them. Minx was REALLY convinced she was evil.

Quietly enough so that only the group could here her, Minx said “Nothing good is going to come from this, we should just turn around and leave or kill her now before she gets a chance to kill us!”

Turk stepped forward and tried to get her attention. “Excuse me madam, we’re strangers here and I was wondering if you could be so kind as to help us out or answer a few questions?”

She stopped singing and quickly stood up and smoothly dove into the pool.  She left hardly a ripple in the surface of the water. After a brief moment her head broke the surface and she said “My what a handsome man. If you want any answers, you’ll have to come over here. How can I talk to you if you’re all the way over there?”

Against the rest of the party’s better judgment, Turk went over to the water’s edge to talk to her. She wanted him to come into the pool to swim with her. Turk looked down where she had been laying moments before and noticed what he had thought at first to be sea foam was actually a beautiful and delicate white scarf. Turk bent down and picked up the scarf.

As soon as he picked it up, she stomped up out of the water and back onto the beach. She stood unashamedly in all her naked glory before him and thrust out her hand, “Give it back!”  Turk immediately complied. “My apologies, madam, I meant no harm or disrespect. Please forgive me.”  Turk was polite and courteous, respectful even, but made sure he got a good eyeful while still somehow appearing to make eye contact, a trick he had developed some time ago. He found it came in pretty handy, like now.

Before he could finish speaking she was back in the water. He looked into it trying to see her but could find no trace. The pool appeared to be fairly deep since he couldn’t see the bottom despite the fact that it was crystal clear and yet somehow blue in color, as if it were a beach on a tropical island. Well, at least a beach that was on the Outside of a pyramid on a tropical island that had sun and blue skies! Turk started walking back to the group. While his back was turned he couldn’t see the water start to churn in the middle of the pool behind him.

The group had been watching the whole exchange, and when the water started churning and splashing they yelled at Turk to run.

He got back to the group, disappointed and obviously with no news. They watched the water carefully, wondering what, if anything was going to come bursting up out of it. They saw some sort of fin, then nothing. The water still churned.

They had noticed a stairway on the other side of the room, it was the only exit besides the one across the lake and that one was pretty much out of the question! Turk decided to go first. Getting to the stairway meant getting fairly close to the water. It was about 60 feet from where they were to the stairs.

As Turk got about halfway across, they saw the nymph surface and heard her giggle. Then, she pursed her pretty pink lips and spit what appeared to be a stream of water at Turk, hitting his armor with a hiss.  He felt a bit of a sting, but kept running. He made it to the stairway, and motioned for the others to follow.

The others raced across the room one after the other, and the nymph had fun with her target practice, hitting Kierwin, stinging her with her acid through her leggings where her chainshirt didn’t protect her. 

When they’d finally gotten across the room, they descended the stairway and entered a large room. Turk brought his torch around to get a good look and couldn’t believe his eyes. They were back where they’d started. There was the big, ugly, crab they’d killed! But this time, there was one slight difference a trail of glowing slime across the floor between the door they had originally gone out and the shell of the crab…….Thorin piped up “Well, I guess we won’t be having crab tonight after all.”


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## Taboo (Aug 16, 2002)

*The Crypt*

They rested for a short time in the room with the dead crab while Kierwin treated a couple of minor wounds. They shared a couple of rations, not wanting to run short and then they were ready to get going.

They worked their way up the last set of stairs, hoping this was the way out. This set, like the others, was dark, damp and slick. If it wasn’t for Turk’s ever burning torch, they’d have been left in the dark long ago. This set of stairs lead from one hallway to the next, and finally to an empty room.

This room had an archway at the far end of the room, and that seemed like the only way out. The only problem with that was that there appeared to be a large patch of green colored slime above it and another on the floor. Turk recalled something from his academy days about certain types of slime, most notably green in color, being particularly dangerous and didn’t want to go anywhere near it.

The two elves, Minx and Kierwin, went to work inspecting the rest of the room for hidden doors but couldn’t find anything. If there were any doors hidden in this room, they were very well hidden. The only way out seemed to be through that archway.

Turk decided to throw a pint of oil on the green slime and burn it. So, he took the stopper off his pint and the slime with oil. He then took a few moments to light a burning torch and touched of the oil with it. They watched as the fire consumed the slime, generating quite a lot of smoke. A short time later, with nothing left of the slimy substance but a pair of large burned smudges, they determined it safe to pass through the archway.

Turk was a little disappointed, since he expected a reaction if this was indeed the slime he’d heard about. (After game note: It was, but he didn’t know it at the time. His oil wasn’t wasted.)

They all passed through the archway into another hallway, finally coming to another door. This one was locked. Thorin produced his favorite key, and heard his favorite click!

When the door opened, the first thing they noticed was a sarcophagus, then frescos and mosaics similar to those in the room they dropped into, and finally a very odd site indeed. An axe imbedded in the wall opposite them?! At first they didn’t notice the odd shadow the axe-handle cast on the wall that looked disturbingly like a clawed hand.

Kierwin went straight to the sarcophagus, Turk straight to the axe, the others went to the mosaics.

As Turk approached the axe, he finally noticed the strange shadow it cast on the wall and that the closer he got, the colder it became. As he reached for the handle a chill ran down his spine as the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and he noticed that the shadow of his hand would grasp the claw-like shadow cast on the wall. He grabbed the handle, his shadow grabbed the claw. Turk pulled and tugged on the axe with all the strength he had. It didn’t budge in the least.

For the others, looking at the mosaics showed red skinned warriors and white skinned warriors fighting. They were hauntingly familiar to the ones in the chamber they had fallen into. A few of these depicted what appeared to be an evil warlord, enacting scenes that caused Minx to shudder.

Meanwhile Kierwin was walking around the sarcophagus. She had taken out the pyramid she had found. The symbols on it were like the ones engraved on the sarcophagus. She was looking for clues to see if there was a connection or if this was a puzzle to solve. She was so involved in it that she wasn’t paying any attention to the rest of the party.

Turk was still trying everything he could to get that axe out of the wall. He finally decided he didn’t have the strength to do it. He wondered if Kierwin could cast a spell or something. She was just wandering around looking at that stupid coffin, he was sure she wouldn’t mind if he interrupted her for just a moment, this thing had to be important to be stuck in the wall like this!

The next thing Kierwin knew, Turk was tapping her on the shoulder. She looked up, Turk explained what was going on. 
“Sorry Turk I’m not in tune enough with the goddess yet to be able to channel that kind of power.”
So Turk went back to work. This time, she watched him. This was fun, but she could see the frustration in his face and his whole body. Turk gave it everything he had. Still no luck, that thing wasn’t going to budge. 

Finally Thorin had had enough! He stomped over to stand next to Turk,
 “Move Over…”
He looked at the axe, reached up to grasp the handle, the cold shiver ran down his spine and he jerked his hand back. 
“Ahhh…er..uh..um..Ahem..Yeah so anyhow jest a sec’” Thorin spit on the palms of his hands and grasped the handle with both hands, his shadow’s hands also grasping with the clawed shadow on the wall.  He pulled and tugged and huffed and puffed until he was red in the face and finally he let go.  He growled in frustration and slammed his fist down on the handle. The handle vibrated but the blade moved not at all.  “Bah!” he scoffed and stomped off to inspect the sarcophagus.

Kierwin and Minx were back at the “coffin” and this time Kierwin noticed something. Some of the runes on the top and the sides of the lid matched. She pushed on a couple of the matching symbols and they depressed into the lid. So, after much consideration (about 6 seconds worth ), she did that with all the matching runes, and the slab slid open about several inches.

“Ummm guys….I think I did something…..” At which point even Turk gave up on the axe and came over. They tried looking inside without moving the slab any further, but that didn’t work. They all finally ganged up on it, it was pretty heavy, and pushed it the rest of the way down.

They found a skeletal corpse inside with a mask made of gold and jade placed upon what was once its face. Its wisps of hair were woven in with jewels and strands of gold and other metals and in what were once earlobes it wore large jade plugs.

Hoping the mask had magical properties and would help him get the axe out of the wall, Turk promptly grabbed it and held it up to his face.  However it had no eye holes and he couldn’t see, so Kierwin led him over to the wall and he started to work on the axe again. Unfortunately, he still didn’t have any luck with it.

However, as Minx grew quickly bored watching Turk jerk his axe, she glanced back into the sarcophagus and noticed something disturbing.  
“Ewww!!!  It’s gooey! Oh! That is So gross!” She called out. 
As she watched, flesh, veins, and tissue started to creep up the bones and eyes began to form as pools in their sockets.

Turk came back to the sarcophagus, and seeing the corpse, promptly put the mask back on it. They waited awhile, nothing seemed to be happening now, but the temptation to see what was going on, and the riches hidden underneath that mask were awfully tempting!

Turk asked “How about a really quick peek?”

They all agreed. Turk removed the mask, it appeared that the regeneration had halted when he’d put the mask back on. He grabbed the earplugs and the most valuable jewels but left the items woven into the corpse’s hair. Then quickly put the mask back on. They slid the slab back on top of the coffin. Unfortunately they didn’t seem to be able to lock it back in place, no matter how hard they tried.

They decided to forget the axe, much to Turk’s disappointment, and left the room as quickly as possible….


_edited for story accuracy and clarity by DM-paulewaug_


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## Taboo (Aug 18, 2002)

*Kierwin, Minx & Suspicions*

They left the crypt with its unwilling inhabitant behind, hopefully forever. Turk still regretted not being able to figure out the secret of getting the axe out of the wall, but maybe it was for the best. Who knows, maybe it was as evil as the creature imprisoned in the sarcophagus?

They lost track of how long they walked and the only light they had was Turk’s ever burning torch. They had nearly nothing to tell time. They knew they hadn’t been here more than a hours since they hadn’t had much need for food or rest.  It felt like longer to all of them, but they had been locked in the ship’s hold prior to making their way here, wherever here was. The more time they spent here, the more Kierwin felt that they were no longer on their own world or their own “plane”, but she didn’t know much about things like that. She’d only heard about that from her elders at the temple.

The runes on the sarcophagus and the tiny pyramid that she’d found really bothered her. There was only one that she could really read and the others were vaguely familiar, but different. Hauntingly different. Elhonna was with her, but it was a god that she’d never heard of that was worshipped here. She was pretty sure it was a god that nobody she knew had ever heard of (or at least that they hadn't mentioned) that people here worshipped.  She decided not to say anything since she wasn’t sure of any of this. She didn’t know anything for sure, she was no expert, these were just feelings and she didn't want to worry anyone for no reason.  When it mattered, if it ever did, then she would tell them her suspicions.

********

Minx was concerned for her friend. Snap just wasn’t acting like the Snap she knew. He’d never acted like this before, the elves had always treated him well, but after he’d left, who knows what had happened to him. What she really didn’t understand was why he refused to talk to her. She’d always been closer to him than Kierwin had, but both she and Kierwin had been friends with him.  It was just that Snap had been into magic along with her and Kierwin spent a lot of time in the Temple.

She’d never understood why Snap had left. Everything had been fine, and then he’d seemed to distance himself and one day he’d said his goodbyes to them and left the Misty Isles. They hadn’t seen him again until they’d fallen into that room that led them into the lower level of the pyramid.  He seemed ashamed of his appearance or afraid of the others, unless it was something she couldn't think of.

What would happen when Thorin and Turk found out what Snap was?  There weren't very many people who reacted without violence when they first met a half-orc.  From what little Minx knew about Thorin, he hated all forms of Orcs.  As for Turk, she knew very little, but she was betting he felt the same as Thorin.  What about Geirmund and Osa?  She knew she didn't have to worry about Rowena, she just followed and ate.

Maybe between her and Kierwin they could convince Turk and Thorin that Snap was a good person. On the other hand, maybe Snap’s actions would speak for themselves. A small voice inside her that she tried to ignore whispered to her that she didn’t even know if this Snap was still the Snap she’d know for so long. She might just be hoping he was still a good person. She refused to listen to that quiet voice! Of course he was still the good and honorable Snap!  Nothing would change him that drastically!  He’d prove it, he just needed the opportunity.

Until everything was out in the open and she had a chance to find out what had happened, she was going to watch over him. She knew Kierwin would. The three of them were close and always would be.  They’d take care of each other, and take care of the group. She wasn’t too sure about Turk, but she liked Thorin and the rest. So far Turk hadn’t done a single thing she really had against him, she just thought he was a little too arrogant, and she really didn’t approve of arrogance, especially in a human.  She just planned to keep an eye on him for now, she would set him straight if it came down to it.

Her thoughts were interrupted when they came to a locked door.


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## Knightfall (Aug 23, 2002)

Taboo, where are you?

I need my weekly fix!


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## Taboo (Aug 23, 2002)

Hey, thanks, it's nice to know I'm needed!  Don't worry, I'm putting some finishing touches on a new post right now. I sent it to my cohort to double check first, (paulewaug) he's the one with the facts on the battle!

We'll make it worth the wait.


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## paulewaug (Aug 26, 2002)

*coming very soon*

ok I am working over the next post that'll bring us up to the characters embarking on the Adventure Path of modules..1st off "the Sunless Citadel" (with DM customized changes!)
that is where they are right now.

Taboo really started taking some heavy notes to capture the in character interaction that has been going on so hopefully there will be some good dialogue showing up.

I keep track of all the in game details since I am DM and taboo has a tendancy to skew things from her PCs POV and kinda forgets there are other characters doing things too.  This is not a dis' on her, she really does forget what Really happened..(drives me nuts BTW) hehe!!   

Also to anybody who has been reading this until Very recently you may want to go back up and re-read the previous posts as I have made a few changes to the earlier posts to give a more accurate picture of what Really happened.  So early readers will get to enjoy what Kierwin though happend earlier and now seeing the closer to actual events.  
So far my players have been pretty happy with the direction the story is going.

Now I just need to work on my character's storyhour..
my DM for that one(Turk) is more than ready for an update on 
his game!
I need to get it caught up for our 2 new characters!! They are much fun to play!hhehe  oh yes...


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## Taboo (Aug 26, 2002)

Just a quick reply to that... sorry, just can't help it.   

Note that it IS from Kierwin's POV and it hasn't been TOO far off.  The next couple of postings, in fact bring the others into it quite a bit! And I have been spending quite a bit of time keeping more exact notes on the games in order to get the facts down on paper to ensure more accurate accounts of the roleplaying done by everyone.

Paulewaug has worked extremely hard to keep us on our toes in this adventure and has surprises around every corner. It's been hard to keep up with the twists and turns he's thrown our way. He's created quite a world for us, and has thought it through well into the future.

All of this will work into our further travels, and when (and if) we find our way out of this pyramid and home, I can almost guarantee that what is happening here will follow us into future travels.  The Sunless Citadel won't be the same story you've doubtless read before.....

Snap will indeed remain a mystery for the next few chapters.  As will things about the rest of the characters.

Stick with us, you won't be disappointed.

The next chapter will be posted tonight, it's temporarily lost in e-mail land.


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## Knightfall (Aug 27, 2002)

Taboo said:
			
		

> *Stick with us, you won't be disappointed.
> 
> The next chapter will be posted tonight, it's temporarily lost in e-mail land. *




<KF'72 impatiently taps foot looking at watch>

Ahhhhhhh!  Stop torturing me... heh!


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## Taboo (Aug 27, 2002)

*The secret coridoor and beyond....*

Sorry about the delay!  I hope the wait was worth it!!!  Taboo

*******

They came to a locked door. Thorin and Turk were in front as usual. Thorin listened at the door and didn’t seem to hear anything. He tried his handy key and as usual, it worked. Everyone followed Thorin and Turk through the door into an amazing, but dead end corridor. 

It was similar to what they’d seen before, frescos and mosaics. The natives of this place, wherever ‘this place’ was, depicted in various acts of life. One in particular caught Turk’s eye. It had a circular shape at the top with a pyramid shaped indent, although the indent was so slight it was almost beyond recognition. He called Kierwin over.

“What do you think about using that little pyramid here? I know you think it does something important in this place.” He told her. 

So she got the pyramid out of a pouch she carried at her side and placed it in the indent Turk had found. It retracted into the wall and a door opened up, revealing a long corridor lined with stone animal heads.

They decided to head into the newly discovered corridor, with Thorin and Turk in the lead as usual.  They passed a bear’s head which Thorin searched thoroughly, proclaiming the work to be well done but not finding anything special about it. Then Turk noticed his torchlight sparkle off something in the beak of an eagle’s head further down in the corridor ahead of them. He immediately went to investigate.

Upon approaching it he finds that held in the beak is a large gold band. Reaching in he grasps it and the beak snaps closed on his wrist with a clang. Fortunately it closes on his gauntlet and he isn’t injured, but his hand is quite stuck. Calling out for help, the  party comes running. Thorin crowds in. 

Turk is trying to pry the beak apart with one hand, but without success, while Thorin  tries to study the mechanism. He figures out that it was some type of spring, but nobody had any idea how to disarm it. They both look at Giermund who shrugs his shoulders and says “I don’t know nothing about how to reset it.”

They finally decided to try to break the stone to free Turk. In the meanwhile Turk wants loose and is praying to Pelor, especially so that Thorin doesn’t miss and hit him by accident when he sees Thorin grab up his large dwarven warhammer!
With one quick, well placed blow, the stone eagle’s head crumbled and Turk was freed. He had a gold band to show for his trouble, not to mention learning not to go sticking his hand into something that very well may be trapped, without checking it out first! Although Thorin clapped him on the shoulder and congratulated him for doing it “The dwarven way.”

They checked the rest of the animal heads, but didn’t find anything else, so they headed for the door they saw down the hall. Thorin and Turk were in front as usual, Minx and Kierwin were behind them, Snap and Giermund brought up the rear behind Osa and Rowena. This was the usual order since Kierwin was the main healer in case of serious injury and had some fighting ability. Minx could heal a little, and was a magic user. 
Snap could back them up and he could see in the dark, as well as help protect Rowena who followed directly behind Minx. That left Geirmund, who could fight like a scrapper, in the back behind Osa who followed Kierwin.  They could also help protect them in case of an ambush from the back if necessary, although they prayed that didn’t happen since that would be their weakest point.

Thorin opened the door, they had pretty much worked out that this was the way it was going to be from now on. It seemed to work well, and it really needed to be a strong fighter who did it. Turk was really strong and Thorin was really, really strong.
The sight inside surprised them, although by this point in the pyramid they figured nothing should!

The sight that greeted them was a heap of trash in the center of a fifty or sixty foot square room. The trash didn’t surprise them as much as the ugly, three foot long beetles scattered throughout the room, beetles that glowed a reddish color deep within their chitinous shells.  They would have just shut the door and kept going, but scattered amongst the trash, they saw some interesting reflections from Turk’s torch. The group consensus was to kill the beetles and check out the pile.  

Snap stepped up to the doorway and cast sleep on the beetles gathered near the pile, knocking a bunch of them out, Minx did the same. 

Turk and Thorin immediately took off for the group on the left. Kierwin followed. There were four beetles over on that side. Kierwin thought they looked big enough from the door, but up close, they looked almost immense!


The beetles flexed their pincers anticipating fresh meat and blood.  The first found out how tough Turk’s armor was, and again, he was glad that he’d spent the extra gold on the banded mail! He attempted to hack at it with his greatsword but had trouble hitting the low creature without scraping his sword against the ground.

Meanwhile, the beetle that Kierwin was facing off against was trying to pinch her leg off. It found her leather boot much to it’s liking. It didn’t draw much blood, but it got enough to know that it liked that too!  Oh, it was going for that again!

Thorin had a pair of beetles to contend with. Neither of them had much luck as the surprisingly nimble dwarf hopped about on his stubby legs, and they didn’t much like the steel that their pincers encountered as he brought his dwarven war-axe around in a double handed grip and split one of them open. Of course there were some more of them and on the next try they just might make it through whatever carapace it was that this strange prey was wearing.

By this time, Turk had gotten to land a blow on the beetle that had tried to rip his leg off at the knee. He’d put a rather deep gouge in its exoskeleton, but it was still alive although oozing a lot of ichor. Maybe it would bleed to death….

Thorin slammed his waraxe through one of the bugs attacking him slicing the thing completely in half, ready to turn his attention on the one behind him next.

Meanwhile, Snap had moved into the room, pulling his crossbow out. Kierwin attacked the beetle that had tried to snap her leg off, but although she hit it, her blade simply slid off the hard carapace with a scraping sound, not even wounding it. She was NOT a happy cleric!

The beetle in front of Turk decided to make another go at it, going for the same spot it attacked earlier. It had no better success than it did the first time.  There was a faint metallic screech as its pincers scraped off his metal armored boots.

This time the beetle attacking Kierwin didn’t bite quite as hard, and Kierwin breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn’t looking forward to another bite from that THING. It was an abomination against nature as far as she was concerned. Beetles weren’t supposed to be that Big!  They were supposed to scuttle around and eat refuse and carrion like good little cleaner-bugs, not chomp down on those who were perfectly healthy and in no danger of just up and dying without help! 

The beetle remaining in battle with Thorin tried to attack him, but had no better luck than the rest, which pleased Thorin immensely.

Snap was too far from any beetles that were left awake to be attacked, so he took a shot with his crossbow and picked one off from his chosen spot. 

Turk finished his off with his next blow, it was obviously mortally wounded from the first blow but had refused to die. Kierwin tried again, hitting, but still unable to pierce that hard carapace. Thorin killed another beetle with his axe.

They had blocked the line of sight and the door from the others, preventing them from helping, but managed finally to kill the rest of the beetles without taking anymore wounds.
Fortunately, the sleep spells had helped tremendously as about a dozen beetles were in a magically induced slumber. 
Turk and Thorin were disappointed a little that they still hadn’t gotten a glimpse of the mysterious sorcerer’s face, but he had proven that he was trying to help them. 
That didn’t mean they trusted him, though!  Trust meant more than killing a few beetles.

They proceeded to investigate the pile of trash, curious to know what was glittering in the torch light.  Most of it was pretty disgusting, but their search paid off in the end. They found three very nice pieces of turquoise (although they didn’t glitter, of course), and a very nice dagger. The dagger needed to be reworked a little, but it was a design none of them had ever seen before. It didn’t seem magical, but was very well balanced. 
They gave it to Minx, thinking that of all of them, she could use it most. Especially since she didn’t seem to really know how to use any other kind of weapon.  And she liked the dagger a lot, it was pretty for a ‘knife’.

After searching the rest of the room, they were satisfied there was nothing else to find. They reentered the hallway. There was one last door to open.

They opened the remaining door. What they found in there, again they were certainly not prepared for.  It was a small ship!?

_ This post has been edited by DM-paulewaug for accuracy _ and is certified to be Close to the truth


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## AndrewADnDPlayer (Aug 27, 2002)

Great Post Taboo.  I lived the battle and it seemed even more exciting reading it then it did when we fought it.  Keep up the Great Work!!!

AndrewADnDPlayer...aka Turk Wildhands


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## Taboo (Aug 27, 2002)

Thanks, (Turk) Glad to see you on the boards!  

You know, I can almost feel those pincers from those nasty beetles myself!  Ouch!

The next post is about ready, so you won't have long to wait for it. Paulewaug's already worked on it with me to make sure we got it all, it's a long one.


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## Taboo (Aug 31, 2002)

*The Voyage Home*

Oops...for anyone who already read this... reread it, I posted the newest section out of order, so I just corrected it. This is the important one, without it, nothing coming up makes sense!

*********

They opened the remaining door. What they found in there, really took their breath away! 

When they opened the door, they expected another dark hallway, but what they found was something completely the opposite!  It was a large room, covered in mosaic. In the center of the room, in a large canal filled with blue and green tiles was a boat, or more accurately perhaps, a small ship.

They walked over to the ship and looked at it, amazed to find something like this inside of a large stone structure. There was a small metal plaque on the boat, which Thorin tried to read. There were symbols on it and they did kind of look like letters. As he stared at it words seemed to form and he read them aloud, and an amazing thing happened.  

When he spoke the word “VOS”, the boat became a wooden box the size of a boot. It was small and light enough to carry or fit in a backpack!

He promptly put it back down before speaking the next word. “KOS” turned it into a boat of moderate size.

The final word “NOS” brought it back to the size of a small ship and fit for a voyage that they could fit on comfortably.  It had one main deck, with a small cabin.

Finally, they had a way off of this island and hopefully to get back home if they could figure out where home was!  Of course, that was the question. Where were they!?

Kierwin still hadn’t shared her doubts about being on the same plane anymore and without the creature that had brought them here, was there a way to get home? Maybe she was wrong? She didn’t know what to do, there was no sense in worrying everyone when she really didn’t have a clue if she was right. She’d hoped to explore more of the pyramid to find more answers.

They discussed (briefly) whether to explore more of the pyramid or try to head home. The unanimous and almost instantaneous decision was to head home. They hoped that when they hit the sea that they’d be able to find their way home. It turned out that Geirmund knew quite a lot about sailing from his days as a slave aboard ship.

While they talked amongst themselves the poor twisted creature that had helped them escape the slavers showed up.

“You helped me escape, I helped you escape. Yes? You want to go home now?” It asked.  
They did.
“Good, I am done here and the time for leaving is good.” 
It hobbled over to the wall towards the back end of the boat and reached up to touch something on the wall above the water mosaic.  A gush of water began to cascade out of the wall and fill the ravine, while the far wall opened and revealed the hazy gray that waited outside. The water appeared to flow away from the pyramid and form a river to the beach.
The creature hopped aboard ship and looked at them, ”Well lets us be going now.”
The others all hopped aboard ship as well. They were quickly down to the shoreline and past the beach.
The creature said it needed blood again, looking hopefully at Turk.

Turk grimaced, remembering the first time and dutifully cut his hand. The creature happily licked up the blood. “Oh yes, such strong blood you have, works well.” The others tried not to look remembering the first time.

Everything went black as before, and the next thing they knew, they were back on the ocean with blue skies and the sun above them.  The creature had disappeared again, the same as before.

Geirmund worked to get his bearings, but with no land in sight and no idea what time it was, it was difficult to tell. He made his best guess by the position of the sun in the sky. “It’ll be easier to get an idea where we are tonight. We’ll get our position, and set our course. Do we all agree that we’re headed for Aguila?”

That had been Turk’s wish, and the others had no argument. Kierwin and Minx wanted to go home, but they also wanted to see that justice was served in Aguila from the kidnapping of Turk and Snap. There was also the quest that Osa had been on, and they were concerned about Rowena. 

Kierwin still hadn’t really gotten to talk to Thorin, so she didn’t know much about what had been driving the dwarf towards his destination, but she hoped to talk to him about it soon.

So, they all agreed to set course for Aguila and see where fate led them from there.  They had no idea how long they would be on the ship and decided to take account of all their food and water and divide it up. They might need to make their little last a long time.

Geirmund spent time with each of them teaching them how to steer the ship. They would each need to be able to take turns since they would need to trade off while they slept and took watch.  That night, Geirmund also charted their course for Aguila and determined that their voyage would take about 5 days.

For the most part, each watch was uneventful.  The voyage went well, although they were short on food and fresh water. They rationed it carefully and had enough.

Geirmund had a terrible past. Kierwin finally had a chance to talk to him. He’d been born in Corvis, and was an orphan. At age 12 he’d stowed away on a ship and wound up in Freeport. Then, he stowed away on another ship, a Pantangean slave barge overran this one and he’d wound up a slave. That’s how he’d gotten the scars on his back, from their whips. Kierwin didn’t get to talk to him much more than that, they’d gotten interrupted and he seemed uneasy about talking about it. She’d need to talk to him again when they reached land.

Kierwin and Minx always took the last watch together. One of them always at the wheel while the other took watch.  They needed less sleep time than the others and could see further in the night’s weak light.
 Kierwin took to wandering the deck to keep an eye out. One night early in the voyage, she noticed strange water spouts just off the port side.

She quickly awoke Turk. He had her help him on with his part of his armor and they got Geirmund. He went to take a look and informed them they were just whales. 
 “Oh” Kierwin said a little embarrassed. “I’ve never seen whales ‘up close’. I was afraid it was something dangerous.” 
Geirmund laughed “Well if they are coming straight at the shipand mean it we are probably done for but heading off the port bow like that and pulling away at speed I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”
Well, it was better safe than sorry. She helped Turk take his armor back off, and he went back to sleep.

Kierwin went back to Minx and back on watch. “I’m going to pray now, then I’ll relieve you and you can study your spells.”

The next night, on Kierwin and Minx’s watch, Kierwin noticed that Turk was missing. She told Minx that she couldn’t find him. Minx was worried also. Kierwin could only think of one thing, and wasn’t really even thinking or she wouldn’t have done it.
 Osa had taken the cabin, out of a need for some privacy, she was a Lady after all. With that being the only logical place to look, Kierwin knocked on the door. “Turk are you in their?!” Just as she did, she noticed there were sounds coming from inside, vigorous sounds, and realized that’s where Turk was and why. oops, “Never mind…..”

Minx asked if everything was ok when Kierwin went back over to her looking flushed.  Kierwin said yes, never mind. Minx quickly figured it out.  Kierwin had hoped Minx wouldn’t figure it out, because she knew how Minx would react.  She did.

“I can’t believe it!  Didn’t I hear somebody say that Osa was MARRIED? Besides that Turk and Osa barely know each other!  Ohhh!!!  I KNEW I didn’t like him for a reason!
That Pig!”
 Minx was really mad. If there was one thing in this world that would set Minx off, this was it.  Her parents had brought her up this way, and this was all she knew. That’s why she’d reacted so strongly when she’d thought that the slavers were going to sell her into a harem or something like that. 

Kierwin tried to quiet her. “It’s not up to us to judge Osa, and it’s up to Turk what he does. He’s not hurting anybody. Well at least I don’t think he is, from the sounds of things in there I’m not too sure. But I know how you feel about it and also I shouldn’t have snooped, I wasn’t thinking. I was just worried when I couldn’t find him. Let’s just forget it.”

“No!” Minx was stubborn. When she made up her mind, it was hard to change it. She was a good person, a great friend, and Kierwin was determined that she’d keep this from developing into a feud between Minx and Turk. 
Somehow Minx and Turk already knew they could work together, that was a plus. Now she just had to find a way through this. She’d have to talk to Turk. Soon.

It wasn’t long until Kierwin HAD to talk to Turk. As soon as morning came, and Turk emerged from Osa’s cabin, Minx promptly started her tirade. Fortunately, she did it just out of earshot of Osa. Kierwin could see that Turk was getting angry, but holding himself back. She could also see that he was making sure that Osa and Rowena were out of earshot.

Kierwin didn’t want to physically break up the two, but she was afraid that was what it was going to come to. She didn’t want it to come to a major problem in the group, there was enough of a problem trying to deal with whatever was going on with Snap.

Speaking of Snap he was watching the heated exchange and muttered something about wishing he could cast _fireball_.

Turk finally walked away from Minx, trying to keep himself under control. Kierwin decided to talk to him now, before things go any worse. She explained Minx’s past and tried to make him understand. She told him she knew it wasn’t anyone’s business what he did, especially theirs. He said he didn’t care what Minx said or thought about him, but if she insulted the women or said anything in front of them, that was different.

Kierwin promised to talk to Minx about it and swore that it wouldn’t come to that. Minx would take care of her end of things in the group, and she wouldn’t be dishonorable to the women. Then she talked to Minx. Peace was on. For now, at least.

The rest of the voyage was uneventful. Thorin proved himself indispensable, being a bit unusual for a dwarf by nimbly climbing the mast to keep lookout for land or possible trouble. Finally, after about a week, as predicted by Geirmund, Thorin spotted land in the distance.

Geirmund headed for the docks at Aguila as the others gathered their few possessions and prepared for the city. They had no idea what they would face when they docked. Turk intended to turn in the guards who had drugged him and sold him to the pirates, and he certainly wanted his horse, Justice, back!  They were ready for whatever awaited them when they reached port, or at least they thought they were.

As Geirmund pulled deftly into port, two guards met them at the docks. The guards hailed them, and asked their business in Aguila. They said they had business at ‘the Inn of the One Eyed Goat’ and with the City Guard about pirate activity. The guards were very surprised by the statement about pirate activity saying that they hadn’t had problems with pirates for over six months. They also said that there wasn’t an Inn of the One Eyed Goat anymore, it was now known as the Prancing Stallion.


This was all very puzzling for our adventurers. Not wanting to get into anything here on the docks, they decided to head for the Prancing Stallion to find out what was going on. First of all, they had to deal with an apparent docking fee. Well, the dock guards thought so at least….

“Docking fees are 2 gold pieces a day, if you’d like to dock your boat here.”
 Thorin smiled and said “That won’t be a problem, we don’t need to dock it.” 
The guards were very puzzled about that one. Thorin promptly said “VOS” and picked up the small box, stuck it in his pack, and the party was ready to go. The guards stood looking at them speechlessly as they left.

They were wondering amongst themselves all the way to the inn just what could be going on, they’d only been gone for a week and a half or so. How could the inn have changed names? And what was this about there not being any pirate activity for months, maybe they had no idea about the racket that was apparently getting started here. The guards must be mistaken, either that or covering something up.

When they arrived at the place that Turk remembered as the One Eyed Goat, it did indeed say the Prancing Stallion. They went inside, and Turk recognized the young man that he had entrusted with the care of his mare, Justice. The strange thing was, the young man didn’t look quite so young anymore.

The young man looked up and saw Turk, recognizing him right away. “Turk, is it you? It’s been such a long time!” “Oh sir, I feared you were gone for good!”

Turk wanted to know just how long it had been since the young man, Joseph, had seen him.
Joseph replied, “Over 2 years sir, don’t you know?!”

“2 years! We’ve only been away less than 2 weeks!” Turk said with shock and disbelief although his eyes told him that it had to be the truth. “What of my horse, Justice?” 

 “With the generous tip you gave me, I was able to take good care of her when you disappeared. She is well, and with her I have been able to start a strong bloodline of horses that has enabled me to prosper and buy this place. I’ve cleaned it up, and made it reputable. Justice is out at my home in the country side with plenty of pasture and well taken care of. I’ll take you out there myself. Of course you shall have her back, along with all of the equipment you left with her. If you’d rather you are welcome to choose one of her offspring, they are all magnificent animals.”

Turk was relieved to hear that she was so well taken care of, and would not hear of having any horse but her. He wanted to ride out to get her right away. He asked Kierwin to watch over Rowena for him while he went out to get Justice. Of course, she said she would take care of her.

While Turk was gone, everyone else bought dinner at the inn and then split up and got rooms and retired for the evening. Minx and Kierwin had offered to share with Snap, hoping to spend some time with him, but he refused, preferring to be alone. They still couldn’t get anything more out of him. The mystery still remained. Thorin and Giermund shared a room also, but first Thorin bought a round of ale.

When they talked to Turk the next morning he explained that he’d found out that while they’d been gone all of the piracy had been rooted out and abolished from Aguila and the town was quite different than when they’d been here last. Apparently all that was left for them to do was sell their goods and stock up for their trip to Oakhurst since they had decided to help Osa on with her quest for the red apple.

Kierwin remained with Rowena, since Turk trusted her most to take care of her. They gave him everything they’d found to sell, and Minx asked him if he’d take the strange dagger they’d found and have it’s blade honed for her since it seemed a bit dull.

Turk set off through town looking for shops that looked promising. There weren’t many places in Aguila that bought and sold the supplies they needed, but they were told they should be able to find most of it.

Turk found a likely place to sell the jewelry they’d found. In the process, he even gained a little information. The jade earrings looked like the kind of jewelry that a people who had once long ago conquered the continent had worn. They had finally been overthrown and run off about 200 years ago. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find out more than that from the shop owner, but he thought that information might be useful.

He stopped by a weapon smith’s and asked about having the dagger reworked. He was told it just needed polish and a good honing. But, when he went into a “magic shop”, the owner saw the dagger and was fascinated by it. He liked it because it was so unusual. He couldn’t just trade Minx’s dagger without asking her, but he really wanted the potion of Bull’s Strength the owner was offering, so he told the owner he’d be back.

Turk went back to the Inn and Minx agreed, but only if he got her a Mage Armor Scroll and to see what else he could manage. While he was there, Kierwin asked him to see if there were any clerical scrolls available if they had the money for them. After he’d left, she wished she had specified “healing”, but she hadn’t.

Turk came back with his potion of Bull’s Strength, Minx’s Mage Armor Scroll, and a scroll of Command for Kierwin. They hadn’t had any healing scrolls anyway, so it wouldn’t have mattered if she’d asked. She was disappointed.

He also remembered to buy trail rations and water.

Well, it looks like they were ready to set sail for Oakhurst.


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## AndrewADnDPlayer (Aug 31, 2002)

Good Post Taboo...  Turk "fondly" remembers the nights he spent with Osa on the boat and the Prancing Stallion getting acquainted.  Of course, it will be a lifelong memory for Osa; Turk is sure of that.  Turk is also thrilled to get Justice back...she is near and dear to his heart.

Not to give anything away but the squabble with Minx on the trip into Aguila is nothing in comparison to the one on the way out...that should be fun to write about.  About as much fun as sitting in the middle of a Hurricane.


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## Taboo (Aug 31, 2002)

Thanks!  

That's a good description, unfortunately words will never quite describe the squabble(s) with Minx and Turk!  I almost feel like sitting in the middle of a hurricane is mild compared to trying to write that! 

It'll take some time to come close to making the story give that part of the adventure justice and not just because of the character interactions. 

I agree, Osa will never forget her adventure.......especially the trip back and her time at the inn.


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## Taboo (Sep 2, 2002)

*The Stay in Aguila*

Our heroes didn’t plan to stay long in Aguila. Just long enough to get a little rest, restock their supplies and get ready to head to Oakhurst. In spite of being gone for nearly two years, they had really only spent less than two weeks together and didn’t really know each other. 

They spent a little bit of the time they were in Aguila to remedy that situation, but they really didn’t spend that much time getting to know everyone. Kierwin and Minx were too obsessed trying to figure Snap out  At least here, no one and nothing was trying to kill them.

Minx and Kierwin had both tried to talk to Snap, but with no more success than before. Sense Motive didn’t work, all that did was confirm that he really didn’t want to talk about it and was afraid of telling them anything.  Their suddenly mysterious friend was determined to keep his secrets to himself for now.  

Minx had always been his best friend, so she had tried to talk to him alone. Kierwin had been busy taking care of Rowena when “the Pig”, ok when _Turk_ wasn’t around.  She had, after all been closer to him when they were growing up than Kierwin had, she’d spent more time studying with him since their studies were so much the same.  Kierwin had spent most of her life in the Temple learning about Elhonna, dedicating her life to being a Cleric. During their free time, what little they’d had, the three of them had spent time together, but Minx had definitely been closer to Snap than Kierwin was.

The problem was, even spending time with him alone didn’t help. He wouldn’t even lower his scarf and let her see his face. In fact, he would barely speak to her.  The stubborn half-orc that she loved like a brother was determined that whatever was wrong was his secret alone and he wasn’t going to share the burden.

She was really worried about what would happen when Turk (she remembered her promise to Kierwin and was trying to be civil, even in her thoughts) and Thorin found out that Snap was a half-orc. Most people reacted violently to orcs, even half-orcs and she didn’t know these two people well enough to know just how they would react. Especially given the mysteriousness of the situation.

She talked to Kierwin and Kierwin had already promised Snap not to say anything until he was ready for them to.   Maybe if Snap showed that he was a hero they couldn’t help but trust him. Of course, that was a big maybe.  Even Minx and Kierwin were going on faith, because this wasn’t the same Snap that left them so mysteriously a few years ago.

Even if she hadn’t talked to Kierwin and found out she’d promised Snap to keep his race a secret for now, she wouldn’t and couldn’t (for that matter) talk to Turk about it. She promised to try to get along with him, she’d fight along side him and she’d trust him with her life if it came to it, but to actually talk to him about something like this and ask for his trust? No way!  Not likely!  She was leaving that to Kierwin.  She could handle talking to Thorin, if it ever came to it. He was ok, for a dwarf, anyway.

It was weird, Kierwin seemed to trust Turk. She actually fell for that chivalrous act of his.  She even found him honorable.  THAT was a new one!  She thought Kierwin had better judgment than that.  Maybe Kierwin had spent too much time with humans when she was younger.  Kierwin was usually a good judge of character, or maybe she sensed something about Turk that Minx didn’t.  WHATEVER!  No matter what Kierwin thought, the man was still a pig, at least as far as men went.  Besides, he was a HUMAN!  She did have to admit he was a good fighter.

Minx didn’t mind traveling with him or more specifically, fighting along side him, she just tried to ignore the parts of him that made her want to kill or maim him.  She figured that if she could avoid personal contact and especially avoid any repeat performances of the argument on the boat, they could work together just fine.  For now, at least.

Next…..To Oakhurst


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## Taboo (Sep 12, 2002)

*The Voyage to Oakhurst*

They were ready to head to Oakhurst. Kierwin had already been praying to Elhonna all morning that Minx would keep her temper under control and that Turk would steer clear of her on the trip. She thought maybe she should pray again, just to be safe.

Thorin put his little box in the water and spoke the word “NOS”, the box dutifully became a ship. The group, as well as Justice (which made it a little tighter fit, she was a rather large, though very well behaved horse) boarded the ship. They had a 5 day journey ahead of them to reach their destination.

This time, there were no sea monsters (whales) to panic anyone. Snap kept completely to himself, as far from the others as possible. No amount of coaxing could yield any results. It was infuriating to his friends to see him like this!  They were running or rather had run out of ideas.

Kierwin was getting more and more worried about Rowena’s strange condition. She thought that if it was caused by shock that it should have worn off by now, especially with the care that they’d tried to give her. She decided to spend even more time with her, and even tried healing spells. She got nowhere. Either she was just too inexperienced and Rowena’s condition was beyond her skills or Rowena had something far different wrong with her than everyone thought.  They still didn’t even know her real name, where she was from, or how long she’d been on that pirate ship. This woman was as big a mystery as Snap.

Turk continued to care for Rowena, she still seemed to trust him the most. She had ever since they’d all been thrown together on the pirate ship. Whenever Turk wasn’t around, Kierwin watched over her. She made sure she ate and slept, and had whatever she needed.

Thorin got along with everyone. Just as he had on the voyage to Aguila, he kept watch for any kind of dangers that might come along. He was a slightly unusual dwarf, friendly, quick to climb around on the mast and just plain do whatever needed doing.  Geirmund spent most of his time at the helm during the day, giving it up only to rest.  He was quiet, but also got along well with everyone.

Osa and Turk continued their relationship (for lack of a better word) during the voyage. Kierwin could see Minx’s eyes smolder with fury when she noticed that Turk’s bedding was empty and he was in the cabin with Osa at night during Kierwin and Minx’s watch.  So far, Minx had refrained from starting anything, and had remained true to her word that she’d keep out of it. Everything went fine until the last day of the voyage, that is....

At dawn, Kierwin had been praying to Elhonna, then, as usual, Minx took her turn during their shared watch to study her spell book. Just as she finished and stood up to admire the beautiful day and the sight of the ocean, Turk came out of the cabin stretching with a smile and a very satisfied look on his face.  That did it. Minx whispered under her breath that Osa was a tramp, not expecting Turk to actually hear her.  Turk made a beeline toward Minx.

Kierwin just dropped her head onto her hands as she stayed at the helm. She prayed with all her heart and soul that the two of them didn’t kill each other and that Minx didn’t burn the ship down in her fury. She also prayed that Snap didn’t come to Minx’s defense and do anything at all for that matter, a quick glance showed her that he was still asleep, but he wouldn't stay that way if things got out of control.  At this stage, she had no idea what Snap was capable of.  She almost wished for a real sea monster right now, or a freak storm just for a distraction. Almost anything would be better than what she was sure was about to become a major fight. She was tempted to beg Elhonna for a storm, but of course, she knew that wouldn’t work!

Minx ripped into Turk, what was done was done, there was no going back. “You are a pig, you realize that don’t you? Do you know she’s married? You have no morals! I take that back. You’re worse than that, you’re morally corrupt! And for that matter, Osa IS a tramp!”

Turk was turning red with the effort of trying to remember she was a lady and a member of the group and not losing his temper. He was also trying not to say or do something he’d regret, like kill her. “It’s..none..of..your..business..and..I..strongly..recommend..that..you..remove..yourself..from..my..sight..right..now.”

Minx never backed down from anything, not when she thought she was right, and right now, she thought she was. “Look! I said I wouldn’t say anything in front of the so-called “ladies” and I’m not! But you… YOU think you’re chivalrous? You’re sleeping with a married woman! I don’t care what state her marriage is in, and that her husband is ancient and half dead! It’s not even so much the point that she’s married, it’s the fact that you’re sleeping with her and you just met her! MEN!  And YOU!!! YOU ARE ONE OF THE WORST I’VE EVER MET!!!  You make me sick!  How can you do that?  You may have Kierwin tricked into thinking you’re honorable and chivalrous, but I can see you for what you really are. A dishonorable pig!”

Turk was nearly shaking with rage and trying to contain it.“You need to learn that you are overly judgmental and you can’t force your values on people. You are an intelligent person, but you’ve got a lot to learn about the world little _lady_. You just flat out don't know what you're talking about.  I find you completely without honor, and you've no right to speak of this here or anywhere else, for that matter! Please drop this before it gets any worse, I have no wish to fight you or to carry on with this. My warning stands, and it's the last one.  Don’t ever challenge me like this in front of Osa, Rowena or any other lady who happens to be around. I won’t tolerate you dishonoring _any_ lady.”  He started to turn and walk away, but this time Minx wouldn’t back down. She continued her tirade, and grabbed him by the arm to stop him. 

"I wouldn't be surprised if you're bedding poor Rowena, too. It's not like she could even stand up for herself." That was her mistake.

Turk pulled off a gauntlet, and threw it at Minx's feet, actually challenging her to a duel. He’d been pushed too far this time.  "I've put up with your endless tirades because you're a Lady, and I will not fight a Lady unless driven to, but you've just gone too far.  If you'd been a man, I'd have struck you down long ago for speaking like this in public. I've asked you to drop this, it's none of your business, and you really don't know anything about it."

Of course Minx did back down at the threat of a duel, she had no wish to physically fight Turk, but she certainly found the man to be without honor! She realized her mistake, _now_ when it was too late. Fine, let Kierwin deal with him, she seemed to like him for some odd reason! 

Kierwin had lifted her head from her hands and witnessed the exchange. Oh, Elhonna, what should I do now? She didn’t wish to interfere, but she also didn’t wish to see either of her friends dead, or the boat burned to cinders and lying at the bottom of the ocean. 

This stupid mess had to stop. She nearly ran the short distance to the two people. One, whom she’d known all her life and loved even more than a sister. The other whom she’d only just met, but trusted with her life. She took Turk by the elbow and the look on her face and in her emerald eyes begged him to hear her out.

He listened to her pleas. It wasn’t much more than she’d said before, Minx had always been hard headed and expected others to have her strict values. She did jump to conclusions, and she was judgmental, but she would hold up her end of the group. Any arguments she had on a personal level would never affect the way she functioned as part of the group itself. No matter what Minx thought of Osa, she would even risk her own life to protect her.

Kierwin would talk to her again and make sure she understood just how strongly Turk felt about what she said in front of the ladies. Kierwin knew Turk was hurting, but beyond the fact that he was upset about worrying about Minx bring ing things up in front of the ladies, she had no idea what else was going on in his head or heart. She would keep trying try to keep Minx from blowing up at Turk again. If she didn’t meet those conditions, then Kierwin would go along with what Turk decided. 

Kierwin wouldn’t stand in his way again and whatever happened, she wouldn’t hold it against him.  Friendship with Minx aside, after this, she wouldn't stand in the way (she didn't mention that she wasn't sure what Snap would do).  If Minx agreed to those conditions, and stayed clear of the ladies, completely clear, Turk was willing to give her one more chance. One more outburst and that was it. The duel would be back on. Kierwin agreed, reluctantly, but she didn't have much choice.

Minx went back to Kierwin and the look they exchanged told her everything that Kierwin had promised Turk. Minx knew Kierwin had just kept her and Turk from fighting the duel and what the promise had meant. Minx wished she hadn't said anything about Osa, even under her breath. She had never meant it to be heard.  She really hadn't meant anything about Rowena, even Turk wouldn't stoop to that, it had just burst out in the argument.  The timing, the look on Turk’s face, and just the thought of what had gone on in the cabin had overwhelmed her. After 115 years, she couldn't just change overnight! Her parents brought her up with very strict morals and standards, and she intended to keep them. No matter how hard she tried, she’d need time to work on keeping her opinions to herself. She would work on it, she’d promised Kierwin she would, and she always kept her word, at least she tried.

Kierwin prayed again, she had a feeling she was going to be praying a lot during this trip.  This was going to be a long trip and they hadn’t even gotten off the boat and into Oakhurst yet.


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## AndrewADnDPlayer (Sep 12, 2002)

Interlude:

Turk stood at the stern of the boat and tried to get his emotions under control.  Seething, he noticed that if he gazed out over the ocean, instead of looking in the direction of Minx, he felt better.  HOW DARE SHE!!! he thought.  How dare she butt her nose into something that was completely none of her business.  In all the years since he had first discovered the wonders of the feminine form he had never, NEVER, had someone act like this to him.  Considering the number of young ladies he had been with; that was rather a large tally to compare against.  Why even their Parents or other Lovers, when they found out, as rare as that was, didn’t act like this.  To stand before him and call him unhonorable…why he was the most honorable person he knew.  Why did she think he was unhonorable?  It made no sense to him.  Osa had…needs.  Turk was extremely well skilled in fulfilling those needs.  What was wrong with that?  Sometimes, one girl or the other he had bedded in the past would take a dislike to the fact that he wasn’t exclusively hers.  Turk never understood that attitude.  Did he not pleasure her when he was with her?  Did she not enjoy his company?  Did she not want to see him again?  Then why should she not want Turk to share his…gift…with other beautiful women when he was with them?  Did a Fighter fight just one enemy?  Did a Baker just bake one type of bread?  Did a Sheriff arrest just one criminal?  No, people used their God given talents to their utmost…that is all Turk was doing.  So why was Minx so hateful to him?

Glancing towards the bow, Turk pulled his gauntlet on tighter; embarrassed he had finally lost his temper and actually challenged a woman to a duel.   He had never fought against a woman before, and prayed he would never have to…but she had gone too far.  When she had accused Turk of bedding Rowena…TURK WILDHANDS!!! bed a defenseless woman.  All he had seen was red and he had challenged her…and now he was ashamed he had.  He looked to the sky and made a silent prayer to Pelor to give him strength; to renew the feeling of power that flowed through his blood, as he did each morning.  “In the name of Justice” he whispered, and the calmness came to him, supplied by his forgiving God.

Whether it was the ocean’s cold breeze, the thought of Pelor’s forgiveness, or thinking of a defenseless woman, the scar on his shoulder began to ache in rememberance.  And, as it ached, Turk gazed upon the ocean, but his mind was not upon this vessel…it was traveling back, back, to that fateful day.  The events passed slowly in front of him as if it was not he himself seeing it, but instead as if he watched like a third party from above.  Turk saw himself, a fresh squad leader from the Academy, riding back from patrol and passing that farmhouse, and noticing his captain’s horse and some of his men before it.  Turk went inside to investigate, and found his drunken captain about to rape, again it appeared, a poor farm girl.  She seemed battered, bruised, with her clothes in disarray as they were torn about her.  Turk, in all his years of wenching had never forcibly taken a woman and now he became incensed at what he saw.  Stepping between the poor girl and his “little” captain he stayed any further harm.  But the drunken fool would not hear of it and after a few pushes and shoves drew his saber and tried to cut Turk down.  In the cramped quarters Turk could not dodge well enough and finally felt the saber slash his shoulder.  Then Turk drew his two handed sword from his back and cut his captain down with one well-aimed blow.  Turk still could hear the air as it drained from his captain’s lungs, and feel the blows of the other men as they beat him into unconsciousness.  

His whole life had changed that day; only the evil deed his captain had done saved him from the gallows.  The days whirled past and became blurred in his vision…Turk came back upon the vessel…his mind regained the present but the memory was still there.  Looking up towards the Sun he whispered “Drummed from the Corps, debased by drugs, drink, and debauchery, fallen to the lowest of the lows you saved me Almighty Pelor”.  A smile “Your strength gave me a second chance…and I shall fight for Righteousness and Justice in your name.” But the irony that Minx should accuse him of taking advantage of a helpless woman, he who had lost all defending one, was not lost on Turk.

Turk looked back once more towards the bow and saw Kierwin and Minx there and his heart was calm.  Pelor had given him the strength to deal with his emotions where he had failed.  With Pelor’s guiding hand and strength Turk would fulfill his newfound self-imposed quest.  To protect the innocent and the meek, to destroy Evil wherever it may rest.  As Turk shook his head he chuckled as he went off to fix himself and Rowena some food…Turk just hadn’t realized that the Evil he would face would also be hidden deep inside the gorgeous form of a companion female Elf.


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## Taboo (Sep 20, 2002)

*Oakhurst*

_Note:From this point out, the story will contain some spoilers for the Sunless Citadel. Much of it has been changed to go along with the Heroes of Destiny Quest, but read at your own risk!_

***********

By the middle of the day, they’d reached the island and gotten to Oakhurst.  Minx and Turk had gotten over their latest fight, although it was obvious they would never agree. Minx was over 100 years old and had been this way all her life, nobody could possibly expect her to change over the course of a few days. Yes, she had strong opinions and yes, she could be judgmental, but she was also dependable, intelligent, and a strong and true friend. Kierwin prayed that Minx and Turk could fight together without compromising the rest of the group or eavh others lives. Everyone else got along so well. The only other problem she would have to deal with was Snap, when it came time to tell the others about his true identity, and as of yet, she still didn't know what his secret was.

When they arrived in Oakhurst, they found that they had arrived too early to buy the apple. Osa had no reason to stay in town, so Turk offered to take her to the house she had on the outskirts of town. They took Justice and were off. Minx didn’t say a word, not even under her breath. Her eyes, on the other hand, showed what she was thinking, but Kierwin was the only one who noticed, and she wasn’t holding that against her. They stayed in town to have lunch, get rooms and see what information they could find out.

They found out that the place to stay was the Old Boar Inn. They had intended to split up, but what better place to start gathering information? Thorin bought a round of ale, he proclaimed it a bit weak, but not bad, considering it wasn’t Dwarven. Kierwin bought food for the party. She also bought a room for her and Minx, then invited Snap to share it, but with no luck. One of these days, maybe they would luck out and he’d run out of money (they really wanted a peak inside his scarf)! He got a room for himself.

So, they spent most of their money on ale and food getting to know the locals, gathering information. Trying to find out about the apple and anything else they could about the town and surrounding area.

They found about the Mayor, a General Store, a Church of Pelor with a priestest named Dem Nackle, who also served as the town healer. (which would please Turk, if he ever got back from taking Osa home).  There was also the constable, and a jail, among others. 

The next morning, they took off to find the mayor. Turk had returned by that time, and they had filled him in on what they had found out about the town.

Talking to the mayor, Vumor Leng, they found out things were more complicated than they thought.  Apparently, goblins came to town one day of the summer solstice each year to sell the red apple and there was always only one. The town always bought the apple, primarily to keep the goblins happy, they didn’t want to take the chance of starting a war with them. In order to decide who got the apple, the town held a lottery.  There was no guarantee that Osa would even be able to get the apple.

Further talk revealed that on the winter solstice, goblins brought a white apple to town. That rang a few bells, since that’s what Osa told them had caused the girl in Bellhold to fall into the coma-like state.

The townsfolk believed that the apples came from the Sunless Citadel. A month ago, four adventurers had set out for the Citadel and hadn’t been seen or heard of since. Two of them were brother and sister and their mother, Kerowyn Hucrele was offering a reward for their safe return or the return of their gold signet rings proving news of their demise. The leader of the expedition was a man named Sir Bradford, who had been accompanied by an elf, whom they believed was named Kerakas.

As it turned out, Kerowyn Hucrele was also the primary merchant in the small town. This was good information to know in case they came back in need of supplies.  Another merchant in town was a man named Rurik, but most of the party took an instant liking to Kerowin and decided to do the majority of their business with her.

About a decade ago, a man named Belak had shown up asking about the Sunless Citadel. He was a strange, grim fellow accompanied by a large, pet frog on his shoulder. They had never seen him again.

Apparently, the townspeople had tried planting seeds from the apples, but the seeds had produded a twiggy mass of twisted sapling stems that had been stolen once the trees had reached a certain size. The townspeople assumed that the goblins had stolen them to keep them from raising their own trees.

As far as the Sunless Citadel itself, they couldn’t find out much information. The townspeople were afraid to go anywhere near it. Both people and animals had been found dead in the area. The cause of death seemed to be strange, numerous punctures all over their bodies.  Nobody could identify the cause of the holes. They described the holes found in the people and livestock (and even wild animals of all sizes), and they sounded quite disgusting, especially to Kierwin, a Cleric of the Woodlands. No one in the party had ever heard of anything like it. This sounded like something else for them to investigate while they were in the area.

After finding a stable for Justice (Turk didn’t want to take any chances on her getting hurt), Turk promptly set out for the Church of Pelor to pay his respects and to make a donation. He spent time speaking with the priest of Pelor. He also spoke to her about Rowena and about the quest they were setting out for in the morning. He did not wish to take Rowena into such a dangerous situation and needed someone he could trust to leave her with. The priest was more than happy to keep her there. He thanked her and promised to return in the morning.

The next morning, the entire party donated money to give to the church to help pay for Rowena’s care. They all felt responsible for her by now and cared about what happened to her.  Kierwin was feekubg especially guilty for not being able to help her. She'd tried everything she knew to try to help her and nothing had helped. She knew she was a lower level cleric, but she'd tried her best. She'd tried everything she knew and prayed to Elhonna for help to no avail. It seemed that whatever was wrong was definitely beyond her abilities.  She hoped that the priestess of Pelor could help where she had failed.

While they prepared to get going, Turk took Rowena to the temple leave her with the priestess. To prepare Turk for his difficult journey ahead, the priestess prayed to Pelor to grant him with Bull’s Strength. She hoped it would help him with the beginning of what all of the town knew was a dangerous and terrible journey. He thanked her, told Rowena goodbye, and then met the rest of the party at the edge of town while they hurried down the road toward the direction they were told to go to reach the Sunless Citadel.

Turk was feeling mighty well and was pushing the party to go as fast as they could to get to their destination before the Bull’s Strength wore off.  With Turk urging them on, they hustled as fast as they could. Thorin’s legs were really pumping when they came up to the edge of a long dark chasm with a lot of campfire remnants scattered along the upper edge of it.  Any tracks that may have been there had been brushed away and the remains of the campfires were of varying ages.

Dwarven graffiti was written on broken columns along the chasm. Thorin translated and told them that it said to “Stay Away.”


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## Taboo (Sep 28, 2002)

*Decent into Darkness*

They checked both directions and decided there was no way around the chasm and no way across it. It was just too wide to cross, too long to go around, and so dark that they couldn’t tell just how deep it was. Even Thorin’s Dwarven vision couldn’t tell how far down it went.

Thorin could see best in the dark and wanted to tie off his rope and go down a ways to see if he could see anything.  The others weren't so sure that was such a good idea.  With the stubbornness that only a dwarf could have, he tied the rope off and started down into the pitch black chasm. As soon as he started down, he noticed handholds cut into the rock on the side he was descending. They looked treacherous, so he decided to continue down the rope.

It wasn’t long until he could make out a landing down below. He estimated it to be about 50 feet from the top.  So, he climbed back up and made his report to the others. During his recon, he’d figured it all out, they’d found the way to the Sunless Citadel. He told the others. “Don’t you guys get it? It’s the Sunless Citadel, the sun doesn’t reach it!  It has to be down there, where else could it be?” They all knew he was right.

Thorin and Turk climbed down first, followed by Kierwin. About halfway down the rope, Kierwin lost her grip. With a scream, she fell about 25 feet straight down to the bottom. Unfortunately, Turk didn’t have enough of a warning or he would have tried to break her fall. 

Fortunately for her, she wasn’t badly injured from the fall, but unfortunately while their attention was focused on her, it gave what Kierwin later described as an abomination of nature a chance to attack them. As Kierwin was getting up, she was the first attacked by a rat about three feet long. It took a pretty good chunk of flesh out of her thigh, leaving her bleeding badly.

Minx was on her way down the rope, and having seen Kierwin fall, she also saw the dire rats attack. Snap and Geirmund weren’t far behind. They hurried down to help with what looked to be a bad fight developing between their friends and the fiendish creatures.

Thorin pulled out his axe and started in on the rats. Turk promptly pulled out his greatsword and went to work slicing and dicing his way through the hideous onslaught. It didn’t take Kierwin long to get to her feet and grab her longsword and take revenge on the rodent that had bitten her. It didn’t have long to enjoy the flavor of her flesh since she killed it after just a couple of well placed blows.

Between the sleep spells and magic missiles fired by Snap and Minx, the aid of Geirmund, and the frenzy of blows by Thorin and Turk, the rats were dispatched without too much damage taken by the heroes. Thorin and Turk lost track of how many they killed, there were so many rats that they just kept killing as long as the rats kept coming for them. 

Unfortunately, Thorin and Geirmund did take wounds, along with the one Kierwin had gotten when she’d been attacked after she’d fallen. Wounds that they were afraid carried disease that the filthy creatures must have infected them with. None of them were sure if they had contracted anything or not, only time would tell.

Minx helped Kierwin with the healing, they were nearly out of their healing spells, but they certainly couldn’t rest here. They had to keep going. From where they were, they could see several more levels to go down farther into the darkness, so they proceeded down.

As they finally reached the bottom, they came to a courtyard of sorts. The courtyard led to a tower of what was obviously the Sunless Citadel. A rounded wall stood in front of them, and in the center of the wall, stood a door, just waiting for them to enter.


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## Taboo (Oct 2, 2002)

*Into the Sunless Citadel*

They walked up to the door of the rounded tower.  They automatically took up their now familiar positions. Geirmund only moved up to the front if he needed to pick a lock and he promptly moved to the back before Thorin opened any doors! 

They opened the door to the tower and walked in. They found the bodies of four dead goblins, one of which was pinned to the wall by a spear, and two doors.  One of the doors in particular drew their attention because of the design carved into it, but first they had to check out the dead goblins. 

First, they examined the bodies on the floor, and found that they’d already been looted. They wondered if Sir Bradford’s party had killed the goblins or if it had been someone or something else.  Minx went over to check out the one pinned to the wall. 

Snap pulled the spear out of it for her, since it was really jammed into the wall and the body slumped to the ground. 

Next, they went over to the door on the left. The entire wall to the left of it was collapsed, and a mass of rubble. They searched it and found no signs of rats or anything else, so they felt safe focusing their attention on the door.  Thorin was especially fascinated by the stone door. It was carved completely from stone and in the shape of a rearing dragon. The keyhole was made in the dragon’s mouth. Thorin pronounced it extremely well made craftsmanship, but found nothing but the keyhole. 

Geirmund got to work trying to pick the lock.  He shifted position. He stuck his tongue out, shifted position again, and made everyone move back. Eventually, he pulled up his sleeves, muttered to himself, and even muttered to his lockpicks. He tried for well over an hour before he finally gave up. He said that it was just too complicated for him and they were going to have to find a key or another way in.  They could tell by the look on his face how disappointed he was that he hadn’t been able to pick the lock. 

So, they told him not to worry about it, they could always come back to it and they’d try the other door.  They went over to the other door, and Thorin opened it. They found piping on the walls with some sort of distillery farther down the hall. Thorin decided to check it out. Kierwin didn’t want him going alone and decided to go with him. The others stayed at the doorway. 

They heard some kind of sloshing inside, so, thinking it could be something beneficial to the group, they tried the spout first. It wouldn’t budge, even with both of them pulling on it. They saw a plug on it and decided to  pull it off. It took some work, but they finally managed.  They were wishing they hadn’t.  As soon as the plug was removed, a strange looking creature burst forth from the opening, 

They didn’t  have time to tell it that they weren’t there to hurt it, just to look for some kind of healing. They had hoped that they would find it in the main tank, but the creature came out surprising them with steam. Kierwin managed to dodge it completely, but Thorin got burned by the steam. Fortunately, he recovered quickly from the attack. 

Kierwin quickly attacked the creature with her longsword, but even though she knew she hit it, the blow didn’t even seem to phase the watery creature. The mephit, on the other hand, could definitely hurt both her and Thorin. 

By this time, Thorin had more than recovered from the minor wounds that he had sustained from the steam when the mephit had burst from the distillery. He slammed it with his axe, and even Kierwin could hear and see the damage that the dwarf did to the creature.   

The Mephit tried for them again, failing to hurt them through their armor, but after a couple of well placed blows on Thorin’s part, they finally defeated the Mephit. After it died, it left behind a puddle of water on the floor, in which Thorin and Kierwin for 5 small sapphires. Unfortunately, there was nothing in the tank they had hoped that could be of any use to them. 

After the fight with the Mephit, the others finally managed to join them, and they continued down the hall. They stopped at the door, and could hear some kind of sound coming from the other side, but it was very faint. 

When they walked into the room, they noticed a large broken cage and what seemed to be a primitive wooden altar, but what caught Kierwin’s attention was the sound of whimpering.  It seemed to be coming from a bundle of rags over near the altar not far from the large cage that had obviously been broken open. She headed that way asking Turk if he would come with her. 

Remembering the Mephit bursting from the barrel and the ferocious dire rats, Kierwin wasn’t taking any chances. “While I lift these rags off of this thing would you mind guarding me with your greatsword, Turk?” Kierwin asked. 

“Why, not at all, my Lady!” Turk would never allow harm to come to a lady if he had anything to say about it. 

Kierwin, not wanting to bend over and take any chances in case this was a trap, used her sword to lift what turned out to be a blanket off of the pitiful, whimpering creature.  

Exposed, it turned out to be a beaten little kobold curled up in a fetal position. He was whimpering and moaning and if he was actually speaking, Kierwin couldn’t make out any of the words. She called to Minx, knowing that she could speak Draconic, assuming that the little creature was probably using that language, if any. 

It turned out that his name was Meepo. He REALLY liked Minx because she must have dragons’ blood in her if she could speak the dragon’s language, so she was the special one in the group! He promptly became attached to her. Really attached, as in grabbed her around the leg! He explained that goblins came and beat him, killed the other kobolds in the room, then stole his white dragon, Calcryx. Actually, it was the kobolds’ dragon, but he was responsible for it. He fed it, and took care of it, and felt like it was his. In fact, he sounded very possessive of it. 

Then, the other kobolds had come in later, and found out the dragon had been stolen. Of course, he’d been blamed for it!  So, the queen and other kobolds had beaten him again, kicked him in the head several times, and left him for dead. Since then, he’d stayed here in the dark, whimpering under this pile of rags waiting for death to find him. Minx was having some difficulty understanding him, since he was saying this in between whimpers, but this was what she’d managed to make sense of.  She wasn’t thrilled with being this close to a kobold, let alone having him wrapped around her leg, drooling, but it might be important, so she did her best. 

As far as Minx could determine, they needed to meet the Queen of the kobolds. Nobody in the party was too terribly thrilled with this idea, but it didn’t seem that they had much choice. All questioning of Meepo seemed to come back to this idea. He seemed fairly certain that the queen would meet with them, especially since Minx was “special.”  Maybe they could even get Calcryx back from the evil goblins who had stolen him. Turk, in particular wasn’t pleased with that notion.

They (or rather, Minx) asked Meepo about the door they had found that had the dragon on it and he knew about that. Apparently, the queen had the key. It was among her many possessions. They also asked about the party led by Sir Bradford, and Meepo knew that they had passed through there. He had no news of them after that.  They hadn’t come back.

The party followed Meepo to the throne room. He spoke to the guards and they let the party pass. The Queen, Yusdrayl, was willing to speak to Minx, only in Draconic, of course. The conversation centered on getting the dragon back. Minx tried to find out about the other party,  and about the Dragon door they’d found. Of course, the Queen kept going back to the subject of Calcryx and getting him back alive, and she demanded that they take Meepo with them. 

Turk could barely be held back when Minx told everyone (in common) what the Queen had told her.  There was no way he was bringing the dragon back alive. There was no way to know what the kobolds intended to use the dragon for. He also didn’t intend to lie about it.  After much arguing, Minx managed to convince the queen that the party would look for the dragon, although they would not promise to bring the dragon back alive. If the dragon attacked, they would have no choice but to defend themselves. They did agree to take Meepo (under protest). The condition was that they wanted the key first. 

The queen mumbled and wasn’t thrilled with the conditions, but she did want that dragon back. At least this gave her a chance to get him. Right now, those stupid minions of hers didn’t stand any chance of getting past the goblins to bring back Calcryx!  She finally gave in and gave them the key. She just hoped enough of the intruders stayed alive to bring back her dragon! 

 “Tell your friends that if they bring back Calcryx, I will reward them with items from my collection behind me.”

Minx dutifully translated her words. It didn’t change anyone’s mind, but they kept that to themselves, they wanted to be careful what they said in case the queen could understand what they said. Turk didn’t care what he said, of course, he was completely honest. There was nothing that would convince him to bring back the dragon alive.

They did have a few more questions for the queen, hoping she would tell them a little more about what they would face down below.

What they got was that she believed the apples came from down below and there was “bad stuff” down below.  She knew little of Belak, but he could also be down there  Of course, the adventurers didn’t know much of him either, it was a name they’d heard in Oakhurst, and only that he’d been interested in the Citadel and hadn’t been seen for several years.

The adventurers and Meepo set out, but as soon as they got out of the queen’s throne room, they left Meepo hidden where they found him. They didn’t know what they’d find behind the dragon door and didn’t want to have to watch out for him. Minx told him that they’d be back for him as soon as they were done and to keep out of sight. So, they headed for the mysterious door with the frightening dragon carved into it that the kobolds seemed so afraid of.


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## Taboo (Oct 11, 2002)

The Dragon Door

They had deposited Meepo safely back in the room where Calcryx had been kept, telling him to keep quiet so the queen wouldn’t know he was there. Then, they had headed back for the door that had managed to elude them earlier in the entryway of the tower. 

Minx gave the key to Thorin when they reached the large stone door intricately carved with the dragon. He inserted the key into the rearing dragon’s mouth. As he turned it, the lock clicked, and the door opened with an audible whoosh. It was as though the room had been sealed for eons and they had just broken that seal. They all felt uneasy when the door opened. Thorin took the key back out of the door and pocketed it. Then, they slowly entered the room. 

Thorin could see three alcoves in the north wall and three in the southern wall.  There were two empty alcoves in the southern wall, and one with something in it. He went over to search the middle alcove with Turk to back him up, and found an orb glowing faintly with a blue light. He heard faint tinkling noises coming from it.  

When Snap walked into the room, he saw the three alcoves in the north wall, and noticed that they also held orbs, although, they were cracked and black.  Minx walked over to Snap to examine the darkened orbs. 

Thorin picked up the blue, glowing orb.  Immediately, both Turk and Thorin felt an irresistible compunction to go wherever the orb was leading them. They immediately started walking out of the room.  Kierwin was standing nearby, and though she felt something when she heard the sound of the orb, she managed to resist it. She immediately set off after Thorin and Turk to try to stop them. Minx and Snap were busy on the other side of the room, but when they noticed what was going on with the others, they followed Kierwin. 

Kierwin was trying to figure out what to do to get them out from under the globe's influence. She tried talking to them, but they were ignoring her, she might as well not have been there. Then, she caught up and got in front of Turk and tried one last ditch effort, she slapped him. 

That wasn’t such a great idea, as the orb had a really good hold on the men. When she slapped Turk, it compelled him to get rid of the obstacle – Kierwin. Fortunately for Kierwin, Turk’s will was so strong that even under these circumstances he would not strike a woman, so he pushed her out of his way and kept going. 

By now, the orb had gotten them to the entryway to the Sunless Citadel.  Snap had caught up, and had unfortunately gotten caught under the spell of the orb. Thorin was still carrying the orb and was slightly in the lead, when he tripped a pit trap they had missed when they had originally arrived at the entrance. Thorin fell into the pit, followed a moment later by Snap. Turk,  managed to keep his balance on the edge.  Kierwin, Minx and Geirmund were far enough back to avoid falling in, and didn't want to get any closer to avoid falling under the orb's control. 

Now Kierwin and Minx had two problems. Two of the men were trapped under the spell of the orb, and at the bottom of the pit, Turk was still under the orb's control and at the edge of the pit. At least they didn’t have to keep chasing them!  Kierwin prayed to Ehlonna for her blessing on the party.    

Now that Turk was standing at the edge of the pit,  and she could see he was already trying to shake off the effects of the orb, Kierwin tried talking to him again,  calling to him, saying everything she could think of, even promising Turk things she’d never promise any man under normal circumstances! 

Turk managed to shake off the effects of the orb, but it was his own willpower that saved him, although Ehlonna's blessing may have aided in that.  He said that he could feel that the orb really liked the dark. That’s all he could say about it, but the feeling was very strong.   Turk knew that the only way to insure the destruction of the evil was to get rid of the orb, so he climbed down into the pit to get the orb that now lay on the ground at the bottom of the pit near Thorin's feet.  He'd dropped it during the fall.

Kierwin’s blessing from Ehlonna was fading, so Minx prayed and cast bless on the party to try to help with Thorin and Snap. 

Thorin and Snap were just standing in the pit under the thrall of the orb. It was happy where it was, it was dark down there. Turk dropped down into the pit  and picked the orb up to throw it as far away from the group, but as soon as he touched it, it took control of him again. 

Kierwin sank to her knees.  Now what could they do?

Fortunately Turk's willpower was strong enough that he overcame the orb's control, but he wasn't about to touch it again.  It wasn't long until Thorin and then Snap managed to fight the orb's spell. 

When they finally got out of the pit, Thorin decided to destroy the orb.  The others stood back.  After several well placed blows, the orb finally broke. It went black like the others they’d seen in the room. 

Minx led them back to the room where they’d found the orbs to show them what she’d found. While they’d been occupied with the blue orb, she’d been searching the room and had found a secret door. That’s why she was a little behind the others, but as soon as she’d heard the commotion, she’d gone running after them, and hadn’t had a chance to do anything else. 

First, they destroyed any trace of the rest of the orbs, even though they were black and cracked, they weren’t taking any chances. Then they opened the door Minx had found.  

After walking through the door, Thorin walked across a pressure plate in a hallway, setting off a trap. An arrow sprang across the hallway lodging itself right in his head. Fortunately, it didn’t hurt him very much, he said it was the way dwarves disarm traps (as Kierwin prayed to heal him), but Turk quit trusting him to check for traps and asked Geirmund if he would start double checking it when Thorin wasn’t looking.


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## Taboo (Oct 19, 2002)

*Into the Dragon Priest's Chamber*

They walked into a semi-circular room. It appeared to be a dead-end. In the rounded end of the room was a statue of a 10 foot tall sculpture of a coiled dragon, carved from red-veined white marble.  When they approached it, its head swiveled down to face them. It asked a riddle.

Startled, the group gave the correct answer. Hoping that they weren’t about to be eaten, maimed, or attacked in some horrible manner. 

A formerly hidden door slid open. 

Before going through the newly opened door. Kierwin searched the room, escorted by Turk, but didn’t find anything other than the dragon statue and the secret door that the answer to the riddle had already revealed. The others kept a very close eye on the new opening in case anything came through it. 

They stepped through the door into a dust cloaked 20 foot wide hall. It was lined with figures carved out of the same red-veined white marble as the dragon had been. At the end of the hall, stood a stone archway over an open pit filled with spikes. Turk and Kierwin stopped at the figures to investigate them, but Thorin decided to investigate the pit. 

When Thorin approached the pit; he was attacked by a creature with spiked horns, bat-like wings, skin that looked postulant and diseased, and filthy claws on both hands and feet. It attacked Thorin who was unprepared, but managed to dodge its claws and horns completely with the uncanny reflexes he’d shown so often. The Quasit roared its outrage at the failure of its attack, but before it could do anything further, Turk was there with his greatsword out, ready to rid the world of another evil creature. 

He brought the sword down through its neck and all the way down through it to cut the creature in half. As it slid in two, the corpse oozed, sizzled, and stank up the entire hallway. Although he didn’t know what he’d just killed, he got the feeling that he’d just slain a demon from the foul pits of hell.  They all breathed easier that nobody got hurt, that was a short, but furious battle and that creature was the most hideous thing any of them had ever seen. 

Turk and Thorin decided they’d best investigate the pit, and didn’t find anything else hiding in there. They also didn’t find a way around, so they would have to go across. Kierwin was trying to get their attention, first though. She wanted Thorin’s expertise. 

Thorin took a look at the statues. They were extremely well made, the detail was amazing. That’s what had Kierwin worried. She was almost afraid they’d been real people turned to stone, Minx had looked and thought the same thing. It was actually hard to tell, but Thorin had to say no. He didn’t recognize the craftsmanship, he was sure it was handmade and very well done at that. 

So, they went back to the more immediate problem – the pit full of spikes blocking their way. They needed to get across it.  Thorin and Turk decided on the solution. They would jump across and pull the others over on their rope. 

Thorin jumped first and did not quite make it, but was able to grasp the far edge with his hands as he crashed into the far side.  He grabbed it and was able to barely hang on.  Geirmund, seeing him in danger, jumped to be able to pull him up from the side of the pit.  Unfortunately Geirmund fell slightly short too as he fell on top of Thorin and grabbed his legs as he slid down towards the pit.

Turk, seeing both Thorin hanging onto the edge and Geirmund hanging onto Thorin's legs, knew they were in ever increasing danger of being impaled on the spikes at the bottom of the pit. He quickly removed his armor, and jumped across . He made it successfully and pulled both men up to the top out of danger.

Kierwin and Minx were almost afraid to watch. They expected to see at least one of them impaled on the spikes in the pit.  Especially when Turk took his armor off to jump. Then when Turk made it, Kierwin threw the end of the rope over to Turk as well as his armor,  the equipment and supplies. Thorin and Turk pulled each of the other party members across.  Snap even managed to keep his scarf across his face, so that even now, he remained concealed from his friends and allies. 

Once they were all safely across, and armor and equipment was all properly re-equipped; they opened the door.  They were shocked to find what appeared to be a large stone sarcophagus. The shocking thing was that it was shaped like a dragon, and even the lid curved up with a dragon’s head.  

They looked at the sarcophagus, and Minx found writing on it in draconic, she translated for the others: 

“Here lies the Dragon Priest. Death is only the Beginning.” 

They promptly decided they weren’t opening the sarcophagus.  Instead, they decided to search the room. The floor of the room was made of violet hued marble tiles, some of which had cracked over the years.  Kierwin and Minx went opposite directions to search for secret doors in the floor or walls. 

Kierwin pulled on a barely flickering sconce, and found a secret door.  Mindful of traps, she refused to open it, and called Geirmund. After he pronounced it safe, at least he hoped so, and got in the back of the group, Kierwin opened the door. Then she stepped back behind Turk and Thorin.  

It turned out the door led to a small crawlspace with writing on the walls. This writing was in draconic like the writing on the sarcophagus, so they asked Minx to read it. 

“A Dragon Priest, entombed alive for transgressions of the law, still retains the honor of his position.” 

They followed the crawlspace, and it took a turn, then finally came out in the alcove where they had found the blue orb that had caused them so much trouble.

Since they were back in the hallway, they discussed their alternatives.  Go back and try to fight whatever that Dragon Priest was that somebody had locked up in there alive (in that great big dragon shaped sarcophagus), who knew how many hundreds of years ago; or lock the place back up. They unanimously voted to lock the place back up.

So, they got back to the heavy stone door with the rearing dragon on it and Thorin tried to lock it. That’s when they realized what that noise meant when they unlocked it. The door had been magically sealed and they had broken the seal. They couldn’t lock it back up.

Now, if they left it unlocked, anybody could walk in here and that meant the Dragon Priest could be let loose upon the world. They couldn’t let that happen, and Turk was very clear of his intentions, he’d die before he’d leave the door open with that sarcophagus intact. 

Short on healing and other magic, they all agreed that they’d rather risk their lives than take the risk of letting the Dragon Priest loose. They’d work together and if it came to it, die, before that creature left the tomb that they’d opened, not knowing that their actions could open a way for a creature locked away for generations to be let loose again upon the world.

***********
Next week:  Our heroes face their biggest and most dangerous battle, and a new hint about Snap!


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## Taboo (Oct 21, 2002)

For those of you who would like a sneak peak at some of our characters, we have a webpage set up with some pictures.

For your convenience, I have provided a link and you can take a peek at the figures we use. These are temporary pictures, since we're not happy with the background used, but they'll do untill I can reshoot them and post them again.

There are pictures both for The Heroes of Destiny (From Slaves to Heroes) and for The Heroes Of Haven.  There are a couple of PC's missing since they weren't available when the pictures were taken.

Gallery


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## Taboo (Oct 26, 2002)

*The Dragon Priest*

They made their way back through the passage into the Dragon Priest’s crypt. Thorin and Turk made quick work of the locks on the sarcophagus. They all took up positions in the room so that the mages could cast their spells, and the fighters could best get in range. 

Not knowing for sure what they’d face, they tried to prepare for anything. Thorin pushed the lid off, as soon as everyone said they were ready. As soon as he did, they got the strong aroma of sweet herbs and spices. 

Snap and Geirmund were paralyzed instantly with fear, at the same time that Turk felt evil emanate from the mummy that had been released from the tomb. Kierwin prayed that Ehlonna would _bless_ the party. 

Minx, not knowing that Turk felt the unmistakable presence of evil, tried to speak to the mummy in draconic, “We mean you no harm”, but there was no response. 

Turk struck a strong blow to the mummy, feeling it in his bones, but it didn’t even slow it down. Thorin moved to get over the lid of the coffin, tripping as he did so. 

Snap and Geirmund were still transfixed by fear, and Kierwin was doing her best to think of something she had that might hurt a foe so powerful. The first thing she did was try her best weapon against the undead, a _greater turning_. It didn’t even phase the undead Dragon Priest, it actually laughed at her, taunting her for her futile attempt, then ignored her. 

The creature turned its attention on Turk, the only one who had shown he could hurt it so far. Kierwin would have to think of something better, it was much to powerful to turn. She need something that could actually hurt it.  

Minx used _magic missile_ against the creature, it turned its attention from Turk to Minx then, calling her a "bitch" and hit her this time, while Turk continued to take chunks out of it with his greatsword. No matter how often he hit it, it kept standing. 

Geirmund, recovered from the fear that had gripped him when the lid was lifted from the coffin, hurried to help Thorin get up from the floor.  Once Thorin was up, he got his axe and rushed over to aid Turk against the creature.  

Kierwin remembered the _Spiritual Weapon_ scroll she’d found on the island where they’d been stranded after escaping from the slavers and tried it.  It startled her by appearing as a _crab claw_, she directed it to hit the creature, but didn’t seem to hurt it. 

They were trading blows back and forth, with Turk and Thorin doing the only real damage. Turk couldn’t believe how much damage it seemed he was dealing out, and the creature kept taking it. The mummy struck Turk once, but Turk struck it right back. Kierwin kept trying to handle the strange _claw_ she had summoned, but it just didn’t seem to be helping much in the fight.  

Snap had recovered from the paralyzing fear he had suffered when the mummy was released. Geirmund, knowing he couldn't help in the fight, was shouting encouragement from behind them, watching for openings, looking for anything that could help.

Snap had gotten into the fight, and was getting ready for his own attack. He’d gotten over to the side where he could cast a spell, and then pulled his scarf down, opened his mouth, and a _stream of fire_ shot out.  Unfortunately the mummy dodged the fire, and he missed.

Turk nearly jumped backward from the creature when the stream of fire came straight out of Snap’s mouth directly between him and the mummy! When the mummy dodged the fire, he let out an angry roar. Turk's experience kept him in the fight, and he didn't miss a beat. The mummy was angry, now more unintelligible than before and just striking at Thorin and Turk with an amazing strength.

More blows had been exchanged, and Thorin and Turk had gotten in good hits when Snap finished the monstrous mummy off with a well placed _magic missile_, and the mummy finally dropped to the floor. 

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the Dragon Priest’s mummy finally fell to the floor. Minx, Thorin, and Turk had all been hurt by the mummy. Everyone relieved to believe they had survived the unbelievably intense fight. Kierwin healed Thorin first, then headed over to Minx. 

While Kierwin healed Minx, she and Minx exchanged a look that said they needed to find out what was going on with Snap. They weren’t waiting any longer, something had definitely happened to him over the years. The stream of fire that blasted from his mouth was definite proof of that! They knew that Turk and Thorin weren’t going to be patient after what they had just witnessed. 

Now, they had time to search the mummy and the sarcophagus that had been the Dragon Priest’s prison for so long. 

Inside the coffin, they found silver, gold and four scrolls. Kierwin and Minx finally identified the scrolls as being clerical in nature, but would need more time to study them to figure out what they were. Kierwin recognized the word “wounds” on a couple of them, but could tell this was going to take some work. She packed them away for study later.

Then, they inspected the mummy itself.  They found various jewelry, rings, amulets and bracelets, but then, they took a look at the weapon they found. Thorin checked it out first and identified it as being made out of jade. The weapon was a very nicely made sword.  

Minx identified it as magical. She took a closer look and found writing on it. After a very close inspection, she found that the writing was a magical combination of Draconic and Elven. It said “Spirit Cutter.”  

They gave _Spirit Cutter_ to Turk, who packed it safely away for the time being. 

Kierwin hadn’t healed Turk yet, so she headed over to him. While she healed him, they also needed to talk. While they were busy, Minx and the others searched the rest of the room more thoroughly. Minx also spoke to Snap. 

While Turk and Kierwin were alone, he mentioned that he remembered what she said when he had the orb. She had been very openly offering to flash him, or anything else it would take to get him back to his senses, and she meant it. Of course, he would never expect her to do that, he would never expect a lady to do anything like that for him for any reason. What he loved about her was her sizzling smile, and wanted to be surrounded by the glow of her bubbling personality as it burst from her lips. 

At which she did smile, and blush, and she’d known Turk was too honorable to hold her to something she’d said when she was desperately searching for a way to bring him out of that trance. 

Then she surprised him, by saying that she’d love to talk to him alone, away from the others when all of this evil was over. There was something different about him, and she wanted a chance to get to know him better, he wasn’t like anyone she knew. She could feel the honor inside of him, she could see it in his eyes. She didn’t tell him that she’d felt it the moment she’d met him in the hold of the ship.  

Then the Citadel brought them back to the present. Questions needed answering. Kierwin was needed with Snap and Minx. She was also getting that look from Minx that said “what are you two talking about over there?” They were just talking, and just trying to find out more about each other, nothing more. 

Kierwin excused herself and went to Minx and Snap.  She flashed Turk a smile and went over to find out exactly what was going on with Snap, praying that the truth was something that they could all handle. Nothing was ever easy.

**********
Next: Snap!


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## Taboo (Nov 1, 2002)

*Snap, Revealed at last!*

They talked in the corner, Turk, Thorin and Geirmund gave them privacy for now. Snap finally showed the girls his face. The half-orc had started to develop scales…and fangs.  Then he showed them his hands.  His nails were growing into claws.  His jaw could unhinge, that’s what had happened when he had breathed fire at the mummy.  He had dragon’s blood flowing through his veins. 

He’d left the village before the physical changes had happened, he'd known there was something changing inside him and it scared him. Then later, his physical appearance had started to change. That’s when he’d begun to be more and more reclusive.  He didn’t want anyone to see him like that, he didn’t know what they’d do.  

He went in search of answers. He’d been wandering for years, trying to find out who he was, what he was.  Then, he’d been kidnapped in Aguila and they’d met in the ship’s hold. All he knew was that he was developing the physical signs from the dragon’s blood. Today was the first time he’d actually even breathed fire.  

Kierwin asked him if he wanted them to tell the men, she knew that they had to. He said yes. She asked him to go wait in the room with the orbs. She wanted to make sure he was safe for now, she was sure she could talk to Turk (at least she hoped so), but she wasn’t sure about Thorin, and knew nothing about Geirmund. 

Turk, Thorin and Geirmund saw Snap run from the room through the secret corridor that led to the room with the smashed orbs. They looked curiously at the ladies, waiting for answers. Then, Kierwin walked to Turk and Minx to Thorin and Geirmund.  Of course, all were standing together, but Kierwin made a point of standing directly in front of Turk, keeping Minx further away from him. 

Kierwin started it off. “We’ve talked to Snap, and found out what he’s been afraid to tell us all. I asked him to leave while we tell you. It’s going to be hard to take, but I ask you to trust me, please. Do you trust me?” 

Turk’s answer was that he trusted her.  Thorin of course was withholding judgment, and she didn't blame him. All three men were waiting for the explanation.  Minx and Kierwin both explained as best they could, they didn't completely understand it all yet. 

They explained about the dragon’s blood flowing through his veins. They were still withholding the fact that he was a half-orc, Kierwin was coming to that. The men asked questions about Snap finding out about being part dragon, all fair questions. 

They told them everything they knew. He was still trying to find out. Kierwin would call him back in (once she was sure they wouldn't kill him on sight) and he would talk to them about it, but first she had to tell them one more thing. 

Minx wasn’t thrilled with her about this. Kierwin took a deep breath, she knew that many people hated orcs, even half-orcs. She prayed that Turk really did trust her enough to go on her word for this, that Snap was one of the good guys. She didn’t know enough about Thorin or Geirmund to make any assumptions. That was a problem. 

“What you don’t know about Snap is that while he only recently found out that he’s part dragon, he is also a half-orc.” Thorin stopped her. 

“A half-orc? Orcs killed my entire clan, I’m sworn to kill all orcs, including half-orcs!” Thorin was even more angry than Kierwin had expected, but she hadn't known about his clan being killed by orcs. 

Turk wasn’t happy, but he was listening, as was Geirmund.

Minx took over. “Our village raised him from before he could talk. He was a baby. He doesn’t even know what it is to be an orc. There’s not an evil bone in his body!” 

Thorin wanted to know if he’d ever in his life burned a village, killed an innocent, anything that could possibly be evil, or indicate that he may stray toward that direction. Kierwin swore an oath that he hadn’t. Minx promised that he hadn’t and she knew him best, they’d learned magic together. Minx had known him since he'd been found as an infant.  Minx did most of the talking since she knew him best, her family had raised him. 

After a long talk, between the five of them, Kierwin promised both Turk and Thorin that if the changes going on within Snap turned him evil, or if for any reason he attacked innocents, turned on them, gave them some reason to have to fight him, she would stand with them against her friend.   

She called Snap back in and he happily threw his scarf and robe away. The days of secrecy were finally over, and Snap seemed like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Kierwin hoped that she would never have to keep her promise and have to stand against her friend. He’d shown today that he would stand with them, she just hoped with all her heart that he stayed true to that purpose.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They headed back to Meepo and the other section of the Sunless Citadel. It was time to continue the quest.

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

Hey guys?  Any loyal readers out there?  I'd love to hear some comments or _creative_ criticism! Not to mention that I'd like to know if I actually still have any loyal readers! 

Especially now that Snap has finally been revealed both to you and to the players! Rest assured, the DM has more surprises coming up!
(We really didn't know what Snap was, besides a half-orc! The fire was a shock to us!)


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## Knightfall (Nov 4, 2002)

*Re: Snap, Revealed at last!*



			
				Taboo said:
			
		

> *Hey guys?  Any loyal readers out there?  I'd love to hear some comments or creative criticism! Not to mention that I'd like to know if I actually still have any loyal readers!
> 
> Especially now that Snap has finally been revealed both to you and to the players! Rest assured, the DM has more surprises coming up!
> (We really didn't know what Snap was, besides a half-orc! The fire was a shock to us!)  *




I'm still here Taboo, although I've been busy with my own story hours as well as several other projects for Beyond the Moons and Dark Sun.  My time is limited now.

But I'll be around...

Cheers!

KF72


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## Taboo (Nov 14, 2002)

*Beyond the Throne Room*

Thanks KF72! I've been busy myself! I've been keeping up with your stories, and I can see how busy you've been, great job!

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

They headed back to find Meepo where they’d left him in the room that Calcryx had been kept in.  It was time to find their way deeper into the Citadel. 

They got back into the room and Minx called to Meepo. He came running to her. He was excited that she had come back alive. He noticed that she smelled funny, and that she had fought something. She tried to explain that they had killed the mummy. 

“How you kill something that’s already dead?” After trying to explain how they killed something that was undead (and what undead meant) for a several minutes, she finally gave up, it was hopeless.  

While Minx was trying to explain killing the mummy to Meepo, the others were searching the room, since they hadn’t done that very thoroughly on their first visit here. 

They found a wooden bench that appeared to have been used as a sort of an altar. Thorin searched it and found containers of green dye, paint brushes with coarse bristles (which upon close examination turned out to be goblin hair), and 4 jade figurines of dragons, one each in green, red, orange and white jade. He said the craftsmanship of the figurines was actually pretty good, so he pocketed the dragons. 

Minx asked Meepo where the figurines had come from, and he just said down there somewhere, indicating a direction. She then asked him about the various doors in the room, one which led to a room containing food for Calcryx (rats), two empty rooms, the hole in the wall that the goblins had made when they stole the dragon (which the other adventurers had gone through), and the door leading to where it turned out the kobolds were holding some goblins hostage. 

Upon hearing that news, they certainly wanted to talk to the goblins! Meepo wasn’t thrilled with the idea, but went along with it. Geirmund tried to pick the lock, but his lockpick broke. So, Turk decided to try to bash the door down.  Meepo panicked and went to see if he could get a friend of his to get them into the room with the goblins, before Turk got him into trouble. 

Fortunately, Meepo’s friend, Crix, was willing to help. The guard pulled out the broken lockpick, glared at them for trying to pick the lock, and unlocked the door. When the adventurers entered the room, they found four filthy goblins chained in the room. 

Minx tried to talk them into giving them a map of the underground.  The goblins would only do it if they would get their freedom. Meepo wasn’t a happy kobold because he knew what the humans were going to want him to do. 

They were limited on chalk, so Turk broke two pieces of chalk in half and gave each goblin a piece. Then, told each one to draw it’s own map on the floor. If the maps were right, they would be escorted out of the Citadel. If they were all different, then when one proved to be right, that goblin would be given its freedom. The goblins got to work. 

Meanwhile, the party had to figure out what to do about writing the map on something they could take with them. They finally decided to have Meepo take Thorin to get some charcoal. Kierwin volunteered the use of one of her clerical scrolls since they had no paper to use for the map. 

Meepo decided that Thorin was his new best friend (next to Minx of course, who was his real best friend), because he could see in the dark. 

When Meepo and Thorin returned, the goblins had finished their maps. There were two different maps. It appeared that the goblins had drawn two different sections of the citadel, so they had indeed all four earned their freedom.  

When Minx asked the goblins about traps and ambushes, they made her make the kobolds leave. They said there were no traps or ambushes set up. They didn’t know where the dragon was kept, they hadn’t ever been there. They did show them where the leader was, he was in the big room.  Belak  is in the underparts with the tree, and the goblins didn’t think the party should mess with him. 

It seemed that the goblins had tried to be truthful and kept their word. The party walked them out to the front of the citadel and let them go. Meepo and Crix weren’t happy because that was their meal for the next few days that was walking away. The group told them not to worry, there would be plenty of dead goblins soon. 

Looking at the map, the best way to go would be through the throne room, rather than the more direct route which was the way the goblins had broken through and taken the dragon. So, they stashed Meepo again, warning him to stay out of sight, and started off through the throne room. 

Once they got there however, the guards warned them that the way was blocked with a pit trap. There was no way past it, and no way to disarm it.  

Turk felt his way around until he triggered the trap, to know exactly where the pit was. Then they explored all their options. There was no way to throw a spear across with a rope attached, there wasn’t anything to anchor it in. The pit had massive sharp spikes in the bottom and there was nothing they could cover them with. The kobolds had never made a way to reset the trap, so that was out. Finally, Turk made his decision. The rest of the party wasn’t happy with it, though.  

Turk took off his armor, preparing to jump across the pit full of spikes. Everyone else was still trying to think of another way across it, but there wasn’t one. Turk jumped. He made it. Kierwin and Thorin were in the room with him, but still on the other side of the pit. They were both relieved when he made the jump across the pit. They threw his armor and supplies over so that he could use his piton and fasten the rope off to get them over.  

He muffled the sound to help keep the noise down while he hammered the piton in to fasten the rope. Just before he could get his armor back on, goblins burst into the room. Even though he had taken care to muffle the hammering, they had been on the opposite side of the wall and had still heard it.

While Turk started fighting, Thorin crossed the rope, followed by Kierwin.  Thorin got across and engaged a goblin, but there wasn’t room for Kierwin to step off of the rope. Fortunately, Turk killed a goblin with his first blow, and stepped forward as it fell to the ground, allowing her to step up onto solid ground. Thorin and Kierwin both had to fight goblins through the doorway, and didn’t manage to hit any. 

Now that Turk, Thorin and Kierwin were all across the pit, the others could finally enter the room. They waited to come across since there wasn’t room for them on the other side until the fight was over or moved on. 

Turk managed to move forward and took out a second goblin, but then got hit by a crossbow bolt, and slashed with a sword, now he had blood running from two wounds, fighting with no armor on.  

In the end, Turk had killed three of the goblins and Thorin had taken out the fourth.

Kierwin helped Turk don his armor, then, being low on healing, she decided to try out the healing scroll she’d found on the island. She was a bit wary of it after the way the Spiritual Weapon had surprised her, but tried it. 

The results were definitely not what she expected. As she used the scroll to heal Turk’s wounds, a purple glow appeared and they had feelings of arousal and pleasure, but for Turk, he still felt pain, but the pain felt good too. Well, that had certainly never happened before! What kind of god did they worship on that island or dimension, whatever that place was? 

It was very strange, and she was really glad she hadn’t used on certain other members of the group!  It took quite awhile for Kierwin to get over the feeling, and she wasn’t too sure she wanted to use the last spell on the scroll later, it was a group spell. She didn’t ask Turk how long the feeling lasted, in fact, she didn’t ask him about it at all. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know right now, it was probably a good thing he’d already gotten his armor back on before she healed him. 

By now everyone had made it over there, and they were ready to move on, they went through the doorway to the next room. They didn’t find anything. Thorin searched thoroughly.  

They got to the next door, and Geirmund searched it closely for traps, but didn’t detect any. Thorin opened it. The room was so hazy from smoke they could barely see. The room was full of columns. So far the map the goblins had drawn were pretty accurate.  

When they got to the next door, they could hear movement, so they prepared for battle.  They worked out a strategy, including having Geirmund spike the door shut if he needed to in order to keep any of the goblins from escaping. 

Kierwin had one last spell left, and that was the _Bless_ spell on the scroll from the island. She was hesitant to use it, but they needed every edge they could get. So, she cast it on the group. As she did, the purple haze appeared. This time, the whole group felt strangely aroused, and they were oddly excited about the idea of getting hurt and feeling the sensation of pain. Except Turk, who felt slightly repulsed by it as though it was wrong. 

So, with this strange blessing, they went through the door and found goblins and hobgoblins, a lot of them, and the  two fighters and the cleric went right into combat without a second thought.   

Geirmund stayed at the door as planned at the beginning of the battle, ready to spike it shut, or to head into battle where needed. 

Minx and Snap stayed back where they could fight from a distance at first. Minx was ready with a _sleep_ spell and put 3 goblins to sleep. Snap followed her example and cast _sleep_ on 2 goblins and a hobgoblin. 

Turk went to the right cut a goblin in half with one blow of his greatsword. Kierwin followed Turk, but didn’t manage to engage any of the goblins in combat.  

One of the goblins kicked the hobgoblin that Snap had put to sleep and woke it up. 

Thorin went to the left and cut a goblin down the middle with his war axe, a puddle of blood starting to form at his feet.  

Minx had her composite longbow out and pierced a goblin right through the heart, a perfect shot, it dropped straight to the floor.  

Kierwin saw her opening and engaged a hobgoblin. She sliced it open with her sword, not killing it, but wounding it bad enough that when it tried to fight back, it missed her completely. 

Snap cast _sleep_ on two more hobgoblins, but then two of the goblins that had been asleep previously woke up. Geirmund had been keeping a close eye on the fight and noticed that the sleep spells were having a limited effect. He decided  it was time to take action.

Goblins flanked Thorin, but both missed him when they attacked. Then two other goblins woke the hobgoblins up that Snap had just cast sleep on.  This was getting frustrating, there were just too many of them.

Turk saw that Thorin was flanked and went to help him, killing one, the pool of blood was getting bigger.  Thorin slashed at the remaining goblin, but missed it. Then the goblin fought back at Thorin and hit him, his blood added to the ever growing pool at his feet. 

Minx fired at a goblin with her bow, but it dodged the arrow in the confusion. 

Kierwin went for a finishing blow on the hobgoblin, but just as she struck at it, it managed to swing at her and just nicked her arm, throwing her aim off just enough to make her miss. It drew blood, but she didn't seem to mind that much, in fact that was just fine. 

A hobgoblin had managed to come up behind Turk while he was killing the goblin. It just barely scratched him as he was turning to fight it. 

Snap got his crossbow out and loaded it. Geirmund came in and started killing the goblins before they could wake up from the sleep spells.  Meanwhile, Minx took another shot with her bow, but the wiry goblin got away again.  

The hobgoblin tried to attack Turk again, but its weapon futilely bounced off his armor. Then Turk swung his greatsword and the hobgoblin’s head went flying across the room, spraying blood in a crescent behind it.  

Thorin brought his war axe down and slashed the goblin down across the chest, killing it, dropping it straight down where it stood, the puddle of blood was getting bigger. 

Kierwin thrust her sword through the hobgoblin, killing it, but as it went down screaming, it managed to slice her leg one last time. 

Snap fired his heavy crossbow at a goblin, scoring a perfect shot and dropping it in its tracks, it fell mid-step.

Meanwhile Geirmund continued killing sleeping goblins. 

Turk took a slight wound from a goblin, throwing his aim off as he tried to return the blow. Thorin stepped up and killed the one that had just wounded Turk. That was the last one. One last goblin had fled the battle through a door on the far side of the room. 

Kierwin realized that she hadn't cared one bit about the wounds from the hobgoblin until the spell wore off, she wondered about the others. She also realized she'd gone right past four small goblins to attack the larger hobgoblin instead, not the smartest move she'd ever made. She decided not to ask the others about it.

They searched the room, it was full of junk. They searched the bodies and found a little gold and silver. Snap cast detect magic, but other than what they already had with them, there wasn’t any, but considering what the junk in the room looked like that was what they expected. 

Kierwin was out of healing, and they were all hurt and in desperate need of rest. They talked it over and decided to return to Oakhurst.

*********
Coming up: A Night in Oakhurst

Which heroes' lives will change forever?

P.S. A little note here: the next few stories are a little more adult oriented, but very important to the story. Parental Guidance is suggested!  Just thought I'd warn you. Tab.


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## AndrewADnDPlayer (Nov 17, 2002)

*Turk's Interlude*

The Return to Oakhurst Begins:

As the Party returned from the Sunless Citadel and entered Oakhurst; Turk bade the others a temporary goodbye "I am off to check on Rowena and will meet you all back at the Boar's Inn later for dinner." Flashing a smile and a slight bow to all he winked surreptitiously at Kierwin and then spun and headed off...

After leaving the Party at the city limits Turk went to the Temple of Pelor to see Dem Nackle and check on Rowena.  He had a long conversation with Dem about what had happened at the Sunless Citadel and learned how Rowena had fared in his absence.  It turned out that Dem and Turk hit it off famously, probably due to their shared love of Pelor, and soon she insisted he call her Corkie, her not so formal name.  Once they had chatted for near an hour Turk decided that he should take advantage of the wonderful day and take Rowena out for a walk to get her some fresh air.

Turk smiled warmly as he and Rowena strolled out of the temple.  He steered Rowena to a country lane and soon they were arm in arm walking down the path.  Rowena seemed to naturally take his arm in hers as she leaned on him as they slowly walked.  They were in no hurry and somehow Turk could sense that Rowena wanted and needed his close attention.  She seemed just slightly more coherent, though she still did not speak, and when Turk gazed into her eyes he could still see that haunted look as if trouble was following her.  Turk's eyes continually scanned the horizon for danger, not that he expected any on this beautiful afternoon, but it was part of his training and he did it automatically.  As they left the city boundaries he noticed some scraggly vegetation and for a moment his military training rose to the surface and he wondered how it would fair as a barricade for defense and then dismissed it as lacking to the task.  Not giving it a further thought he returned Rowena's small squeezes on his arm with his own and he began to talk quietly to her.  

Turk normally didn't talk much to woman.  He had found out early on that woman enjoyed it when they were allowed to talk openly and some were actually surprised by it when he promoted it.  They seemed to think men only enjoyed hearing their own voices and when Turk manipulated them into talking they usually burst forth like a dam.  The fact that this emotional purge left them open to his maneuvering them into bed was the main reason Turk used this tactic, but partly he did enjoy listening to them as he was curious about all things feminine in nature.  Of course, at the moment Rowena couldn’t speak, and even more importantly Turk had no intentions of bedding Rowena.  It wasn't that Rowena wasn't pretty; in fact she was downright gorgeous, perhaps the most beautiful woman he had ever met.  But, in her present condition the thought never even entered into Turk's head.  Turk had never taken a woman by force, nor had he ever taken one that had not willingly gone to his bed, and sometimes insisting upon it.  It didn’t matter to Turk that his charm, or good looks, or wit, or heavy purse had enabled him to persuade or pay the many woman he had been with to willingly join his bed, the ultimate fact was they went willingly and that was all that mattered.  But Rowena, in her present condition, could never willingly make that choice, so Turk was in the unusual situation of being in the presence of a good looking woman and not wondering how and when he could get her in bed. 

In a way it was rather refreshing and Turk felt almost free in a sense.  Of course, he had just been with Osa for many a pleasurable night and he could tell Kierwin would not be far behind so he wasn't too concerned about finding a bedmate at the moment.  Kierwin would be a grand prize to bed, his first Elf and a beauty too.  Turk sincerely liked Kierwin and he hoped that he would be able to give her many, many orgasms so that she would fondly look back on their tryst for the rest of her long life.  Turk was an extremely considerate lover and always strived to make the most of every partner’s sexual interlude.  Even when he paid for sex he enjoyed making the whores truly orgasm.  He, for some reason, enjoyed the sex better when he knew his partners were enjoying it too.  And of course, over time, he had become so good that he now prided himself on the fact that many women would remember him to their deathbeds. 

But right now as he and Rowena walked through the marvelous countryside he had not the pressure of what to say and how to say it and analyzing the situation to take advantage of it...right now he could relax.  So, as they strolled, Turk talked of his past, his present, and the possible future.  He had not had anyone to talk to about his amazing transformation and even though Rowena would remember none of this it still felt good to tell her.  So he talked and spoke of his inner thoughts, and he felt her closeness to him, and he felt at ease and at peace.  Never before had he spoken so intimately to anyone.  He told her of his beginnings as a lad, and how he had run errands for his banker Father.  He told her of his early trouble with visiting places of ill repute, and how that had resulted in his charm school education, and then later his military training at the Academy.  Even though Rowena couldn’t really understand him, as he spoke he still did not mention any of his many woman by name or by intimate detail.  His personal honor would never allow him to discuss such things openly at any time; gentlemen simply did not discuss their private affairs at any time.

After a bit they reached the top of a low hill and Turk felt that Rowena might need a short rest.  He placed his cloak upon the soft green earth and set Rowena upon it.  Then he gave her water from his flask and the last of his fresh rations to nibble upon.  As she sat there he scanned the countryside and took in all the beauty as he continued on with his story.  He told her of that wicked day that had changed his life; the month of self imposed debauchery after that, and then the amazing transformation, guided by Pelor’s hand, that had changed his life forever forward.  As he gazed upon her upturned shining face, “By what miracle has Pelor chosen me to carry forth His righteous justice upon the land?  How is it that I have been granted the honor of being His vessel to be filled with His strength and goodness, and then its contents to be poured from me onto those that I meet?”  Turk looked from Rowena and upon the horizon, his own eyes carrying a haunted look suddenly, “Do I have the inner strength to carry forth this mighty quest?  To help the meek, to protect the weak, and to destroy Evil wherever it may lurk in darkness?”  Turk sadly shook his head in a moment of weakness, and then looked upwards to the shining sun above and let its rays of strength and warmth fill him, “Of course I do not have the strength, but I do not need to nor am I capable of having it, but as long as I follow Pelor it shall be HIS strength that guides me and gives me the power and will to fulfill my new destiny.”  And so with a proud and genuine smile a different feeling Turk lifted Rowena from the ground and they renewed their trek.  And so they walked on and before they knew it they had completed their roundabout travels and come back to the temple. 

Turk walked Rowena inside and made sure Corkie knew they were back.  But before he left he took both of Rowena’s hands in his and leaned forward and lightly kissed Rowena upon her forehead, "Pelor's guiding hand protect thee till I may return to your side, Mistress of My Thoughts, Mistress of Mystery."  With that he turned and headed outside to see a Dwarf about supplies.


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## Taboo (Nov 22, 2002)

*Return to Oakhurst continued......*

Just a short post as we have some heavy character development/roleplaying in Oakhurst.  Each section was written by each player, and the PC's name begins each section.

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

Meanwhile..........

*Kierwin:*
Kierwin flashed a smile at Turk, knowing he didn't see her as he left for the temple, but she hoped he felt it just the same.  They headed toward the Boar’s Inn to book rooms for the night. Kierwin and Minx asked if there was a room available in the back where there was a view of the sunset. Fortunately, there was. After that, they headed for Kerowyn Hercule's place to trade the gems and jewelry that they had found in the citadel. They had already talked about it on the way back to Oakhurst, since Kierwin didn’t want to go alone.

They got there, and after making the trade, they also told Kerowyn that they were sorry they hadn’t found out much about her children yet. They had to come back to town to rest and heal after so many fights. They had found signs of the other party in the Citadel, but there were no signs that anything had happened to them, but they were going to keep looking. They were leaving to go back in the morning when they were back at full strength.

Kierwin looked around the shop, and her eyes lit up when she saw a certain emerald gown. "Minx, it’s beautiful, and I’m so tired of wearing the same clothes I was kidnapped in. It matches my eyes! I want to buy it, what do you think? I know it’s a little expensive, but I’ve never had anything so beautiful." 

*Minx:*
Minx smiled and nodded. She thought it was a little too formal for their travels, but that was okay. As for herself, she had the tailor fix up her emerald green gown and her cloak, and was good to go. 

*Kierwin:*
Kierwin didn’t know anything about the rash that Minx showed her, but wanted to accompany Minx to the temple to see Dem. 

*DM:*
They got to the temple and met Dem who turned out to be just over 3 feet tall and with fairly tan skin, blue eyes and light colored hair. She was a very kind and mellow person, and had a very warm demeanor. She was the town's healer and knew a lot about injury and disease. She said that she had heard of people that had been lucky enough to survive a battle with a Mummy only to contract a disease known as 'Mummy Rot'. She was very impressed that your group was able to put the thing down. It seems that Mummy Rot was pretty obscure because it was a supernatural disease rather than a natural one and fortunately there were not hordes of mummies roaming about. But, of course most people wouldn't survive an encounter to tell about it. 

She could sense Minx's increasing concern about the Rot and her rash so she tried to get back Minx on track. She had never seen Mummy Rot in person but from what she could recall about it was that its affects were not immediate but that it slowly lessened a persons vitality and health until they died. Someone that died of the Rot shriveled away into sand and dust. The healthier the person, the longer they could last. Some people don't even realize at first that anything was wrong until a day or two had passed and they start to feel run down. It could be cured only through magical means and unfortunately she was not strong enough to channel that kind of power. 

She told Minx that her companion, Turk, had been blessed by Pelor Himself and perhaps he had the power to cure her? Sometimes Pelor's chosen Holy Warriors were gifted with the ability to remove disease. Also, Sir Bradford was a Chosen of Pelor and if he was still alive somewhere in the Citadel he may have the power. Of the course the Apple should have the power to cure her, it may be ripe enough to pick. The apple was a sure fire way if you could find it. All she knew about it was that it must come from somewhere in the Citadel as they have never found that kind of tree anywhere and the goblins were the only ones known to ever posses one. 

The town tried every year to plant the seeds from the apple to see if they can grow a tree but after the weedy looking shootings reach a few feet in height they were gone. The township figures the Goblins must steal them at night so no one else has a tree. Dem regrets that she couldn't cure Minx of it, If that is what she had, "that rash does look rather Dry and flaky.. hhmm!" "Well stop by in the morning and I have a blessing I can give you that will bolster your health and endurance for several hours, maybe that will help if that is what it is." 

*Minx:*
After speaking with Dem, the two Elves went back to the Inn. Minx joined the others at a table for supper while Kierwin headed upstairs with her new gown. When Kierwin appeared again a while later, she had on her new dress and was headed for the door. Minx looked up and watched her leave, a concerned look on her face. She stayed in the tavern with Snap for several hours, and then finally headed up to her room to await Kierwin. She crawled into bed with a book until sleep overcame her.

***********
To be continued with further adventures in a return to Oakhurst.


----------



## Taboo (Nov 23, 2002)

One last short posting, before our long roleplaying session.

*Kierwin:*
Kierwin halfway listened to Snap tell about why he'd left their village so long ago. Something was changing inside him, and  he didn't know exactly what or why. He left, searching for answers, but he didn't find many, he only knew that he had dragon's blood coursing through his veins. Beyond that, Kierwin didn't hear much of the conversation, she was lost in thought. 

She needed time to herself, even just for a few hours. She excused herself early, and had talked Minx into a room in the back of the inn. She wanted her own, but one wasn’t available.

She only had one interruption and she didn't mind that at all, it was Thorin, who was having a problem similar to the one Minx had, just not as severe.

*Thorin:*
As the party returned to town and got settled in, Thorin started to notice that there was an uncomfortable itch in his chest that would not go away.  In his quarters, he removed his chain shirt and padding to discover a red, crusty appearance to his skin.  He remembered hearing of the temple of Pelor and decided he’d better see if this foreign religion's healer may do some good, or at least, tell him what it might be. He decided to go and ask Kierwin the location of the Temple of Pelor.

*Kierwin:*
Kierwin had retired to her room early, so Thorin found her there.  Fortunately she had been to the temple with Minx earlier that day.  She gave Thorin directions and told him that she wished that she could help him, but it was way beyond her experience, so she hoped the priestess could help him.  She hoped to see him at dinner and that he would be feeling better. 

*Thorin:*
Thorin thanked Kierwin for her help and headed for the Temple of Pelor.  Believing that this temple would be no different than that of Moradin, he just decided to walk in and call out to see if anyone was there.

**********
Next: A moonlight walk in Oakhurst


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## Taboo (Nov 27, 2002)

*It Began as a Moonlight Stroll.....*

*Kierwin:*
After Thorin left, Kierwin tried to get her mind back on track, and back to the diary she had started. So much had happened, the kidnapping, finding Snap, the arguments between Minx and Turk, the Citadel, the mummy, that orb. She didn’t even know where home was from here, but she wasn't even sure she cared anymore. 

She wondered how Rowena was doing; she was frustrated that she hadn't been able to help her. The arguments with Minx and Turk bothered her most; Minx just wouldn't understand how much good and honor Turk had in his heart and in his soul. Kierwin could actually feel it.  Maybe it was the ties shared between Ehlonna and Pelor. She had prayed to Ehlonna to help settle her mind when she got to her room, she had so many questions.  Of course, even Ehlonna couldn't answer the biggest question on her mind......

*Turk:*
A few hours later, as the Sun was setting slowly and gloriously in vivid colors, Turk sauntered towards the back of the Boar's Inn.  His armor reflecting the brilliant but dying colors of the evening he looked up catching the vision of Kierwin in her bedroom window also looking out upon the sunset.  Raising his voice to be heard from the second story window "How is it that my eyes, so pleased to see Pelor's glorious sunset, have been drawn to an even more amazing vision of Grace and Beauty?"  Turk flashed his famous smile "Pelor shall surely grow jealous of your wanton beauty as you outshine even his magnificent sunsets."  Turk stopped below the window and looked up "Perhaps, if I am so lucky, you would grant me a moment or two of your time before dinner and join me in a stroll through the streets?"  He waved good naturedly indicating a general direction of travel his grin becoming a bit wider "For a bit of calm might help you digest your dinner better and my eyes shall have a feast of their own before the evening meal."

*Kierwin:*
Kierwin was sitting in the room she shared with Minx, the diary forgotten, while she was watching the most beautiful sunset she'd seen in years, when she saw a flash of the setting sun gleam off of polished metal below her window. Then she heard a familiar voice call out to her and she looked down. The sunset was reflected in his armor, and he looked even more handsome than he usually did. Turk's smile met her gaze and her smile lit up her face as she smiled back, unable to help herself. His compliments made her blush, and she knew that he could see it, even from where he stood. His offer of a stroll through the streets of Oakhurst was an offer she couldn't resist. 

"Of course, I would be more than happy to walk with you, I would welcome the chance to calm my thoughts, and to spend some time with you away from the others. If you would just give me a few moments to get ready, I will come down to meet you."

She brushed her long hair, leaving it loose and changed into the emerald gown she had bought when they got to town. She took a deep breath, smoothed her gown, and headed down the stairs to meet Turk outside the inn. Maybe Ehlonna had found a way to soothe her mind, one way or the other. 

*Turk:*
Turk's grin flashed "I shall count the moments as they shall drag by so slowly as if time has stopped, but I would happily wait all eternity for the chance to walk with one so fair in body and spirit as thine." He bowed to her as she disappeared from the windowsill.  

Turk waited outside the front of the inn patiently for Kierwin.  He knew enough about women that they would take what time they felt they needed and not appear a moment sooner or later.  He glanced up and down the street out of habit from his days on patrol, always watching, always looking for trouble anywhere, everywhere.  After a few minutes the door to the inn barely began to move and Turk turned to face the opening door.  As it opened he let out a barely audible gasp of wonderment as he beheld what was truly a vision of beauty.  Everyone knows the Elven race is by far the fairest of them all and Elven woman are naturally beautiful.  But Kierwin was most beautiful even by Elven standards and Turk was sure that she was one of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his entire life. 

Turk bowed lowly and waved his hand gracefully as he had learned at the charm school he had attended.  As he straightened, for the first time since they had met, Turk spoke in Elvish "Ehlonna, the Mistress of the Forest, must have chosen that emerald green to bathe you in herself as that gown does not simply clothe you but radiates your beauty as a rainbow radiates its glory over a meadow on midsummer’s day."  Turk's grin fairly beamed as he beheld the vision before him "But it is not just your outer beauty that shines but your inner beauty too that I can feel even from here; like the soft whisper of a light wind, carrying the first sense of a change in the weather.  Thus your inner beauty I too can sense and with it a calming change, a peaceful change, from haunts in a Sunless Citadel to" he paused and then he held out his arm, cocked for her to take his offered arm as he gestured down the city road with a nod of his head and a grin "to whatever sweet music that we wish to make together along this path of... who knows what this path holds for us?"  

*Kierwin:*
Many things about Turk had surprised her, few more than when he had spoken to her in her native language, she'd had no idea that he spoke it. Stunned when he actually spoke to her in Elvish, even his voice made her heart jump, just as his smile did, she actually paused for a moment to gain her composure, before she walked over to him as gracefully as her startled nerves allowed. She answered him in the same tongue. 

"You are much too kind, and compliment me so much more than I deserve. I knew that you were learned, but you continue to surprise me, I look forward to seeing just what other surprises you have hidden. Not only are you handsome, honorable, and chivalrous, you are intelligent beyond your years."  She smiled, knowing how much he liked her smile, and it was sincere. He was one of the most fascinating men she had ever met, and there was certainly something about him that called to her - something in his soul, she'd felt it the moment she'd met him. 

With that, she happily took his arm, still embarrassed by the compliments that no one had ever paid her before. She thanked Ehlonna for helping her find the emerald gown that afternoon, for it must have been Her, since it seemed to have been the only one the shopkeeper had that was even close to what she had been looking for, it matched her eyes perfectly, and it just seemed to have called her name.  She had managed to keep her voice from shaking when she saw him, the sun had set, but looking into his eyes, she could almost see the sunset reflected there, whether it was her imagination or Pelor, she didn't know. 

For the first time in weeks, she felt at peace. She carried only her Holy Symbol, she was never without it, but she trusted Turk in case of any trouble and didn't carry any of her weapons. She thought about what he said about whatever sweet music they wished to make together, and just had to decide what to say, or rather how to say it, and she didn't want to say it wrong, and appear to forward. She already knew what she felt and what she wanted. 

As they walked, she suddenly put her other arm on his and stopped him for a moment, her eyes searching his.  She had to look up, as he was quite a bit taller than she was. She could almost lose herself in those eyes, especially when he smiled. "Being with you right now, I feel peace and calm for the first time I can remember.  I can feel the good and honor in your soul, I can feel your faith in Pelor.  Let's find out what this path holds for us." 

*Turk:*
Turk scanned the streets as he walked with Kierwin arm in arm.  He kept one eye on the lithe and curvaceous Kierwin and the other out for danger.  He knew he was responsible now for not only his safety but hers too and that was one duty he was not about to shirk or take lightly.  They had not gone far and had chatted about nothing in particular when suddenly Kierwin drew him to a stop and spoke tender words to him.  Turk was surprised by the conviction in her voice and he wondered deeply about this Elven beauty.   

He wanted to respond to her.  He wanted to ask how she could have such outwardly amazing looks and yet even greater inwardly amazing beauty.  How was it that she was kind and generous and considerate when her friend Minx was so hateful and demeaning of others?  How was it that she cared for a Half-Orc, and now it seemed also a Human?  Were not Elves haughty and pretentious and considered all others beneath them?  Yet… Kierwin acted as if all were equals and were deserving of trust, honor, and a chance to do Good in the world.  Turk had met his share of those who considered themselves better then others because of whom they were born of or by the amount of money they had or land they owned.  Turk had turned his back on that old life of his and now, for the first time since he had found Pelor’s Grace and Strength he met someone whom it seemed shared his convictions. 

Yes, Kierwin was beautiful.  All Elves were beautiful and Kierwin was better then most Turk had seen in his life.  In the dim light of the moon Turk could see her emerald eyes sparkle against her silky white skin, her hair blow slightly in the breeze, and her emerald dress swish softly and so very slightly as it accentuated all the right parts of an amazing Elven figure.  Turk would have been drawn to this body no matter how he felt about Kierwin’s inner beauty.  But her matching inner strength was what destroyed all of Turk’s defenses.  Turk had no flanking maneuver, no back up defense to Kierwin’s clear, confident, and delicious smile.  This woman wanted one thing and Turk knew what it was; experience had taught him that.  And though he wondered about how he felt becoming involved with a fighting companion, about becoming involved with an Elf, about becoming involved with a friend of Minx, Turk still could not respond. 

Though a million questions filled his mind and a million thoughts skittered through his head only his instincts had the initiative to do anything.  Here in his arms was a gorgeous woman who wanted one thing and that one thing Turk wanted too right now more then anything.  Everything else be damned; come what may tomorrow, one thing was clear, and in regards to that Turk knew how to act.  Sliding his left arm from her grasp he slowly let his arms flow up hers until he grasped both her shoulders gently.  Towering over her he bent his neck “The path is ours to bend and shape as we wish, for we are in control for once of our destiny” he whispered.  Drawing closer to her with each word he spoke and gently lifting her with each breath he drew until there was nothing left between them but the melting of their lips upon another.  The soft, sweetness of a first kiss, stolen upon a moonlight walk; where peace reigned for once, amongst all the horrors of the Evil world around them.  And in the innocence of that first kiss, that seemed to go on forever; passions flame ignited and began to build. 

*Kierwin:*
Kierwin was surprised at herself; she couldn’t believe how open she’d been with Turk. She had as much as told him what she wanted, and that was something she’d never done before. It wasn’t like she went around throwing herself at men, not elves or humans. What would he think? Well, for that matter, it was true, she had flat out made her intentions obvious, but what had gotten into her? There were so many reasons that it was wrong for them to be together, but there were so many other things telling her it was right.  

Would the thought of Minx scare him off? She knew she could handle Minx, but she wished that Minx didn't hate Turk like she did. She knew that Minx would find out, there was no reason to try to hide it from her, Minx knew her too well.  Minx was her friend, but she didn’t rule her life.  Minx would understand, although she certainly didn’t plan to announce it to her, assuming anything did happen. Granted, Kierwin had grown up with a human foster brother, and had spent a lot of her life around humans, and that made Kierwin even more comfortable with humans than most elves were. That was how she’d learned so much about Pelor, and one of the reasons she’d become a Cleric. It had been a difficult choice for her to become a Cleric of Ehlonna or a Cleric of Pelor because of Gerald's father. Her love of nature and Ehlonna had won out in the end.

She watched Turk’s eyes. She could tell that he was having a battle in his own mind. Had she been too forward? Was it too much to expect for him to be involved with a member of his own party? She’d thought about it and knew she could handle it during a fight, her training would win out, and whoever needed her would be who she helped when it came to it. She just prayed that nothing happened to Turk, he was special, no matter what happened between them tonight, it didn’t matter if they parted as friends and nothing more happened between them, although she wished for more from this. All of these thoughts crossed her mind in the split second that she watched his face. It was amazing what a person’s eyes could reveal. She almost wished that the moon hadn’t been shining, so that she couldn't see his face, but she couldn’t take her eyes off his, the moonlight on his face, held her captivated, even as her mind went over all the different thoughts. 

Then, her fears were calmed. She felt his arms slide up around her shoulders as he bent his head down toward her face. She tilted her head as he lifted her towards him. As their lips met, she forgot everything except the taste of him, the feel of him, her heart pounded, and as the passion inside her began to build, she wished it would go on forever.  

*Turk:*
Time stopped.  The wind halted.  The clouds froze in mid-air.  The world itself stood still.  Only Turk and Kierwin moved, breathed, felt, and inhaled each other.  Nothing else seemed to matter but her lips and his, her tongue and his, her mouth and his.   

How long this lasted cannot be told but as their passion flared time was regained and the world could breathe again and the sky, wind, Earth, and plants came to life again.  Suddenly there was more then just their kiss.  But as their passions flared, even though the world moved again, they noticed not.  What they did notice was each other and how well God in his wisdom matched the male and female form.  Turk not only felt his flaming hot lips upon hers, his tongue entwined with hers, but his hands flowed upon her silky gown.  They roamed over her shoulders and traveled upon her back and climbed to her neck.  He pressed against her and his chest felt her heaving bosom, their waists and legs pressed against each other and as they kissed more passionately a fire enveloped them as a wild fire envelops a meadow.  Breathless, yearning for each other they literally tore at each other as their passion screamed from them like live steam under pressure. 

Only Turk’s armor saved them. 

Turk was literally ready to tear the clothes from Kierwin when he felt, more then remembered, his heavy armor about him.  As he realized he would need to get out of his armor to let the fire within him build even higher it suddenly dawned on him where they were; and it was not the place to ravish this magnificent Elven Lady.  Struggling with all his will he warily held her at arms length and gasped “Kierwin, I want you now with all my heart and ardor, but Milady; this is not the place to consummate the passion which fills us.”  Turk purposefully turned his head from side to side to remind Kierwin where they were.  As bold as Turk was he was not about to take Kierwin in the middle of an Oakhurst street no matter how deserted it was.  He spied just the establishment he required. 

“We are likely minded in what we want, and our purpose is as clear as the stars above but pray tell we must calm ourselves a bit until we can reignite this flame in a more secluded place.” Slowly he smiled, that charming grin, but now a bit of lascivious larceny tipped it and he nodded towards the Bed and Breakfast sign on the nearby building.  “I am sure they have a very nice room, one that would suit us very kindly for the next few hours as we” Turk gave her awesome body a meaning look “get to know one another much, much better.” 

*Kierwin:*
Any doubts she’d had vanished, the only thing she could think of was him, and at this point she wasn’t really thinking about anything but the passion building inside her. That kiss, that wonderful, passionate kiss, she put her arms around his neck. The kiss could have gone on forever, as she opened her mouth and her tongue met his, it was one of the most powerful sensations she’d ever had. Yes, tonight they make their own destiny. Everywhere their bodies touched, it felt like fire. The passion was building, and she wished they’d been in one of their rooms right now. 

She’d forgotten where she was, not even thinking she was in the middle of the street until his words reminded her, and she followed his gaze.  Oh yes, she was ready to walk with him to his room, her mind and body were ready for that. She’d forgotten that neither of them had their own room. 

Her body had a mind of its own. The fire inside her screamed at her to satisfy it now, but her mind told her this was the wrong place.  No, she wouldn’t obey the fire inside of her, no matter what she did; neither she nor Turk would ever do something like that. 

Every part of her that could touch him was, but the feel of the armor was a problem.  She took several deep breaths to calm herself, for now anyway there was time enough to get to know each other better when they got to a room. Then, it would be safe to help him get out of that hindering armor of his. 

She answered him once she got herself under control, and could speak without her voice giving her away. “You are right, this is not the place to release the passion inside us, let us go over there and get a room and get to know each other better.” 

With that, she couldn’t help it, she reached up and caressed his face, like she’d wanted to for so long. Then offered him one last kiss before she took his arm so he could walk her over to the inn and to a room.  Only then did she actually notice how bright the stars and moon were that night. The moon glinted off his eyes and armor and that was all she could take.  His armor prevented more physical contact, but she was completely pressed up against him and she knew that he could feel her body pressed close to his, even though the armor prevented more intimate contact. 

Enough thinking, it was the embrace between them that counted and the walk to get a room. She enjoyed his company and enjoyed the night sky and the gentle breeze. It was a beautiful night, but even so, she could barely keep her eyes off of Turk. Every so often, she just had to steal another kiss, even if it was a short one. After that first one, she’d go crazy without another. She was in a hurry to get to the inn; it was definitely time to get him out of that armor! 

*Turk:*
The short walk to the Bed and Breakfast was not only slow but also hampered by frequent stops.  Every few moments Turk stopped to taste Kierwin's lips upon his, to pull her close to him, to smell her, and feel her warmth.  She was amazingly attentive and Turk could tell that some pretty special lovemaking was coming over the horizon.  With one last kiss he brought her to the entrance of the inn and asked her to wait for him.  In just a few minutes he returned and took her up the back stairs to his room.  Turk had already quickly scouted out this safer and less obtrusive entrance.  He had done it out of habit, both from a military standpoint, and one from years of wenching too.  Ladies did not appreciate being dragged through a crowded room to a gentleman’s room; their honor suffered and thus so did their ardor. 

Turk quietly opened the door and peeked inside quickly just to make sure it was safe and pleasantly respectable.  Then he opened the door all the way and bowed as he motioned for Kierwin to step inside.  As she did he stepped in behind her and closed the door behind him. 

*Kierwin:*
They finally arrived at the inn, but Kierwin certainly didn’t mind the delay, part of it was certainly her fault. She had more than lost herself in the moments spent lost both in Turk’s eyes and arms, and in the taste of him. It was the problem controlling the fire she felt inside her that had urged her on, but she knew that would be quenched soon enough. 

Thankfully, when they arrived, she didn’t have to deal with the stares of Minx or any of the other party members, Turk had already thought of that by bringing her here to this charming little place. Even here, he was a gentleman and opened the door for her with a bow, but once he stepped in and closed the door behind him, the feelings she’d managed to suppress on the walk here nearly overwhelmed her and she fought to keep her knees from buckling. She’d gotten a glimpse of the room, and the bed, but right now, her mind was too busy to even think about that, it was on him, and how the feelings that threatened to overwhelm her. 

To cover just how much he affected her, she stepped a little closer. She placed both hands around his neck, then moved one behind his head, tilting it gently toward her. She didn’t care anymore if it looked too forward of her now, he knew what she wanted. One more time, she looked up into those eyes that she always lost herself in, and stretching as tall as she could, offered him the most passionate kiss that she had in her, knowing that in spite of her best efforts that she was trembling, but by now, she didn’t care, she was right where she belonged, right where she wanted to be. 

*Turk:*
Turk returned the kiss of Kierwin’s and noticed she was shaking.  As he kissed her tenderly and deeply his mind also considered the facts and overall situation.  He knew that Kierwin was in years much older then he, but he also knew that due to the long life of Elves they tended to be protective of their young and raised them much more slowly then in Human terms.  Also, Kierwin was a Cleric and chastity was very typical amongst most religions.  Finally, she was shaking as if a bit nervous.  So, Turk figured that as far as sexual experiences went this was, if not the first, then one of the first for Kierwin.  If she hadn’t been so aggressive he would have definitely thought the first time, but she was not acting shy and coy as most virgins do. 

Figuring then that Kierwin was not that experienced he decided to slow down and make this moment even more special.  This was no easy task for him.  Kierwin was beautiful.  Her wonderful smell filled the room.  Her figure was picture perfect and felt grand under his hands.  Turk’s base instincts wanted to take her clothes off right now and let his passion loose upon her.  But he knew deep down that was not the right method with Kierwin, at least not if this was to be a memorable night for her.  He had to put her first, as that was his way.  Definitely Turk wanted her to enjoy this night more then any other up to now and hopefully for many more lovers to come.  It was an issue of pride with him to be memorable and only a true love he figured could best him and maybe not even then. 

Turk now sure of how he wanted to proceed returned her kisses and tender caresses.  Slowly, without any obvious moves he guided her to the bed and eased her into a sitting position on it.  “Slowly, my passion flower” as he broke from her tender embrace “we have all the time we need, and it is better if we let our need for each other build even more.”  He turned and trying not to stumble in the dark moved to the desk where he fumbled for a candle and tindertwig he saw as he had entered.  The stick sputtered and came to life and then the candle flamed.  Turk adjusted it so that they had enough light to see by but not too much to cause embarrassment. 

Then easily, and without thought, he carefully began to remove his armor and weapon. “First I need to remove this metal barrier which keeps me from feeling your soft form before it bruises you from our embraces.”  Turk started to undress but was careful to keep his underclothes on as he removed his armor, the time for those to be removed had not yet arrived. 

*Kierwin:*
After Turk gently sat her on the edge of the bed, he walked over and lit a candle. He had been so gentle, and taking things so slow that she finally quit shaking. She still didn’t know if she was shaking from nervousness or from the passion building up deep inside of her, or something that she couldn't yet identify. 

When he removed his armor, she almost walked over to help, partly from habit, but really from passion. But honestly she couldn’t have walked over there if she’d tried, her knees wouldn’t let her. He got out of his armor, but remained in his underclothes. She realized she’d been holding her breath, and forced herself to start breathing again. 

She sat on the edge of the bed waiting for him. Knowing what his kisses did to her, she couldn’t even begin to imagine what pleasures the night would bring. She sat patiently on the side of the bed, waiting for him to join her. Nervous, but at the same time filled with passion and anticipation.  

*Turk:*
Turk wished he had realized this was all going to happen tonight as then he could have planned it better.  Some wine, good food sent to the room, music, and candlelight; ah the best laid plans.  But he hadn’t known, so their sudden passion for each other would be all they had; he knew it would be enough. 

He returned to the bed and joined her soundlessly and began kissing her again.  Slowly, tenderly, with long lingering kisses.  She returned them in kind and with much fervor.  His hands roamed upon her shoulders, arms, back, neck, face, and hair.  Wherever they went they felt a smooth, silky, and athletic shape.   At the same time her hands could also roam now that his armor was removed and her touch electrified him.  She giggled slightly when he started nibbling on her ears, but once he started to bite her neck her breath became shallower and huskier.  After many minutes of his attention her soft moans started to fill the room and Turk became bolder.  

He started to caress her bosom through her gown, and run his hands up and down her front from her neck to her thighs.  She gladly and eagerly accepted his caresses and her kisses became even more fiery.  Turk could hold back no longer as he desperately wanted to feel her soft skin so as he continued to kiss her he undid the laces to her gown.  Within a few seconds the laces were undone and Turk was able to pull the gown from about her shoulders and for the first time her ample, yet pert breasts were exposed.  Turk had to grin at himself for unlike many women who at this point might partially withdraw from shame Kierwin’s chest instead heaved as if proudly displaying itself and begging for his touch.  He was quick to fulfill her desire and his hands and soon mouth explored all her glory.  They then helped each other out of the rest of their clothes and in the dim candlelight their nakedness was there for both to revel in. 

The next two hours were intimate in a manner that could not be put in mere words. A bit breathless, entwined amongst each other, but momentarily satisfied the two grinned at each other like school children caught playing hooky on a gorgeous spring day.

Turk chuckled “MiLady, that was most refreshing, completely fulfilling, and satisfying.  We must take many more walks together in the future” he teased her. 

*Kierwin:*
Feeling like she had never felt before, and laughing at his teasing, not to mention liking the idea of more walks together in the future, she was rather exhausted. Kierwin was still laying entwined with Turk, her head on his shoulder. She could stay here in his arms forever. She took her fingers, at this point about all the energy she could manage, or so she thought, and traced it slowly down his chest and arms, not thinking about anything but him. 

She noticed a scar on the front of his left shoulder and felt pangs of regret that a man such as he would carry something like that with him for the rest of his life, but was thankful that it was the only one. She also noticed his perfect build, but of course, she’d noticed that long ago, he was perfect, muscular and well built, and she’d certainly never seen anyone who looked like him. Even through her exhaustion, she couldn’t help but kiss the scar she’d traced with her fingers, continuing down his chest and stomach. 

Still exhausted, and still grinning from what he said, saddened by what he must have gone through in his young life, she laid her head back on his shoulder. She stayed entwined with him, not ready to leave his sweet embrace. There was nothing she wanted more right now than to just be close to him for awhile. She didn’t care what anyone else thought, she’d deal with that when and if it came to it.  

*From the DM:* 

And so our two lovers settled into each other, basking in the comfortable afterglow. And drifted off contentedly to the kind of sleep that only easy lovers could know. Warm and peaceful in each other’s arms, neither one of them aware of the life they had just created together.

Just as Pelor, the Sun, has shone down upon down upon Ehlonna, nature herself, bringing life and blossoming her fertility; so had it gone for these two lovers. Earthly followers of the oldest ongoing act of nature since the birth of the planet itself. Surely their gods would be proud. 

Meanwhile, in stark contrast to this scene of life and love, death was also at work in the world.  Upon the morrow the lovers would be in for another surprise. The cycle of life continues. For some Death is only the beginning.


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## Taboo (Dec 6, 2002)

*The Lovers Awaken*

*Kierwin:*
Kierwin opened her eyes, still in Turk’s arms, her head on his shoulder. He was awake, watching her. She smiled, realizing it was early, not quite dawn yet. Of course, at dawn, she’d need to pray, and she certainly would, she'd never neglect that, but there was still a little time. 

Today was going to be a long day and a dangerous one at that. She looked up at him and smiled as he looked down at her, and she felt like she could get lost in him all over again. She wondered what he was thinking. 

Knowing that soon they would head back into danger, and wanting to take advantage of what little private time they had left, Kierwin kissed him passionately for what could be the last time for a long time. There was no telling when they would be able to take another walk together. She just hoped that he responded to her the same way that her body was responding by just waking up next to his.

She’d never spent the night in a lover’s arms before, especially not like this. Turk had indeed changed everything for her, what had happened to her so long ago felt like it had just been a bad dream. The memories would always be there, but the memories of last night, the feel of him, the taste of him, his smell, everything, that was what was real. That was what she’d remember forever. 

She tore her eyes away from his at last, leaving her arm draped around him and down his back. Before she could stop herself, she said, “Tonight you showed me what it meant to be with a real man, a man who wants nothing more than to please a lady, not someone who just wants to use her.  You really are everything I sensed you were, heart and soul, and not just because of tonight. Thank you for healing the parts of me that were broken, even though I didn’t realize they still were.” 

*Turk:*
Turk accepted and enjoyed Kierwin’s kisses.  He had been awake for almost thirty minutes before she had stirred looking at her nakedness as she slept.  Turk was used to getting up early, very early, and thus even when he stayed up late, like last night, he still awoke from his slumber well before dawn.  Kierwin’s shapely body was close to his and during their embrace he had some thoughts of enjoying her again but knew they didn’t have the time to do it justice.  Better to let the attraction continue unfulfilled for a later reencounter then rush now. 

He certainly hoped there would be another encounter.  Kierwin was gorgeous both in face, body, mind, and spirit.  He smiled as he remembered how she had responded so vigorously last night and even this morning he could still tell that her wanton animal instincts still controlled her inner self.  He looked out the window at the blackness slowly turning to gray and sighed just a bit inwardly to himself.  No, not nearly enough time, too bad.

As Kierwin spoke his appreciation of her grew.  Now here was a woman who understood the magnificence of love making and the immense pleasure both parties received if also freely given by both.  He wondered if all Elven women were like this and that thought immediately was dashed as he remembered Minx.  Maybe it was just Kierwin.  If so, he knew he had been lucky to have her as his first Elven bedmate.  He smiled at her and stroked her hair and kissed her lightly on her bare shoulder.  He was enjoying the moment though he wondered a bit what she meant about being broken and being healed but as he had to go he resisted the urge to question her.  He figured she would think he respected her privacy if he remained silent and if he questioned her and then didn’t have time for her explanation then she would think him uncaring and rude.  

So instead “I am pleased you enjoyed yourself last night for I surely did.  I am also pleased you have awakened as I wanted to be here when you awoke and I almost had to leave before you did and I wished not to interrupt your much needed rest.”  He grinned like a Cheshire cat at his innuendo to her requiring rest after her physical and draining experiences of last night.  Regretfully he tore himself from her with his hand slowly sliding along her body as he twisted and rolled from the bed to stand upon the floor.

He stood there in all his naked glory unembarrassed by his lack of clothing.  He had been intimate with Kierwin so now they had no secrets from each other, at least as far as clothing went.  He had not told Osa of his past, nor the trollop he bought on the way to Aguila.  He did not intend to tell Kierwin either, at least not yet.  Though they had shared their bodies that was not why he considered her as a possible confidant.  It was much more her amazing personality, her willingness to do Good, and her devotion to both Ehlonna and Pelor.  Maybe, just maybe he could trust her, but right now was not the time and after conversing with, or more accurately to, Rowena yesterday Turk did not feel the need to mention anything of his past.  He spoke kindly to her regarding the previous evening as he dressed both to fill in the time and to remind her how well she did and build her confidence.  There was nothing like a confident woman in bed and Kierwin had already showed she was a willing and enthusiastic student.

As she watched him, he donned his undergarments, padded armor, chain, banded mail, and then his gauntlets to protect his body.  As he arranged his two handed greatsword and sheath upon his back, he glanced outside and saw the dawn nearly upon them and realized he had to hurry.  “I must go and meet Pelor as the new day begins; I am sorry I must rush off but I shall look forward to the pleasure of seeing you again at the Boar’s Inn for breakfast.  I am sure you shall be safe now that day breaks to travel there unescorted.”  He easily strode the two steps to the bed and leaned over and tasted her lips one more time before he turned, and as he put his helm on, briskly moved to the door, opened it, and then was gone as the wooden door closed behind him.

*Kierwin:*
Even as much as she had enjoyed his lovemaking last night, she also enjoyed his gentle kisses and tender touch this morning. Kierwin had amazed herself at how open she had been with him, and how quickly she had wanted to make love to him, but it all felt completely right. 

Then, the sky started to lighten, and he had to go. She laughed when he teased her about needing more rest after their vigorous night. Of course, he was quite right! As he stood, she let her hand follow his body as his hand had followed hers, wanting to touch him as long as possible.

She watched him dress, still lying naked on the bed, and talked with him, before he left to go back to the inn. She knew she should get up, and get dressed, but her body just wouldn't cooperate. She enjoyed every last moment with him, wishing morning hadn't come. She still needed to pray, and dawn was nearly there. When he gave her one last passionate kiss before heading back to the inn, she hoped it wasn’t the last. She certainly looked forward to future nights like this one, she didn't know if there would be, but she hoped so.

Then, she got up, and put her gown back on, realizing that she didn't have time to find a quiet place outside to pray, she  slowly knelt by the bed to pray to Ehlonna as she always did, but this time as she finished something was different.

This time she finished with tears streaming down her face. Tears from so many emotions she couldn’t name them all. She knelt there for so long unable to move that she lost track of time. Then she rose and headed for the inn with one question on her mind.

How was she going to tell Turk he was going to be a father?


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


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## AndrewADnDPlayer (Dec 7, 2002)

*Interlude:*

Turk moved along the nearly empty streets, passing just a farmer or two as they went about their own business in the predawn.  Soon he had reached the pleasant glade just outside of the city limits he had found on his first day of reconnoitering in Oakhurst.  The glade was perfect for his purposes; it was open enough that he could not be taken by surprise from any intruders without them coming into the open for a good 50 feet, but not too large that the villagers had used it for their own purposes.  It was protected on all sides by trees and brush but the east side facing the sunrise had a clear view to the horizon to catch the sun in its morning glory.  Turk scanned the glade quickly and seeing no danger moved to the center and faced eastward.  The sky was just turning a pale orange and the sun would be cresting the horizon any minute.

Turk stood, happy in the after glow from the previous evening with Kierwin, but also from the impending connection with Pelor, his Sun God.  As he had done each day since his rebirth just over a month ago he began to tremble at the thought of what his new life had become.  He had been brought from the brink of self-destruction to the ultimate glory of a worthwhile life-bound quest.  He knew he was not capable of achieving Goodness, Righteousness, and Justice on his own, but with the power of Pelor he could do anything.  So while he felt weak at the moment he knew that soon he would grow powerful with the energy emanating from Pelor upon him.

As the first edge of the sun began to appear upon the horizon Turk knelt upon the still wet grass from the morning dew with his left knee upon the ground and right foot counterbalancing him.  He leaned over to put his helm upon the ground then pulled back up, back ramrod straight, kneeling, and watched the sun grow in the distance.  As the sky became clearer and began to show color he could see the rays of the sun approach his position as it seemed to fly across the landscape engulfing, hill, dale, and meadow within its fiery presence.  As it neared him he reached back and quickly drew his greatsword from its sheathed position upon his back and grasping it in both hands in a fighting maneuver raised it directly over his head with the blade pointing skywards.  Thus Turk looked like a kneeling arrow poised with its deadly point prepared to blast itself upwards into the very heart of the sky.  

Then the rays of the sun struck the meadow and Turk could feel its warmth strike his body.  His armor gleamed in the morning rays, his sword glistened, and his heart was filled with fire.  The warmth that he felt came from the heat being generated within his blood as it boiled from the power of the sun.  This was no simple heat exchange from the ray’s light, but the laying of hands of Grace, Power, and Goodness that Pelor bestowed upon him via the light source itself.  As he felt the power within him grow, his adrenaline powering his muscles, his blood arcing throughout his body; Turk felt one with Pelor and he knew that nothing could stop him as long as he was true to his course.  As the overwhelming power filled him it tipped the scales and he felt as if he would burst apart; the excess power was channeled to his lungs and forced upwards through his throat and out his mouth to reinforce that that was his new mission in life “IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE!!!!!”.  The glade was filled with the power of his cry and it reverberated throughout the area “IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE!!!!!”.  As the glade filled with the sun and the day grew Turk stood, his heart pounding, his panting breath visible in the morning cold, his body shaking with the power of Pelor.  Turk spun and scanned the area, wary suddenly, checking for the Evil that existed in the world that must know Turk had been chosen by Pelor to destroy it.  Grinning, “If you do not come to find me, I shall seek you out and destroy you, for you cannot stand against the power of Pelor.”  Finding no hordes of Orc or Goblin to crush with his newfound power Turk retrieved his helm and set out for the Boar’s Inn.  More then one townsman was almost bowled over by his friendly greetings as he walked, so vociferous in his nature were they given.


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## Taboo (Dec 12, 2002)

*Minx awoke to the morning sun.*

As written by Minx's player:

At the Boar's Inn, waking with the bright morning sun shining in the window, Minx realized Kierwin’s bed remained untouched. She wasn’t worried; she knew where she had been and whom she was with. But she was disappointed and angry. She and Kierwin were practically sisters, and they had been raised by the same Elves. 

She would do everything in her power to make sure her knowledge would never leave this room. She would not disgrace Kierwin and their families. She sat on the window ledge and meditated, then watched the activity below as the town began to awaken. When she finally heard someone at the door, she stood and folded her arms across her chest, started tapping her foot and waited.


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## Ave Rage (Dec 13, 2002)

*!*

What a horrible place to stop!

Were Turk and Kierwin still affected by that odd-spell in someway?  I don't think Turk's gunna handle the whole 'baby' issue very well, let alone Minx!

Great story Taboo, can't wait for the next update.  Wouldn't Tork be better as a 'bard' though?  He's got the flowery language down and all.

Lastly, could you post everyone's stats?


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## Taboo (Dec 15, 2002)

Thanks for writing Ave Rage! Good questions, and I'm glad you're enjoying the story!

As far as Kierwin and Turk know (and us as their players), there were no lingering effects from the scroll, but that IS a very good question! You've been paying attention.   This actually started out very quietly and privately back just after the "orb" incident around the time we fought the mummy of the Dragon Priest, before Kierwin used the scroll.

I'll be happy to ask if our DM would mind posting the stats. He's on the boards quite a bit when he has time. PC's are leveling up right now, so we're in between also.

Believe me, Turk is a fighter, through and through! He has a way with words, but he's pure fighter! 

I'll post again later tonight, it's a long one, but although it answers questions, it raises more. (Sorry!) We won't get to Minx and Turk yet, but it's coming up soon. It's going to be very interesting to see their reactions! We'll also be back to the action very soon.

I hope you enjoy it, and thanks for writing! 
Tab


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## Ave Rage (Dec 15, 2002)

Hypothetically, if the conception was brought about by the spell would it alter the child?  It'd already be a halfelf so it's gunna be an akward life no matter where it lives, if it gains some 'powers' of the _lust_ domain (I'm guessing)  and drive it deeper into seclusion from people as things pop up (like Snap's dragon-features).  Probably be a fun character to play.  

1/2 Elven magic/looks
1/2 Dude w/ tons fo Mojo
??  Lust *OF THE GODS*
____






I just might have to make up a character for that!
He'd have to be a bard though   1/2 fighter and 1/2 magic.  He'd have a short sword,  Guitar, and some type of Magical Cod Piece.

"No ladies, it's not a cod piece of illusions  *strum guitar*  "

As for Turk, I kinda guessed he kicked too much ass to be a bard.


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## Taboo (Dec 15, 2002)

*Revelations*

Careful, you'll give my DM too many ideas! Creative ones though! 

Not that he's ever short of evil, oops, I mean, creative ideas, believe me....

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

Kierwin left the Rosebud Bed and Breakfast after her prayers and having pulled herself back together. She fully intended to return to the Boar’s Inn. She knew that the others were expecting her for breakfast and that Minx would be wondering where she was, actually Minx probably knew full well where she was, or had been with at least. She was even ready for the tantrum she knew Minx was going to throw. She wasn’t exactly ready to tell Turk about the baby, but she’d figure that out when the time came. She knew she'd be on her own as far as the baby went and was prepared for it, she had no expectations from Turk for the child. She just needed to figure out what she was going to do when she started to show, and when she had the baby.

Meanwhile, the others were planning to leave to go back to the Sunless Citadel and she still needed to gather her things and change for the walk back, she certainly couldn’t wear this dress, and she needed her armor and weapons.

The problem was that on the walk back to the inn, she was still thinking about the night before and some things bothered her. Nothing that had happened with Turk, far from it, he’d been everything she’d imagined and more! Not just physically, it was everything about him, and that's what nobody would ever understand. She’d never forget that night, or him, for that matter, even if they were never together again. But, why did she suddenly tell him something she would never have told anyone? She stopped herself before she told him everything, and he was gentleman enough not to ask what she'd meant. She probably would have told him about Darial, but it wasn’t the time or place. Besides that, as Turk had jokingly pointed out, she’d been exhausted.

She’d told Turk he’d healed her, and that she’d been broken and not realized it. She hadn’t meant to say that, it was a weakness she hadn’t meant to reveal. Kierwin was strong, and willful, she always had been, but what Darial had done to her had scarred her, and she'd carried those scars, hidden away, for twenty years. To save herself, she’d locked a lot of things away a long time ago. Nobody knew about it, save her family, not even Minx. She'd never let anyone that close to her, not like she had Turk, certainly not like Turk.  

She’d openly flirted with Turk, she’d come on to him, she was being honest with herself, there was something about him that called to her. The walk with Turk and the passion they’d shared even before they’d arrived at the Rosebud were wonderful. Then, suddenly, after they’d entered the room at the Rosebud, memories of Darial seemed to rise unbidden to her mind and nervousness threatened to consume her. The love she’d thought she’d felt for Darial, and the way he’d forced himself on her so long ago had nearly overwhelmed her.  They were thoughts she hadn't had for years, but  something was wrong, they were different than she remembered. 

Somehow, Turk had sensed that something had been wrong, that she was suddenly nervous. Turk had slowed things down and taken care to be gentle and sensitive. He knew when she was ready for more, and that hadn't taken long. His tenderness overcame her past, and she responded to him, forgetting everything that had happened before, then she and Turk had abandoned the present, everything forgotten but the two of them. Their passion was all that mattered.  Their passion that night was something she'd never forget, not in her entire life. 

Afterward, she had told him, without thinking, that he had healed her. It was true, the goodness and honor in his soul was what healed the parts in her that were broken. It made that terrible time in her life seem like nothing worse than a bad and distant dream. She wasn’t willing to share more than that with Turk in words, not yet, no matter what she felt for him. The fact that he was so dedicated to Pelor, that she felt that faith and the goodness in him meant more to her than anything, but this was so personal to her that even Minx didn’t know. She wasn’t ready to share it with Turk, was she? 

She shook her head and brought herself back to the present realizing that she'd stopped walking. Then, she realized that there was more in her mind that needed to come to the surface. The only thing she could think of was to be closer to Ehlonna, and for that, she needed solitude. She needed to be closer to nature. That was what she'd always done when she'd been at home and needed to be alone with her thoughts.

It was still early, not too long after dawn, so she sought out some land that was a little out of the way from the busier part of the small town, there weren’t many people out this early anyway, mainly farmers. She wasn’t willing to leave the town, remembering that she didn’t know what prowled the outskirts, and the stories the townsfolk had told made her shiver. 

She prayed to Ehlonna, but not like she’d ever prayed before. She prayed for enlightenment and for guidance.   She prayed that Ehlonna would help her regain her memories of her past. What really happened with Darial all those years ago? What had happened with the one person she thought she had truly loved, the one who had destroyed that love?  What had really happened to those memories?

Her memories of the past were lies. She didn’t know why, but after last night with Turk, she knew….. 

Now she knew she’d never loved Darial, was that memory wrong or was it a lie? So many questions, but it was all coming back to her. Keeping her mind quiet was difficult, the memories were painful. She could see it and feel it, even the pain. It would be easier to keep the lie, but she needed the truth, even the pain. 

She tried to concentrate even though she wanted to run for the safety of the inn and Minx. Kierwin really didn’t want to know what was coming next, but she continued. What about the handsome elf that she’d wanted to marry named Darial, a Ranger who'd promised to take her adventuring with him?  In the memories that she'd had for the past twenty years, he'd said if she really loved him as much as she said she did, she'd go to bed with him. When she refused time after time, he quit taking no for an answer and forced her. Her parents blamed her. She'd disgraced them, and they never forgave her. Now she knew that was far from the truth. Her parents did blame her for disgracing the family, but nothing she remembered happened like that. 

Now she knew why she’d gotten nervous when Turk shut the door, it was the memory of the only time time she'd been with a man that flashed into her memory that nearly panicked her.  In her memory she’d been in love with Darial,  she wanted to believe it had been a spell, but she knew he had been a master of seduction and she had fallen for it. 

She hadn't really wanted to be with him that night, but once he'd gotten her alone he hadn't taken no for an answer. He also hadn't been gentle.  Right now she knew enough, what had happened was horrible, she still bore the scars, most emotional, a few physical, although barely able to be seen, even Turk hadn't noticed, if he had, he hadn't said anything. Gerald had been a master healer when he'd cared for her. How had she ever thought she'd been in love with him? She knew that part of the answer was that he'd lied so well, and he'd changed so much. What was going to happen if he ever did show up again?

She remembered her brother Gerald finding her, beaten and bloody. He’d taken care of her, and helped with the pain. It was obvious Darial hadn't wanted her dead, but he'd certainly left her close to it.  Gerald had gone after Darial, but he was long gone. Of course, the whole situation was kept within the family. The rest of the village didn’t know.  Minx didn't know. No one was ever to know.

Her family had sent her back to the Temple in shame.  Kierwin was pregnant and her parents knew. While she was away, she gave birth to a boy. Her parents had given strict instructions to the Priests and Priestesses of Ehlonna at the Temple. They were ashamed of what had happened to her, especially the pregnancy. The child wasn’t at fault, and was to be raised in the village, but no one was to know it was Kierwin’s and under no circumstances was anyone ever to know that Kierwin had been pregnant. 

The baby was taken from Kierwin immediately, she never even got to see him or hold him. He was taken to the village. A family there took him in and raised him with their daughter, Minx, Kierwin’s best friend, a friend so close she was like a sister. The child was named Snap and they thought he was a half-orc.  Now, Kierwin knew what he really was, not only was he a half-orc, he had dragon's blood, as well as Kierwin's Elven blood in his veins. But if Darial was an elf, why was Snap part Dragon, and why did he look like a half-orc?

Kierwin didn’t know how or why her memories had been lost, but now they were all back. Ehlonna had seen to that. She slowly got to her feet. Her whole world had just been turned upside down.   

She didn’t know how she was going to tell Turk about their baby. She was beyond words at the revelation about the fact that she’d already had a son, let alone that he was Snap! Above all else, she had no idea what she was going to say to Minx.  Minx was like a sister to her, but everything she’d just remembered was so completely against what Minx stood for that she couldn't think of the words to talk to her about it. Kierwin's family had lied to everyone, to Kierwin herself,  but they'd lied to the whole village and now the truth had to come out. The truth was going to hurt two people that Kierwin held closest to her heart, Minx and Snap.  

How would Snap react when she told him the truth? What if his father showed up someday? What would happen then? What was Snap going to do when he found out that she was his mother and what her family had done to him? Even if she wasn't in control then, she still felt at fault, and knowing what he'd been through, it nearly broke her heart. How could she make that up to him?

Right now, Kierwin was stunned, beyond words. Her faith kept her going, it was all she had to cling to. She didn’t even know whether to go to the inn or stay where she was. She wished there was a Temple to Ehlonna, and debated on going to visit Dem at the Temple of Pelor. She needed someone other than a party member to talk to. Someone who didn't know her and wouldn't judge her based on past knowledge was what she wanted, but she knew that the right thing to do was to return to the others, they were waiting for her, and she shouldn't make them worry.

She had thought briefly about going home to have the baby when the time came, but now that she remembered what had happened when she had become pregnant because of rape, she knew they would turn her away when they found out she was pregnant with Turk’s child.  A child conceived by a union she had entered into willingly knowing that neither of them were in love, only that they were kindred spirits, drawn together by something powerful that she couldn't explain, she couldn't let herself fall in love with Turk, or anyone else for that matter, but especially not Turk. She knew what she was doing, what Turk expected, and she had no expectations from him.

That brought her around to her secret. The secret she had purposely kept for twenty years. The "loving" relationship between her and her family that was only for those from the outside looking in.  Kierwin's parents had lost all respect for her twenty years ago. Kierwin had assumed that it was because of what she believed at the time had happened with her "fiancé Darial." The family pretended to continue to be a happy family, but only on the outside. Secretly, Kierwin was no longer a loved family member, and had spent as little time as possible there, keeping the truth to herself, lying even to Minx. Her time was spent at the temple, with Minx, or in the woodlands alone.  She'd even been planning on leaving the Misty Isle anyway, and just hadn't done it yet. She'd thought about serving in a temple of Ehlonna, or finding another village where she her skills were needed. She couldn't keep living the lie she'd been forced to live any longer. Then they'd been kidnapped, and everything had changed. 

Her ties with her family were broken, irreversibly. She'd never return home to the Misty Isle, she didn't want her child raised to be closed minded like her parents. She'd find a way to make sure this baby was cared for and loved, and if she had to she'd leave this life behind, but she'd rather find another way. She had plenty of time to figure out what she'd need to do, no reason to worry about it now. Her family was here as far as she was concerned, and she needed to find a way to make up for what had been done to Snap. She reached inside herself for the strength she knew she had, and gathered her courage for the coming storm that the truth would bring.

She headed back to the inn, ready to face the others.


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## AndrewADnDPlayer (Dec 15, 2002)

*OOC for Turk*

Hi Ave.

I thought I would post a bit of information for you based on your questions.  I will let Taboo post any stats if the DM okays it.

I put together quite a background for Turk and I plan to eventually post his background to this story line once a bit more of his background comes to light during our game sessions.  Basically, Turk grew up a Ladies Man with wealthy parents and ended up going to both a Charm School and a Military School.  Thus, he started as a First Level Aristocrat as mentioned in the DM’s earlier posts.  Then, as I have briefly sketched already in the story line, he had an epiphany that changed his life forever and created his connection with Pelor and cemented his new life-bound quest to do Good.   In reality, Turk actually leveled up as a First Level Paladin at this point.  However, I am playing Turk as if he does not know this and the powers he has gained, that I hope to bring to light during role-playing, are unknown to him at the moment.  That is why he suddenly can “feel” Evil but doesn’t realize why and is immune to disease effects, but again he doesn’t know or understand why he is.  Leveling up as a Paladin was actually the DM’s idea and he waived the requirement of being Lawful Good to allow Turk to gain a single level of Paladin considering his “climatic transformation” and rebirth with Pelor (using the Godlike Power of being the DM as Turk is Neutral Good).  This still fits within my original idea of being a Fighter and I think adds to Turk’s role-playing abilities.

One interesting point is that only the DM and I knew that Turk was a Paladin when we started this adventure.  Over time Taboo has figured it out OOC but the other Players are still in the dark and think he is only a Fighter.  Since they do not read this story line I am safe to tell you this without giving anything away.  Turk has since leveled up again as a First Level Fighter based on our adventuring and my intention is to continue leveling him up as a Fighter until at least 5th level overall assuming the role-playing allows that kind of advancement.

So currently Turk is Aristocrat 1, Paladin 1, Fighter 1, and second level overall as the Aristocrat level is being considered a freebie by the DM.  Hopefully, if I can continue to play Turk to form, you will enjoy reading about his antics regarding his adventuring exploits and his womanizing exploits for many game sessions to come.  (Read as “Hint to DM…don’t kill off Turk”)

Thanks for reading our story…Turk’s Player


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## Ave Rage (Dec 15, 2002)

When I suggest him being a bard, I did think about him being a paladin but I thought his actions didn't exactly fit the Paladin.  That immunity to diesease sure will come in handy though if things continue as they have been 

Here i thought Kierwin/Turk were going to make something of a pair when low and behold all the emotional baggage gets uncovered.  Of course I didn't really think their relationship would go past a few days, or atleast make a Lum/Ataru thing (from an anime Urusei Yatsura) which would still be fun to watch.

Can't wait for the next update (hope there's some action *crosses fingers*)


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## Taboo (Dec 15, 2002)

Ave Rage, a quick one on Kierwin: 

She's Neutral Good, a level 1 Adept (a freebie like Turk's Aristocrat 1), 2nd level Cleric of Ehlonna, and I chose the Good Domain and the Sun Domain. 

Our campaign did take a major twist, that I'm sure nobody expected. It's going to be very interesting to see how it works out.

I'll let you know if Paulewaug (the DM for this game) decides to post the stats. As you can see, I don't know everything about everybody, characters are still being developed! This just happened to be a major roleplaying session as you can see.

I won't post anything I'm not sure should be posted yet, so I'm glad Turk's player posts. He's an excellent author anyway!

Tab (aka Kierwin)


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## Malhavoc (Dec 16, 2002)

Thanks guys.  The only reason I wanted to see the stats was to get a better mental pic of the characters (Like with Turks paladin/fighter thing).  If you guys are 'in the dark' of other players stats then don't post em.  The dm's probably kept it like that for a reason.  Thanks for responding though.

I was just thinking, if Turk bought flowers(not cut but in a planter or some other form of transplanting that doesn't hurt the plant.  Can never tell with those nature folk what'll make em jump.)  for Kierwin, would they be sunflowers?

<~ Ave Rage btw, brother was signed in :/


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## Taboo (Dec 16, 2002)

That's a good one, keep that up  and I might just have to post the next one early!  

And, Kierwin would just love to get flowers, cut would be fine, she wouldn't mind at all. (hint, hint).


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## Ave Rage (Dec 24, 2002)

How often does this get updated anyways?  I keep checking every other day but nada :/


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## Taboo (Dec 24, 2002)

*Thorin and Turk*

Sorry about that, I'll try to make up for it by posting two closer together! Here's the first one, it took a little longer, trying to make sure of accuracy. The next to follow very soon, I promise!

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

The sun had risen. Thorin was in his room sharpening his waraxe with his whetstone, getting ready for the day. Turk strode into the room in full armor and weapons, his stance and expression filled with the power of Pelor - ready to smite the evil of the world.  

Thorin looked up when the door opened and said, “Ah, I see I’m not the only one who’s been sharpening his weapon. No wonder there are so many humans around considering how quickly they seem to mate.” 

Turk bristled at Thorin’s tone. “I’m not sure what you mean by that.”

“Ahh, If ye don’t understand, I guess it can’t be that important.” Thorin shook his head, and then continued. "I’m glad ye’re here, there’s something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about, but have been waiting for a private time to do it.”

Turk looked at Thorin and asked, “What business do you have on your chest, Thorin?”

“I must admit a couple of things to you before we get going too far. My exposure to humans has been somewhat limited, so I will admit that I do not understand them particularly well.”

Turk interrupted, “Speaking, or how they act?”

Thorin continued, ignoring Turk’s interruption “So, now I understand from some of the things you were saying, you went to something called an academy, is that right?” 

“That is correct.”

“Was this a Military Academy?”

“That is also correct, Thorin.”

“This Military Academy that you went to, did they teach you about diplomacy?”

“No.” Turk was wondering what Thorin was getting at.

“They did not. Ah, that explains many things.” Thorin exclaimed,  like a major question had been answered.

“I learn..” Turk stopped mid-word when he processed what Thorin said. “What do you mean by that?”

“I noticed in my observations of yer discussions with Minx, there’s some advice I feel obliged to offer to ya. You can take what I have to say and try to apply it or ignore it, it’s up to you. Because what you do is yer own business. I mean after all you’re only human.”

Turk stood there looking at him. “Are you insulting me?”

“No, not at all, just observing. In my times in the service of my clan, we were always taught that you praise people publicly, but you admonish them in private. I would suggest in the future, for the sake of the troops morale, when go to have a disagreement with somebody, try not to be so public about it.”

Turk told him, quite honestly, “I think you’re speaking to the wrong person.”

“Well, if you’re assuming a position of leadership, I am talking to the right person.”

“Assuming what position of leadership?” Turk was puzzled at what Thorin was talking about.

“Did you not say that because of your education and your training that you would be good at tactical matters?” Thorin asked.

“Right, when we were back at the pyramid, when we first met, and I am very good at tactical matters. Telling people how we should attack at the flank, who should be at the front or the back. I thought we’d all agreed we’d accept my advice on that.”

“Granted, now this also could be my perceptions based on differences between the way humans run a military group and the way dwarves do. In dwarven society, in dwarven combat, a person who’s the leader in one thing is the leader in everything. Is this not the same for humans?”

Turk had to explain human hierarchy. “Well, in human government there are many levels of leadership. You can have for example a king, who at times will go to battle with his troupes and lead them in tactical matters, but more often than not he simply handles civil matters. He may tell his generals where to attack, but he leaves the tactical matters to the generals. Whereas a lieutenant or captain would have no civil authority in the army, but they would be in control of their men in every aspect of what they do, whether they are on or off duty. Now, if you are implying that I am the leader of this group, that has not been agreed to. All I said was when we’re in a dangerous situation, where combat occurred I felt we need someone to say, you do this and you do that. I have asked for that, and everyone agreed. “

Thorin nodded his understanding as Turk explained. “Ah, I see. So this is a different structure than what the dwarves use. Very well, then I have no issues with that.  But another thing I will suggest. You abilities with the ladies being what they may or they may not be, that’s fine, what you choose to do with your time I could care less. But something else I would suggest to you, perhaps it would be wise if you try to refrain from the ladies in the party, because it could cause more problems than solutions. This is just a bit of advice.”

“I think you need to be careful of the advice that you give, Thorin.” Turk kept his voice level, just barely letting Thorin finish his sentence.

“As I said, you can take it or leave it as you so choose.” Thorin finished.

“I will not tell you what to do with your personal life, and I ask the same, that you do not tell me. It is not chivalrous to speak of such things.” Turk’s voice held a hint of a warning this time.

“And I did not ask any questions.” Thorin added.

“But you are bringing up the subject.” Turk clarified for him.

“This is just based on my observations.”

“As I said.” Turk was not backing down.

“But very well, your choices are your own. But do not say it was not a concern that I did not voice.”

“Well I, am more than happy to listen to anything that involves the group and how we are going to adventure down the road. I do think we should probably have a leader, but no one has chosen one yet. Do you feel anyone has chosen a leader?” Turk asked Thorin this time.

“I do not believe there have been any formal declarations, proclamations, voting, or other selections.” Answered Thorin.

“I am in agreement to that. Therefore, I would be stepping out of my bounds to try and be a leader, beyond what has been agreed upon. Perhaps you would like to be the leader? We also have Minx and Kierwin and Snap or Geirmund?”

“As things have gone so far, we have not seen an overriding need for a formal chain of command. And while that’s different from the way that dwarves normally operate, I see no reason to try to, to use a human expression, fix something that is not yet broken.”

“You cannot force someone to obey commands when we are not a military environment.”

“No, it is another sad disadvantage.” Thorin agreed.

“But if we decide down the road to have a leader, then everyone would have to agree to follow that person’s advice. Until we so decide, in a non-combative environment, that it was time to dissolve that leadership. Obviously, you cannot question orders during combat. Just like we are back in town, we could easily at that point say ‘I no longer wish to follow Thorin as my leader and I choose to leave.’ But we haven’t done that, because we are right now, I think, just a loose knit group that decided we all want to help Osa.” Turk explained his thinking on the matter.

Thorin agreed.

Turk continued, “And as long as you all wish to travel upon the same tribulations that I look forward to, to help those people who are in need, to help those that are weak, and need someone more powerful to protect them, to destroy the evil that exists in this world to the best of my ability, then I shall welcome you. But once your path veers from that, then I shall travel alone if need be, but I will not sway from my quest, that I have pledged myself to my god.”

“Very well!” Thorin answered. “All this listening has made me hungry! Let’s go get some breakfast.”

They headed downstairs for breakfast.


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## Ave Rage (Dec 24, 2002)

Thanks!  That was rather quick.  Too bad this one has zero action in it :/  I do like how these two handled the whole 'leader/no leader' thing without metagaming.  No 'Paladins have high charisma so we can barter better!"  stuff.  Can't wait for the next one!

[subliminal]BLOOD! BLOOD! BLOOD! BLOOD![/subliminal]


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## Taboo (Dec 25, 2002)

Thanks Ave!

Sorry about the lack of action (blood)!  The next posting will give you Kierwin finding Minx waiting for her explanation about where she's been and what she thinks she's doing, and that's the end of the roleplaying in town. After that the group heads back to the Citadel and a whole lot of trouble!

There's quite a bit of action and BLOOD coming up soon!


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## Taboo (Dec 29, 2002)

*Minx and Kierwin*

Kierwin came up the back stairs of the inn, hoping to avoid the rest of the party if they were downstairs having breakfast. She’d planned to be back before anyone had gotten up, but she’d gotten back later than she’d expected. There was one confrontation she couldn’t avoid, so about an hour and a half after dawn, Minx finally heard the doorknob rattle. When Kierwin opened the door, she found Minx standing there, arms crossed, foot tapping and a no-nonsense look on her face, she looked like she’d been waiting for awhile.  Kierwin walked into the room and quietly closed the door. She took a deep breath, and leaned back against the door, knowing what that look meant.

Minx asked her pointedly, “Where have you been?”

“I’m sure you know where I’ve been,” Kierwin answered, knowing that she couldn’t lie to Minx, even though she wished she could. She wondered how much of the truth she could keep to herself. She’d had a lot of surprises this morning, and hadn’t come close to accepting it all yet, for that matter, she didn’t understand it all yet. One of the most wonderful nights of her life had turned into one of the most puzzling and troubling mornings of her life.

Minx didn’t give any ground or change her expression, Kierwin could feel the emotions in the room as well as see them in her friend’s eyes and face. Minx was disappointed in her, and none too happy, in fact the word angry quickly came to mind. “Oh, I’m pretty sure I know where you’ve been and who you’ve been with, and were you NOT THINKING about what you were doing???  What did you do? Do I even want to know what you did? Did you sleep or did you just walk up and down the beach? You look pretty rested. No wait! You DON’T look very rested!!!" 

“Kierwin, did you sleep with him?!” She finally stopped, waiting for an answer.

Minx said all this without even taking a breath. Kierwin’s mind was reeling. She couldn’t think, the events of this morning were whirling through her head. She wanted to say that they had just talked, that nothing had happened, that it was none of Minx’s business, anything but the truth, but she couldn’t lie to her best friend, and some of it was Minx’s business, not all of it, at least not yet, but some of it. She opened her mouth and at first nothing came out. She closed it, took a breath, and tried again.

“I can’t lie to you…won’t lie to you. I was with Turk. I…slept…with Turk last night.” She said it quietly, in a shaky voice, not happy about telling Minx, she didn’t want to, but what good would it do to try to hide it? She wasn’t sure how much to tell Minx about the revelations she’d had this morning, and she’d thought about all the way here. She knew of at least one that she wasn’t going to tell her about, not right now, not if it killed her. That one was between her and Turk alone, for as long as possible.

“Ok, now then let me just ask you a question. HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT YOU DID?! Did you think about the possible consequences? Have you thought about not only could you possibly be pregnant, but if you are you would have a bastard half-elf?” Minx asked several loud questions that Kierwin was sure they could hear downstairs.

Kierwin answered, avoiding direct answers as to the consequences, she might not be able to lie, but she could withhold information. She thought about that walk in the moonlight, looking up into his eyes, and the way his arms had felt around her. Yes, she’d wanted him as much as he’d wanted her, and she’d made it very clear what she’d wanted. She wasn’t letting him take the blame for this, this time it had been her choice to make.  “Look Minx, don’t blame Turk for anything, it wasn’t his fault, it was mine. Yes, I thought this through. We went for a walk, it turned into more than that, I wanted to be with him. I accept the consequences of my actions, whatever they turn out to be.” 

Minx sighed, “You made your decision, I can’t blame him for the fact that he is what he is. He’s a love ‘em and leave ‘em guy. He doesn’t care what woman he’s with. He won’t care if you wind up pregnant, and he won’t marry you.”

Kierwin (wondering if she should feel insulted about the "he doesn't care what woman he's with" bit) said ”I don’t expect you to understand why I did what I did. Turk isn’t what you think he is. You won’t ever believe me, but he does have goodness and honor in his soul, and that is part of what drew me to him in the first place. I don’t love Turk. I don’t expect him to ever fall in love with me, I know better than that. He’s not the type of man to fall in love and settle down, and I wouldn’t want any man to marry me just because I was pregnant.” 

“Something happened last night because of Turk, because of the way he is. It isn’t what you think, so don’t say anything yet.  This is something that is going to change our lives forever, and it’s really hard for me to say. It's painful for me to remember.”

It took Kierwin several moments to start talking again.  “Do you remember Darial?” Minx said she did, vaguely. Kierwin told her about the lie she'd lived under for so long, slowly unfolding the events she had remembered that morning, she was nearly in tears again, remembering. Before she finished, Minx guessed that Snap was Kierwin’s child. 

Kierwin wanted to tell her why Turk had been the key to unlocking those memories, the near panic that had set in, and that he had somehow sensed it and made it alright. But she knew that wouldn’t mean the same thing to Minx that it meant to her. She left it at, “If it hadn’t been for Turk last night, I couldn’t have handled all of this. In fact, I wouldn’t even know this, I’m sorry, it’s hard to explain. Turk doesn’t know, nobody knows but the two of us. I needed to tell you first.”

Minx asked if Kierwin planned to tell Snap and if Kierwin wanted to have her with when she talked to him. Of course, Kierwin was going to tell him, he needed to know, he deserved to know. They agreed to talk to him together. Minx understood that Kierwin wouldn’t ever go back to the Misty Isle again, that she didn’t consider them her family. Not after what they’d done to her, and to Snap, an innocent child who deserved a real family. Minx said that Kierwin was with her family now, Minx and Snap.

Minx told her she was disappointed in her about what she did with Turk, and how concerned she was that Kierwin was going to end up getting hurt. Kierwin tried again to convince her that he was honorable and good, and to quit worrying about her. 

Minx stopped her, Kierwin had misunderstood her feelings all along. “He is a good person, I never said that he didn’t have honor, he is honorable, I just think he dishonors women. He’s going to break your heart. If you do have a child, he’s not going to stand by you, just like he slept with you last night, he’s just going to move on to somebody else.”

Kierwin, startled that Minx kept coming back to that subject said, “Then he will. I don’t expect anything from him, I went into this with my eyes open. No matter what comes of this, I’m on my own. I don’t expect him to stay with me.” Kierwin had misjudged the way that Minx felt about Turk. 

Minx said, “I just want you to be really careful. I know that you care for him. You don’t see it now, but he will break your heart.”

“I care for him, but I don’t love him, there’s a difference. There was a reason I was with him last night, and something happened to me this morning when I prayed. I can’t talk about it right now. I will, but I need you to trust me right now. Please?”

Minx said she could understand that, for now. “Try to control your hormones, or at least be careful?”

“I won’t make any promises, but I will be careful.” Kierwin knew full well she wasn’t making any promises, since she had no plans to stay away from Turk. 

Kierwin wasn’t proud of the fact that she was pregnant, nor was she ecstatic about it, but she wasn’t ashamed of carrying Turk’s child either, and she'd already shed her tears. There was no going back, and she’d do it again, in spite of the consequences. They had created a life, how could she not love it? What was dishonorable in what they had done? Absolutely nothing, as far as she was concerned. She had no idea what she was going to do, but she had faith that Ehlonna would guide her, and her faith in Ehlonna would be her strength. 

Minx said she would kill Turk if the rest of the party found out he’d slept with Kierwin, and Kierwin knew she’d try. Kierwin assured her that Turk wasn’t the type of man to brag about it. Turk would never do something like that that! It made Kierwin shudder to think of what he’d do if he knew Minx said that, in fact she prayed that he never found out that she even thought it!

“We have to talk to Snap, there are some things I need to talk to Turk about, and we’ll to talk again later. Ok?” Kierwin hoped that would pacify Minx for now. It did, but it wouldn't for long. “Can we have breakfast now?”

Kierwin shivered every single time Minx brought up pregnancy, why did she keep saying it? She’d have to be really careful around her.


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## Ave Rage (Dec 29, 2002)

Turk won't have to say -anything- since he'd probably have a huge grin on his face the rest of the day 


Could you guys give a meta-game reason why Snap is turning into a dragon?  I don't think the elf has any uber-blood in her but I don't know much about the guy that forced himself on her.

Nice update!  Allthough I'd of liked it much more if there was some spell tossing!  I predict that Turk will _hit_ Minx next.  She seems supportive/jealous.


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## Taboo (Dec 31, 2002)

Sorry Ave, you know almost as much about Snap's "Daddy" as I do!  I have a feeling he'll be showing up to give our heroes misery, afterall, he does have a son. Of course, I'm sure that it will be when we least expect it!

There is one more post in town, I forgot about when I said Minx and Kierwin would finish it up. Then everyone heads back to the Sunless Citadel, but I think you'll like it.


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## Taboo (Jan 6, 2003)

Kierwin and Minx came down the stairs to have breakfast, and found the others having breakfast with two new friends who were headed north to find children that were missing there. Apparently, Thorin had made friends with them the night before, and had even brought up the subject of joining forces. One had reddish colored skin, was around eight feet tall, and appeared to be all muscle, he said he was an Ogrun. The other was a ranger, and was six feet tall,  bluish gray, and was a Trollkin.  Kierwin wondered just what she'd missed out on last night at dinner, when she realized that Minx already knew about these two. 

Minx felt terrible, and wanted to talk to Turk about the rash she had that Dem had identified as mummy rot. He told her he didn’t know anything about it and asked why she was asking him.

“Dem said something about you being touched by Pelor, and that you might be able to help me. I haven’t seen you until now, so I couldn’t ask earlier.” Minx was doing her best to be nice.

Turk honestly didn’t know anything about mummy rot and couldn’t help her, he said he hadn’t even seen a mummy before yesterday.  He was genuinely confused about why Dem had told Minx to talk to him about it, he certainly didn't know anything about healing or diseases! Thorin had the same problem as Minx, but wasn’t as sick as she was. Thorin and Minx decided to go to the temple together to see Dem again, hoping she could help them, even though she couldn’t cure them of the problem, she could help with some of the symptoms.

Geirmund and Snap finally came down to breakfast before everyone split up for the morning.  Turk finished breakfast after Minx and Thorin left for the Temple, and their new friends, finished their breakfasts, and after some further talk about what was happening in the north, left on their quest to find the missing children.  

Kierwin was having trouble deciding what to do and barely touched her food. She finally decided to tell Turk about the baby, and asked if she could talk to him upstairs alone. She didn’t know when she’d have the chance again since they were headed back to the Sunless Citadel, and was afraid to wait given the circumstances. Turk nodded his head and they went upstairs to his room. They whispered to each other while they walked up the stairs, and shared a kiss for what seemed like no more than a few moments, lost in the passion that flared between them when their lips met.

Suddenly, they heard Kierwin’s name screamed from downstairs so loudly that reality came screeching back. (Kierwin had never heard her name screamed so loudly, Meepo probably heard it all the way back at the Sunless Citadel.) Kierwin remembered what she had asked Turk up here for, and the chance was gone.  The longer she waited the worse things would be between her and Minx, and the harder it would be to tell him. It was already going to be hard enough to explain as it was! How did Minx and Thorin get to the Temple and back so fast? She knew the real question was how long had she been lost in that kiss?

Turk and Kierwin walked out of his room, and Kierwin told Minx she needed a few minutes to finish her discussion with Turk. 

Minx was irritated to say the least, “Oh, PLEASE, Kierwin, it’s only been a few hours! We need to go get the apple,  because I’ll be dead if I don’t.”

Turk winked at Kierwin, who tried unsuccessfully to restrain a smile, “And the reason we should go get the apple is?” 

Minx glared at both of them. “I am not even justifying that with a remark.”

Turk replied innocently, “Oh, we are going to go get the apple for _Osa_.  I _knew_ there was a reason.” 

Kierwin was frustrated, she’d just gotten her nerve up to tell him the truth! “But I only need to talk to Turk for a few minutes, please?”

Minx obviously didn't believe her. Kierwin tried to explain exactly what she was doing with Turk upstairs (ok, what she’d meant to be doing), “We were trying to talk when we heard someone let out a scream my name from downstairs! It’s a serious discussion, not what you think.”

Minx really didn’t care.  “Ok, you know what? I’m going on, if you guys want to come with me, please do. Because I’m gonna be dead if I don’t.  Talk on the way! Can you read and write Turk?”

That produced glares from Turk and Kierwin, but it got Minx the desired effect.

“Ok, we’ll talk on the way, but I need to talk to Turk in private. Not a problem, but we’ll keep our distance.” Kierwin got the picture and decided to talk to Turk on the trip back to the citadel, hoping this would work. This was going to be tricky, how was she going to keep all of this secret with everyone around? She really didn't want to hurt Minx, but she couldn't let anyone know about this, especially not her.

They were prepared to move out when they realized they didn’t have Snap with them, Geirmund was standing silently in the back, faithfully and quietly as usual. Minx promptly screamed loudly “SNAP!!!”. Then they realized he was still having breakfast and went and got him, and they set off for the Sunless Citadel.

They stopped by the Temple so Turk could go in and check on Rowena. The others waited outside for him.

Kierwin didn't talk to Turk on the walk back to the Citadel. She was thinking about her talk with Minx that morning. Something Minx had said crossed her mind and she couldn’t get past it. Kierwin admitted she misunderstood the reasons Minx disliked Turk. Minx admitted that he was a good man, but she felt that he dishonored women. 

How ironic that Kierwin’s parents said she’d dishonored her entire family. Fault didn’t matter, all they cared about was the way it looked to the rest of the village. She’d brought shame to her family, and they hid it from everyone, while Kierwin suffered for nearly twenty years. That’s why she’d been getting ready to leave the Misty Isle when they’d been kidnapped.

Granted, the circumstances were different. Kierwin’s parents were afraid of the village finding out about their daughter's dishonor. Minx saw the difference and offered to be the family she hadn’t had. Now her child’s father, and the one person closer to her than a sister couldn’t stand each other. Kierwin thought about what Minx had said about the baby if Kierwin was pregnant. A “bastard half-elf.” What would Minx actually think about the baby when she found out?

Minx really was closer to her than a sister, that made this even more difficult. She would give her life to save her friends, or to save the person they were on a mission to save.  Kierwin also knew that once she’d made up her mind about something or someone, it was hard to get her to change it. 

What about how Turk had taken such good care of Rowena, a woman who was still in a state of shock, unable to speak, and whom he had met less than a month ago? He used his own money to take care of her, and found a place to keep her comfortable and safe.

Didn’t the good he did mean anything? Turk had a kind heart, a good soul, that was part of what had drawn Kierwin to him in the first place. There was a lot about him that she didn’t know, like how he’d react to her past, or to the fact that he was going to be a father. That was what made it so hard for Kierwin to decide what to do now, but whatever she did, Turk would have a say in it.

The more she thought about it, the more her thoughts turned toward the one person in the world who never thought she’d dishonored her family or herself and never would. The person who’d saved her life twenty years ago. 

He wouldn’t care that she wasn’t married, and would welcome her and the baby, the words “bastard half-elf” would never escape his lips.  She’d have to find out how to get to the palace of Gildor, maybe Geirmund would know. 

The next thing she knew they were back at the crevice leading to the Sunless Citadel and it was too late to tell Turk anything. She was back to reality as they readied themselves to descend into the darkness once again. She silently prayed that Ehlonna would watch over them all in this forsaken place.


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## Taboo (Jan 17, 2003)

*Back into the Darkness*

Thorin descended first, prepared for any rats that may be lurking down there, remembering their first trip. Turk was second, on guard as always. Somehow, in his haste, he lost his hold on the rope partway down and beat Thorin to the bottom. Kierwin was next, and saw him fall as she started down the rope,  remembering her own fall the first time they came this way. She kept her mind on what she was doing, although felt her heart jump as she saw him lose his grip. She knelt by him thankful that his wounds weren't worse than they were as the others descended. Thorin kept a careful watch for rats as she was busy concentrating. Turk promised her that he would be more careful in the future, and thanked her for her healing touch as she prayed to heal his wounds. The others descended without incident.

They were back in the tower, now they had to decide which way to go.  Turk proposed that if they went back to where they had left off, the goblins would be expecting them, and be lying in wait. Plus, there was that very dangerous pit trap to cross. They still had the map the captive goblins had drawn of the other side of the citadel. The first map had proven relatively reliable. If the second map was also correct, then that would help. They decided to go back to the room where they had found Meepo and go that way.

They entered the room Calcryx had been kept in and Meepo was missing. There was no fire, the only light was from Turk’s ever burning torch. Before they went any further, Kierwin pulled out the scrolls from the Dragon Priest’s Sarcophagus and cast Read Magic on them. In all the confusion, it was the first chance she’d gotten. It turned out she was right, they were clerical like she'd thought, they were _Cure Light Wounds_, _Inflict Light Wounds_, _Command_, and _Magical Stone_.

They started walking, and came to a door, it was not locked and Thorin opened it, so far it didn’t match the second map. Two of the goblins had apparently told the truth, the others had obviously lied.  This room was empty and lightless, not to mention filthy. Rat droppings covered the floor. There was a door at the far end of the room, and Geirmund went over to check it and found no locks or traps. Thorin didn’t hear any noise coming from the other side when he listened at it.

Thorin looked in and saw dust and odd bits of rubble on the floor. An ornate fountain was built into the wall they could see from the door. When Kierwin, Turk and Thorin entered the room, they could see that the fountain was dry and cracked. Thorin went in to inspect the fountain, and Turk crossed the room to guard the corridor on the other side to watch for an ambush. Kierwin followed Turk, figuring she could keep an eye on both fighters that way. That left Snap with Minx and Geirmund in the other corridor.

Thorin noticed that there were carvings of a diving dragon on the fountain, and that it was the same craftsmanship as the elves and other items in the other rooms where they had found the Dragon Priest. He noticed a word that was barely discernable on the front of the fountain, it was so old that it was nearly worn away. The style of the writing appeared to be the same as what they had seen before, so Thorin asked Minx or Snap to try to read it.

Snap came in and carefully studied the writing, it meant “let there be fire”, but he didn’t want to say the word, afraid of setting something off. Thorin decided to search the fountain, but didn’t find anything of interest. Minx promptly came in and said the word meaning  "let there be fire"  out loud in draconic.

Everyone else moved just out of the room, not liking the implication of the phrase. Turk and Kierwin were still guarding the corridor, watching for signs of an ambush, Snap and Geirmund were out in the hallway they had come in. Thorin stayed with Minx. As Minx said the word, a swooping stone dragon emerged from the wall over the fountain. The tail of the dragon stayed attached to the wall, and the mouth of the dragon was the fountainhead. 

It was a stone statue of what Minx identified as a red dragon, then a red liquid came pouring out of the dragon’s mouth. Minx touched it, and then tasted it, then felt her mouth get slightly hot and smoke a little when she breathed, then nothing. She said “Hey Snap, I can breathe smoke!”

Thorin wondered what the point of that would be, then the red liquid quit pouring out and there was a puddle in the bottom of the basin. They thought about collecting it, Kierwin thought more would let you breath fire, Snap thought maybe they needed to throw it on something later, Turk decided to drink it all.

Everyone got well away from Turk when they found out what he was going to do.  He drank it. He said he didn’t know what it did yet, he just felt warm right now, he’d done it for Kierwin because she was curious, she smiled at him. Minx tried saying the word again, hoping for more of the liquid, but nothing happened.

Now they turned their attention to the door that was in there. It was a large stone door, carved with skeletal dragons, and they noticed that standing close to the door it was very cold. There were inscriptions in the same flowing script they’d seen before above the door. Minx interpreted it for them. 

“Channel good, open the way.”

They started thinking of ways to interpret that. Turk said “Let’s open the way!” Minx sarcastically answered him that they had to channel good.  Turk tried to open the door, but it didn’t budge, he could feel the cold radiating from it. Thorin threw all his strength into it, trying to open it, and was nearly hit by a blade that came slicing right above his head and back into the wall. Turk was glad he hadn't put more strength into it when he'd tried!

Kierwin was standing in the back mumbling “channel good”, trying to figure out what that meant, figuring that they weren’t going to get in until they figured out a magical way to channel good. Then she nearly jumped out of her skin when the blade nearly cut Thorin’s head off. 

Then, they tried having Turk breathe on the door since it was so cold, hoping that the heat would counter the cold. Sure enough, fire came out of Turk’s mouth, but it only scorched the stone door, leaving a blackened area. At least they knew for sure what the red liquid did!

Kierwin had an idea, she tried turning undead, that had to be channeling Ehlonna’s power, which was channeling good, wasn’t it? With Turk urging her on, saying she didn’t really try with conviction the first time, she tried again with conviction (but not enough), so she tried one more time (really hard and a with new d20). 

The door glowed a ghostly blue and opened silently.


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## Taboo (Jan 22, 2003)

The cold they felt on the other side of the door was reflected in the room. The next thing they noticed were three dusty sarcophagi standing on end in the strangely silent chamber. Two on one wall and one on the other. Turk, Kierwin and Thorin headed for a shrine carved from dark stone at the far end of the chamber, the others walked into the chamber, but stayed near the door. The sarcophagi were carved to resemble noble elves similar to those they had seen statues of in the corridor where they had found the Dragon Priest.

Strangely, on the shrine, a single candle burned.  Thorin went to examine the stonework on the sarcophagi while Turk knelt at the alter and prayed to Pelor.

“Pelor, give this party the strength and the guidance to perform our mission, give us the insight to know what we should do. How we shall proceed, what actions shall lead down the path of righteousness and which shall turn towards failure. Help us, guide us, give us strength against thine enemies.”

Minx cast _Mage Armor_ on herself. 

Turk went to the closest sarcophagus and tried to open it, hoping he wasn’t defiling some long dead hero of the past, but it wouldn’t open. 

Thorin was at the one across the room examining the stonework, and Kierwin stayed at the shrine. She noticed that the shrine was carved with dragons, it had a shelf that held the candle, and next to the candle, were a small whistle and a flask. Turk came back to the shrine by Kierwin, and picked up the whistle to examine it.

When Turk picked up the whistle, the three sarcophagi opened and three undead elves stepped out. Not really skeletons, zombies, or mummies; these were undead that none of them had encountered before, dry and very well preserved. They were wearing extremely nice armor, shields and two carried swords, the third carried a battle axe. They closely resembled the carvings on the lids of the sarcophagi.

Back near the door, Snap attacked, blasting the one closest to Turk with a _magic missile_.

Thorin stepped up to the one nearest to Kierwin with his war axe, carving a chunk out of its side, distracting it while she prayed.

Kierwin attempted a _Greater Turning_ and felt the holy power of Ehlonna flow through her, but the undead were untouched. Whatever these creatures were or whoever they used to be, they were beyond her ability to turn. They were going to have to fight their way out of this one, and it looked like it promised to be quite a fight. She had her sword ready.

Geirmund stepped into the room and attacked the one closest to him. It ignored him for now, attacking Snap as soon as it got a chance, and wounded him with its longsword, drawing blood.

Before Thorin and Kierwin got a chance to finish off the one they were fighting, it managed to score a hit with its axe on Thorin, but both Thorin and Kierwin hit it in concert cutting it in half. It collapsed in two piles of dust.  Thorin moved over to help Snap, seeing that he was in trouble.

Turk decided to try out the whistle he’d found to see what it would do. He blew the whistle, but seemed to get no reaction from the undead. When that didn’t work, he smashed the candle, still with no foreseeable reaction.

The other undead elf took a swing a Turk, but missed him completely.

Minx was preparing her own attack while Turk was busy at the other end of the room. She cast Magic Missile on the undead fighting Snap, it groaned in anger at the wizard. 

Geirmund nicked the one he was fighting that was closest to Turk. Turk had another trick up his sleeve and tried breathing fire on it! It didn’t like that very much, letting out a roar when the fire hit it, but it ignored Turk and stabbed Geirmund, who had attacked it several times. By now Geirmund and Snap both had blood splattered on the floor beneath them, the undead were accurate with their blows, and were dealing out punishment as well as taking it.

Minx pulled out her bow, but the arrow just missed the undead elf she was firing at, it bounced harmlessly off the wall just inches behind it. Snap bit and clawed at the undead he was fighting, but his claws scraped off its armor.

Thorin attacked the one that Turk had been fighting and nearly cut it down. They could see a huge gash open in its side. Kierwin brought her sword around to the one that Geirmund and Turk were fighting, but missed as it turned unexpectedly towards Thorin. It seemed to have realized that Thorin had done the most damage and made him its new target. Fortunately, its hit bounced off of Thorin’s armor with a resounding clang. Turk took a step forward and using his greatsword, he took a swing at it and cut it down in a heap of dust. 

Snap was alone with the remaining creature, his claws scraping harmlessly off of its armor again, but his bite did some damage this time. Thorin quickly got over there and finished it off with a final blow from his war axe.

They had destroyed all three foul creatures, and Kierwin sat down with Thorin and prayed to Ehlonna to heal his wounds, followed by Snap and Geirmund. Everyone else had escaped without injury. Then, they proceeded to inspect the rest of the room, and search the bodies.

Turk tasted the liquid in the flask from the shrine, but couldn’t tell what it was, they could see that it was green, but that was it. They put it away until they could find out what it was. Closer inspection of the whistle revealed something written on it.

Minx interpreted it as “Night Caller”; written Dwarven.  Turk put the whistle on the alter, picked up a shield and tried to smash it as hard as he could. It damaged the shield, but not the whistle. He told the party that when he’d blown the whistle earlier, he’d gotten a very unsettling feeling from it.  Thorin, realizing it was made from nephiliam, said that it is found only in the rarest of veins in areas saturated with magic, it was like transparent iron. After hearing Thorin’s explanation, Minx remembered something she’d heard about ancient Dark Dwarves making several such whistles for several groups in ages passed.

Now that they realized what they were doing, Thorin told Turk he needed to use a war hammer to do a decent job. Thorin hit the whistle three times with his war hammer and  finally smashed it. He collected the pieces, to see if he could do anything with it later. Kierwin was carrying the flask they’d found, hoping to identify it somehow.

The images on the coffins were identical to the statues found in the hallway by the Dragon Priest and the undead were clothed exactly like the carvings and statues. Satisfied that they had fully searched the room, they were ready to move on.


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## Taboo (Feb 7, 2003)

After a very short rest, they got into their familiar marching order, and started down the hallway. Thorin could see a doors on both sides of the hallway, and they were marked on the map. The map didn’t indicate what was on the other side of the doors, however, and they had already discovered that the map was incomplete, at best. The map indicated which way the goblins were, but they didn't trust it. Turk pointed out that they should check behind the door on the left just to be sure. They didn’t want an ambush coming up behind them.

Geirmund checked the door, telling them with absolute certainty that it wasn’t locked, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t trapped. Thorin listened at the door, and didn’t hear anything, so he opened the door. The room was desolate, full of rat filth, stank, and nearly made them sick. They went ahead and crossed the room to the door on the far side. When they opened the door, it knocked over a pile of cans that went scattering across the floor making quite a bit of noise. They realized that was a mistake, they’d obviously just announced their presence. The floor was covered in caltrops and a roughly mortared wall about three feet tall was farther down at the other end. They quickly backed up and closed the door behind them. Geirmund figured out a way to lock that door behind them and they went back to the main hallway.

They could see six doors in this section of the hallway, three on each side. The first one they came to was slightly open, just enough to let something small in or out. They couldn’t see inside, it was too small and dark to see into. Thorin could hear some kind of noise coming from behind one of the doors. 

Turk and Thorin tried to move quietly up to one of the doors, ready to blast into one to surprise whatever was in there. Unfortunately Turk’s armor was too noisy to move quietly, so they ran into three large rats  that were ready for them when they rushed into the room. Turk sliced the first rat in half from the right to the left spraying blood across the walls with one stroke of his greatsword, praising Pelor for guiding his hand as he struck it down.

Thorin swung straight down with his war axe at the second rat, killing it with a single blow. Its guts spilling out onto the floor at his feet.

One rat remained in the room, and Snap cast magic missile at it. It tried to go for Turk while he was busy dissecting its former buddy, but it didn’t get through his armored boot.

Kierwin saw the rat head for Turk, and stepped into the melee, she slashed at it with her longsword and finished it off.

The next room was abandoned, but the room beyond that was full of rats that were waiting for them. One pounced on Thorin and another went straight for Turk, both missed, fortunately. Kierwin prayed to Ehlonna for her blessing on the party. Thorin killed the rat that had attempted to bite him with one hit. Turk swung at the stomach of the rat that had pounced on him, spilling its guts across the room, killing it instantly. 

There was one rat left in the room, it attacked Thorin, and missed. Thorin paid it back for trying to bite him, and split it nearly in half. They entered the bloody room to search the rats’ nest, and found a few gems and gold the rats had packed away.

They got back together and were off to the next room, which was also full of rats. Snap had his crossbow loaded, and shot at one of the rats, killing it. Thorin hit the rat in front of him with his war axe, cutting its ugly head off, its beady red eyes going dim. Then, Turk struck the last one straight down with his greatsword, striking it straight through the heart.


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## Taboo (Feb 26, 2003)

They headed for the room at the end of the hall. They saw a cobblestone floor with two trap doors blocked open by iron spikes.  They were obviously well made traps, and they were glad that whoever had been through here and spiked them open.  One wall in the room held a dry fountain carved with a base relief of a dragon.

Thorin went to the fountain to search it, and to inspect for inscriptions. When he found an inscription written in what appeared to be in Draconic, Snap came in to read it. He barely wanted to tell them out loud what it meant when he translated it, afraid to set off a deadly trap. It meant “Let there be death.”  

Kierwin, was standing back, studying the inscription, and not realizing she was speaking out loud, sounded out the word.  Gas came pouring out of the fountain. The cloud of gas came just far enough out to envelope her, Turk and Snap, but the three of them finally managed to overcome its effects. She realized that  she must have spoken what she'd been thinking and that her mind wasn’t on what she was doing. 

Kierwin tried to focus her thoughts, unable to believe she'd nearly gotten them all killed. She felt an overwhelming sense of guilt for what she'd nearly done to both her son and to Turk. She couldn't live with herself if she caused any harm to come to either of them. She shook her head, realizing that she had been thinking about not only Turk, but Darial, and she knew was endangering them all. 

Everyone ran from the room, deciding there was nothing in that room except death. They left the fountain, the inscription and the death trap behind them.

Now, they had to decide which way to go, unable to trust the maps from the goblins. Turk had a could feel they were getting closer to trouble, and said they had to take it even more slowly and cautiously than they had been.


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## Taboo (Mar 6, 2003)

Working their way down the hallway, Thorin opened the next door carefully after Geirmund declared it safe. He opened it slowly, and found more of the diseased dire rats waiting. The group barely had time for a glimpse of what waited for them deeper in the room, it was larger than the others, diseased, covered in puss-filled sores, filthy, and obviously the mother. They were also assaulted by the sickening stench of rotting meat. 

Snap fired his cross bow, missing as the bolt skittered off the floor just inches from its mark. Thorin brought his war axe down in an arc slicing open the one in front of him, killing it instantly, its innards gushing out onto the floor underneath it, and stepped in to clear the doorway for the others. Two rats raced for the fighters, and the first managed to get through Turk's armor before he could fend it off , while the other went after Thorin. 

Turk quickly put his greatsword to good use, cutting the head off of rat that bit him, ensuring that the rat would never bite anyone again. Geirmund moved up, eager to get into the battle, but was blocked by the fighters in the door, in melee with the rats. Snap reloaded his crossbow, prepared to fire, given an opening.

Thorin swung his waraxe at the rat that had bitten him, and missed, and Kierwin stepped up to the doorway near Geirmund, waiting to fight or heal, watching the battle carefully, assessing the wounds. 

The huge female dire rat, Guthash, had an opening and attacked. While Turk was engaged with the last two rats, the large female managed to bite him. Ignoring the pain from the wound, Turk attacked the rat on his left, killing it, but swung too high, missing the rat on his right when he followed through. Seeing his opportunity, Geirmund made it into the room and killed the rat that Turk had missed. Leaving the large, hideously diseased female dire rat for them to fight.

Thorin gripped his war axe, swinging it in a powerful arc as he hit the mother rat, killing her with one, absolutely perfect blow. The others looked at him, stunned, barely able to believe that he struck such a blow to that bloated, diseased creature.

They went to work searching the room, it was obvious that the secret door indicated on the map by the goblins did not exist. They found some silver, some gold and some gems in the filth and nests, but then after searching through the mess for some time, they found a body. Upon close examination, they managed to identify the body as that of the Ranger Karakas from the original party that they were looking for. His gold ring had his name engraved on it. They took the ring as evidence that they had found his body, Kierwin took the purple potion and Turk took the flask of cure light wounds that they found on the body.

Minx and Snap stood by the door to the room, speaking privately, well away from the rest of the party.

Turk could not just leave Karakas body lying on the floor, and was determined to build a cairn and to pray over it. As he began using the crumbled stone strewn across the floor, he noticed a hole chewed in the wall by the rats.  He asked Thorin to guard the new entrance that he had discovered. Thorin responded by saying that if anything, especially a rat, attempted to enter through that hole, its head would immediately be separated from its body. Kierwin and Geirmund stood guard with Thorin, Geirmund trying to get Thorin to explore outside the hole, while Kierwin was doing her best to discourage him.  Thorin didn't crawl through the hole, but did get a better look through it. He discovered that it led to the outside of the citadel, back to the chasm they had climbed down to enter the place originally.

After Turk had finished the cairn, placing Karakas' body to rest, and Kierwin was satisfied that Thorin was going to stay put inside the citadel, she walked over to pay her respects. She filled Turk in on the destination of the hole they'd found. Unfortunately, it did them little good at the time, they really had no need to go outside the citadel. 

Turk finished the cairn as best he could with the materials available, and prayed to Pelor, while Kierwin bore silent witness. "Pelor, I know not the god this one followed, but see if you can take care of him in the afterlife, and lead him to goodness and righteousness. Give us strength that none of this party, even Minx, shall fall upon this fate, which this brave lad Karakas has met. In his name, follow his light and his godliness. Amen"

"Shall we move on in our quest, to save the other three?" Finished, Turk who was ready to go. "And also, of course, to find the apple, so we shall be able to help Osa's niece. And... if we may quarter the apple, we could even, perhaps help Minx."

Kierwin added, "And Thorin!"

Turk did not know about Thorin, "You are injured?"

"Aye, it was the mummy, same as Minx...." Replied Thorin, who was nowhere near as sick as Minx was.

Kierwin healed the fighters as best she could before they left the room, no matter where they went, they were walking into battle with goblins, if not worse.


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## Taboo (Mar 23, 2003)

*Goblins!*

"We have two paths that lie before us. To go back through the door where the cans were, because that appears to be one way, and the main entrance into the goblins' lair. Or we can go all the way out and try to go in through the other door, and try to go over the pit. It would be my sense that the goblins have reinforced that area."

Kierwin interrupted, "And it will be just as dangerous as this door."

Turk agreed, "If not more. Now remember, there were caltrops on the ground which will impede us, we'll have to move slower. Simply do not run through the area, then you would definitely endanger yourself. Then, there was a wall or something, which I will assume the goblins will have guarded with missile fire, bows, javelins, spears, perhaps, which they will  attempt to impale us with as we move forward. Does anyone have a shield?"

The answer was no.

"Hmm. So we will just have to take our chances and move forward. Thorin, I suggest that you and I lead the attack. Spellcasters, do any of you have any sleep spells?"

Electra did, but Kierwin only had Clerical spells that morning. Minx wanted to know why Turk wanted to know.

"We are moving into the goblin area. Cloaked one..." He was trying to get Snap's attention. "Do you have any of these sleep spells?"

Snap had been ignoring him, and finally answered that he did. He also had more spells to cast than Minx did, which ended up causing a discussion about the difference between wizards and sorcerers. Turk was still learning about spellcasters, since it had not been addressed at the academy.

"My suggestion is, we open the door, and let Minx and Snap cast their sleep spells on the area just past that wall to knock out any defenders. Then Thorin and I will walk over to the wall, look over, see what awaits us, and at that point we will decide whether to move forward or not." Turk had outlined a solid battle strategy, based on the fact that they did not know how many defenders would be waiting behind the partial wall.  "Thorin, let's you and I take the lead, then we'll move back as quietly as possible, letting the spellcasters act first."

"Let's let our enemies bleed and die for their evil gods, while we live and conquer for our good god, Pelor. Pelor, give us strength."

Turk whispered to Kierwin, "Why don't you be rear guard in case anything comes up behind us." 

She walked to the back of the group with Geirmund, sword out and watching for movement behind them.

With that, Thorin listened to see if he could hear anything on the other side, not hearing anything, they opened the door. The room was empty, except for the same mess they had encountered before, especially the great quantity of rat droppings.  There were recent tracks through the room, it looked like a couple of goblins had come partway into the room, and then gone back into the hallway. 

They moved over to the door that led to the hallway that the goblins guarded. It was slightly ajar. Turk could hear some sort of noise, but couldn't make out what it was. When they opened the door, movement caught Turk's eye as they opened the door. His hand shot out, catching a stone that had been placed on top of the door, and knocked off when they opened it, preventing it from alerting the goblins that the door had been opened.

There were speartips visible above the wall at the end of hallway, so they knew that the sentries were indeed at their post. Minx cast sleep and they saw one of the speartips fall.  They heard surprised noises coming from one of the goblins, who couldn't figure out what had just happened to its partner. Snap cast the sleep spell he had prepared and the startled goblin joined its partner on the floor. Then Turk and Thorin made their way up to the wall, being careful of the caltrops that littered the floor. 

Turk and Thorin made it to the wall, and using the wall as cover, got weapons ready to slice and dice. Turk drove his greatsword into one of the goblins, killing it before it could awake from the spell. Thorin took the other goblin out by separating its head from its body. They made sure the rest of the area was clear before motioning the others on.

Turk scaled the wall easily, and helped Thorin over. There was a doorway on that side of the wall, so Turk and Thorin guarded it while the others joined them after clearing the caltrops out of the hallway in case they needed to make a hasty retreat. They found wine skins with really nasty wine in them. The smell alone nearly made Thorin sick.

They opened the door that Turk and Thorin had been guarding, Kierwin and Geirmund continued to watch behind them in case of an attack. As soon as they opened the door, they heard goblins. When Turk heard the goblins, he took off with his sword out, ready for a fight. There was a short hallway that turned and opened into another room. That room was divided by another crenellated wall, and the goblins were standing guard behind that wall. 

Turk, having left the others behind, got there first.  He peaked around the corner, and saw several goblin faces peering over the wall, chattering to each other. At the end of the room, near where he was standing, were several human-sized stuffed manikins and broken javelins littered the floor. He took stock of the situation, and quickly moved up to the wall, slashing back and forth with his greatsword to terrify the goblins. He called to Thorin come and share the glory with him as they killed the evil goblins. 

Three goblins stabbed at Turk as he moved to attack them alone. He dodged two, but the third hit, just grazing his left shoulder. Now Turk had a target, "You die first, putrid one!" He decided on a downward thrust with his sword, to work around the cover the goblins had from the three foot tall wall. He plunged his sword down through the heart of the goblin that had dented his armor with its javelin, and it slid off the blade, dead to the floor. He brought the sword up to hit the goblin next to him, but had lost momentum when he'd pierced the first one through. He just missed the goblin he was aiming for on the upswing, and nicked the wall.

The goblin Turk missed was screaming and jumping around with its javelin and trying to hit Turk.  In its excitement, or terror, it missed.

Thorin had joined in the fight while Turk was fighting, and managed to take the head and an arm off of one of the goblins. 

Turk said "Surrender or die!" And one of the goblins threw a javelin at him, then both of the remaining goblins ran for the door. Turk managed to bring down one as it turned to run, then stepped over the wall trying to keep the last goblin from getting away.

Thorin saw the goblin  open the door, and did the only thing he could think of. He threw his waraxe. The goblin fell with the axe embedded firmly in the back of its head. Thorin climbed over the wall to reclaim his axe and clean the goblin brains off it.

Kierwin and Geirmund had gotten there in time to see Turk and Thorin kill the last two goblins and climbed over the wall to join Turk and Thorin. Turk called for Minx and Snap, who were still back in the room at the other end of the short hallway. They finally joined the rest of the group, and didn't offer any explanations about what had held them up.


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## Taboo (Jun 2, 2003)

*The discovery of the dungeon*

Turk wanted to explore beyond the door the goblins had tried to escape through, but Kierwin didn't want to leave any doors unopened, or at least unguarded behind them. Kierwin couldn't hear anything through the door, but had Geirmund check it out. He thought he could hear mumbling or scuffling noises, but couldn't make anything out. Kierwin walked over to Turk and told him they really needed to check behind that door first, and that there were noises coming from behind it.

Turk asked Kierwin and Geirmund to watch the first door, while he and Thorin found out what was behind the door she was concerned about. Thorin tried to open the door, but it was locked, so Geirmund tried to pick it, which took him a few tries, but he got it. Thorin opened the door to find a dark and filthy dungeon.

Near the entrance, they found three kobolds tied to a spike by crude, rough ropes. As Turk stepped up so that his light shone into the room, they could see a few crumbling skeletons, of some poor, forgotten inhabitants, then they saw the back wall of the room. A battered looking dwarf was locked inside a rusty iron cage.

Turk and Thorin both headed straight for the dwarf at the back of the room. Thorin spoke to the dwarf in Dwarven.

"How long have you been down here? What's going on?"

"Get me out of this cage, and I'll talk! I can't even stand up straight! My back hurts! I need some water, or better yet, some beer! Son, have ya got some been on ya?"

Thorin called Geirmund, needing him to pick the lock on the cage. Geirmund went in to pick the lock, and said it was a tough a lock! Kierwin talked Snap into guarding the door for her while she went after the torch that Geirmund had taken with him, since he'd left her in the dark and helpless. She retrieved the torch and returned to her post.

Now Geirmund gave them a silver flask and a key that he'd found on the goblins. He'd been looting the bodies while they'd been busy in the dungeon. The flask was of dwarven make, and when Thorin opened it, it smelled bad.

"I am Reyk! Reyk the Timbers! Give me an axe and I'll chop 'em down!"

"My name is Turk Wildhands, it is a pleasure to meet you, an honor sir." Turk bowed to the dwarf. "I do not know if we have an extra axe, but these goblins have javelins. You could take some of their putrid armor for some protection. Were you captured by these goblins or something?"

"I was out doing a little exploring, you probably saw some of my friends out in the main hall, all dead on the ground. I've been here for awhile, I don't know how long, I've lost track of time."

"Have you seen anyone else? We are looking for a Paladin, named Sir Bradfor...."

Rek interrupted, "You mean a human in shiny armor all puffed up with himself, and his hot little sister?"

 "That's the one."

"Yeah, they came through here about a week ago."

"And they left you here tied up?"

"Yeah, see, that big ugly guy, with the scar down his face, kinda hairy, looks kinda scary, he said 'I've got no use for that.' and left me here for the goblins. He took them off."

"Was his name Belak?" Asked Turk.

Reyk thought for a moment. "I can't remember... The name sounds familiar, I've probably heard the goblins mention it a few times."

"This puffed up one," Turk asked, "Sir Bradford, did you happen to see a boy and a girl with him who looked alike, or appeared to be brother and sister?"

"Yeah, the boy had a gash in his head and had bandages all over. They took him straight past."

"But they were alive? How long ago?"

Reyk answered, "About a week."

"A week, there is still hope then, my friends, and...companions." Turk said, getting a withering look from Minx.

Thorin asked Reyk if he would like to join them.

"Yeah, let's kill the scum! They took my Holy Symbol and I want to get it back! Moradin would never forgive me if I didn't. " Reyk was more than ready to get going, and  get his vengeance on the ones who'd locked him in the cage.

Turk was quick to catch the reference to the Holy Symbol. "Are you of the Clerical persuasion?"

"I AM A WAR PRIEST! NOTHING IS FINER THAN CLEAVING GOBLIN SKULLS AND DRINKING BEER!"

"Aye!" Thorin agreed enthusiastically.

Turk was quick to add, "Except giving thanks to Pelor for his goodness!"

"Pelor is good because he grows trees, so we can hew them down!" Reyk was still shouting, he was so excited about going after those who had kept him prisoner. "The better to make axe handles with!"

"Well, each has their own way of traveling and doing justice for good," Turk said. "So as long as you fight in goodness name, I'll be proud to travel with you. Let's go forward with Pelor and destroy the evil, before they have too much chance! So far we have been very lucky and we have not been discovered down here."

Reyk pointed out the other prisoners, "What about these little guys?"

Turk thought for a moment, "I care not for them, we may let them go. They are subhuman."

"Wait a minute!" Thorin jumped in. "We should see if we can speak their language, they might be able to give us some information!"

Reyk said, "They brought them in, not too long ago. It's hard to tell the hours, but maybe half a day."

Thorin and Reyk were talking at the same time, while Thorin was calling for Minx to come in to talk to the prisoners, that he thought were called kobolds, Rek was saying something about a poor little one being drug off by the big ugly man with the scar, and not being at all happy about it.

Minx couldn't figure out what Thorin was talking about, in his excitement, and Turk told her that he said they had prisoners for her to talk to.

She went in the room, leaving Keirwin, Geirmund and Snap on guard in the outer room. Turk left with Reyk while Minx talked with the kobolds, he was on a search to find armor that would fit the dwarf, unfortunately, after trying piece after piece of armor, nothing would fit.

"They're weany little goblins, man, I'm am a stout oak! They're weeds!" They dug through all of the abandoned armor, including those on the dead bodies. Your shirt, though, it looks like it might fit!"

"This shirt is blessed by Pelor himself!"

"Oh, it's a nice weave, there..."

"I know, this is my shirt! See this dent right here?"

"It must have cost you a pretty penny! You must have lots of money! I'll let you buy me beer!"

"Help me destroy the goblins, and we are here to retrieve an apple. Help us and I'll buy you all the beer you can drink in an hour."

"Let's kill the goblins!" Rek finally forgot about Turk's armor, now that his mind was on been and killing goblins again.

Finally admitting defeat, they settled on grabbing javelins and hoped to find some armor that would fit later. Kierwin offered her Morningstar, which Reyk tried out, then beat to a pulp on the stone walls, complaining it was a goblin weapon, and handed back to her.

Meanwhile, Minx spoke to the imprisoned kobolds. When everyone got back together, she filled them all in. Apparently, their actions in the citadel had had quite an impact on the kobolds. After they'd left to go back to town, the goblins, led by Belak came through the side passage and attacked them.

Belak confronted the queen and told her that he would wipe out the tribe if they continued to help the group. Meepo had been taken to Belak down below. The queen sold him out as an ally of the group. The kobolds didn't have any idea what happened to Meepo after he'd been taken down below, and as far as the queen was concerned, she didn't care if they were dead, she wouldn't bat an eye.

Minx asked the kobolds if they let them go, what they'd do to the queen.

"Nothing! She's mean! She'll stick us in the head and stand on our necks! And shoot bolts of energy from her fingers!" The kobolds were screaming they were so scared of the queen. They weren't about to go running to her.

"So if we let you go, what are you going to do?" Minx asked them.

"Go back to the tribe, where else are we gonna go?" They asked, like it was a stupid question.

"But she sold you out!"

"She's the queen. She has to do what she has to do, for the good of the tribe."

"So killing the tribe is for the good of the tribe?" Thorin asked, after Minx translated.

"If your arm becomes infected you would cut it off to save your body."

Minx told them she was going to let them go, and untied them. She told them she hoped Meepo was alive. They said they hoped he was and felt bad for him, that he went down the hole.

Minx wished she'd let Meepo stay with her when he'd asked. He'd wanted to go to town, and they'd made him stay at the citadel. Now they didn't know if he was alive or dead, and he was down below with Belak.

After they let the kobolds go, Reyk told them a little more about what he'd heard from the goblins while he'd been imprisoned down there. He'd heard the goblins talk about the Twilight Grove down below. It was an enchanted garden, and he'd seen a man in robes, carrying a scythe, headed down that way a couple of weeks ago. His guess was that he must tend the garden. There was something about the fruit and not being able to get out in time, because it was going to be mature in a day or couple days, and the little guys, the kobolds were blocking the way.

Turk was excited, "Good the fruit is ready to be picked! We can get it and help Osa." Remembering Minx, he added, "We can help you, too. We can help Minx, and definitely we can help Thorin."

"I thought we made an agreement to be nice to one another, Turk, and I'm working pretty hard to be polite to you, cause I could say a few things now, but I'm biting my tongue!" Minx stopped to breathe.

"I've been extremely polite to you, considering all the facts." Turk said evenly.

"Ah, facts, shmacts." Thorin put in. "Let's just go kill something."

"I haven't said anything. Did I not just say, we could heal you?" Turk asked.

Minx pointedly ignored him.

"Now we're not speaking?!" Turk said in exasperation.

"Let's get going!" Thorin was pushing them, trying to keep things from escalating.  It worked.

Thorin opened the door that the goblin had tried to escape through before he'd so neatly nailed it in the back with his axe.  They found a hallway with two doors, one at the end, and the other on the opposite wall from the one they had opened. Turk immediately went for the door at the end of the hall, and just as he reached it, the floor dropped out from under him.


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## Taboo (Sep 2, 2003)

My apologies for such a long delay, it's been unavoidable, unfortunately.  I'm back and am going to try to post regularly now. Things are just now getting exciting!

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

Lightening quick reflexes saved him from the pit trap, managing to jump back to safety just as it opened. He looked down, seeing fragments of bone and a layer of filth lining the bottom of the trap.

Turk let out a sigh of relief, "Thank you Pelor, for looking over me and protecting me in my moment of need, and giving me the quickness of a cat to withstand such a ...."

Thorin was talking about the filth at the bottom of the trap, and the others could hear him saying something about it being full of crap. The next thing anyone heard from him was, "Oh crap!"

Suddenly, the door slammed open, surprising Turk and Thorin, and they heard goblin voices raised in anger and alarm. A nauseating wave of stench came flowing from the room, washing over the two heroes in the hallway. The goblins in the room were tripping over each other in their rush to get out of the room and to kill the outsiders in the hallway, but Thorin was in their way.

The goblins were trying so hard to attack and get out through the doorway that they kept bumping each other, and wound up missing Thorin with their first wave of attacks. Turk pushed Thorin out of his way as he reached the goblin bottleneck, and attacked the goblin closest to working its way out the door. In his haste, and with the door blocking his best chance of attack, he narrowly missed his foe. The goblin took advantage of that miss by hitting back, nicking Turk as he stabbed it through the stomach. Turk twisted his blade as he pulled it back out of the goblin, aiming for the head of the creature next to it, but missing as the goblin quickly dodged to try to take its fallen partner's place.

Thorin waited for an opening, and dodged past Turk into the room full of goblins. He quickly dispatched one near the door as he came through it, nearly severing its head from its neck with a well placed blow from his axe. 

Goblins flanked Thorin, four of them attacking at once, but hardly together.  In their haste to kill the dwarf, they attacked too quickly always missing. Thorin made quick work of the goblins surrounding him, with Turk stepping into the room once the doorway was cleared and shoving Thorin to the side in his haste to attack the foul creatures. Rek quickly joined the fray, quickly killing a goblin of his own, yelling for revenge against those who had held him captive for so long.  Between the three of them, Goblin heads went flying one direction, bodies and limbs flying another, with blood quickly painting the room red.

Now that the goblins inhabiting the room were dead, the heroes could look around the foul smelling room. Thorin had been correct with his observation about the room's stench earlier when the goblins had surprised him. Aside from the foul smell and the filth that caused it, they saw half-eaten legs of animals, and battered cooking equipment around an obviously much used fire pit. The goblins had tattered hides lying around the room mixed in with garbage and rotten carrion and worn out armor.  Rek did find a couple of hand axes that were in fair condition. There were no exits in the room that they could find, disappointing Turk. They headed back to where Keirwin was guarding the only door they had not explored yet.

They got back to the room where the others waited, Turk going immediately to Kierwin's side.  "Kierwin, we have been victorious! We have cleansed this area of the goblin threat."

"You weren't hurt, were you?" She was looking him over, worriedly checking for wounds. 

"A tiny bit. This one punctured my armor, here, scratches here and here, and a small cut upon my thigh, but otherwise no, I am just slightly damaged. Pelor has filled me with his strength." 

Satisfied that he was ok, she remembered Thorin and Rek were also in the battle. Feeling guilty, she told Turk she should have asked if Thorin was ok. Turk replied, "Thorin? He's a tough little dwarf, he's fine."

"Thorin, you didn't get hurt did you?"

"Nothing a couple of weeks topside with some beer wouldn't fix." Was Thorin's reply. "Lots of beer."

"Kierwin, I hate to tell you this, but I think you're standing in the doorway we have to go through next. So my lady, if you'd be so kind as to take your gorgeous body and move five feet to the left, so the brute Thorin and I may stand here and bash it through, we would appreciate it. Come, Thorin!  Let us take your axe and my great sword and clear the way!"

Thorin listened at the door and didn't hear anything coming from the other side. They checked the door and it wasn't locked, so they opened it, rather than bashing it down. They saw a square room that looked like a storage room. There were barrels and crates stacked to the ceiling along the walls with a clear path to the door on the other side.  

"I wonder if any of these barrel have beer..." Thorin headed for a nearby barrel.

"Well, you check the barrels, I'm going straight to the door." Turk headed for the door on the other side of the room.

Thorin opened one of the barrels, it had something funky in it. Other barrels were leaking some kind of nasty water on the floor. Some light was shining on one of the barrels, it was filled with oil. Thorin could see writing on another barrel, in goblin, it said "Elf Pudding." They didn't know what he read, but he exclaimed "Oh Yuck!" when he read it, the others decided not to ask what it was.

Thorin joined Turk at the door, checking to see if there was any sound behind it. Not hearing anything, Turk opened the door. They immediately recognized the smoky room behind the door. It was the last room they'd gone into before heading back to town, the room where they'd faced so many goblins and hobgoblins. When they'd returned to the Sunless Citadel, they'd gone the other direction.

Turk took the left, Thorin took the right and Reyk and Kierwin went up the middle of the room.  Geirmund stayed in the rear with Snap and Minx who were making a point of staying together away from the others. Thorin came to a door, listened briefly and opened it. Turk couldn't see what Thorin was up to and kept moving down the hallway. Rek and Kierwin followed Turk, but stayed toward the middle of the hall. The smoke was so thick that they couldn't tell if there were any enemies about, and none of them had any idea that Thorin had gone into a small room by himself.

Kierwin realized that she'd lost Turk, he was off down the hall by himself, out of sight. She whispered to him with no response. She could barely tell what Thorin was doing, but she knew he was getting ready to go into a room or hallway alone and she didn't know what to do. Go follow Thorin or try to find Turk?

Thorin saw a room adorned with stuffed and mounted animal heads on the walls, including cattle and rats and even Kobolds. A rather sick assortment and poorly done.  Smashed and broken cabinets were along the walls on the floor as though something had smashed through the room breaking everything in its way.  There was a rusted iron spike stood askew in the center of the room with a broken chain hanging from it.  This sections of ice coated the walls, the floor, and the debris in the room. 

Thorin closed the door and walked down the hallway, not realizing what he had just overlooked. They all reached the end of the hallway, where Turk stood guarding the door at the end.

"I saw more doors, back down the hall. Someone should guard this door, while we go check those." Turk whispered to the others.

Kierwin stayed at the door at the end of the hall. Geirmund noticed something moving in the room that Thorin had briefly investigated and told Turk, who promptly went to the room in question. "Kierwin, stay here and guard the door, we don't want anything sneaking in behind us. Where is it, Geirmund? I'll find it, I'll kill whatever it is." With that, he was gone, in search of whatever quarry was hiding in the icy room.

He walked into the room, surrounded by smashed furniture. Suddenly, he was surprised by a dragon that hopped up from behind the wreckage. 

"It's the white dragon! Thank you, Pelor!"

Turk barely had time to register that the dragon wasn't exactly white. It had a mauve color to it, radiating throughout the white. As the odd coloring occurred to him, the dragon let him feel it's icy breath, but it burned, too. The dragon breathed ice, but there was acid in it too. Turk yelled as the ice and acid hit him. The dragon followed that up by biting Turk, pressing his advantage, refusing to back down.


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## Taboo (Sep 6, 2003)

*The White and Mauve Dragon-acid and ice*

Turk tried to pay the dragon back by skewering him with his greatsword, but the bite had thrown off his aim, he missed. 

Kierwin heard the sounds of the dragon and Turk's cry of pain. She ran for the room wishing she hadn't let him take off on his own, she knew he was going to get himself killed one day, it looked like it was going to be now. She hoped she was wrong.

Thorin made it to the room, the dragon was flying around biting at Turk. He managed to hit the dragon in spite of its wild antics.

Snap ran into the room trying to maneuver into a position to breathe fire at the dragon, but afraid of hitting Thorin, Reyk or Turk. The dragon took advantage of Snap's indecision to breathe icy/acid at the group of enemies it was facing hitting them all.

Thorin swung his axe at the dragon, striking it hard. While Thorin had the dragon distracted, Turk, finally free of the dragon's jaws swung his greatsword in a powerful arc, connecting with a solid blow.  "Ha! Take that you evil, ice, acid breathing beast!" Turk yelled as he slammed into it with his sword. 

Geirmund and Minx waited in the hall as Kierwin measured her chances of getting to Turk who was bleeding, but on the other side of the dragon. She stepped into the room, followed by Reyk.

The dragon flew out through a hole in the wall up toward the ceiling. "Come back here, you beastie!" Turk yelled futilely behind the dragon, frustrated that it had escaped them, for now anyway. Now, they just needed to find it again.

Minx asked what color he was, Turk answered, "White with mauve, kind of cute in a way. The coloration was rather interesting. Stupid dragon."

Kierwin practically ran to Turk to see how badly he was hurt. "I am a bit injured by that beast, that evil creature." Turk was rinsing off blood and the melted icy acid crystals from the dragon.

She whispered to Turk, "That was extremely brave, but I told you to be careful. You could have gotten yourself killed."

"I didn't know it was in here!"

Kierwin put her hands on Turk and prayed for healing. Turk sighed, "That feels better." 

"Minx, Thorin's injured, do you happen to have any healing for him?" Turk asked, knowing that Kierwin had just used the last of hers on him.

"Sure." Minx went over to Thorin, healing the brave dwarf.

Snap could see that both Thorin and Turk still had some open wounds, and cast healing spells on both of them.

Turk was still complaining about the dragon. "Stupid dragon. Got away."

"Unless it's in one of the next rooms." Kierwin ventured.

"Yeah! Very smart, Kierwin." Turk perked up a little. "That hole has to go somewhere! Here, let's put that table underneath that hole, and I'll stand here."

Kierwin was horrified, thinking Turk was going to look in the hole. "No, no, no, I'm going to wait here in case something comes out. Thorin, you go in the room next door and check it out."

"Wait, I have endure elements, who should I cast it on?" Kierwin jumped in while they were making their plans.

"Cast it on Thorin, since he's going in the room."

"Turk, was it more ice or acid?" After deciding it felt more acidic, they decided protection against acid would be best, so Kierwin cast the spell on Thorin.

Thorin opened the door next to the room they were in. He found a five foot wide corridor that was about 10 feet long and opened into a 10 foot wide corridor.   There was a hole in the wall about 8 feet above the floor. Thorin took off following the corridor.  When he realized Turk was telling him to send the dragon toward him, he finally yelled over to them that there was a corridor and the dragon must have escaped down it.

Turk was grumbling about the dragon getting away again, and they all headed over to the corridor following Thorin. Turk wanted to know if the hole in the wall in the corridor actually did go in the other room. "Here, Thorin, let me boost you up."

Thorin was far from thrilled about that idea, so Turk changed his tactics. "Ok, you push me up. I want to see if this goes in the other room. Here, lean over, and I'll climb up and look."


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## Taboo (Sep 11, 2003)

The others stood back, expecting Turk to get a face full of acid. Turk couldn't see into the tunnel, it was dark. "Thorin, I'll push you up, you can see in the dark."

"Alright." Thorin reluctantly looked in the hole, expecting to be attacked, but he knew that Turk  had looked through there and hadn't gotten himself killed. He couldn't see anything but an empty tunnel that curved around to where he couldn't see anymore. It looked like something had dug its way through there.

"So, it's probably not in there anymore. Let's go down the hall, let's don't let it get away." Turk took off down the hallway, with the others trailing behind him.

They came to two doors. One at the end of the hall and one on the left side of the hall.

Kierwin said "I don't see anymore holes anywhere and both doors are closed."

Turk nodded. "So the dragon knows how to open up doors. Smart dragon."

They heard voices behind one of the doors. Turk motioned for Kierwin to walk over to him. "I hear voices behind this door. I don't want to be surprised by anything coming through the other door. You stay here at that door and guard it while we open this one and deal with whatever's behind it."

He quickly opened the door, heading in. It opened to a large, circular chamber with a large hole right in the middle of the floor.  There was a dim violet light shining up out of the shaft, revealing sickly white and gray vines coating the shaft's walls.

Against the far wall, was a throne made out of stone upon which sat a very large goblin, next to the goblin chief, sat the white and mauve, young dragon. On the other side of the throne, there was a sapling growing in a wide stone pot, it looked more like a bundle of sticks than a tree. But just as noticeable, if not more so was the room full of goblins in front of them.

Turk saw the dragon, and immediately yelled "He's mine, he's mine!"

Snap had his eye on the dragon, too, it had escaped before and he had no intention of letting it escape again. Fire might just do the job. He inhaled deeply, exhaling a line of fire, aiming for dragon and hoping to take out a couple of goblins at the same time. The dragon was right in the path of flame, struck down, scorched, along with a goblin unlucky enough to be too close to it and in the flame's path. As the dragon fell, the group cheered.

Several of the goblins surrounded Snap, yelling "Get him!" 

Suddenly, Snap was surrounded by goblins. Fortunately for Snap, only one drew blood, they were in too big of a rush to get too him.

Turk stepped in, praising Snap (who ignored him) even as he attacked the goblins. "Good shot, Snap, you brought that evil beast to a burning death, like Pelor's sun bringing fire into this evil cavern. And now using the flame of the burning body, watch it twinkle off my sword as I hack and slash and cleave these evil ones." During his impassioned speech, Turk managed to dismember one of the goblins, twisting to take out another, but just missing the vile creature.

Seeing the new threat posed by Turk, several goblins surrounded him, attacking before he could attack again. They tried to overwhelm him with sheer numbers, but in their haste and clambering over each other, not one of them managed to hit him.

"Ha ha! The light of Pelor's goodness has blinded you! If you all surrender now we shall spare your evil lives, for we have done what we came for, we have slain the evil dragon. I give you one chance to surrender."

The chief spoke up, "If you have done what you seek, then leave...we will let you go."

"I need the apple and then we will go."

"In two days time, we shall come and sell it to you."

Minx mumbled that she didn't trust them. Snap spoke up, determined. "Let's just kill them all."

Turk sensed that the chief was telling the truth, he just wanted them to leave and he planned to sell them the apple. He asked the others if they could afford to buy the apple, and asked the chief how much.

"200 gold."

"Have we got 200 gold?" Turk asked the others. "Temporary truce...nobody kill anybody!"

The group argued about the funds and what they were willing to do. The fee would break them. Reyk just wanted to kill all the goblins, forget the nogotiations.

While they were arguing, Reyk was standing in the back loudly voicing his opinion about his captors. " I say we kill the bastards! Let me at 'em. I'll split 'em in two! You can't trust the little bastards!  They're goblins! You can't trust the little weenies... Thorin..." he whispered, "Thorin, lets kill 'em,  we CAN'T be makin' deals with the goblins." He continued, but nobody was listening to him.

"We can't afford it, let's kill them."  Snap was busy arguing with the others, himself. He was determined not to strike a truce, the goblins all had to die. "We should kill them." He repeated while Turk was trying to make a deal with the chief after determining they couldn't afford the price the chief was asking.

While they were standing there arguing, the chief got a very nice short bow out and strung it. Loading an arrow that he leveled at Turk. He didn't fire, just stood there looking at them waiting on the decision.

Turk wanted to buy part of the apple, the chief wasn't going for it. They'd only sell the whole apple.

"I have one request, and your people can live, and we will avoid any wounds, which are painful to us. There are three people we are looking for, a brother and sister and a paladin. Release the prisoners that you have..."

"And Meepo!" Minx threw in.

"You mean Belak's three pink wood-stiffs." The chief corrected Turk. "Ha ha ha ha ha....you don't want them back, now."

"Are they alive?" Turk asked, puzzled by the chief's answer.

"Yes"

Then I want them back."

"You'll have to go down the hole to get them." The chief informed him. "But, if I don't try to stop ya, Belak will have my hide.  I'll tell you what, 100 gold and I'll give you free passage IN."

"But then I won't have the money to buy the apple."

"You're going down where the apple is."

"But you said the apple won't be ready for 2 days. Can we pick the apple before it's ready?"

"Actually, I don't know if the apple can be picked early or not. Belak gives us the apple."

"If you give us free passage, and we can stay down there as long as we want and we'd have free passage back, and you shall not engage us in battle?"

"For 100 gold pieces, I'll let you down, and for 100 gold....maybe...I'll let you back out."

"We have deal."

"Alright! Clear a hole boys." The goblins scooted back out of the way. Kierwin gave the 100 gold to the chief.

In Draconic, Snap and Minx were talking about Turk. "He sucks." Snap was really angry. Minx answered him, agreeing, "I've been telling you the whole time, he doesn't know what he's doing!" "I should have saved my fire...."

Turk on the other hand, had no idea what they were saying about him. He was very proud of himself for negotiating the truce and the way down below.

Reyk was still complaining, "Let's kill 'em, these are the bad things that locked me up!"

Minx was yelling, "Did you ask him what happened to Meepo? Where's Meepo?"

"What's a Meepo?" The chief answered.

"We'll save Meepo, too." Turk was ready to move on. Not realizing just how much Snap was grumbling in Draconic and how angry he was about the negotiations with the goblins. "Reyk, we rescued you, and now you're an important member of our party."

"Fine, I'm a lawful, upstanding citizen and I'll bow to your leadership, but if they cause any trouble I'll kill 'em!"

"If they break their promise, we'll then kill them." Turk agreed with Reyk.

"Meepo's my friend." Minx answered the chief when he asked what a Meepo was.

"As unique as that must appear, what does it look like?"

Turk answered, knowing they weren't going to get anywhere at this rate, "It's a kobold."

"Oh, down the hole...."

"Was he still alive when he went down the hole?" Minx asked.

"Tasted like it."

"WHAT?!!!"

"Ha ha ha....I mean, he was still warm. He was moving and squirming a bit."

"Did they eat him?"

The chief answered her, "I didn't eat him. Belak wanted him, he took him down himself. Belak, he doesn't eat...most things."

"Oh, well, that's reassuring." Minx didn't sound very reassured.

"Thorin, you be the last one that goes down, you be rear guard. I'll go down first."

While Turk was planning their decent, the chief started speaking to Snap in orc.

"You want a cut of the gold, sonny? You stick around, we'll make a deal!"

Snap told Minx, "We ought to join their party, it'd be a lot more fun."

The chief continued, "What are you, a slave? What are doing with that human?"

Turk climbed down the vines, watching for trouble and waiting for everyone else. But not everyone joined him.


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## Taboo (Oct 5, 2003)

*Down the hole to the twilight grove*

They climbed down the shaft, noticing a luminescent fungus clinging to the walls and the ceiling making the cavern glow with a purple light. The vines they climbed down were sickly white and the air smelled of decay.  The floor was covered with soil, rotting vegetation and the remains of animals such as rats with mushrooms and other types of fungus growing throughout the cavern.  They noticed saplings growing in the area, and two gaunt, cloaked figures shoveling the earth into a rusted wheelbarrow.

When they reached the bottom, everyone was there but Snap, who never climbed down. No one knew where he'd gone, not even Minx. He hadn't said anything, just didn't follow her down, apparently choosing to remain with the goblin chief as he'd threatened, or striking out on his own, dissatisfied with the decisions that were made or leaving before his anger got the better of him and he did something he might later regret. They didn't have time to make sense of it now, there was pressing danger at hand.

Recognizing the saplings, Turk quickly made his way through the detritus strewn all over the floor to destroy them. As he approached, they started moving. They pulled up feet from the roots, and what had at first looked like branches looked more like claws. Turk swung his greatsword, from the left to the right, with his favorite move, splintering the first and following through to smash a second one. 

Thorin saw Turk moving toward the saplings and headed for the gaunt figures, realizing they were skeletons as he approached the first one. He managed to break off some ribs from the one he attacked, barely damaging it.

Turk rushed forward, too quickly through the debris all over the floor, slipping on some mushrooms and his armor clanged loudly as he fell flat on his back.

Kierwin, seeing that the two figures were undead, she called upon the holiness of Ehlonna to destroy the undead and send them back to hell where they belonged. Both skeletons crumbled into dust.

Turk got back on his feet, deciding he'd better be more careful running in the garbage laying all over the floor.

Suddenly, there was a loud shout and heavily booted feet coming toward them from a tunnel off to the side of the cavern.  Minx stepped back behind the rest of the group, nearly out of spells and with little protection just as a big bugbear accompanied with huge rats came rushing into the room, shouting and angry.


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## Knightfall (Feb 17, 2004)

bumpage


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